The

Verb
1. The grammatical meaning of the Verb.
2. Structure of the verb. The original, simple, composite and phrasal
verb stems. The stress-replacive type. The sound-replacive type. The
suffixes expanding the stem.
3. Lexico-grammatical subclasses of the verbs. Verbs of partial and
nominative value. Notional verbs.
4. Aspective subclasses of verbs (limitive and unlimitive)
5. Syntagmatic properties of the verb (obligatory and optional valency,
complements and supplements).
6. Complementive verbs (objective – non-objective; transitive – non-
transitive; predicative – adverbial).
7. Uncomplementive verbs. Impersonal verbs.
8. Morphological structure of the verb.
9. Basic form of the finite verb.
10. Syntactic function of the basic verb.
11. Transitive and non-transitive verbs.
12. Lexical character of the verb.
13. Grammatical categories. Person and number.

1. The grammatical meaning of the Verb.

 By Volkova

Grammatically the verb is the most complex part of speech. First of all it
performs the central role in realizing predication - connection between situation
in the utterance and reality. That is why the verb is of primary informative
significance in an utterance. Besides, the verb possesses quite a lot of
grammatical categories. Furthermore, within the class of verb various subclass
divisions based on different principles of classification can be found.
 By Iliysh

It is the only part of speech in present-day English that has a morphological

system based on a series of categories. It is the only part of speech that has
analytical forms, 1 and again the only one that has forms (the infinitive, the
gerund and the participle) which occupy a peculiar position in its system and do
not share some of the characteristic features of the part of speech as a whole.

 By Rayevska

The system of the English verb is rightly considered to be the most complex
grammatical structure of the language. The most troublesome problems are,
indeed, concentrated in the area of the finite verb, and include, in particular,
questions tense, aspect and modal auxiliary usage. This seems to be an area of
grammar which has always gained the greatest interest in language learning. We
can say with little fear of exaggeration that learning a language is to a very large
degree learning how to operate the verbal forms of that language.
 By Dolgina

The verb is a part of speech which includes words or groups of words denoting
an action, or state. For example: He read a book. They usually have breakfast at
9 o'clock a.m. She took off her coat. They took part in the discussion, (action)
She feels hungry. (state)
2. Structure of the verb. The original, simple, composite and phrasal
verb stems. The stress-replacive type. The sound-replacive type.
The suffixes expanding the stem.
According to different principles of classification, classifications can be
morphological, lexical-morphological, syntactical and functional.
A. Morphological classifications:
I. According to their stem-types all verbs fall into: simple (to go), sound-
replacive (food - to feed, blood - to bleed), stress-replacive (import - to im port,
transport - to transport, expanded (with the help of suffixes and prefixes):
cultivate, justify, overcome, composite (correspond to composite nouns): to
blackmail), phrasal: to have a smoke, to give a smile (they always have an
ordinary verb as an equivalent). 2.According to the way of forming past tenses
and Participle II verbs can be regular and irregular.
B. Lexical-morphological classification is based on the implicit grammatical
meanings of the verb. According to the implicit grammatical meaning of
transitivity/intransitivity verbs fall into transitive and intransitive. According to
the implicit grammatical meaning of stativeness/non-stativeness verbs fall into
stative and dynamic. According to the implicit grammatical meaning of
terminativeness/non-terminativeness verbs fall into terminative and durative.
This classification is closely connected with the categories of Aspect and Phase.
C. Syntactic classifications. According to the nature of predication (primary and
secondary) all verbs fall into finite and non-finite. According to syntagmatic
properties (valency) verbs can be of obligatory and optional valency, and thus
they may have some directionality or be devoid of any directionality. In this
way, verbs fall into the verbs of directed (to see, to take, etc.) and non-directed
action (to arrive, to drizzle, etc.):
D. Functional classification. According to their functional significance verbs can
be notional (with the full lexical meaning), semi-notional (modal verbs, link-
verbs), auxiliaries.
3. Lexico-grammatical subclasses of the verbs. Verbs of partial and
nominative value. Notional verbs.
 By Dolgina

With regard to the type of meaning verbs represent and their function in a
sentence they are usually classified into: 1) meaningful (notional) verbs; 2) link-
verbs (semi-auxiliary), 3) auxiliary verbs; 4) modal verbs.
Note that some of English verbs such as be and have. may fulfil all the above
function. Some other verbs like shall, will, should, would combine auxiliary and
modal functions.
Meaningful (notional) verbs such as know, read, jump, feel, cry and so on have
independent lexical meaning and function in a sentence. They are used as verbal
predicates and express an action or state of a person or thing denoted by the
subject: Do you know the answer to the question? He read the book in a day.
The children jumped up and down.
Meaningful verbs in the present tense form are characterized by the -(e)s suffix
of the third person singular: He knows four languages. She never cries.
The exceptions are the verbs be, and have which in the third person singular
have is, and has correspondingly. The third person singular of the verb do is also
irregular in terms of its pronunciation: does .
Link-verbs such as be, become, get, grow, etc. are syntactically dependent: they
are used as part of a compound verbal or nominal predicate. It is evening. He is a
teacher. He has become a teacher. We soon became acclimatized to hot weather.
It is getting dark. The noise grew louder. She is growing fat. They preserve their
lexical meaning and fulfil the grammatical function: they are supposed to
indicate mood, tense and other verbal characteristics.
Auxiliaries, that is verbs like be, have, do, shall, will, etc. have no lexical
meaning. They are used to form grammatical tenses as parts of the simple verbal
predicate. For example: They are watching TV. He has already written the letter.
I don't like theatre. We shall never meet again.
Modals such as can, must, may and so on have a special meaning: they express
the speaker's attitude towards the action rendered by means of the infinitive they
are always syntactically associated with. Compare: 7 can work. I must work. I
will work. Since such verbs as be, have and do are polyfunctional in English
each of them deserves special attention.
 By Raevska

In the multiplicity of ways in which verbs can be combined in actual usage

distinction must reasonably be made between notional or fully "lexical" verbs
and function-verbs.
Notional verbs are used independently as "full" words of the vocabulary. Such
are all English verbs besides modal verbs and a few others.
Used as function-words verbs are vital signals indicating the connection that is to
be understood between "lexical" words. It is not that they have 'no meaning, but
that they have a special kind of meaning, sometimes called "structural" meaning.
They serve primarily to show grammatical functions rather than to bear lexical
meanings and may be used as:
a) auxiliaries and half-auxiliaries;
b) copulas, or link-verbs;
c) substitute verbs;
d) representing verbs;
e) verb-intensifiers.
The verbs be, have, do, let, shall/should may function as auxiliary verbs making
up analytical forms in the conjugation of the English verb.
Link-verbs are verbs of incomplete predication in so-called nominal predicates,
denoting a certain state or quality of the subject. The link-verb has no
independent meaning, its function is to connect the subject with the predicative
and to express all the grammatical categories of the finite verb: person, number,
mood, aspect, tense and voice.
Besides the verb to do functioning as an emphatic auxiliary, there are
grammatical idioms with the verb-intensifier to go followed" by the finite verb-
forms.
4. Aspective subclasses of verbs (limitive and unlimitive)
 By Bloh

From the given description of the aspective subclass division of English verbs, it
is evident that the English lexical aspect differs radically from the Russian
aspect. In terms of semantic properties, the English lexical aspect expresses a
potentially limited or unlimited process, whereas the Russian aspect expresses
the actual conclusion (the perfective, or tenninative aspect) or non-conclusion
(the imperfective, or non-terminative aspect) of the process in question. In terms
of systemic properties, the two English lexical aspect varieties, unlike their
Russian absolutely rigid counterparts, are but loosely distinguished and easily
reducible. In accord with these characteristics, both the English limitive verbs
and unlimitive verbs may correspond alternately either to the Russian perfective
verbs or imperfective verbs, depending on the contextual uses. For instance, the
limitive verb arrive expressing an instantaneous action that took place in the past
will be translated by its perfective Russian equivalent: The exploratory party
arrived at the foot of the mountain. Russ:. Экспедиция прибыла к подножию
горы.
But if the same verb expresses a habitual, intenninately repeated action, the
imperfective Russian equivalent is to be chosen for its translation: In those years
trains seldom arrived on time. Russ.: В те годы поезда редко приходили
вовремя.
Cf. the two possible versions of the Russian translation of the following
sentence: The liner takes off tomorrow at ten. Russ:. Самолет вылетит завтра в
десять (the flight in question is looked upon as an individual occurrence).
Самолет вылетает завтра в десять (the flight is considered as part of the traffic
schedule, or some other kind of general plan).
Conversely, the English unlimitive verb gaze when expressing a continual action
will be translated into Russian by its imperfective equivalent: The children gazed
at the animals holding their breaths. Russ.: Дети глядели на животных, затаив
дыхание.
But when the same verb renders the idea of an aspectually limited, e.g. started
action, its perfective Russian equivalent should be used in the translation: The
boy turned his head and gazed at the horseman with wide-open eyes. Russ:.
Мальчик повернул голову и уставился на всадника широко открытыми
глазами.
Naturally, the unlimitive English verbs in strictly unlimitive contextual use
correspond, by definition, only to the imperfective verbs in Russian.
 By Rivlina

Another subdivision of notional verbs is based on their aspective meaning,

which exposes the inner character of the process denoted, or, its mode of
realization. According to the mode of realization, the process may be
instantaneous (momentary), durative (continual), repeated, starting,
completed, uncompleted, etc. For example: instantaneous actions are denoted
by the verbs to drop, to click, to jump, etc.; starting, durative, terminated, or
repeated actions are denoted by the combinations of verbids with semi-
notional verbid-introducers, such as to begin, to continue, to finish, used to,
etc.; prefixes are used to denote the aspectual meanings of overcompletion,
undercompletion or repetition, e.g.: to overestimate, to underestimate, to
reread, etc. All these minor subdivisions are generalized in the grammatically
relevant subdivision of all the verbs into two big groups: the so-called
limitive verbs and unlimitive verbs. Limitive verbs present a process as
potentially limited, directed towards reaching a certain border point, beyond
which the process denoted by the verb is stopped or ceases to exist, e.g.: to
come, to sit down, to bring, to drop, etc. Unlimitive verbs present the process
as potentially not limited by any border point, e.g.: to go, to sit, to carry, to
exist, etc. Some limitive and unlimitive verbs form semantically opposed
pairs, denoting roughly the same actual process presented as either potentially
limited or unlimited, cf.: to come – to go, to sit down – to sit, to bring – to
carry; other verbs have no aspective counterparts, e.g.: to be, to exist
(unlimitive), to drop (limitive). But the bulk of English verbs can present the
action as either limitive or unlimitive in different contexts, e.g.: to build, to
walk, to turn, to laugh, etc. Traditionally such verbs are treated as verbs of
double, or mixed aspective nature. In terms of the theory of oppositions one
can say that the lexical opposition between limitive and unlimitive verbs is
easily neutralized; this makes the borderline between the two aspective
groups of verbs rather loose, e.g.: Don’t laugh – this is a serious matter
(unlimitive use, basic function of the verb laugh); He laughed and left the
room (limitive use, neutralization). The aspective subdivision of the verbs is
closely connected with the previously described subdivision of the verbs into
actional and statal (limitive verbs can be only actional, while unlimitive verbs
can denote both actions and states) and it is also grammatically relevant for
the expression of the grammatical category of aspect.

English limitive and unlimitive verbs do not coincide with the Russian
English limitive and unlimitive verbs do not coincide with the Russian
perfective and imperfective aspective verbal subclasses, which denote the
actual conclusion or non-conclusion of the process and may correspond (in
due contextual circumstances) with either limitive or unlimitive verbs in
English, cf.: He came early yesterday (Он пришел рано вчера). – He came
to us every day (Он приходил к нам каждый день).
5. Syntagmatic properties of the verb (obligatory and optional
valency, complements and supplements).
 By Rivlina

The notion of ‘valency’ allows the analysis of verbal combinability potential in

greater detail. It involves the whole range of subordinate syntactic elements
(valency partners, valents, or adjuncts) either required or specifically permitted
by a verb. For example, the valency of the verb to eat includes a subject and an
object, as in I am eating cheese. The valency of the word can be either obligatory
(required), or optional (permitted). The obligatory adjuncts (the valents required
by the verb) are called “complements” and the verb itself is called
“complementive”; without a complement a syntactic construction with a
complementive verb is grammatically incomplete and semantically deficient, cf.:
He is a writer. - *He is…. The optional valents are called “supplements” and the
verb is called “uncomplementive” (or, “supplementive”); the supplemenive verb
can be used with or without a supplement in a syntactic construction, cf.: They
are singing a song. - They are singing.
6. Complementive verbs (objective – non-objective; transitive – non-
transitive; predicative – adverbial).
 By Blokh

Verbal transitivity, as one of the specific qualities of the general "completivity",

is the ability of the verb to take a direct object, i.e. an object which is
immediately affected by the denoted process. The direct object is joined to the
verb "directly", without a preposition. Verbal objectivity is the ability of the verb
to take any object, be it direct, or oblique (prepositional), or that of addressee.
Transitive verbs are opposed to intransitive verbs; objective verbs are opposed to
non-objective verbs (the latter are commonly called "subjective" verbs, but the
term contradicts the underlying syntactic notion, since all the English finite verbs
refer to their textual subjects). As is known, the general division of verbs into
transitive and intransitive is morphologically more relevant for Russian than
English, because the verbal passive form is confined in Russian to transitive
verbs only. The general division of verbs into objective and non-objective, being
of relatively minor significance for the morphology of Russian, is highly
relevant for English morphology, since in English all the three fundamental
types of objects can be made into the subjects of the corresponding passive
constructions.
On the other hand, the term "transitive" is freely used in English grammatical
treatises in relation to all the objective verbs, not only to those that take a direct
object. This use is due to the close association of the notion of transitivity not
only with the type of verbal object as such, but also with the ability of the verb to
be used in the passive voice. We do not propose to call for the terminological
corrective in this domain; rather, we wish to draw the attention of the reader to
the accepted linguistic usage in order to avoid unfortunate misunderstandings
based on the differences in terminology.
 By Volkova

The form of the verb may show whether the agent expressed by the subject is the
doer of the action or the recipient of the action (John broke the vase - the vase
was broken). The objective relations between the action and the subject or object
of the action find their expression in language as the grammatical category of
voice. Therefore, the category of voice reflects the objective relations between
the action itself and the subject or object of the action:
The category of voice is realized through the opposition Active voice::Passive
voice. The realization of the voice category is restricted because of the implicit
grammatical meaning of transitivity/intransitivity. In accordance with this
meaning, all English verbs should fall into transitive and intransitive. However,
the classification turns out to be more complex and comprises 6 groups:
1. Verbs used only transitively: to mark, to raise;
2.Verbs with the main transitive meaning: to see, to make, to build;
3. Verbs of intransitive meaning and secondary transitive meaning. A lot of
intransitive verbs may develop a secondary transitive meaning: They laughed me
into agreement; He danced the girl out of the room;
4.Verbs of a double nature, neither of the meanings are the leading one, the
verbs can be used both transitively and intransitively: to drive home - to drive a
car;
5.Verbs that are never used in the Passive Voice: to seem, to become;
6. Verbs that realize their passive meaning only in special contexts: to live, to
sleep, to sit, to walk, to jump.
Some scholars admit the existence of Middle, Reflexive and Reciprocal voices.
"Middle Voice" - the verbs primarily transitive may develop an intransitive
middle meaning: That adds a lot; The door opened; The book sells easily; The
dress washes well. "Reflexive Voice": He dressed; He washed - the subject is
both the agent and the recipient of the action at the same time. It is always
possible to use a reflexive pronoun in this case: He washed himself. "Reciprocal
voice”: They met; They kissed - it is always possible to use a reciprocal pronoun
here: They kissed each other. We cannot, however, speak of different voices,
because all these meanings are not expressed morphologically.
 By Rivlina

Complementive verbs are further subdivided according to the members of the

sentence which they must be obligatorily used with. Predicative complementive
verbs are link verbs obligatorily combined in a sentence with their predicatives,
e.g.: He is a writer. Adverbial complementive verbs are verbs which are
obligatorily combined with adverbial modifiers of time, or space, or manner,
e.g.: He lives in Paris; He lived in the eighteenth century; The married and lived
happily ever since. Objective complementive verbs require either one object-
complement (monocomplementive verbs) or two compliments (bicomplementive
verbs). The following verbs are monocomplementive: to have – the possession
objective verb, non-passivized; to take, to grasp, to enjoy, etc. – direct objective
verbs, e.g.: Take the book; to look at, to point to, to send for, etc. – prepositional
objective verbs; in spite of their prepositional use they are easily passivized in
English, e.g.: Everyone looked at her; She was looked at.; to cost, to weigh, to
fail, to become, etc. – direct objective verbs, non-passivized; to belong to, to
abound in, to merge with, etc. – prepositional objective verbs, non-passivized.
The following verbs are bicomlementive: to give, to bring, to pay, to show, etc. –
direct objective and addressee objective verbs, e.g.: Give the book to your
neighbor; Give the neighbor your book; to teach, to forgive, to ask, to excuse,
etc. – double direct objective verbs, e.g.: My mother taught me this song; to
argue, to agree, to cooperate, etc. – double prepositional objective verbs, e.g.: I
agree with you about his latest book; to remind of, to apologize for, to pay for,
etc. – addressee objective verbs, e.g.: Don’t remind me of that awful day; to put,
to send, to bring, etc. – adverbial objective verbs which are obligatorily used
with a direct object and an adverbial modifier, e.g.: Put the book on the table.
This description of verbal valency subclasses is not exhaustive; there may be
further subdivisions and generalizations. For example, the term “pseudo-
transitive verbs” is sometimes employed to distinguish prepositional objective
verbs which can be passivized (to look at, to give to, etc.) and, vice versa, direct
objective verbs which cannot be passivized (to have, to cost, etc.).
In conclusion, it should be stressed once again that many verbs in English in
different contexts migrate easily from one group to another, and the boundaries
between the subclasses are less rigid than in Russian. For example: to work is an
uncomplementive verb, but in modern English, especially in its American
variant, one can use it with a direct object too, e.g.: She worked her team hard;
She worked the phones. Such cases, as well as all other notional “subclass
migration” cases, are treated as syntactic variants (‘uses’) of the same verbal
lexemes. But lexemes which coincide as notional and functional or semi-
functional verbs should be treated as homonymous verbs, because different
grammatical functions underlie these subdivisions.
7. Uncomplementive verbs. Impersonal verbs.
 By Rivlina

Uncomplementive verbs are further subdivided into two groups of verbs:

personal and impersonal verbs. Personal verbs imply the subject of the action
denoted (animate or inanimate, human or non-human), e.g.: to work, to laugh,
to grow, to start, etc., as in I’m working; The concert started. Impersonal
verbs usually denote natural phenomena, e.g.: to rain, to snow, to drizzle, etc.;
the number of impersonal verbs is limited; in English they are combined with
a formal subject, e.g.: It’s raining (in Russian impersonal uncomplementive
verbs can be used without any subject at all, cf.: Моросит; Смеркается).
 By Bloh

Uncomplementive verbs fall into two unequal subclasses of "personal" and

"impersonal" verbs. The personal uncomplementive verbs, i.e.
uncomplementive verbs normally referring to the real subject of the denoted
process (which subject may be either an actual human being, or a non-human
being, or else an inanimate substance or an abstract notion), form a large set
of lexemes of various semantic properties. Here are some of them: work,
start, pause, hesitate, act, function, materialize, laugh, cough, grow, scatter,
etc.
The subclass of impersonal verbs is small and strictly limited. Here belong
verbs mostly expressing natural phenomena of the self-processual type, i.e.
natural processes going on without a reference to a real subject. Cf.: rain,
snow, freeze, drizzle, thaw, etc.

8. Morphological structure of the verb.

 By Dolgina

According to their morphological structure verbs may be classified into 1)

simple, 2) derivative, 3) compound and 4) composite or multi-word.
Simple verbs consist of a root-stem only: bring, cut, put, take, use, etc.
Derivative verbs are formed from nouns, adjectives and verbs by means of
suffixes and prefixes: standardize < standard, finalize < final, regulate < regular,
enlarge < large', rewrite < write, disclose < close.
The verb-forming suffixes are:
-ize/-ise: containerize, modernize, hospitalize,
-fy-ify. purify, terrify., modify, codify.
-ate: activate, separate, appreciate.
The verb-forming prefixes are:
be-, befriend, belittle,
ante-, antedate,
post-, postdate, postmark:
pre-: predate, prearrange, preclude,
re-, reform, reread, reunite,
de-: decompose, depopulate, denounce,
mis-: misbehave, misunderstand, mistrust,
dis-: discover, disconnect,
un-: undo, undress, unblock.
Compound verbs consist of two stems: daydream, broadcast, browbeat.
Composite or multi-word verbs function as polylexemic equivalents of one
word. They include: 1) verb + noun collocations, such as bring home, catch fire,
have breakfast, go to bed, pay a visit, take into account, etc.; 2) prepositional
verbs, such as look after, look for, look into, take after and so on; 3) phrasal
verbs, or idiomatic combinations of verb and prepositional adverb such as: bring
about (cause), cut down (reduce), go on (continue), put up (raise), take in
(deceive), etc.
9. Basic form of the finite verb.
The conjugation of the English verb is based on the 4 main forms. The first 2
forms are finite, the other 2 are non-finite.
The first is the present tense form which is equivalent to the infinitive without to
and is used to form The Present Indefinite (Simple) Tense: come, read, clean,
work, cry, etc. For example: / work every day. My children never cry.
The exception is the verb to be which has three present tense forms: am — in the
first person singular, is — in the third person singular, and are — in the plural: I
am a teacher. He is a pilot. We are friends. They are late. You are my only
friend.
In the third person singular the present tense form takes the -(e)s suffix: He
works every day. My daughter never cries. The exceptions are the verbs have
and do. Their forms in the third person singular are has and does. He has nothing
to do. She does all the homework. The second is the past tense form, came, read,
cleaned, worked, cried, etc. Be has two forms: was, were.
As the above examples show there is a formal difference between the past tense
forms. This is due to the type of a particular verb.

10. Syntactic function of the basic verb.

 By Dolgina

The verb exists through a variety of grammatical forms that perform different
syntactic functions.
According to their syntactic position verbal forms are divided into two main
groups: finite (личные) and non-finite or verbals (неличные).
Finite verbal forms always function as predicate. They show a particular mood
and tense and are linked to subject and agree with it in person and number. / am
a teacher. He is at school. She reads much.
The non-finite verbal forms or verbals — the present participle or Participle I,
the past participle or Particip¬le II, the gerund and the infinitive can never be
predicate in a sentence and thus have no grammatical subject. But they may
perform predicative function, that is be part of a predicate in association with
finite verbal forms. For example: He is watching TV. The house is built. The
book has been read. My aim is to master English.
The verbals combine some characteristics of a verb with those of some other part
of speech. Thus the gerund and infinitive have besides verbal characteristics
some nounal features and therefore may function as subject and object: Reading
English books in the original requires an extensive vocabulary, (subject)
remember hearing it before, (object) To read English books in the original is a
difficult task for a beginner, (subject) learned to read at the age of four, (object)
The participle has the characteristics of both verb and adjective and sometimes
of verb and adverb. This results in the syntactic functions of attribute and
adverbial modifier: Barking dogs never bite. The broken cup was on the table,
(attribute) She always does her homework watching TV. (adverbial modifier)
 By Raevska

We generally distinguish finite and non-finite forms of the verb.

The grammatical nature of the finite forms may be characterised by the
following six oppositions with reference to:

a)
person I read : : He reads
b)
number She reads : They read; She
was : They were
c)
time relations I write : : I wrote I write ; : I
shall write
d)
 mood If he knows it now : : If
he knew it now
e) The aspective character of She was dancing for half
the verb an hour (durative aspect)
: : She danced gracefully
(common aspect)
f) voice distinctions: active We invited him : : He
— passive was invited 1 asked : : I
was asked
The non-finites (verbids) are: the Infinitives, the Gerunds and the Participles.
The following, for instance, are the non-finites of the regular verb to paint:

Non-progressive active passive active to paint to be painted

Infinitive perfect passive to have painted to
perfect have been painted
Progressive Infinitive
active active perfect to be painting to have
been painting
Gerund
active
passive active perfect painting being
passive perfect painted having
painted having been
painted
Participle: Present
Perfect
Past
 active passive active painting being
passive painted having
painted having been
painted painted

11. Transitive and non-transitive verbs.

 By Dolgina

Irrespective their syntactic function verbs in either finite or non-finite form are
characterized by their most significant grammatical feature, namely
syntagmatics, that is their association with other parts of sentence.
Syntagmatically verbs may be transitive, ditransitive, and intransitive.
Transitive verbs take a direct object: / saw the boy in the park. Seeing the boy in
the park his mother waved to him. She opened the door. Having opened the
door, we noticed a letter on the table. I raised my hat to greet her. I greeted her
by raising my hat.
Intransitive verbs fall into 2 groups: 1) those which are used absolutely, that is
require no object: My friends are coming to have dinner with us. I didn 't sleep
very well last night. My children cannot swim. The sun rises in the East. 2) those
that require a prepositional object: We waited for the bus for an hour. We agreed
on a price for the car. She dealt with the difficult situation effectively. Such
verbs as give, bring, hand, send, buy can take both direct and indirect objects and
are called ditransitive. For example: She gave the girl a glass of water. Bring
Peter the book. I handed her a box of chocolates. We sent my friends a letter. Let
me buy you a drink. (The girl, Peter, her, friends, me — are indirect objects; a
glass of water, the box, a letter, a drink — are direct objects.)
The above sentences may as well be restructured into: She gave a glass of water
to the girl. Bring the book to Peter. I handed a box of chocolates to her. We sent
a letter to my friends. Let me buy a drink to you. Here the girl, Peter, her, friends
and you are prepositional objects.
Verbs may be transitive in one of their uses and intransitive in another.
Compare: The cup fell and broke. — I broke the cup. The letter reads as
follows... — We read the letter. She always writes with a pen. — She wrote to
me a letter asking to come.
Besides, in a sentence verbs are often associated with adverbs or adverbial
phrases used to modify or limit them. For example: He sings very well. She
spoke in a low voice. Leaving the room hurriedly, he ran out. Excuse me for
coming late.
12. Lexical character of the verb.
A lexical verb is a member of the open class of verbs which form the primary
verb vocabulary of a language. Any verb in English that is not an auxiliary verb.
Also known as a main verb. "Examples of lexical verbs are arrive, see, walk,
copula be, transitive do, etc. They carry a real meaning and are not dependent on
another verb. In addition to a lexical verb, the VP [verb phrase] may contain
auxiliaries. Auxiliaries depend on another verb, add grammatical information,
and are grouped together with the lexical verb in a Verb Group." "The LGSWE
[Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English] compares a variety of
lexical features across spoken and written registers and reports that almost one-
third of all content words in spoken interaction are lexical verbs (also known as
full verbs, e.g., eat, dance). Lexical verbs are extremely common in both
conversation and fiction but quite rare in written registers such as news and
academic prose. The single-word lexical verbs say, get, go, know, and think are
the five most common verbs occurring in British and American conversation.
The 12 most common lexical verbs identified in LGSWE (say, get, go, know,
think, see, make, come, take, want, give, and mean--occurring over 1,000 times
per million words), account for 'nearly 45% of all lexical verbs in conversation.'"
13. Grammatical categories. Person and number.
 by Raevska

The grammatical categories of the English verb find their expression in

synthetical and analytical forms. The formative elements expressing these
categories are: grammatical affixes, inner inflection and function words. Some
categories have only synthetical forms (person, number), others —only
analytical (voice distinction). There are also categories expressed by both
synthetical and analytical forms (mood, time, aspect).


 By Bloh

The categories of person and number are closely connected with each other.
Their immediate connection is conditioned by the two factors: first, by their
situational semantics, referring the process denoted by the verb to the subject of
the situation, i.e. to its central substance (which exists in inseparable unity of
"quality" reflected in the personal denotation, and "quantity" reflected in the
numerical denotation); second, by their direct and immediate relation to the
syntactic unit expressing the subject as the functional part of the sentence.
Both categories are different in principle from the other categories of the finite
verb, in so far as they do not convey any inherently "verbal" semantics, any
constituents of meaning realised and confined strictly within the boundaries of
the verbal lexeme. The nature of both of them is purely "reflective".
Approached from the strictly morphemic angle, the analysis of the verbal person
and number leads the grammarian to the statement of the following converging
and diverging features of their forms.
The expression of the category of person is essentially confined to the singular
form of the verb in the present tense of the indicative mood and, besides, is very
singularly presented in the future tense. As for the past tense, the person is alien
to it, except for a trace of personal distinction in the archaic conjugation.
In the present tense the expression of the category of person is divided into three
peculiar subsystems.
The first subsystem includes the modal verbs that have no personal inflexions:
can, may, must, shall, will, ought, need, dare. So, in the formal sense, the
category of person is wholly neutralised with these verbs, or, in plainer words, it
is left un-expressed.
The second subsystem is made up by the unique verbal lexeme be. The
expression of person by this lexeme is the direct opposite to its expression by
modal verbs: if the latter do not convey the indication of person in any
morphemic sense at all, the verb be has three different suppletive personal forms,
namely: am for the first person singular, is for the third person singular, and are
as a feature marking the finite form negatively: neither the first, nor the third
person singular. It can't be taken for the specific positive mark of the second
person for the simple reason that it coincides with the plural all-person (equal to
none-person) marking.
none-person) marking.
The third subsystem presents just the regular, normal expression of person with
the remaining multitude of the English verbs, with each morphemic variety of
them. From the formal point of view, this subsystem occupies the medial
position between the first two: if the verb be is at least two-personal, the normal
personal type of the verb conjugation is one-personal. Indeed, the personal mark
is confined here to the third person singular -(e)s [-z, -s, -iz], the other two
persons (the first and the second) remaining unmarked, e.g. comes — come,
blows — blow, slops — stop, chooses — choose.
As is known, alongside of this universal system of three sets of personal verb
forms, modern English possesses another sys-tem of person-conjugation
characterising elevated modes of speech (solemn addresses, sermons, poetry,
etc.) and stamped with a flavour of archaism. The archaic person-conjugation
has one extra feature in comparison with the common conjugation, namely, a
special inflexion for the second person singular. The three described subsystems
of the personal verb forms receive the following featuring:
The modal person-conjugation is distinguished by one morphemic mark,
namely, the second person: canst, may(e)st, wilt, shalt, shouldst, wouldst,
ought(e)st, need(e)st, durst.
The personal be-conjugation is complete in three explicitly marked forms,
having a separate suppletive presentation for each separate person: am, art, is.
The archaic person-conjugation of the rest of the verbs, though richer than the
common system of person forms, still occupies the medial position between the
modal and be-conjugation. Two of the three of its forms, the third and second
persons, are positively marked, while the first person remains unmarked, e.g.
comes — comest—come, blows — blowest — blow, stops — stoppest —stop,
chooses — choosest — choose.
As regards the future tense, the person finds here quite another mode of
expression. The features distinguishing it from the present-tense person
conjugation are, first, that it marks not the third, but the first person in distinction
to the remaining two; and second, that it includes in its sphere also the plural.
The very principle of the person featuring is again very peculiar in the future
tense as compared with the present tense, consisting not in morphemic inflexion,
nor even in the simple choice of person-identifying auxiliaries, but in the
oppositional use of shall — will specifically marking the first person
(expressing, respectively, voluntary and non-voluntary future), which is
(expressing, respectively, voluntary and non-voluntary future), which is
contrasted against the oppositional use of will — shall specifically marking the
second and third persons together (expressing, respectively, mere future and
modal future). These distinctions, which will be described at more length further
on, are characteristic only of British English.
A trace of person distinction is presented in the past tense with the archaic form
of the second person singular. The form is used but very occasionally, still it
goes with the pronoun thou, being obligatory with it. Here is an example of its
indi-vidualising occurrence taken from E. Hemingway: Thyself and thy horses.
Until thou hadst horses thou wert with us. Now thou art another capitalist more.
Thus, the peculiarity of the archaic past tense person-conjugation is that its only
marked form is not the third person as in the present tense, nor the first person as
in the British future tense, but the second person. This is what might be called
"little whims of grammar"!
Passing on to the expression of grammatical number by the English finite verb,
we are faced with the interesting fact that, from the formally morphemic point of
view, it is hardly featured at all.
As a matter of fact, the more or less distinct morphemic featuring of the category
of number can be seen only with the archaic forms of the unique be, both in the
present tense and in the past tense. But even with this verb the featuring cannot
be called quite explicit, since the opposition of the category consists in the
unmarked plural form for all the persons being contrasted against the marked
singular form for each separate per-son, each singular person thereby being
distinguished by its own, specific form. It means that the expressions of person
and number by the archaic conjugation of be in terms of the lexeme as a whole
are formally not strictly separated from each other, each singular mark
conveying at once a double grammatical sense, both of person and number. Cf.:
am — are; art — are; was (the first and the third persons, i.e. non-second person)
— were; wast (second person) — were. In the common conjugation of be, the
blending of the per-son and number forms is more profound, since the suppletive
are, the same as its past tense counterpart were, not being confined to the plural
sphere, penetrate the singular sphere, namely, the expression of the second
person (which actually becomes non-expression because of the formal
coincidence).
As for the rest of the verbs, the blending of the morphemic expression of the two
As for the rest of the verbs, the blending of the morphemic expression of the two
categories is complete, for the only explicit morphemic opposition in the integral
categorial sphere of person and number is reduced with these verbs to the third
per-son singular (present tense, indicative mood) being contrasted against the
unmarked finite form of the verb.
The exposition of the verbal categories of person and number presented here
helps conveniently explain some special cases of the subject-verb categorial
relations. The bulk of these cases have been treated by traditional grammar in
terms of "agreement in sense", or "notional concord". We refer to the
grammatical agreement of the verb not with the categorial form of the subject
expressed morphemically, but with the actual personal-numerical interpretation
of the denoted referent.
Here belong, in the first place, combinations of the finite verb with collective
nouns. According as they are meant by the speaker either to reflect the plural
composition of the subject, or, on the contrary, to render its integral, single-unit
quality, the verb is used either in the plural, or in the singular. E.g.:
The government were definitely against the bill introduced
by the opposing liberal party. The newly appointed
government has gathered for its first session.
In the second place, we see here predicative constructions whose subject is made
imperatively plural by a numeral attribute. Still, the corresponding verb-form is
used to treat it both ways: either as an ordinary plural which fulfils its function in
immediate keeping with its factual plural referent, or as an inte-grating name,
whose plural grammatical form and constituent composition give only a measure
to the subject-matter of denotation. Cf.:
Three years have elapsed since we saw him last.
Three years is a long time to wait.'
In the third place, under the considered heading come constructions whose
subject is expressed by a coordinative group of nouns, the verb being given an
option of treating it ei-ther as a plural or as a singular. E.g.:
My heart and soul belongs to this small nation in its desper-ate struggle for
survival. My emotional self and ra-tional self have been at variance about the
attitude adopted by Jane.
attitude adopted by Jane.
The same rule of "agreement in sense" is operative in relative clauses, where the
finite verb directly reflects the categories of the nounal antecedent of the clause-
introductory relative pronoun-subject. Cf.:
I who am practically unacquainted with the formal theory
of games can hardly suggest an alternative solution.- Your
words show the courage and the truth that I have always felt was in your heart.
On the face of it, the cited examples might seem to testify to the analysed verbal
categories being altogether self-sufficient, capable, as it were, even of "bossing"
the subject as to its referential content. However, the inner regularities
underlying the outer arrangement of grammatical connections are necessarily of
a contrary nature: it is the subject that induces the verb, through its inflexion,
however scanty it may be, to help express the substantival meaning not
represented in the immediate subtantival form. That this is so and not otherwise,
can be seen on examples where the subject seeks the needed formal assistance
from other quarters than the verbal, in particular, having re-course to
determiners. Cf.: A full thirty miles was covered in less than half an hour; the car
could be safely relied on.
Thus, the role of the verb in such and like cases comes at most to that of a
grammatical intermediary.
From the functional point of view, the direct opposite to the shown categorial
connections is represented by instances of dialectal and colloquial person-
number neutralisation. Cf.:
"Ah! It's pity you never was trained to use your reason, miss" (B. Shaw). "He's
been in his room all day," the landlady said downstairs. "I guess he don't feel
well" (E. Hemingway). "What are they going to do to me?" Johnny said. —
"Nothing," I said. "They ain't going to do nothing to you" (W. Saroyan).
Such and similar oppositional neutralisations of the surviving verbal person-
number indicators, on their part, clearly emphasise the significance of the
junctional aspect of the two inter-connected categories reflected in the verbal
lexeme from the substantival subject.

 By Ilyish

The categories of person and number must be considered in close connection

with each other, since in language of the Indo-European family they are
expressed simultaneously, i. e. a morpheme expressing person also expresses
number, e. g. in Latin the morpheme -nt in such forms as amant, habent, legunt,
amabant, habebunt, legerunt, etc., expresses simultaneously the 3rd person and
the plural number.
We shall, however, start by considering the meaning of each of these categories,
and then proceed to the analysis of their state in Modern English.
The category of person in verbs is represented by the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person,
and it expresses the relation between the speaker, the person or persons
addressed, and other persons and things. The 1st person, of course, expresses the
speaker or a group of which the speaker makes a part; the 2nd person, the person
or persons spoken to, and the 3rd, that person or thing (or those persons or
things) which are neither the speaker nor the person(s) spoken to. 1
The category of number expresses the quantity of the subjects (one or more than
one). Speaking deductively, we might build the following system of personal
and numerical categories:
1st person singular — the speaker
2nd person singular—one person spoken to
3rd person singular — one person or thing (neither
speaker nor spoken to)
1st person plural — the speaker and another person or other persons
2nd person plural — more than one person spoken to 3rd person plural — more
than one person or
— thing (neither speakers nor spoken to)
However, this system does not hold good for the Modern English verb, and this
for two reasons,
First, there is no distinction of persons in the plural number. Thus, the form live
may, within the plural number, be connected with a subject of any person (1st,
2nd, or 3rd).
2nd, or 3rd).
Second, there is no distinction of numbers in the 1st or 2nd person. Thus, the
form live in these persons may refer both to one and to more than one subject. l
So what we actually find in the Modern English verb is this:
3rd person singular — lives All the rest — live
If we analyse this state of things in the Modern English verb in exact terms we
shall reach the following conclusion. The opposition lives I live, or, in general
terms, stem + s / stem + Ø, expresses the relation: 3rd person singular / any
person of both numbers except 3rd person singular.
It is quite clear that the first item of the opposition is marked both in meaning
(3rd person sing.) and in form (-s), whereas the second item is unmarked both in
meaning (everything except the 3rd person sing.) and in form (zero-inflection).
We ought to add that the category of mood is implied in this opposition, the form
lives belonging to the indicative mood only, whereas live may also be any
person of both numbers in the subjunctive mood (as far as we recognise its
existence at all). Another consequence of this analysis is, that the -s-inflection in
verbs conveys 4 meanings: 1) 3rd person, 2) singular number, 3) present tense,
4) indicative mood. The present tense is of course characterised by other signs as
well: by the absence of the -d (or -t) morpheme denoting the past tense in regular
verbs, and by alternation of the root vowel (e. g. [ı] in drinks as against [ae] in
drank) in irregular verbs. But in verbs of the type put the -s is the only distinctive
sign of the present.
The ending -s having four meanings to express simultaneously is of course a
synthetic feature, standing rather by itself in the general structure of Modern
English.
Some verbs do not fit into the system of person and number described above and
they must be mentioned separately both in a practical study of the language and
in theoretical analysis. We will limit ourselves to the verb can (the verbs may,
shall, and some others sharing some of its features) and the verb be, which
stands quite apart and, of course, is very widely used.
In analysing the system of person and number we have so far bypassed the forms
of the type livest, takest, livedst, tookest. These forms are associated with the
personal pronoun thou and are only used in religions and occasionally in poetical
texts and among Quakers. As they stand outside the received grammatical
system we need not go into details concerning them. Suffice it to say that with
these forms the category of number appears within the category of the 2nd
person and the whole system of person and number (including the past tense)
must be presented in a different shape.