UJ00 Seminar: Study Questions 6

Grammatical categories/features of verbs:

mood tense + aspect Voice example: help
tense Aspect –vid -rod
perfective progressive
indicative past - - A/P he helped / HE WAS HELPED
+ A/P HE WAS HELPING / he was being helped
+ - A/P he had helped / he had been helped
+ A/P he had been helping / he had been being helped
present - - A/P he helps / he is helped
+ A/P HE IS HELPING / he is being helped
+ - A/P HE HAS HELPED / HE HAS BEEN HELPED
+ A/P / he has been being helped
(future) - - A/P he will help he will be helped
+ A/P he will be helping /he will be being helped
+ - A/P he will have helped / he will have been helped
- A/P he will have been helping / he will have been being
helped
imperative xxx - - A/(p) SIT! / (be seated)
(+) A (don’t be talking nonsense)
((+)) xxx A (have done with it)
(conditional) ‘present’ xxx - A/P he would help / he would be helped
+ A/P he would be helping / he would be being helped
‘past’ xxx - A/P he would have help / he would have been helped
+ A/P he would have been / he would have been being
helping helping
(subjunctive) ‘present’ xxx xxx A/P I insist that he (not) help/ be helped by others.
‘past’ xxx xxx xxx If I were you ...
1) Complete the example column and think about the meaning of the expressions.
2) Which moods can form questions? Which moods can form negatives?

 Questions – indicative + conditional

 Negatives – all of them

3) Read the following excerpt from a play by Martin McDonagh:

Padraic What was it you were ringing about anyways, Dad?
Pause. Padraic’s face suddenly becomes very serious, eyes filling with tears.
Eh? What about Wee Thomas? (Pause.) Poorly? How poorly, have you brought him to the
doctor?
(Pause.) How long has he been off his food, and why didn’t you tell me when it first
started? (Pause.) He’s not too bad? Either he’s poorly or he’s not too bad now, Dad, he’s
either one or the fecking other, there’s a major difference, now, between not too bad and
fecking poorly, he cannot be the fecking two at fecking once, now, (Crying heavily.) and you
wouldn’t be fecking calling me at all if he was not too bad, now! What have you done to
Wee Thomas now, you fecking bastard? Put Wee Thomas on the phone. He’s sleeping? Well,
put a blanket on him and be stroking and stroking him and get a second opinion from the
doctor and don’t be talking loud near him and I’ll be home the first fecking boat in the
fecking morning. Ar, you fecker, ya!
Padraic smashes the phone to pieces on the table, shoots the pieces a few times, then sits
there crying quietly. Pause.
James Is anything the matter, Padraic?
Padraic Me cat’s poorly, James. Me best friend in the world, he is.
(a) Determine the grammatical categories/features of the verbs in the excerpt.
Indicative, future, -perf., -prog.,
Were ringing – indicative, past, -, progressive
Becomes – indicative, present, -, -
Have brought – indicative, present, perfect, -
Has been off – indicative, past, perfect, -
Did not tell – indicative, past, -, -
Started – indicative, past, -, -
Is not – indicative, present, -, -
Is – indicative, present, -, -
Cannot be – indicative, present, -, -
Would not be calling – conditional, present, x, progressive
Put – imperative, x, -, -
Have done – indicative, present, perfective, -
Is sleeping – indicative, present, -, progressive
Be stroking – imperative, x, -, progressive
Get – imperative
Do not be talking – imperative
Smashes – indicative, present
Shoots – indicative, present,
I will be – indicative, future

(b) Look up ‘non-finite verb’ and ‘finite verb’ in Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/). Which
verbs in the excerpt are non-finite? (participle(– a foreigner learning), gerund(–I hate
eating…), infinitive (–I want to see))

 eyes filling with tears – non-finite Non-finite verb – verb that lacks inflection (conjugation) for number or
person.
 crying – finite

finite – NO mood, person and number

(c) Which verbs are intransitive? (nemají předmět – don’t require object/complements)
to cry, to sit, to sleep, to talk

- only transitive words can form negative

(d) Which verbs are prepositional?

- Filling with, ringing about

(e) Is there a phrasal verb?

- no