VERB : GENERAL

CHARACTERISTICS

Saidalieva Eliza HL1-18A

 CONTENTS:

VERB

SETS OF VERB-FORMS

THE CATEGORIES OF NUMBER, PERSON,ASPECT,

VOICE, MOOD.
 VERB

Verb has a morphological system based

on the six categories: Person,
number,
tense,
aspect,
voice,
mood.
 SETS OF VERB-FORMS

There are two sets of verb-forms, essentially

different from each other:

Non-finite
forms(infinitive,
The finite
gerund,participle
forms 1/2)
 The difference in the functional aspect is that

The finite verb with its The non-finite forms

categories of tense,
aspect, voice and mood
always performs the
function of the verb-
predicate in the sentence
are used in the
functions of the
syntactic subject,
object , adverbial
modifier ,attribute
 SIMPLE VERB-STEM

The group of simple verb-stems

( e.g. come, take, give, etc.) has been

greatly enlarged by conversion as one of
the most productive ways of forming verb
lexemes in Modern English (cf. a park- to
park)
 SOUND-REPLACIVE
STRESS-REPLACIVE

E.g. food-to feed, blood- to bleed, import- to import,

export –to export, transport- to transport.
The suffixes of expanded verb- stems are :-ate (cultivate),

-en (broaden), -ify (clarify) , -ise/ize (normalize)

 The verb-deriving prefixes are : be- (belittle), re-
(remake), under- (undergo), un- (undo)
COMPOUND AND PHRASAL VERB-STEM

The compound verb-stem usually result from conversion

( blackmail- to blackmail, a benchmark- to benchmark)
The 1st is a combination of a head-verb (have, give, take) with a
noun; this combination has an ordinary verb as its equivalent
(e.g. to give a smile – to smile)
The 2nd type is a combination of a head- verb with a
postposition (go on, give up, get out, sit down, etc )
 REGULAR/IRREGULAR VERBS

With the regular verbs, making the bulk of the verb

lexicon, the past indefinite and the past participle are formed
by adding the suffix –ed (work- worked –worked)
The other verbs referred to as irregular comprise various
paradigmatic patterns ( put-put-put; send- sent-sent;
come-came- come; begin- began-begun;)
T H E C AT E G O R I E S O F P E R S O N / N U M B E R

In the system of present tense the inflection –e (s) is used

for the 3rd person singular, with the other persons remaining
unmarked.
The unique verb to be has 3 suppletive personal forms for
the present tense (am, are, is) and 2 forms for the past tense
(was, were)
 THE CATEGORY OF TENSE

The category of tense has both synthetic (the inflection -

(e)s for the Present, the inflection –ed for the Past) and
analytical forms “ shall/will+ infinitive” for the Future)
With the irregular verbs one can also find various patterns
of sound alternation (e.g. write – wrote-written) and two
suppletive formations( be- was/were- been; go –went –
gone).
 T H E C AT E G O RY O F A S P E C T / V O I C E / M O O D

The category of aspect is expressed by the analytical forms: “be+

Present Participle” for the Continuous, “have+ Past Participle” for
the Perfect .
The oppositional differentiation within the category of voice is
based on the marking of the passive with the analytical form “be+
Past Participle”
The morphological category of mood has both synthetic (the bare
infinitive, the specific form were) and analytical (should/would+
infinitive) forms of expression.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Blokh M. Y. A Course in Theoretical English

Grammar /M.Y. Blokh. Moscow, 2004.