Table Of ContentThe 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.
