Seminar 5

The Verb: General.

The Categories of Person, Number, Tense, Aspect and Temporal Correlation

Reading

1. Блох М. Я. Теоретическая грамматика английского языка. (Ch. X, p. 83 – 99; Ch. XII – XV, p. 119 – 150)

2. Хлебникова И. Б. Основы английской морфологии. (Ch. V, p. 62 – 84)

3. Ilyish B. The Structure of Modern English. (Ch. VIII – X, p. 76 – 98; Ch. XIII, p. 123 – 129)

4. Quirk R., Greenbaum S. et al. A University Grammar of English. (3.1.– 3.36., p. 32 – 50)

Points to discuss

1. A general outline of the verb as a part of speech.

2. Classification of verbs.

3. The category of person.

4. The category of number.

5. The category of tense. Modern conceptions of English tenses.

6. The category of aspect.

7. The category of temporal correlation: traditional and modern approaches.

8. The category of voice.

Questions for discussion

1. Characterize the verb as a part of speech.

2. Speak about the existing classifications of verbs.

3. What is specific to the categories of person and number in English?

4. What does the immanent character of the category of tense imply?

5. What does the problem of the future tense consist in?

6. What are the weak points of the traditional “linear” interpretation of tenses?

7. What categorial meanings do continuous and non-continuous forms express?

8. What is the difference between grammatical aspect and semantic aspectuality?

9. Is there a direct correlation between aspects in English and Russian?

10.What category do the perfect forms express? Describe the existing approaches to the problem of perfect forms.

Practice Assignment

I. Analyze the morphological structure of the following verbs:

To man, to give in, to belittle, to lip-read, to ill-treat, to darken, to put down, to towel, to bleed, to undermine, to transport.

II. Dwell upon the categorial features of verbs in the following sentences:

1. Months before, with an architect at their elbows, the three had worked over the detailed plans for each section which would have its home in the new wing. (A. Hailey)

2. “Doctors!” said James, coming down sharp on his words: “I’ve had all the doctors in London for one or another of us. There’s no satisfaction to be got out of them; they’ll tell you anything. There’s Swithin, now. What good have they done him? There he is; he’s bigger than ever; he’s enormous; they can’t get his weight down. Look at him!” (J. Galsworthy)

3. “Vivacious! Good grief! I’ve never heard her say anything to a boy except that it’s hot or the floor’s crowded or that she’s going to school in New York next year. Sometimes she asks them what kind of car they have and tells them the kind she has. Thrilling!” (F. S. Fitzgerald)

4. “So you’re going to Wales to-morrow to visit your young man’s aunts? You’ll have a lot of rain there. This isn’t real old Worcester.” He tapped the bowl. “Now, that set I gave your mother when she married was the genuine thing.” (J. Galsworthy)

5. “Did you ever see such a collection of rumty-too people?” (J. Galsworthy)

6. “All I know is that other girls not half so sweet and attractive get partners. Martha Carey, for instance, is stout and loud, and her mother is distinctly common. Roberta Dillon is so thin this year that she looks as though Arizona were the place for her. She’s dancing herself to death.” (F. S. Fitzgerald)

7. It so happened that the night before I had been present at a rather cheery little supper, and I was feeling pretty rocky. (P. Wodehouse)

8. ‘I’ve been using the same blade for six weeks,’ he added untruthfully. (G. Orwell)

9. He recollected with satisfaction that he had bought that house over James’s head.
(J. Galsworthy)

10.‘The Eleventh Edition is the definitive edition,’ he said. ‘We’re getting the language into its final shape—the shape it’s going to have when nobody speaks anything else. When we’ve finished with it, people like you will have to learn it all over again. You think, I dare say, that our chief job is inventing new words. But not a bit of it! We’re destroying words—scores of them, hundreds of them, every day. We’re cutting the language down to the bone. The Eleventh Edition won’t contain a single word that will become obsolete before the year 2050.’ (G. Orwell)