Scribd
Upload
266 views

Seminar 6 The Verb 1. Theoretical Comment

The document discusses the verb as a part of speech from both a theoretical and practical perspective. It begins by defining the verb as denoting dynamic processes or states that develop over time. Verbs are characterized by specific word-building affixes and possess categories like person, number, tense, aspect, voice and mood. The complexity of the verb is due to it having more grammatical categories than other parts of speech. Verbs also have finite and non-finite forms. The document then discusses classifications of verbs including notional, semi-notional, actional, statal, terminative, non-terminative and provides examples. It concludes by noting the problem of verbs transitioning between subclasses.

Uploaded by

polya
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
266 views

Seminar 6 The Verb 1. Theoretical Comment

The document discusses the verb as a part of speech from both a theoretical and practical perspective. It begins by defining the verb as denoting dynamic processes or states that develop over time. Verbs are characterized by specific word-building affixes and possess categories like person, number, tense, aspect, voice and mood. The complexity of the verb is due to it having more grammatical categories than other parts of speech. Verbs also have finite and non-finite forms. The document then discusses classifications of verbs including notional, semi-notional, actional, statal, terminative, non-terminative and provides examples. It concludes by noting the problem of verbs transitioning between subclasses.

Uploaded by

polya
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 5

SEMINAR 6

THE VERB

1. Theoretical comment

The verb as a notional word denoting process. state


The verb as a notional part of speech has the categorial meaning of dynamic process, or process developing
in time, including not only actions as such (to work, to build), but also states, forms of existence (to be, to become,
to lie), various types of attitude, feelings (to love, to appreciate), etc.
Its formal and functional properties.
Formally, the verb is characterized by a set of specific word-building affixes, e.g.: to activate, to widen, to
classify, to synchronize, to overestimate, to reread, etc.; there are some other means of building verbs, among them
sound-replacive and stress-shifting models, e.g.: blood – to bleed, import – to import.
The verb as a part of speech is said to possess the following features:
its lexico-grammatical meaning of action, state or process;
its typical stem-building elements, such as –ize, -ify, -en, etc.;
its categories- their number and definitions remaining a point at issue among grammarians;
its bilateral(both left hand and right hand) combinability with nouns and pronouns, predominantly right-hand
combinability with adverbs, etc.;
its functions in the sentence, the main one being that of the predicate (as is known, verbals may function as
subjects, objects complements, etc., but only as ‘secondary’ predicates).
The complexity of the grammatical system of the verb.
The verb is usually characterized as the most complex part of speech, because it has more word-changing
categories than any other notional part of speech. It is changed according to the categories of person and
number, tense, aspect(indefinite/continious), voice(залог) and mood(наклонение), finitude.
The category of finitude: finite and non-finite forms of the verb.
each verb has a specific set of non-finite forms (the infinitive, the gerund, participles I and II), otherwise called
“verbals”, or “verbids”, opposed to the finite forms of the verb, otherwise called “finites”; their opposition is treated
as “the category of finitude”.

Grammatically relevant subclasses of the verb; notional and semi-notional verbs.


 Notional verbs have full nominative value and are independent in the expression
of the process, e.g.: to work, to build, to lie, to love, etc.; these verbs comprise the
bulk of the class and constitute an open group of words. The features of semi-notional
verbs: link verbs, modal verbs; auxiliary verbs and their status.
Auxiliary functional verbs are used to build the analytical grammatical forms of notional verbs,
e.g.: have done, was lost, etc. Link verbs connect the nominative part of the predicate (the predicative)
with the subject. They can be of two types: pure and specifying link verbs. Pure link verbs perform a
purely predicative-linking function in the sentence; in English there is only one pure link verb to be;
specifying link verbs specify the connections between the subject and its property, cf.: He was pale. –
He grew pale. The specification of the connections may be either “perceptional”, e.g.: to seem, to look,
to feel, etc., or “factual”, e.g.: to grow, to become, to get, etc. Modal verbs are predicators denoting
various subject attitudes to the action, for example, obligation, ability, permission, advisability, etc.: can,
must, may, etc
Classifications of notional verbs: actional and statal; terminative and non-terminative; objective
and non-objective.
 actional verbs denote the actions performed by the subject as an active doer, e.g.: to go, to make,
to build, to look, etc.; statal verbs denote the states of the subject e.g.: to love, to be, to worry, to enjoy, to
see, etc. Mental and sensual processes can be presented as actional or statal; they can be denoted either by
correlated pairs of different verbs, or by the same verbal lexeme, e.g.:  to know (mental perception) – to
think (mental activity), to see, to hear (physical perception as such) - to look, to listen (physical
perceptional activity); The cake tastes nice (taste denotes physical perception, it is used as a statal verb)
a) Terminative verbs amply a limit beyond which an action can’t continue. (to break).
b) Non-terminative denote an action which don’t amply any limit. (to love, to live, to posses).

The problem of “subclass migration” (transition) of verbs.

2. Practice
1. Provide equivalents for these terms.
Finitude - the state of having a limit or end actional / statal - глаголы акциональные и
-финитность статальные / дієслово стану
finite forms of the verb (finites) личные формы terminative / non-terminative -tерминативный,
глагола(финитные) предельный
non-finite forms of the verb (verbids, verbals) - Predicate - сказуемое / присудок
неличные формы глагола(вербалии)
Conjugation -спряжение/ відмінювання Predicator - предикатор/ частина присудка
notional / semi-notional - знаменательный/ полу- Predicative - предикатив - именная часть
знаменательный / значущий, напівзначущий составного сказуемого
verbid introducer -глаголы-интродукторы - Predication - предикация- характеристика
окзилари they kept laughing, he seems tired речення наприклад,

2. Group the verbs according to their outward structure. Comment on productiveness/non-


productiveness of their word-forming means:
SIMPLE SOUND-REPLACIVE STRESS-REPLACIVE
bleed transport
Need knock
feed escort
Bottle shall
prove
Free produce refuse
dine
EXPANDED COMPOSITE PHRASAL
befriend Cold-shoulder Come up with
enlarge Window-shop Take a step
signifity Ad-lib Take after
harden babysit Keep up
Befriend, need, bleed, shall, babysit, prove, transport, cold-shoulder, remove, enlarge, keep up,
signify, harden, take after, bottle, refuse, produce, dine, free, feed, knock, come up with, escort, take a
step, window-shop, ad-lib.

3. Identify the subclass correspondence of the following verbs. Remember that different
semantic variants may refer to different subclasses, e.g.:
to be – 1) notional: I’m glad to be here.
2) semi-notional:
a) link: Be quiet.
b) modal: You are to stay here.
3) auxiliary: He is sleeping..
Provide examples of each variant.
to do, to have, can, to turn, to spend, to grow, to expect, to continue, to prove, to fall, to get, to feel
4. Identify the notional, auxiliary, link, modal and semi-notional verbid introducer verbs in the
following sentences. Specify their semantics, if possible:
1)  Bill was apt to get excited if anyone argued with him. 2) Elizabeth tried the coat on, but
it didn’t fit.3) I expected to catch an earlier train. 4) He failed to understand her meaning. 5) I
haven’t seen such a good film on TV for ages! 6) John tried to open the front door with the
wrong key. 7) I began to paint the room last week. 8)  The child shouldn’t have been given that
dangerous toy to play with. 9) Harry did little work, so he failed his exam. 10) I prefer coffee at
breakfast, if you don’t mind. 11) Sarah is likely to come but isn’t absolutely sure. 12) Most
people prefer to drink hot tea. 13) She expected her boyfriend at half past eight. 14) As it’s
rather late, I’ve got to get home now. 15) The windows were in need of a good wash. 16)  Truth
will out.

Classifications of notional
- morphological
A)(simple, composite, …)
B) Regular, irregular
- lexico-morphological
Transitive/intransitve
Statal/actional
Terminative/durative
-syntactic
Finite/non-finite
Obligatory/optional
Directed/ non-directed actions
-grammatical
Relevant subclasses
Notional/semi-
Subjective/objective
Transitive/intransitive

You might also like