20) Глагол. Личные и неличные формы

The finite form has only one syntactic pattern: a predicate of the sentence (the simple predicate) or a part of it. . For the finite forms have 7 grammatical categories:

• the Tense: the Present, the Past, the Future

• the Aspect: the Indefinite (the common, the non-cont.) Aspect – the Continuous (the Progressive) Form

• the Category of time correlation: non-perfect – perfect

• the Category of Voice: the Act V/the Pass V

• the Mood: the Indicative, the Imperative, the Subjunctive M.

• The Person

• The Number

The category of tense and of mood are the most important characteristics of the finite forms, because the ideas of temporality and modality are the ingredient parts of predications: they carry the predicate relations.

The non-finite forms have some verbal and nominal features (a duel grammatical nature). They are Infinitive, gerund and participle.

The verbal features are: the meaning, some points of their distribution (can combine with an adverb and can take a direct object). They have some verbal functions: 1) the notional part of a compound verbal modal or aspective predicate (I can play football. He began to work. He began working.) and the predicate of a compound nominal predicate (the nominal feature). 2)the verbal part of a syntactical complex. A syntactical complex is a predicative word group consisting of 2 parts: the nominal part expressed by a noun and the verbal part expressed by one of the non-finite forms. The relations between 2 parts are like those between the subject and the predicate. That’s why they are called predicative word groups.

5 types of syntactical complexes: 1) the complex object 2) the for complex (the prepositional complex – to, on) – I rely on you to do it. 3) the gerundial complex (I insist on Mr. Brown being elected) 4) the complex subject (in news, in brief) 5) the absolute nominative participle construction (обстоятельство сопутствующих действий)

The nominal features are mostly their syntactical functions.

Since non-finite forms have a verbal nature, some linguists consider constructions with them clauses. They call them verbid clauses (Writing a letter is a hard work).

Some of older grammatists referred the infinitive to the group of nominal: the nominal features were more important than verbal features.

They are not formally related to the doer of the action: the relationship is but semantic, that’s why they have no categories which formally mark the relationship between the action and the doer of the action (no person and no number), no categories of predication (the tense, the mood) – they can’t be used as the predicate of the sentence, however the I and the G can generate one-member sentences:

• No smoking! (the G)

• Why go there? (the I)

• To think of it! (expressively charged)

The Inf has 3 grammatical categories: Voice, time correlation, aspect.

The G and PI have 2 gr categories: Voice and time correlation.

21) Категория вида. Способы передачи отдельных видовых значений в английском языке (повторность, начинательность).

The category of Aspect shows how the action is performed or presented. The problem of aspect is one of debatable problems if we proceed from how the action s represented we may find different meanings of the kind of action and different means of expressing it.

Some linguists who do not find any aspective meaning in the ind form consider the cont form to be one of the tense forms, which marks an action as simultaneous to some other action or time.

It is desirable to distinguish between the grammatical category of A and the “Aktionsart” (it marks the character of the action). In English the aspect opposition is continuous – non-continuous. The continuous form is the strong member of the opposition. The transformed continuous form – he’s always complaining of something. The indefinite form – the position of neutralization (сиюминутно, но без активности процесса) – with non-terminative verbs (I like) – absence of dynamic. 3 семы континиуса – процессуальность, сиюминутность, активность процесса. Нейтрализация по времени – the train arrives at/ he will be married soon – судя по всему он скоро женится.

As a rule the cont f is not used with non-term verbs because they denote a state, however there are numerous instances of the use of the cont f with non-term verbs: the two main semes of the cont f are the activity of the process and the temporary character of it – if the cont f is used with a non-term verb it is either change in the meaning of the verb which comes to denote an activity (a sem change) (I’m thinking of him = I think, you’re right) or if the cont form is used with a quality in this case the dominant seme is the temporary character of the state (you’re being silly!).

Non-terminative verb in cont forms:

Be thinking it over, my dear.

Listen, Kate, I am depending on you. – сема сиюминутности

You are silly – ты глупый. You are being silly – ты глупишь.

Non-terminative verbs can be used in the cont form: it this case it’s either the temporary character of certain characteristics or dynamic activity.

By Aktionsarten we may understand the way the action is performed: itterative, ingressive, the perfective meaning, the point character of an action, a restrictive action.

Unlike Russian, English has no consistent system of expressing Aktionsarten. However we may find several ways of expressing kinds of action.

The itterative meaning is effected by means of combination with the verbs: “will”, “used to”, “keep (on) + G”; by means of adverbs: often, sometimes, from time to time etc.

The durative character can be expressed through the combination with some aspective verbs “to go on, to continue, to keep + doing smth”; it may emphasized by adverbial phrases: “for a long time, all the time”...+ the continuous form may be helpful here too (but it’s not its main grammatical meaning).

A perfective action: it can be expressed by the past ind and the future ind if they denote a one time action + by means of the Perfect form of terminative verbs.

The point character can be rendered by means of phrases, like: “to have + a noun”, “to give + a nouns”. To have breakfast, to give a leap, to go wrong

The inchosive meaning (начало действия) to begin (aspective verbs)

Opinions: 1) O. Jesperson considered the continuous form as means of expressing limited duration. It’s a process which is developing в ограниченный отрезок времени 2) It’s a tense form of simultaneity.