1.2. The Finite Verb: Aspect

The category of aspect is a linguistic representation of the objective category of manner of action. The realization of the category of aspect is closely connected with the lexical meaning of verbs (limitive and unlimitive verbs).

Regarding this category two systems of verbal forms are analyzed:

1. The continuous forms

2. The perfect forms.

Within the continuous verbal forms the categorial meaning reveals the nature of development of the verbal action (the category of development). The marked member of the opposition here is the continuous, which is built up by the auxiliary be + the present participle of the conjugated verb (be...ing). The categorial meaning of the continuous is action in progress. The unmarked member of the opposition, the indefinite, leaves this meaning unspecified. This category is realized through the opposition Continuous vs. Non-Continuous (Progressive vs. Non-Progressive).

The perfect forms reflect in a relative way a kind of timing (the category of retrospective coordination). The marked member of the opposition is the perfect (the auxiliary have + the past participle of the conjugated verb: have ... en). This category is realized through the opposition Perfect vs. Imperfect/Non-perfect. Thus, the following forms should be distinguished: 1) perfect continuous and perfect indefinite, 2) imperfect continuous and imperfect indefinite.

1.3. The Finite Verb: Aspect

The objective relations between the action and the subject or object of the action find their expression in language as the grammatical category of voice. The verbal category of voice shows the direction of the process as regards the participants of the situation reflected in the syntactic construction.

The voice of the English verb is expressed by the opposition of the passive form of the verb to the active form of the verb. The sign marking the passive form (the strong member of the opposition): the auxiliary be (get, become sometimes) + the past participle of the conjugated verb (be ... en).

The passive form expresses reception of the action by the subject of the syntactic construction (the passive subject, denoting the object of the action).

The active form leaves this meaning unspecified (expresses non-passivity).

Not all the verbs taking an object are used in the passive (the passive form is alien to many verbs of the statal subclass: have, belong, cost, resemble, fail, misgive, etc).

Thus according to their relation to the passive voice, all the verbs can be divided into two large sets:

1. Passivised verbs

2. of non-passivised verbs.

The passive voice is combined with other oppositionally strong forms of the verbal categories of the tense-aspect system (the past, the future, the continuous, the perfect). It has a neutralising effect on the category of development in the forms where the auxiliary be must be doubly employed as a verbid, so that the future continuous passive and the perfect continuous passive are practically not used in speech (their counterparts are correspondingly the future indefinite passive and the perfect indefinite passive).

The category of voice is immediately connected with syntax (direct transformational relations between the active and passive constructions).

The big problem in connection with the voice identification in English is the problem of medial voices (the functioning of the voice forms in other than the passive or active meanings). All the medial voice uses are effected by the functional range of the unmarked member of the voice opposition which allows some scholars to admit the existence of some special grammatical voices:

1. I will shave and wash. I'm afraid Mary hasn't dressed up yet. Now I see your son is thoroughly preparing for the entrance examinations. (reflexive voice) – the subject is both the agent and the recipient of the action at the same time. It is possible to use a reflexive pronoun in this case: He washed himself

2. The friends will be meeting tomorrow. Unfortunately, Nellie and Christopher divorced two years after their magnificent marriage. Are Phil and Glen quarrelling again over their toy cruiser? (reciprocal voice) – The actions are performed by the subject constituents reciprocally. It is possible to use a reciprocal pronoun here.

3. The new paper-backs are selling excellently. Large native cigarettes smoked easily and coolly. Perhaps the chop will eat better than it looks. (middle voice) – the verbs primarily transitive develop an intransitive middle meaning

However most linguists prefer not to speak of different middle voices, because all these meanings are not expressed morphologically.

Another problem posed by the category of voice concerns the relation between the morphological form of the passive voice and syntactical form of the corresponding complex nominal predicate with the pure link be:

1. You may consider me a coward, but there you are mistaken (a nominal predicate)

2. They were all seised in their homes (a passive voice form).

Though the constructions are outwardly alike they possess a different grammatical status distinguished on the basis of the two principles:

1) If the construction expresses an action, it is taken to refer to the passive voice form; if it expresses a state, it is interpreted as a nominal predicate):

1. The door was closed by the butler as softly as could be (the predicate displays the ‘passive of action’ and is expressed by a verb used in the passive voice).

2. The door on the left was closed (the predicate displays the ‘passive of state’ and consists of a link-verb and a nominal part expressed by a past participle).

2) If the participial part expresses processual verbality the whole construction should be understood as a case of the finite passive (The young man was highly esteemed in his district); if the participial part of the construction doesn't convey the idea of processual verbality (it has ceased to be a participle and is turned into an adjective), then the whole construction is to be taken for a nominal predicate. It is not categorially passive at all.

The categorial status of the predicate in the sentence ‘The door was closed’ is wholly neutralised and is categorially latent; and only a living context may de-neutralise it both ways:

1. The context including the by-phrase of the doer (e.g. by the butler) de-neutralises it into the passive form of the verb (the context provides voice-stimulating, processualising effect)

2. The context in the following example de-neutralises it into the adjectival nominal collocation: The door on the left was closed, and the door on the right was open (the context provides voice-suppressing, statalising effect).