Verb 2

Study Questions: verb 2

1. Comment on the grammatical categories of person and number of the verb. What does
their concord imply?

The categories of person and number are closely connected with each other. There is a
concord between the subject of a sentence and its finite verb predicate. That is, the subject
dominates the predicate determining the person and number of the predication , while the
predicate dominates the subject, ascribing to it some action, state or quality (e.g.: Ann plays the
piano every day. We play the piano every day.). Therefore, grammarians consider grammatical
categories of person and number as syntactically conditioned categories.

2. Define the notions of “time” and “tense”. Why is the grammatical category of tense in
modern English represented by a binary paradigm?

When we speak about the expression of time by the verb, it is necessary to distinguish
between 1) the general notion of time and its lexical denotation, and 2) the grammatical time
proper, which is called tense.
TIME, like space, is considered to be a universal form of existing things and phenomena that
are continually changing. We can think of time as a line on which is located, as a continuously
moving point, the present moment, which is the moment of speech-making. Anything ahead of
the present moment is in the future, and anything behind it is in the past.

THE PRESENT MOMENT

PAST | FUTURE
-------------------------------------------------------------------
[now]

TENSE (from Lat. tempus) is a grammatical time. It is a grammatical category that is realized
with the help of verbal inflexion. Since English has no inflected form of the verb for expressing
future time, the threefold semantic opposition of time is reduced to two tenses: the present tense
and the past tense (Greenbaum & Quirk 1991: 47-48; Biber, Conrad & Leech 2003: 150-156).
The main principle of the morphological classification of verbs is the way how they form two
of their forms: simple past and past participle (i.e., participle II). Accordingly, verbs are divided
into two large groups: regular and irregular verbs. Regular verbs form their past simple and past
participle by adding the inflectional suffix -ed while irregular verbs form these forms individually.

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3. Discuss the main ways of expressing future time in English. Give examples (5 cases).

In the absence of an inflectional future tense, there are several ways to express future time in
English.
1. The most common way to express future time is by means of modal auxiliaries
will /shall + the bare infinitive.
E.g.: He will be here in half an hour.
Shall I help you with the work?
2. The semi-modal to be going to + the bare infinitive is used to denote a
projected future action which is mainly associated with personal subjects and
agentive verbs:
When are you going to get married?
3. Present progressive is usually used to denote a projected event that will occur
in the nearest future:
I’m taking the children to the zoo next week.
Ann is meeting her friends tomorrow.
4. The simple present tense is used to denote a future event which is certain to
take place according to the schedule:
The train leaves for Ankara at eight o’clock tonight.
The match starts at 2.30.
5. The simple present tense is used to denote a future event in conditional and
adverbial clauses of time:
He’ll do it if you pay him.
I’ll let you know as soon as I hear from her.

4. What does the category of aspect imply? Name the main types of aspects in English and
characterize each of them.

Aspect is a grammatical category that adds time meanings to those meanings of the verb
which are expressed by tense. The category of aspect answers the question: ‘Is the event or state
described by the verb completed or is it continuing?’
There are two aspects in English: perfect and progressive (sometimes known as continuous).
The perfect aspect usually describes events or states that took place during a preceding period of
time. It is formed analytically with the help of the auxiliary have + past participle (participle II) of
the main verb. The progressive or continuous aspect describes an event or state in progress. It is

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also formed analytically with the help of the auxiliary be + present participle (participle I) of the
main verb. Both perfect and progressive aspects can be combined with present or past tense. E.g.:

present perfect has examined

past perfect had examined

present progressive is examining

past progressive was examining
The present perfect often refers to past actions or states that began in the past and extend to
the present, and will perhaps continue in the future:
They have been unhappy for a long time.
We have lived in Amsterdam for five years.
She has owned the house since her father died.
He’s staring at me now.
I felt he wasn’t listening.

5. Characterize the perfect progressive aspect of the English verb. Give examples.

Verb phrases can be also marked for both aspects at the same time, which is known as perfect
progressive aspect. The perfect progressive is a hybrid form when the perfect and progressive
aspects are combined in the same verb phrase to refer to a temporary situation leading up to the
present (I have been running. - the present perfect continuous) or to some point in the past (The
fire had been raging for over a week when the fire-engines arrive. - the past perfect continuous).

6. What is the essence of the grammatical category of voice? Comment on the semantic
distinction of voice forms and the ways of their formation.

Most transitive verbs can occur in two voices: active and passive. The active voice shows that
the action described by the verb is performed by the subject of the sentence, while the passive form
indicates that the action is performed upon the subject:
The butler murdered the detective. (Active voice)
The detective was murdered by the butler. (Passive voice)
The active is an unmarked voice while the passive is a marked member of the voice opposition
as it is formed with the auxiliary be + the past participle of the main verb . Compared to active voice,
passive voice reduces the importance of the agent (i.e., the doer of the action).
E.g.: The house has been repaired and furnished.
However, passive verb phrases can also be formed with the auxiliary get, and it is called “the
get-passive” (get caught, get dressed, get arrested, get run over, etc.). Get-passives are usually used in
conversation or in informal English. E.g.: It’s about these people who got left behind in Vietnam.

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7. What’s the difference between short and long passives?

There are short and long passives. In short passives (also called agentless passives) the agent is
not specified while long passives contain a by-phrase which specifies the agent of the action. For
instance: The children were sent to the camp. (Short passive)
The children were sent to the camp by their uncle. (Long passive)

8. Define the essence of the grammatical category of mood and name its main types in
modern English.

The category of mood is a morphological expression of modality. It marks the modality of

reality or unreality of an action or state as viewed by the speaker. Grammarians differentiate three
moods in modern English: the indicative mood, the imperative mood and the subjunctive mood.

9. Characterize the indicative mood.

The indicative mood presents an action as a real fact that happened in the past, is happening
now or will happen in future. That’s why it is called a real mood or a fact mood. The indicative
mood is rich in forms reflecting all grammatical categories of the finite verb (the categories of person
and number, tense, aspect and voice). For instance:
Nick speaks French and English fluently but I speak only German.
When I got to the station the train had already left.

10. Characterize the imperative mood.

The imperative mood actually does not give any information as to the reality of an action
described by the verb. An imperative typically urges the addressee to do or not to do something. It is
used to give orders or requests, and expects some action from the addressee. Most imperative clauses
don’t contain a subject in their surface structure. They are formed with the help of the “bare”
infinitive of the verb, that is, infinitive without the particle – to. For instance:
Get off the table. Don’t forget to send a letter to Nick.
A special type of imperative, which refers to the first or third person both singular and plural,
is formed according to the formula: let smb. do /not do smth:
Let’s take a taxi. Let him try this.
Although most imperative sentences lack a subject in their surface structure, it can be
identified either by a subject pronoun you or a vocative address term:

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You go home and go to sleep. (you as subject)
Melissa, take those things away. (Melissa as vocative)

11. What is the essence of the subjunctive mood? Comment on the forms and functional-
semantic peculiarities of present and past subjunctives. Give examples.

The subjunctive mood presents an action as unreal or hypothetical. There are two forms of the
subjunctive mood: synthetic and analytical. Synthetic forms of the subjunctive mood are represen-
ted by the present and past subjunctive.
The form of present subjunctive coincides (ემთხვევა) with the infinitive of the verb. Present
subjunctive is used in certain set expressions: God bless you. Long live the King. God save the
Queen, etc. The past subjunctive is identical in form with the simple past of the verb (e.g.: If I had
time, I would go and see her. ). The exception is the verb be which occurs in the past subjunctive as
were with all the persons both in singular and plural. Because of this, the past subjunctive is
sometimes referred to as “were-subjunctive”. The past subjunctive is hypothetical in meaning. It is
used mostly in conditional clauses and in subordinate clauses after the verbs wish and suppose:
If I were you, I would travel in Africa.
I wish he were here.

12. Discuss the analytical forms of the subjunctive mood.

There are two analytical forms of the subjunctive mood:

a) The first form is homonymous with the past perfect. It is used in conditional clauses of the
third type (so called “unreal for ever clauses”), expressing the situation which was not fulfilled in the
past. For instance: If I had lent him money he would not have committed a larceny.
b) the second form is represented by the mood auxiliaries should/would + indefinite or perfect
infinitive of the main verb. E.g.: If I had money I would go to the concert (second conditional). =
ფული რომ მქონდეს, კონცერტზე წავიდოდი. If I had had money, I would have gone to the
concert (third conditional). = ფული რომ მქონოდა, კონცერტზე წავიდოდი (ე.ი., ვერ წავედი
იმიტომ, რომ ფული არ მქონდა.)