Grammatical Functions and Categories 15

Part 2: Verbs: Their forms and types

2. Verbs as a word class
2.O. Identifying verbs as a word class: Overview of defining properties
2.O.1. Defining criteria for the identification of verbs as a word class
How can we identify verbs in the passages that follow? What criteria do we have at
our disposal in the process of determining which of the words in them belong to this
word class?
(1 a! "he #oman republic was beginning to brea$ down in the years after
%arius&s victories over the German barbarians! Caesar 'oined forces with
(ompey) the popular general who had defeated %ithridates of (ontus) and
with Crassus) one of the richest men in #ome * who would have given most
of his wealth to have en'oyed some real affection from the people! "he
career of Caesar amply testifies to this seemingly e+aggerated combination
of virtues and characteristics!
b! "he s$y over ,ondon was glorious) ochre and madder) as though a do-en
tropic suns were simultaneously setting round the hori-on. everywhere the
searchlights clustered and hovered. then swept apart. here and there pitchy
clouds drifted and billowed. now and then a huge flash momentarily fro-e
the serene fireside glow!
c! "he last time the oil companies felt the heat because of /ritish policy was
during the reign of General 0basan'o) angry at /ritain1s failure to force its
defiant e+*colony #hodesia) now 2imbabwe) towards ma'ority rule!
3!0!1!1! "he semantic (or notional criterion
First of all) there is the traditional semantic or notional criterion which tells us that
verbs denote events (such as actions and processes and states! /ut how reliable is this
criterion? 4t does not ta$e long to reali-e that other word classes can denote these as
well! 5 handful of e+amples from the passages above will suffice to drive this point
home! While ad'ectives li$e glorious) ochre) etc! in (1 a! above can be said to denote
6ualities proper) angry in (1 c! certainly denotes a state! 5 noun li$e heat also denotes a
17 (art 38 9erbs8 "heir forms and types
state! Further) nouns (which may but need not be derived from verbs may also denote
events) i!e! actions or processes) e!g! victory) reign) failure) flash) glow! For e+ample) in
the sentence8 His victory in the competition was loudly celebrated, both victory and
competition semantically refer to events) yet they are linguistically encoded as nouns!
4t appears that this criterion is not sufficient to identify verbs as a word class and that
it needs to be combined with some other criterion or a cluster of criteria! However) this
broad semantic division into verbs denoting events and verbs denoting states seems to
be universally valid) and is) in fact) e+tremely important in the grammatical description
of :nglish verbs) as will become clearer in (art ; of the present volume where we
discuss aspectual oppositions! 9erbs denoting events (actions and processes are said to
be <=>5%4C) those denoting states are ?"5"49:! %ore precisely) we should say that
verbs can be used in a dynamic or a stative way! 4t is true that most verbs are inherently
dynamic and 'ust a small set of verbs are inherently stative) but there is a third set which
cannot be claimed to be inherently either dynamic or stative! "hey can be used either
way) with or without certain shifts in meaning! 5 set of criteria that may be used to test
whether a verb is used dynamically or statively is discussed in some detail in Chapter 5)
together with a subclassification of verbs based on this distinction!
3!0!1!3! %orphological (or formal criterion
5 definition of verbs may be attempted on a purely formal basis! "his means that we
could chec$ all the forms assumed to be verbs for the range of morphological processes
that they may undergo or have undergone! "his morphological chec$*up can proceed in
two directions (with respect to derivational or word formation processes and with
respect to inflectional processes) both involving several steps!
%orphological classification of verbs with respect to word formation structure
5ccording to their derivational (word formation structure verbs can be8
1! ?ingle*word verbs
3! %ulti*word verbs
"he former group comprises verbs that can be derivationally simple or comple+) the
latter is by necessity comprised of comple+ units! "his general division is not very
useful in practical terms) when it comes to determining whether a given form is a verb
or not! What is more) there are grave difficulties in determining the e+act status of
multi*word units) i!e! to which particular subtype they belong) provided we can establish
that they are verbs at all) since there are various multi*word combinations involving not
only verbs and particles but also ad'ective phrases and noun phrases) which ma$es them
loo$ rather li$e phrases) i!e! units at a ne+t higher level of analysis) or li$e idioms!
Grammatical Functions and Categories 1@
?ingle*word verbs
?ingle*word verbs can consist of 'ust one le+ical morpheme or be some combination
of two or more le+ical morphemes! 4n the former case) they are said to be simple verbs)
li$e8
(3 be) fly) ride) like) come) write) jump) force) wash) etc!
>ative :nglish verbs and borrowed verbs of foreign origin that appear to consist of
more than one le+ical morpheme) li$e become and decide) respectively) count as simple
verbs because they cannot be analy-ed into smaller meaningful units that have
morphemic status in the present*day :nglish language (they can be treated as comple+
only from a historical) i!e! diachronic) and etymological point of view!
>ote that word formationally simple single*word verbs are in fact morphologically
comple+ when furnished with some inflectional) i!e! grammatical morphemes8
(; a! fly A flie!s) fly!ing
b! 'ump A 'ump!s) 'ump!ed) 'ump!ing
<epending on the type of le+ical morphemes involved) morphologically comple+
single*word verbs can be8
1! compound*li$e verbs
3! affi+ations
Compound*li$e verbs involve two le+ical morphemes! "here are very few compound
verbs proper in :nglish that consist of two verbal elements! Cf!8
(B typewrite) test*mar$et) free-e*dry
>ote that some se6uences of two verbs are in fact nouns or ad'ectives8
(5 a! ma$e*believe (story
b! pass*fail (test) go*go (dancer) stop*go (economics
%ore fre6uent are combinations of verbs with particles as first elements e+emplified
in8
(7 overachieve) overeducate) outperform
9erbs such as8
1C (art 38 9erbs8 "heir forms and types
(@ blac$mail) bloc$*bust) baby*sit) breast*feed) browbeat) carbon*date) day*dream)
deep*free-e) ghost*write) head*hunt) proof*read) spoon*feed
at first blush appear to be compound verbs with a noun or ad'ective as the first element)
followed by a verb! However) most of these are results of the word formation process
called bac$ formation) whereby a more comple+ form) in this case a noun furnished
with some suffi+ (e!g! baby-sitter) is converted to the word class of verbs) which is
accompanied by the disappearance of the suffi+ that mar$s the source word as a noun!
9erbs formed by affi+ation can be prefi+ations or suffi+ations) depending on the
position of the affi+ relative to the word that functions as the base! "he base itself may
be a derived word formed by one of the word formation processes!
?uffi+ation may be word class maintaining or word class changing! 4n the former
case) the base to which a verb*forming suffi+ is added and the resulting word belong to
the same word class) in the latter) the base and the resulting word belong to different
word classes! 4t so happens that all verb forming suffi+es in :nglish are word class
changing) i!e! the base is a word from some other word class) most commonly a noun or
an ad'ective! "hese suffi+es that have causative or inchoative meaning (Dma$eEcause to
be such as base1 or Dbecome such as the base1 tend to be distinctively verbali-ing in that
they do not appear to be involved in the formation of words other than verbs (although
they may have the same form as some other suffi+es with different meaning and
different combinatory potential! "he most important verb forming suffi+es in :nglish
are8
(C *ate FeGtH) *en) *ifyE*fy) *i-eE*ise (>ote8 5m: E /r:
(I a! hyphenate) orchestrate) capacitate) fractionate. activate) domesticate
b! deafen) sadden) blac$en) widen) 6uic$en) ripen
c! amplify) diversify) electrify) intensify) beautify) codify
d! brutali-e) hospitali-e) ioni-e) legali-e) moderni-e) nationali-e) normali-e)
populari-e) symboli-e) terrori-e) unioni-e)
(refi+es are normally word*class maintaining! 9erb*forming prefi+es in :nglish may)
however) combine not only with verbal bases) but with non*verbal ones as well! "hey
may also appear with nouns and ad'ectives without change of word*class! "he most
common verb*forming prefi+es are8
(1J be*) de*) dis*) em*Een*) inter*) mis*) pre*) re*) un*
What is the semantic contribution of these prefi+es? Consider the following e+amples8
C (11 a! befuddle) belie) belittle) besmear) bespea$
I b! dehumani-e) dethrone) decentrali-e) devalue
1J c! disappear) disburden) discontinue) disown
11 d! embitter) en$indle) empower) enslave) encage
13 e! interact) interconnect) interrelate
Grammatical Functions and Categories 1I
1; f! misbehave) misinform) misfire) misunderstand
1B g! preconceive) predetermine) prefabricate
15 h! reconstruct) re*elect) refuel) refresh) renew
17 i! unbalance) undo) undress) unsaddle
4n which of the above words are the prefi+es word class changing?
%ulti*word verbs
"he most important classes of multi*word verbs in :nglish are combinations of verbs
with particles (which may be a preposition or an adverb! "here are hundreds of such
verbs! "hey come in three main subtypes) illustrated in (13 below8
1! phrasal verbs
3! prepositional verbs
;! phrasal*prepositional verbs
(13 a! bring about) call off) loo$ up) ta$e off
b! rely on) call on) hear of) listen to) refer to
c! put up with) do away with) loo$ forward to
(hrasal verbs are single verb le+emes in spite of their leaving the impression that we
are dealing with two words! "his is a single meaningful unit consisting of at least two
morphemes) which incidentally may be written as two orthographic words * the basic
verb and the particle!
"hree observations are worth pointing out briefly here! First) the meaning of many
such combinations is hardly predictable from the meanings of the basic verb and of the
particle) respectively! 4n other words) the meaning of such verbs is often idiomatic) e!g!
bring up) fall out.
?econdly) a single combination often has more than one meaning and use! "his
means) for non*native spea$ers) that multi word verbs have to be drilled and largely
learned by heart!
Finally) phrasal verbs) on the surface of it) loo$ li$e prepositional verbs since many
particles can function as either prepositions or adverbs8
(1; We relied on him to do the 'ob!
We are dealing in (1; with a verb governing a prepositional complement) i!e! with a
verb followed by a prepositional phrase! "he meaning of such combinations is
compositional) i!e! the addition of a preposition does not change the basic meaning of
the verb! >ote that there is nothing against a phrasal verb combining with a
prepositional complement) thus yielding a phrasal*prepositional verb) e!g! put up with!
3J (art 38 9erbs8 "heir forms and types
"he distinction between the two types of verbs can be made on syntactic grounds) too!
0ne of the tests is the separability of the particle with transitive phrasal verbs if the
ob'ect is pronominal8
(1B a! We gave it up!
b! KWe relied it on!
For some additional notes on phrasal) prepositional and phrasal*prepositional verbs) see
3!"!1! below!
%orphological classification of verbs with respect to inflectional processes
"he inventory of verbal inflectional affi+es in :nglish (all are suffi+es does not
happen to be very large8 there are all in all only four morphemes that can be added to
the /5?: F0#% of the verb! "hese are8
(15 *?) *:<) *:>) *4>G!
%orphemes are abstract units that may be reali-ed in various ways by means of morphs!
"o e+press the fact that morphemes are abstract units they are capitali-ed) as in (15
above! 5llomorphs are members of a family of morphs reali-ing a single morpheme)
e!g! FsH) F-H) Fi-H as reali-ations of As in speaks) mugs and buzzes respectively!
5ccording to their inflectional ma$e*up) we can distinguish four different forms of
verbs) in addition to the base form8
1! /5?: F0#%8 used in8
brea$ a! present simple tense) e+cept ;rd person singular.
:+! Old bones break easily.
b! imperative.
:+! Break the cauliflower into florets
c! sub'unctive (present.
:+! !he teacher suggested we break into groups.
d! infinitive (bare infinitive and to*infinitive
:+! He never let his jailers break him.
3! *? F0#%8 used in8
testifies a! ;rd person singular of the present simple tense
:+! !he open door testifies to the fact that she has left
in a hurry.
Grammatical Functions and Categories 31
;! *:< F0#% ((5?" used in8
:<
1
F0#%
'oined a! past simple tense
:+! !elephone operators joined the strike.
B! *:> F0#% used in8
((5?" (5#"4C4(,:)
*:< (5#"4C4(,:) a! perfective aspect.
:<
3
F0#% :+! Our party has defeated our opponents"
b! passive voice.
defeated :+! !he proposal was defeated by just one vote.
c! participial clauses
:+! #efeated by her arguments, he decided to go.

5! A4>G F0#% used in8
(*4>G (5#"4C4(,:
a! progressive aspect.
beginning :+! $fter waiting for half an hour,she was beginning to
get angry.
b! participial clauses
:+! Beginning to understand, he said nothing and left.
9erbs can be classified according to whether they will ta$e these suffi+es) and according
to which allomorph! First) one can distinguish between regular and irregular verbs!
?econdly) one can establish a special class of defective verbs!
#egular vs irregular verbs
"he first subclassification has to do with whether the verb forms the simple past
tense (*ed form and the past participle (*en form by adding the Aed morph of the A:<
morpheme! "here is a large number of verbs that productively ta$e regular suffi+es!
"heir Aed and Aen forms are therefore identical! "hese are called regular verbs! ?ome
verb forms are sometimes formed in an irregular way! "here are some 3JJ*odd so called
irregular verbs whose *ed forms (past forms and *en forms (past participles are not
predictable from the base form) although some of their forms may actually e+hibit the
regular suffi+!
33 (art 38 9erbs8 "heir forms and types
(17 base form *ed form *en form
give gave given
put put put
write wrote written
read read read
"he term ?"#0>G 9:#/ is sometimes used to refer to a verb which forms the past
tense and the past participle by a change of a vowel) i!e! in an irregular manner! 9erbs
forming these by adding a suffi+ are $nown as W:5L 9:#/s! "he pairs of terms)
strong and irregular) on the one hand) and wea$ and regular) on the other) do not appear
to be coe+tensive) i!e! they do not comprise e+actly the same sets! "his distinction is
discussed briefly in 3!"!3! below!
<efective verbs (5nomalous finites
"here is a small number of verbs that are defective in morphological sense in that
they do not ta$e any of the four morphemes) i!e! they have only one form that is
considered to be finite! "hese verbs are central modal au+iliaries such as must) can) will)
etc!8
(1@ a! must) Kmusts) Kmusting) Kmusted) Kto must
b! can) Kcans) Kcanning) Kcaned) Kto can
3!0!1!;! ?yntactic (or functional criterion
,oo$ing bac$ at our illustrative sentences we can see that some verbs can also be
identified as the central part of the predicate of a sentence! "his is the so*called
functional criterion in defining this word class!
"he predicate of a sentence may be simple) i!e! consist of 'ust one word) or be 6uite
comple+ and comprise a verb form and a noun) two verb forms that can in turn be
followed by a noun) etc! 4n fact) the predicate can assume the form of a 6uite long string
of words! 4n all these cases) regardless how simple or comple+ the predicate) we can
spea$ of a 9:#/ (H#5?: (9(! 4n8
(1C would have given
we have three verb forms within one 9(8 would) have) and given! 4s there any difference
between them in terms of their meaning and status within the 9(?
%iven belongs to the class called le+ical or main verbs that have a meaning of their
own and most of them can function as predicates alone) or at least as the central part of
Grammatical Functions and Categories 3;
the predicate or 9() when complemented by ob'ects or other elements of a sentence!
&ould and have belong to au+iliary verbs! "hese will be discussed in more detail in
Chapter ;!
,e+ical or main verbs may be further subclassified according to the syntactic
environment in which they may appear! "hey can in the first step be divided into
intensive and e+tensive verbs!
4ntensive verbs) also called copular) copulative or lin$ing verbs) are obligatorily
followed by predicative structures (called sub'ect complements such as noun phrases)
ad'ective phrases) clauses) etc! that complete their meaning8
(1I be) seem) appear) loo$) sound) become) turn) grow) prove) stay) remain
(3J a! Mohn is my friend!
b! 5nn seems to be very clever!
c! "hey are growing restless!
5ll other verbs are e+tensive! "hey can be further subclassified into intransitive and
transitive verbs! 5 verb is intransitive if it is not obligatorily followed by any
constituent) cf! (31! "ransitive verbs can be followed by one or two ob'ects) one or two
prepositional complements) by a combination of these) or by a direct ob'ect and an
ob'ect complement! Conse6uently) transitive verbs are monotransitive) ditransitive) or
comple+*transitive (if they are followed by an ob'ect and an ob'ect complement8
(31 a! "hey didn1t sleep (at all!
b! "he boy yawned!
(33 a! "he girl wrote a story!
b! (eter sent her a letter!
c! We relied on our friends!
d! We warned him of the danger!
e! "hey made us 6uite happy!
>ote that the term transitivity is used in a rather broad sense throughout this boo$ to
denote verbs that are obligatorily or optionally followed by one or two complements
(>() (rep() 5d'(! "hus) both rob and deprive can be described as ditransitive) although
only the latter obligatorily re6uires two complements8 !hey robbed him. vs K!hey
deprived him!
2.O.2. s!rvey of inflected verb forms
With the vast ma'ority of :nglish verbs the four morphemes (*?) *:<) *:>) *4>G
are simply added to the base form in order to derive the remaining morphologically
more comple+ forms! >ote that we have said that morphemes are abstract units that may
3B (art 38 9erbs8 "heir forms and types
be reali-ed in various ways by means of morphs! 4f there are several morphs reali-ing a
single morpheme) they are referred to as allomorphs!
However) it is 6uite often the case that a verb does not display five different forms!
"hey are sometimes formed in an irregular way! ?ome of them are not distinct from
other forms! ?ome verbs can even have fewer or more than five morphologically
distinct forms! ,ater) we will see that some au+iliary verbs in fact have only one form)
and to be as many as C different forms!
We shall now ta$e a closer loo$ at the four derived forms) noting different
allomorphs that may be involved in their derivation) as well as certain spelling
peculiarities they e+hibit!
3!0!3!1! *' form
(honological reali-ations
"here are three spo$en reali-ations) i!e! phonologically conditioned allomorphs)
depending on the sounds that precede the ;rd person singular present simple morpheme!
"hese allomorphs are8
(3; Fi-H) F-H or FsH
"he allomorph Fi-H is found after bases ending in8
a! voiced sibilant sounds F-H) FH) FdH8
(3B a! bu-- * he bu--es. snee-e A he snee-es
b! dodge * he dodges. bulge A it bulges
c! garage * he garages the car
b! voiceless sibilant sounds FsH) FNH) FtNH8
(35 a! hiss * he hisses. dress A she dresses
b! push * he pushes. wash A he washes
c! catch A it1s the early bird catches the worm. watch A he watches a match
"he s*morpheme is reali-ed as F-H after bases ending in voiced sounds other than
voiced sibilants ("hese sounds include not only voiced consonants but all vowels too8
(37 a! call * he calls
b! see * he sees
c! drive * he drives
4t is reali-ed as FsH after bases ending in voiceless sounds other than sibilants8
Grammatical Functions and Categories 35
(3@ a! $ic$ * he $ic$s
b! cut * he cuts
c! coo$ * he coo$s
"he spelling of the s*form
5s for the spelling of *s forms) there are several simple rules8
1! *es is added to verbs ending in Ass) *ch) *sh) *+) *- or to the verbs ending in *o8
(3C a! pass * he passes. watch * he watches. crush A he crushes. bu-- A he bu--es.
+ero+ A he +ero+es
b! go * he goes. do * he does. lasso * he lassoes
3! Final As may be doubled in a few verbs (derived from nouns by means of
conversion before the addition of Aes8
(3I bus A he bussesEbuses
gas A he gassesEgases
focus A he focusesEfocuses
;! Final *y preceded by a vowel letter remains unchanged) otherwise it becomes Aie
(the same applies to Aed forms) but it does not change in Aing forms8
(;J a! play * plays A played. stay A stays * stayed
b! buy * buys
c! cry * cries A cried * crying
d! fly * flies * flying
B! Final Aie remains before As (but changes before Aing8
(;1 die A dies * dying
tie A ties * tying
3!0!3!3! *ed form (past forms and *en form of regular verbs
(honological reali-ations
*(d forms (past forms and *en forms of regular verbs are identical and may be
phonologically reali-ed in three ways) as8
37 (art 38 9erbs8 "heir forms and types
(;3 F4dH) FtH) or FdH
"he allomorph F4dH occurs after bases ending in FdH or FtH8
(;; guard * guarded
hunt A hunted
"he allomorph FdH is found after bases in voiced sounds other than FdH8
(;B call * called
clean * cleaned
Finally) the allomorph FtH is selected after bases that end in voiceless sounds other
than FtH8
(;5 $iss * $issed
wor$ * wor$ed
"he spelling conventions for the ed*form and en* form of regular verbs
"he final consonant letter is doubled before the suffi+es *ed (and Aing in8
a! monosyllabic verbs) i!e! verbs consisting of only one syllable) spelled with a single
vowel letter immediately followed by a single consonant letter8
(;7 a! plan * planned * planning
stop * stopped * stopping
b! hit * hitting
What accounts for the doubling not ta$ing place in the following?
(;@ coo$ * coo$ed * coo$ing
hoot * hooted * hooting
bar$ * bar$ed * bar$ing
bang * banged * banging
b! disyllabic verbs (consisting of two syllables with the stress on the second syllable
ending in a single consonant letter immediately preceded by a single vowel letter8
(;C infer * inferred * inferring
commit * committed * committing
What accounts for the doubling not ta$ing place in the following?
Grammatical Functions and Categories 3@
(;I import * imported * importing
enter * entered * entering
c! final l is doubled even in unstressed syllable in /ritish :nglish (but not in
5merican :nglish8
(BJ travel * travelled * travelling
signal * signalled A signalling
6uarrel A 6uarrelled * 6uarrelling
d! with some verbs as e+ceptions in /r: (but not in 5m:) e+cept handicap8
(B1 traffic * traffic$ed * traffic$ing
humbug * humbugged A humbugging
program A programmed A programming
worship A worshipped A worshipping
$idnap A $idnapped A $idnapping
hiccup A hiccupped A hiccupping
handicap A handicapped * handicapping
9erbs ending in silent *e drop it before the suffi+ *ed8
(B3 force * forced
shape A shaped
trade A traded
crease * creased
Final Aie drops Ae before Aed (but changes before Aing8
(B; tie A tied A tying
lie A lied A lying
3!0!3!;! "he spelling of Aing form
"here is practically no allomorphy here) e+cept for the stylistically conditioned
alternation between the default FH and the collo6uial FnH) as in coming vs comin)!
"here are) however) a few notes concerning the spelling of this form!
9erbs ending in silent *e drop it before the suffi+ *ing (e+cept those ending in *ee)
e!g! agree) agreeing) see) seeing8
(BB force * forcing
shape * shaping
3C (art 38 9erbs8 "heir forms and types
Final *e is retained before *ing in words li$e singe) singeing FsinH in order to
distinguish it from sing) singing! 5lso in the *ing forms of8
(B5 canoe) dye) eye) hoe) shoe
(B7 a! dye * dyed * dyeing
b! die * died * dying
9erbs ending in *ie generally drop the *e and change the i to y when before *ing) so as
to prevent two i&s coming together8
(B@ die * dying
tie A tying
2.T. Topics for f!rther disc!ssion
2.T.1. "!lti#word verbs
"he label multi*word verbs is used to refer to several phenomena in the present*day
:nglish! "he three main categories are phrasal verb) prepositional verb) and phrasal*
prepositional verb) e+emplified in the following8
(1 How are you getting on?
(3 He thanked me for the help!
(; We are looking forward to meeting you!
"he label itself may appear contradictory at first blush! We have been employing the
label verb to refer to a class of words! "he term word may be used in a number of ways)
to refer to a le+ical item or a le+eme as an abstract unit) or to its reali-ations (to refer to
a morphological) a phonological unit) to an orthographic unit) to various forms of
le+ical items! "he term multi*word verb will be used here to refer to a verbal le+eme
that consists of more than one phonologicalEorthographic items) but semantically andEor
syntactically functions as a single le+eme!
9erbs are not the only word class that e+hibit such comple+ members! "here are)
among others) numerous comple+ prepositions) two*word se6uences (B) and three*word
se6uences (5) such as8
(B because of) due to) e+cept for) apart from) as for) according to) irrespective of)
prior to
(5 in charge of) in front of) in need of) by dint of) on behalf of
4n an e+ample such as8