Lecture 6 Verb and verb phrase
1. Classification of verbs
2. A survey of tense, aspect, voice and
mood
3. Tense and aspect:
Verbs
• What is a Verb?
• A verb is a part of speech that expresses
existence, action, or occurrence.
• There is a book on the table.
• He is studying Japanese now.
• Father bought me a new cap.
• This is the most important part of a sentence.
A sentence can have only one word as long as
that word is a verb.
Classification of verbs
1. Simple verb phrase vs. complex verb phrase
2. Main verb (notional verb, the head and
indicating the basic meaning of a verb phrase)
and auxiliary (to help main verbs )
transitive verb
main verb
intransitive verb
verb
linking verb
primary auxiliary
auxiliary
modal auxiliary
semi-auxiliary
Classification of main verb
1. Transitive verbs vs. intransitive verbs vs.
linking verbs (copula)
The fish is fresh. You don’t have to smell it.
The milk is going bad. It smells.
This dish smells delicious.
2. Dynamic verbs vs. stative (non-progressive) verbs
Dynamic verbs are verbs that refer to actions.
Stative verbs are verbs that refer to states,
including main verb be and have, verbs meaning
being and having, verbs referring to a sense
perception, verbs referring to a feeling, a state of
mind or an opinion.
The workers are building a new railroad.
This rule applies to everyone.
She doesn’t hear very well.
She became angry at the words.
I think you are crazy. Be quiet, I’m thinking.
P.73, 8A
3. Finite verbs vs. non-finite verbs
4. Regular verbs vs. irregular verbs
5. Single-word verbs vs. phrasal verbs
Classification of auxiliary
• Primary Auxiliaries :be, do, have
We are learning English. (help to form the
progressive aspect or the passive voice )
She didn’t come back last night. (help to form
negative and interrogative sentences )
I have finished my homework. (help to form the
perfective or the perfective progressive aspect.)
• Modal Auxiliaries:13
Phrasal verbs
• A phrasal verb is a verb that is composed of
two or more words. Some can be used as
transitive verbs, while some intransitive.
• Three categories:
• 1. Verb + preposition (transitive)
We must look into the matter immediately.
He couldn’t account for his long absence
from school.
more: apply for, break into, come across,
insist on, consist of, do without, complain
of, look after, adjust to, allow for, ask for,
call on, long for, listen to, care for, resort to,
speak of, etc.
• Compare:
She answered my question.
She will answer for his safety.
She attended the meeting.
She attended on the wounded.
She called me.
She called on me.
She called to me.
I know her.
I know of her.
• 2. Verb + adverb particle
A particle, in grammar, is a function
word ,but does not fit into the main parts of
speech (i.e. noun, verb, adverb). Particles do
not change. It is mostly used for words that
help to encode grammatical categories (such
as negation, mood or case).
The infinitive 'to' in 'to fly' is an example of a
particle, although it can also act as a
preposition.
I'm going to Spain next week.
Adverbial particle: up, down, on, off, in, out, over, away
• A fire broke out during the night.
The meeting has been called off.
Compare:
The lights went out.
He put on his coat and went out.
The wind blew up the valley.
He blew up the bridge.
More: back up, call off, give up, hand in, hand out, pick
up, take in, turn on, turn off, set up, show off, turn up
etc.
• 3. Verb + adverb particle + preposition
Please keep out of her affairs.
Will this enthusiasm carry over to the next
week?
I don’t want to come down with the flu again.
I will have to fill in for Wally until he gets back.
• Attention: Phrasal verbs are verbal idioms,
different form simple verbal combinations.
• More: catch up with, go in for, look up to, run
out of, live up to, look out for, etc.
• 4. verb + noun + preposition and verb + noun
• She soon realized that she was being made fun
of.
She indulged in luxury and made a made a
mess of her life.
• More: get rid of, put an end to, keep pace with,
make a fool of, keep an eye on, give rise to, etc.
A survey of tense, aspect, voice
and mood
1. Tense
• Tense is a grammatical form associated
with verbs that tells of the distinctions of
time. It shows the relationship between
the form of the verb and the time of the
action or state it describes.
Differences between tenses and
time
• Time is a concept universally existent with
three divisions: past time, present time and
future time. and tense may be a
grammatical device or vocabulary device
specific to a language.
English verbs have two tense: the present
tense and the past tense.
2. Aspect
• Aspect is a grammatical term indicating
whether an action or state at a given time
is viewed as complete or incomplete.
• English verbs have two aspects: the
progressive aspect and the perfective aspect.
• A combination of the two tense and the two aspects
makes it possible for a finite verb phrase to take the
following eight forms (with the main verb play as an
example):
•
EENSE-ASPECT
•
Simple Present
plays
Simple Past
played
Present Progressive
is playing
Past Progressive
was playing
Present Perfective
has played
Past Perfective
had played
Present Perfective Progressive has been playing
Past Perfective Progressive had been playing
• 3. Voice
• Voice is a grammatical category, a form of
the verb which shows whether the
subject of a sentence acts or is acted
on.
• the active voice
• the passive voice
• He published his second novel in 1998.
• This book was published in 1998.
• 4. Mood
• Mood is a finite verb form that indicate whether
an utterance expresses a fact, a command
or request, or a non-fact and hypothesis.
• the indicative mood
• the imperative mood
• the subjunctive mood
• He goes to church every Sunday.
Don’t be late for school. Go to school at once.
Mother insisted that he go to hospital at once.