Сметанина М.Н. - Лекция 3 по Теор. грамматике | Текст песни

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Lecture 3

9. Verb. Grammatical Category of Tense

The verb is the most complex part of speech. In fact it is a system within system because it falls into two sets of forms: the finite forms of the verb and the non-finite forms. Both of them participate in a number of morphological categories.
The verb is traditionally defined as a part of speech which expresses actions and processes. This holds true both about the finite and the non-finite verbs. And it is proved by the fact that in all its forms the verb is modified by the adverb and it takes a direct object with the transitive verb. Ex.: He demanded an answer angrily and that frightened the girl. The girl was frightened by his demanding an answer angrily.
The verb performs various syntactic functions in the sentence. Its main
function is that of the predicate. The verb is characterized by special word-building morphemes and special formal features expressing the corresponding grammatical categories. The verb is characterized by a number of morphological categories: tense, aspect, voice, mood.
The Category of Tense is universally recognized. The category of tense may be defined as a grammatical category which reflects the objective category of time and expresses on this background the relation between the time of the action and the time of the utterance.
The grammatical category reflects the objective subdivision of time into present, past and future and at the same time it is connected with psychology. It is especially evident in the understanding of the present tense. If we tried to fix the objectively existent present moment we’d have failed because it is constantly shifting. Psychologically we widen this moment to a period which includes not only the moment of speech but can occupy some considerable time: a day, a week, a month or several years: He works at his new novel now.
The problem of the number of tenses in English has been disputed for a long time. Some grammarians distinguish three tenses: present, past and future. The forms of “The Future-in-the-Past” are considered to be mood forms.
A different approach was proposed by professor I.P. Ivanova who put forward the theory of time centres. According to her conception the system of tenses consists of independent (indefinite) and dependent (all other forms) tenses. Verb forms expressing dynamic development are related with the moment of speech. Other verbs are referred to some sphere either in the Past or in the Future. She calls them time centres.
Professor N. F. Irtenyeva also suggests a two-fold division of the system of
tenses. She distinguishes the tenses centering in the Present (Present Simple, Continuous, Perfect, Perfect Continuous and Future in all the groups of tenses) and the tenses centering in the Past (Past Simple, Continuous, Perfect, Perfect Continuous and Future-in-the-Past in all the groups).
So I.P. Ivanova practically recognizes the Past and the Future and N.F. Irtenyeva – the Past and the Present.
The Future Tense is not recognized by many grammarians on the ground that the verbs shall and will are modal verbs. But there is a different point of view according to which the verbs shall and will can lose their modal meaning and be used to express pure futurity: I doubt if I shall ever see you again. In this sentence modality is expressed by the verb “doubt”.

10. Verb. Grammatical Categories of Aspect and Phase
The Category of Aspect is probably the most disputable category in English. There are several problems which arise in connection with this category: 1) the character of the category; 2) its relation to other grammatical categories such as tense; 3) the number of aspects; 4) the means of expressing the category.
Some grammarians believe that it is not a grammatical but a semantic or logical category because it has no specific means of expression. In many cases the aspective meaning is rendered lexically:
Ann began to type. (beginning of the action)
He looked at her hard. (duration of the action)
She looked up quickly. (momentary action)
An hour ago I became the Captain’s wife. (resultative action)
She always makes me laugh. (repeated action)
There are various conceptions of the category of aspect.
Prof. Ivanova’s conception is that there are aspect-tense forms
(Continuous, Perfect, Perfect-Continuous) opposed to pure tense forms (Indefinite).
Prof. Ilyish distinguishes between the Common and the Continuous aspects, the first being expressed by the Indefinite forms.
Prof. Blokh distinguishes the aspective category of development expressed by the opposition of continuous/non-continuous forms, and the category of retrospective coordination (retrospect) which is constituted by the opposition of the perfect forms of the verb to the non-perfect forms. Thus prof. Blokh includes the Perfect forms into the category of aspect.
The Problem of Perfect. Perfect is closely connected with the categories of tense and aspect. There are several lines of approach:
1. Perfect forms are treated as aspect forms. In this case grammarians recognize the so called Resultative Aspect or the Aspect of Completion.
2. Perfect forms are treated as tense forms. In this case they are termed Resultative tenses.
3. Another point of view combines the first two: Perfect forms are treated as tense-aspect forms because they express both tense and aspect.
4. A different approach was put forward by prof. Smirnitsky who considered that it is a special category of time relation or the category of correlation. The latest term is the category of phase.
Prof. Smirnitsky proved that the meaning of time relation is the basic meaning of Perfect and this meaning is quite different from the meanings of tense and aspect. Perfect forms express the relation of the action to some
moment which may be denoted lexically or by another action: No sooner had I started speaking than the train began to move. We’ve done everything.

11. Verb. The Category of Voice
The category of voice is defined as the grammatical category which shows the direction of the process as regards the participants of the situation reflected in the syntactic construction.
The category of voice in English is expressed by the opposition of the passive form of the verb to the active form. The Passive form is marked by “be + Participle II”.
The English verb does not exist outside the category of voice. It penetrates the system of finite and non-finite forms of the verb with the exception of modal verbs. In English the category of voice has a much broader representation than in Russian: I’ve just been rung up by the police. The child will be looked after all right. Have you ever been told that you’re very good-looking?
At first glance it seems that the opposition active/passive gives a complete system of voices in English. But some grammarians distinguish more than two voices in English – namely the so called “medial voices”.
Let us consider the following examples:
1. He washed, dressed and came down (washed himself, dressed himself).
2. The friends met yesterday (met each other).
3. The door opened.
These examples are distinguished as reflexive, reciprocal and middle voices respectively. If we recognize their existence we must assert that the patterns “v + self prn” and “v + each other” have auxiliaries expressed by a self- pronoun and each other from the point of view of morphology. From the
point of view of syntax we must decide whether they are separate parts of the sentence or they should be treated together with the verb.
Prof. Blokh points out that these cases lack regularity and in many instances they lack the outer form of expression (when the pronoun is omitted). That is why he considers them to be examples of the reduction of the voice opposition.
Prof. Ilyish proves that these cases are peculiar forms of the active voice.

12. Verb. Grammatical Category of Mood
The disputed problems of the category of mood are: the number of moods, the kind of moods and the terminology used.
The category of mood expresses the outer interpretation of the action by the speaker who introduces it either as actual or imaginary.
Various scholars distinguish various number of moods in English.
Two moods:
H. Sweet – fact mood (Indicative)/thought mood (Subjunctive)
Curme, Barkhudarov – Indicative/Subjunctive
Three moods:
Ilyish, Ivanova – Indicative/Imperative/Subjunctive
Four moods:
Vorontsova – Indicative/Optative/Speculative/Presumptive
Six moods:
Smirnitsky, Ahmanova – Indicative/Imperative/Oblique moods (Subjunctive I, Subjunctive II, Conditional, Suppositional).
The difficulty also consists in the coexistence of the synthetic and analytical forms of moods. The synthetic forms are homonymous with the forms
of Past Indefinite and Past Perfect. The analytical forms are homonymous with Subjunctive II of the modal verbs shall and will (should and would). E.g.:
If she tried, she would manage to master riding by the autumn.
If she