The Verb

As a matter of fact the verb is “the most complex (and capacious) part of speech[1]”. The intricate nature of the English verb is quite vivid as it includes, as if in miniature, some other parts of speech in the shape of the so called non-finite verbs, or verbals (or verbids[2]). The various forms, that a verb can take, fall under the main divisions: finite and non finite (verbals). The finites can further be subdivided into three systems called moods. And verbals in their turn can also be subdivided into three systems: the infinitive, the gerund, the participle.

So, first we’ll begin with the properties that characterize the verb as a whole. It has the following properties:

1) Verbs name actions, states, and process. That is their lexico-grammatical meaning.

Eg: She is singing (process).

It is written (state).

We shall leave (action).

The lexico-grammatical meaning is expressed by typical stem-building elements, such as the suffixes: ize, - en, - fy; prefixes: re-, under-, over-, out-, super-, mis-, un-; the lexico-grammatical word-morphemes: up, m, off, down, out etc.

2) The verb has 7 grammatical categories: number, person, tense, aspect, voice, mood, order. Out of the categories of the verb system three are found not only the finite verbs, but in non – finite verbs (verbals: the infinitive, the gerund, the participle) as well. Two of them, voice (asks, is asked and order (asks -has asked, to ask - to have asked, asking - having asked) are found in all the verbals, and the third – aspect (asks – is asking, to ask – to be asking) is found in the infinitive.

The Category of Number shows whether the action is associated with one agent of the action or with more than one. Accordingly, it denotes smth. essentially different from what is indicated by the number of nouns. If we say “She goes to the library three times a day”, it doesn’t indicate a single going, but a single (doer) agent

Eg: am reading (is eating) – 1 agent.

are reading (eating) – more than one.

Some verbs don’t distinguish number at all because of the perculiar development (can, must); others are but rarely used in the singular because the meanings of “oneness”is hardly compatible with their lexical meanings;

Eg: to crowd, to conspire (устраивать заговор)

So, the number is a means for expressing syntactical relations.

The agent can be a person speaking or smb else. So, the verb has the category of person. The process naturally takes place at a certain time. So, the verb has the category of tense.

The verb has forms which show the direction of action. A process may have forms of the direction of action, so we say the verb has the category of voice.

The process may stand in different relations to reality as a fact, urge, probability, so, we say the verb has the category of mood.

The action can progress in different ways, so, we say the verb has the category of aspect.

3) Its characteristic combinability; a verb can be associated with nouns denoting the doer of the action expressed by the verb; it is regularly modified by adverbs. The process is dependent on an agent (the agent can be one or more than one).

Eg: We went on going in for sports. A girl playing…, the cat walking on the road.

4) The syntactical function of the verb depends on whether the verb is finite or non-finite. The verbals are: the infinitive, the participle, and the gerund. Finite verbs are always predicates, non-finitite verbs can be in any functions, but never predicates: they do not combine with the subject in person and number: a subject – it is dangerous to smoke, to smoke (smoking) is dangerous.

a predicative – the task is to study (studying)

an attribute – the book to read, idea of going

an object – like to read, insist on going

adverbial modifiers – I hate discovering…, he comes here to study, they left without saying good-bye.

The verb can be modified by an adverb. And if it is transitive, it can take a direct object.

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