Lecture 8. The Finite Verb: Categories
Lecture 8.
The Finite Verb: Categories
The essential characteristic of the category of tense is that it relates the time of the action, event or state of affairs referred to in the… In Modern English, the grammatical expression of verbal tense is effected in… 1) the process receives an absolutive time characteristic by means of opposing the past tense to the present tense.…
THE PAST TENSE (past) –––––VS.––––– THE PRESENT TENSE (non-past)
The structural nature of the expression of the category of primary time is the… Hence, the English verb acquires the two futures:
The Finite Verb: Aspect
The category of aspect is a linguistic representation of the objective category of manner of action. The realization of the category of aspect is closely connected with the lexical meaning of verbs (limitive and unlimitive verbs).
Regarding this category two systems of verbal forms are analyzed:
The continuous forms
The perfect forms reflect in a relative way a kind of timing (the category of retrospective coordination). The marked member of the opposition is…
The voice of the English verb is expressed by the opposition of the passive form of the verb to the active form of the verb. The sign marking the… The passive form expresses reception of the action by the subject of the… The active form leaves this meaning unspecified (expresses non-passivity).
Passivised verbs
The category of voice is immediately connected with syntax (direct transformational relations between the active and passive constructions).
The big problem in connection with the voice identification in English is the… 1) I will shave and wash. I'm afraid Mary hasn't dressed up yet. Now I see your son is thoroughly preparing for the…