Imperative Mood Grammemes in Speech

§ 302. In most cases they serve to present an order, com­mand, exhortation, request, etc. as a direct expression of the speaker's will.

In certain surroundings, however, mostly in the first coordinate clause of a compound sentence or when used paren­thetically, they can express a condition ^l the consequence of which is stated in the same sentence.

E. g. D о it again and you will find it much easier. This event, only t г у to see it in its true light, will show you who is at the bottom of all this. (Daily Worker).

THE VERBIDS

§ 303. Besides the features common to the English verb as a whole (see § 188) the verbids have certain features of their own distinguishing them from the finite verb.

1. Their lexico-grammatical meaning is of dual nature.
The verbal meaning of 'action, process' is presented as some
kind of 'substance' (gerund, infinitive) or 'quality' (parti­
ciple).

2. They have peculiar morphemes: -ing (gerund and
participle I), -(e)d, -(e)n (participle II), to (infinitive).

3. There is duality in their combinability. They form
connections with adverbs, nouns, pronouns (denoting objects
of action) like finite verbs, and with finite verbs, like nouns
or adverbs. There are also other combinative models typical
of verbids.

4. Their syntactical functions are quite different from
those of the finite verb. They are very rarely used as predi­
cates (except secondary ones, see § 310), but they are used
in almost any other function in the sentence.

§ 304. The lexico-grammatical meaning of the verbids, though essentially that of the verb (they denote actions), has something of the lexico-grammatical meanings of other parts of speech. The gerund, for instance, denotes an action partially treated as a substance. Thus, in the sentence Going there put an end to her anxiety the gerund going, though de­noting an action, presents it at the same time as a substance which produced the act of putting an end to something. The same in To tempt Providence was the practice of Modern­ity (Galsworthy), in which to tempt, though denoting a proc-

¹ See В Н. Ж А г а д л о, И. П. И в а н о в а, Л. Л. И о ф и к, op. cit., p. 115.

ess affecting a certain 'object' (Providence), is presented as a 'substance' identified" with another 'substance' (the practice of Modernity).

The participle denotes a 'qualifyingaction', i. e. an action presented as a property of some substance (like an adjective) or a circumstance of another action (like an adverb).

E. g. He looked at his son with twinkling eyes. (Snaith).

"Let me do it", he s a i d kneeling beside her. (Ib.).

§ 305. The verbids have special morphemes distinguishing them from the finite verb. They are: the suffix -ing of the gerund, the suffixes -ing, -en, -ed, etc. of the participle and the word-morpheme to o the infinitive, 'these morphemes are very peculiar. They are not lexical or lexico-grammatical morphemes because they do not characterize all the words of the verb lexeme. Compare, for instance, the suffixes -ize, and -ing in realizes, has realized, to realize, realizing, being realized. The suffix -ize is found in every word of the lexeme, the suffix -ing only in some words.

The -ing morpheme differs from grammatical morphemes as well. Grammatical morphemes are used to form grammatic­al opposemes. Cf. asks — asked — will ask. The suffix -ing of the gerund is not used to form any grammatical oppos­emes. It serves to oppose all the gerunds to all the non-gerunds. Thus it is a peculiar g г о u p-suffix within the verb lexeme.

The same could be said about the homonymous -ing suffix of the participle. But two additional remarks are nec­essary.

1. The participial -ing morpheme does not unite all the
system of the participle. The so-called participle II (written,
asked) has different suffixes.

2. Since participle I is used to form analytical 'contin­
uous aspect' grammemes, the -ing suffix of the participle
has become a grammatical morpheme of the finite verb as
well. The suffixes of participle II are not group-suffixes be­
cause participle II is a one-word system. In all other respects
they resemble the participial -ing suffix. They are used as
grammatical morphemes participating in the formation of
'passive voice' and 'perfect order' grammemes (see § 206).

Of great interest is the to word-morpheme of the infini­tive. It is a word-morpheme because it has only the form of a separate word, but not the content, and it functions as part of a word. It is a group-morpheme (like -ing), but unlike the participial -ing it is not used as a grammatical morpheme. Cf. shall come, not *shall to come.

Unlike other group-morphemes, the word-morpheme to is not used in certain surroundings (see § 315).

§ 306. The verbids do not possess many of the categories of the finite verb, such as number, person, tense and mood.

§ 307. Here is a table presenting the paradigms of the verbids

The Paradigm of the Infinitive

 

 

Order and aspect	Voice
Active	Passive
non-perfect, non-continuous	to write	to be written
non-perfect, continuous	to be writing	to be being written '
perfect, non-continuous	to have written	1 to have been writ­ten
perfect, continuous	to have been writ­ing	to have been being written '

¹ Rarely used. See John Millington-Ward. Peculiarities in English. London, 1957, p. 250.

The Paradigm of the Gerund

 

 

Order	Voice
Active	Passive
non-perfect	writing	being written
perfect	having written	having been written

The Paradigm of the Participle

 

 

 

 

 

Participle I	Participle II
Order	Voice
Active	Passive
non-perfect	writing	being written	written
perfect	having written	having been written

§ 308. The combinability of the verbids is of mixed nature. Partly, as we have seen, it resembles that of a finite verb. But some models of combinability are akin to those of other parts of speech.

The gerund may be preceded by a preposition and a pos­sessive pronoun, like a noun.

E. g. One could see that without his even speaking. (Abrahams).

The participle is regularly connected with nouns, like an adjective, and with verbs, like an adverb. See the examples in § 319.

§ 309. The functions of the verbids in the sentence are different from those of the finite verb. The latter regularly

functions as the predicate of the sentence. The verbids are, as a rule, not used in this function. But they are used in most other functions.

To g о to Fleur was. what he would like to do. (Galsworthy). (To go is a subject.)

He promised not to tell her about the offer. (Wilsen). (To tell is used as an objective complement.)

In -the sentence They looked up at the sky to s e e if it was flying weather (Maugham) the infinitive is an adverb­ial complement of purpose and the gerund is an attribute. In She is a s p-o i I e d child not t о be trusted (Gals­worthy) both the participle spoiled and the infinitive to be trusted are attributes.

§ 310. One of the peculiarities of the verbids is their being used as secondary predicates. In the sentence / saw them dancing two actions are named as well as the doers ol those actions. But there is a great difference between / saw and them dancing. I saw is more or less independent. It makes a predication (see § 381), the backbone of a sentence, or the sentence itself. Them dancing can exist only in a sentence where there is a predication. The tense and mood relations of the finite verb are then reflected in the verbid and it be­comes a secondary predicate, and combinations like them dancing become secondary predications, (see §§ 394, 395) often called complexes or nexuses (see § 324).

The Infinitive

§ 311. The infinitive is a verbid characterized by the following features:

1. Its dual lexico-grammatical meaning of an action,
process partially viewed as a substance.

2. The categories of voice, aspect and order (see paradigm
on p. 185).

3. Its peculiar combinability resembling that of the verb,
and partly that of the noun.

Like a finite verb the infinitive is associated:

a) with adverbs, e. g. to speak fluently;

b) with nouns and pronouns denoting the doer or the object
of the action.

E. g. We expected у о и to bring the book.

Like a noun the infinitive may be associated with a finite verb: To land seemed impossible. I promised to come.

4. The word-morpheme to.

5. The syntactical functions of subject, predicative,
object, attribute, adverbial modifier, etc.

6. Its participation in analytical forms like shall bring,
will bring, should bring, would bring, etc.

The infinitive representing an action in its most general form is often treated as the initial form of the verb, 'the verbal nominative', in the terminology of A. A. Shakhmatov *.

§ 312. The infinitival to is usually called a particle ~, but it is never mentioned in the chapters dealing with parti­cles, and with good reason too, for it does not possess the prop­erties of a particle. Particles as a part of speech are charac­terized by their lexico-grammatical meaning of "emphatic specification'-' (see § 372). The infinitival to does not empha­size or specify anything. All particles have distinct lexical meanings. To has no lexical meaning whatever. Particles are characterized by extensive combinability: they form combinations with words of almost any part of speech. To is connected only with the infinitive. All this clearly shows that to is not a particle. It is a group-morpheme of the infi­nitive. Its being a word-morpheme at the same time distin­guishes it from other group-morphemes, such as -ing, -en, etc.

§ 313. Like other word-morphemes to can represent the whole analytical word.

Compare the answers to Will you go?

1) Yes, I shall, where shall represents the analytical
word snail go.

2) / want to, where to represents the analytical word to
go.

§ 314. Like other word-morphemes, to can be separated from the rest of the analytical word by some other word or words, in which case linguists speak of ihe split infinitive.

¹ А. А. Шахматов. Синтаксис русского языка Вып. II,
Л., 1927, р. 43.

² М. Ganshma, N. Vasdevskaya, op. cit., p. 213 and many other
authors.

Cf. He will fully appreciate...

In order t о fully appreciate ... • E. g. They asked him t о personally intervene to stop the closure of the Hoi у rood Knitwear factory. (D. W.).

§315. The presence or absence of this word-morpheme depends on the environment of the infinitive in speech, thus the infinitive is used without its word-morpheme to after some verbs and verbal expressions, namely: a) after modal verbs (save ought), b) verbs of physical perceptions — to see, to hear, to observe, to perceive, to watch, c) to make, to let, to bid, d) had better, would rather, etc.^l

§ 316. The aspect, order and voice meanings of the infi­nitive are the same as in the finites. We shall only re­mark here on some special uses of the perfect infinitive in speech.

After such modal verbs as should, ought, might, the past tense of to be (used as a modal verb) and the past tense of verbs denoting hope, intention, expectation, wish, etc. the perfect forms of the infinitive carry a peculiar modal meaning to show that the hopes, intentions, etc. have not been re­alized.

My father might have made millions in the theatres and film studios. (Shaw).

/ hoped to have written you a long letter. (Gaskell). / ought not to have stayed there so lon'g.

The forms to have written, to have stayed in combination with the verbs hoped, ought express the modal notion of irreality.

When the perfect infinitive is used with the present tense of modal verbs, as in He must have arrived. He may have arrived, it expresses the speaker's judgement in the present concerning the probability of some prior action.

He т и s t have b e e n a rum old bird. (Shaw). Your arrival cannot have been announced to His Majesty. (Ib.).

¹ See M. Ganshma and Л. Vasilevskaga, op. cit., p. 213—214

The Participle

§ 317. The participle is a verbid characterized by the fol­lowing properties:

1. Its dual lexico-grammatical meaning of a qualifying
action.

2. The categories of voice, order (see paradigm on p. 186).

3. Special suffixes: -ing (participle I), -(e)d, -t, -(e)n
(participle II). Participle II is sometimes characterized by
internal inflexion (written) or by a zero suffix (put).

 

4. Its peculiar combinability partly resembling that of
the verb (the participle is associated with adverbs, with nouns
and pronouns denoting the object of the action), and partly
that of the adjective (it modifies nouns) and of the adverb
(it modifies verbs).

5. Its most characteristic syntactical functions of attrib­
ute, adverbial complement, etc.

6. The participation in analytical forms like is asking,
is asked, has asked, is being asked, etc.

§ 318. As to the verbal features of participle I they do not differ in the essential from those of the infinitive and the gerund. The grammeme traditionally called 'past parti­ciple' (participle II) stands somewhat apart (see § 207). It possesses a number of peculiar features which are worth considering in detail.

Subjective verbs (see § 198) such as to exist, to die, to lie (лежать), etc. which do not admit, as a rule, of being used in the paseive voice, have no participles II used independently (i. e. not as parts of analytical words). There are but a few exceptions to this principle such as runaway, fallen, couched, collapsed, vanished, gone, come, faded, withered, retired.

E. g. A fallen idol, vanished civilizations, dream come true, etc. Sweet also mentions such combinations as a learned man, a drunken man. In most of the examples given above the idea of action is suppressed, whereas the notion of quality is made prominent, and we may say that these participles (e. g. learned, drunken, faded, retired, etc.) either have become adjectives or are in the process of adjectivization.

Participle II has no opposite of order, but in speech it denotes simultaneousness or priority depending on the lexical meaning of the lexeme it belongs to and the context it occurs in. If the verb happens to be a terminative ode, the participle

mostly expresses priority, unless the context shows the con­verse. If the verb is a durative one, the participle usually shows simultaneousness. Cf.: She looked at the broken cup ... (where broken — participle II of a terminative verb — denotes priority), and This old man loved and respected by all his friends is a teacher (where loved and respected denote actions simultaneous with that of the finite verb).

Thus, the difference in meaning between loving (a child loving his mother) and loved (a child loved by his mother) is only that of voice; whereas in case of terminative verbs — such as to break — the semantical difference may also be that of order, as breaking mostly denotes simultaneity, bro­ken — priority ^x.

Since these distinctions between participle I and parti­ciple II depend on the lexical meanings, they can hardly be regarded as members of a grammatical opposeme of voice or order. The participle loving has a voice opposite being loved and an order opposite having loved.

§ 319. As we have already mentioned, the adjectival and the adverbial features of the participle are connected with its combinability.

Participle II is mostly used to modify nouns.

E. g. My forgotten friend ... Marlow was dead and buried.

As to participle I, the combinability of different gram-memes is different.

The non-perfect active participle may modify both nouns and verbs.

E. g. His smiling eyes; smiling slyly, he stretched out his hand.

The non-perfect passive usually modifies verbs, but occasionally (when the verb is durative) nouns.

E. g. Not being invited there, I chose to stay at home. It would be advisable to achieve agreement on measures to discontinue the war propaganda being conducted in certain states. (Daily Worker).

¹ See А. И Смирницкий Перфект и категория временной отнесенности. «Иностранные языки в школе», 1355, № 1.

The other grammemes are used only to modify verbs.

E. g. H a v i n g been d e t a i n e d by the flood, he came late.

§ 320. English participles like those of Russian, Ukrainian and other languages, may sometimes develop into adjectives, the idea of quality gradually overshadowing that of action, as in standing water — стоячая вода, a charming woman — очаровательная женщина, written work — письменная (конт­рольная) работа. They may develop into nouns, the idea of substance outweighing that of action — the wounded — раненый, the accused — обвиняемый, the deceased — покой­ный, etc. Both adject ivizat ion and substantivization involve the change of combinabllity and function, i. e. they are cases of conversion (see § 57).