Verb: General: Finite and Non-Finite

VERB: GENERAL
FINITE and NON-FINITE

VERB: GENERAL
• 1 material processes They are doing the test.
• 2 processes of happening The elderly man is dying.
• 3 verbal She told me the truth.
• 4 mental He didn’t know the answer.
• 5 relational John has a new car.
• 6 existential There is a cat under the table.
FINITE VERBS
• NOTIONAL FUNCTIONAL
NOTIONAL VERBS
• relation of the subject of the verb to the process
denoted by the verb
• aspective verbal semantics
• verbal combinability with other language units

Grammatical Category
relation of the subject of the verb
to the process denoted by the
verb
Actional and Statal
aspective verbal semantics
Limitive and Unlimitive
verbal combinability with other
language units
Complementive and Supplementive

SEMI-NOTIONAL and FUNCTIONAL
• auxiliary verbs
• modal verbs
• link verbs
Non-Finite Forms
INFINITIVE GERUND PRESENT PERTICIPLE PAST PARTICIPLE
THE VERBALS
• double nature
• tense distinctions
• predicative constructions
VERBALS IN SENTENCES
• single verbal
Swimming is pleasant.
• phrase with a verbal
Thank you for coming so quickly.
• predicative construction with a verbal
There is no mistake about his being a genius.
The Infinitive
ACTIVE PASSIVE
SIMPLE TO DO TO BE DONE
CONTINUOUS TO BE DOING -
PERFECT TO HAVE DONE TO HAVE BEEN DONE
PERFECT CONTINUOUS TO HAVE BEEN DOING -
The Infinitive
• He was thought to be honest and kind.
• He is thought to be honest and kind.
• The manuscript is believed to have been written

in the 15th century.
• The manuscript was believed to have been
written in the 15th century.
The Infinitive
• To master this specialty is not an easy thing.
• It is necessary to master this specialty.
• He likes to drive his car fast.
• To understand all is to forgive all.
• The material to be used has been carefully
examined.
The Gerund
• He likes driving a car.
• They have an intention of organizing the meeting
in a week.
• After returning to Kazan he resumed his work.
• Her favourite occupation is knitting.
The Gerund
• I’m fond of translating articles like that.
• I was frightened by his opening the door so suddenly.
• Reading means gaining knowledge.
• Thank you for doing this work for me.
• Excuse my interrupting you.
• Do you remember taking your final exam?
• I see no other way of doing it.
• The conference hall was packed, but people kept on coming.
The Gerund
ACTIVE PASSIVE
SIMPLE DOING BEING DONE
PERFECT HAVING DONE HAVING BEEN DONE
Present Participle
ACTIVE PASSIVE
SIMPLE DOING BEING DONE
PERFECT HAVING DONE HAVING BEEN DONE
Past Participle
• worked done won studied
• When asked, he answered at once.

(adverbial modifier)
Functions of Participle I
and II in the sentence
attribute
• The fence surrounding the garden is newly
painted.
• We admired the stars twinkling in the sky.
• Tomorrow morning the ‘Right to Life’ campaign

supported by nine peace organizations will hold a
silent procession.
adverbial modifier
• Commenting last night on the plan he
warned the Ministry of the critical
situation which might develop.
• Asked to comment about the UN resolution

tabled by the Afro-Asian countries, the Prime
Minister replied…
Types of oppositions
privative gradual equipollent
Oppositions
binary more than binary
binary privative opposition
common and distinctive
Categories of Person and Number
TRADITIONAL
( 3 persons and 2 numbers )

Category of Person
third person - non-third person

Category of Person
I am We are
You are You are
He is They are
She is
It is
Category of Number
singular plural
Category of Voice
The police caught the criminal.
The criminal was caught by the police.

Category of Voice
Transitivity / Intransivity
Category of Voice
• 1. verbs used only transitively: to mark, to raise
• 2. verbs with the main transitive meaning: to see, to make, to build
• 3. verbs of intransitive meaning and secondary transitive meaning:
to laugh
• They laughed me into agreement.
• 4. verbs of a double nature: to grow
• 5. verbs that are never used in the Passive Voice: to seem, to become
• 6. verbs that realize their passive meaning only in special contexts:
to live, to sleep
Category of Voice
• John will be writing the essay.

• The essay will by written by John.
• John has been writing the essay for an hour.

• The essay has been written by John for an hour.
Category of Voice
• The essay will be being written by John.
• The essay has been being written by John for an hour.

Category of Voice
• A. Can I use the machine when I come in at this

time tomorrow?
• B. No – it’s going to be being tested. It’ll have

been going to be being tested every day for a
fortnight now.
Category of Voice
• The door was closed by the janitor.
• The door was closed.

Category of Voice
• My work is finished. vs. My work has been finished.

Get + Past Participle
The trees got blown down in the storm.
I’m afraid your file got lost in the move.
We got stuck in a traffic jam yesterday evening.
The college was opened by the Queen.

Global warming is caused by the build-up of greenhouse gases.
Food for cattle is flown in, as many towns have communal
helicopters.
Get + Past Participle
* get-passives are characteristically used in
sentences involving adversity or benefit
* get-passives tend to be avoided in formal

style
Medium Voice
The concert began on time.
The book sells well.
The cigarettes smoke easily.

Reflexive Voice
He shaved = He shaved himself
We washed = We washed ourselves
They dressed = They dressed themselves

Reciprocal Voice
Ted and Jane kissed.
Rodger and Anna met in the park.
Tom and Nancy divorced.
Jack and Sam often quarrel.
Category of Tense
TIME AND TENSE
Time is the same to all mankind
Tenses vary in different languages
_______________________________
past present future
TIME
lexically grammatically
They are in the room now

• This guy comes up to me and says that
he wants to see the boss, so I didn’t
think anything of it, and take him back to
the office.
•A rolling stone gathers no moss.
•John walks to school every morning.
•I leave for London tomorrow.
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
• It’s about a Swedish journalist, Mikael Blomkvist who is hired
by a retired businessman who wants him to investigate the
disappearance of a favourite niece about forty years
previously. The only clues he finds come from old photos and
newspaper clippings of the day she disappeared. Blomkvist is
helped by Lisbeth Salander, the ‘girl with the dragon tattoo’,
a misterious young woman who wears punk clothes and who
is a genius with computers. As the two of them uncover the
shocking truth, they put their own lives in increasing danger.
• Peter tells me (told) he has changed his job.
• The weatherman forecasts (forecast) heavy

showers in the north.
• I thought you were on the beach.
• I was wondering whether you needed any help.
• Did you want to see me now?
• I wish I weighed less than I do.
• If he went tomorrow, he could get all his work
done.
• He said he would not marry her.
Tense
deictic category
• Mary is walking in the garden.
• (absolute present tense)
• Peter said that Mary was walking in the

garden.
• (relative tense)
Category of Tense
◦the past tense - the present tense
(marked member) (unmarked member)
- (e) d [ -d, -t, -id ]
swam, did, put
The Future Tense
Shall ? Will?
Objections
1. a non-factive situation
2. will is a modal verb
3. present tenses with a future meaning

• Otto Jespersen
• Randal L. Whitman
• Rodney Huddleston
• L. S. Barkhudarov
• B. Ilyish
• M. Blokh
Give her my regards.
It is essential that she tells the truth.
The match starts tomorrow.
If she goes, I’ll go too.
I may/will see her tomorrow.
I intend/want to see her tomorrow.
I am seeing her tomorrow.
He is likely to come tomorrow.

Verb: General: Finite and Non-Finite

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VERB: GENERAL

FINITE and NON-FINITE

• aspective verbal semantics

• verbal combinability with other language units

Complementive and Supplementive

• The manuscript is believed to have been written

• When asked, he answered at once.

• We admired the stars twinkling in the sky.

• Tomorrow morning the ‘Right to Life’ campaign

• Asked to comment about the UN resolution

( 3 persons and 2 numbers )

third person - non-third person

The criminal was caught by the police.

• John will be writing the essay.

• John has been writing the essay for an hour.

• The essay will be being written by John.

• The essay has been being written by John for an hour.

• A. Can I use the machine when I come in at this

• B. No – it’s going to be being tested. It’ll have

• The door was closed by the janitor.

• The door was closed.

• My work is finished. vs. My work has been finished.

The college was opened by the Queen.

* get-passives tend to be avoided in formal

The book sells well.

The cigarettes smoke easily.

We washed = We washed ourselves

They dressed = They dressed themselves

They are in the room now

• The weatherman forecasts (forecast) heavy

• Peter said that Mary was walking in the

2. will is a modal verb

3. present tenses with a future meaning

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