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Lecture 5. Grammatical categories of the verb: the Tense




Grammatical category of he verb: voice in English.

Syntax. The voice denotes the relations between the subject, the predicate (and the object) of a sentence. When the subject performs the action expressed in the verb, the verb is in the active voice. When the subject receives the action of the verb, the verb is in the passive voice.

Semantics. The voice denotes the relations between the performer, the action and the receiver of an event described by an utterance.

The active voice is often livelier and more forceful than the passive voice. It also makes clear who is responsible for the action in the sentence. A transitive verb can become intransitive and vice versa.

 

Task1. Identify the voices and explain the differences in the following examples:

E. g. Shakespeare wrote the play.

The play was written by Shakespeare.

 

Don swept the floor clean.

The floor was swept clean.

 

The boy gave the book to Tom.

The book was given to Tom.

Tom was given the book.

 

They love each other.

Bony loves Clyde.

Clyde loves Bony.

 

He dressed himself

He dressed.

He dressed the boy.

 

He bought her car.

She sold her car to him. (the same event?)

 

Task 2. Change the voices. You may have to add some words.

 

1. The Daily News bought the pictures.

2. The team was given a pep talk by the coach.

3. Patrice had been appointed chairperson by the president of the student council.

4. A very old man rang the church bells every Christmas.

5. Our soccer team beat last year’s champions with a last-second goal.

6. Police released a description of the suspect.

7. The loud thunder awakened me from a deep sleep.

 

The questions to be prepared for the SRS-class:

1. Classes of verbs.

2. Semantic and syntactic characteristics of verbs.

 

While the aspect as a grammatical category in English is still under discussion, the tense category is universally recognized. All lexical and grammatical means are brought together in one semantic category of Temporality. Time is reflected through human perception and encoded in linguistic forms. Lexical means convey the idea of time with reference to the present moment (now, for present time, etc) and to the relative moments (after that, some time later, at different times). The present moment is identified as a ‘moment of speech’. However, the main means are tense forms of the verb. The grammatical meaning of tense is defined as a category of the verb which expresses the relations between the time of the action and the time of the utterance.

The English tenses denote present, past and future actions. The present including the moment of speech is a borderline between the past and the future. The past action does not have the moment of speech as its starting point. Those who maintain O.Jespersen’s ideas deny the existence of the Future tense (shall / will – original modal meanings – obligation and volition)

The English tenses express relative meanings between actions: in this respect, they show them in the present and / or past light. So, the starting point is the present or the past moment, on the basis of which other actions happen, e.g., He says he makes his best to improve the situation. She said that the picture had been stolen. We knew that she would leave some day.

Conclusion. Tense is the grammatical denotation of time in which the action is located. This placement of action is possible due to the speaker or writer who describes the event. The moment of speech (the present moment) serves as demarcation line between the past and the future. The moment of speech is a shifting phenomenon (I’am saying that he has come early, I said that he came early). Apart from the grammatical mark of tense there are lexical means which can give additional temporal characteristics to the action.

 




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