The Verb

Irregular Forms

good	better	the best	гарний,хороший
bad	worse	the worst	поганий
old	older (age) elder (family order)	the oldest the eldest	старий
far	farther (distance) further (order)	the farthest the furthest	далекий, далеко
much, many	more	the most	багато
little, few	less	the least	маленький, мало
near	nearer	the nearest (distance) the next (order)	близький, близько
late	later (time) latter (order)	the latest (time) the last (order)	пізній, пізно

The verb is a part of speech which denotes an action. The verb has the following grammatical categories: person, number, tense, aspect, voice and mood.

Verbs may be transitive and intransitive.

Verbs have finite forms which can be used as the predicate of a sentence and non-finite forms which cannot be used as the pre­dicate of a sentence.

According to their morphological structure verbs are divid­ed into:

v simple, e.g. read, live, hide, speak;

v derived, having affixes, e.g. magnify, fertilize, captivate, undo, decompose;

v compound, consisting of two stems, e.g. daydream;

v composite, consisting of a verb and a postposition of adver­bial origin, e.g. sit down, go away, give up.

The basic forms of the verb in Modern English are: the Infinitive, the Past Indefinite and Participle II: to speak – spoke – spoken. According to the way in which the Past Indefinite and Participle II are formed, verbs are divided into regular verbs, irregular verbs, and mixed verbs.

According to the syntactic function of verbs, which depends on the extent to which they retain, weaken or lose their meaning, they are divided into notional verbs, auxiliary verbs and link verbs.

a) Notional verbs are those which have a full meaning of their own and can be used without any additional words as a simple predicate. Here belong such verbs as to write, to read, to speak, to know, e.g. I read and write very quickly.

b) Auxiliary verbs are those which have lost their meaning and are used only as form words, thus having only a grammatical function. They are used in analytical forms. Here belong such verbs as to do, to have, to be, shall, will, should, would.

I don’t speak German. He has read this book twice.

c) Link verbs are verbs which have partially lost their meaning and are used in the compound nominal predicate:

They are very good people.

He suddenly turned pale.

In different contexts the same verb can be used as a notional verb and an auxiliary verb or a link verb:

I do lessons every day. (notional)

Do they speak any foreign language? (auxiliary)

Peter is in the classroom. (notional)

John is listening to music. (auxiliary)

Mark is a sailor. (link)

d) There is a special group of verbs which cannot be used without additional words, though they have a meaning of their own. These are modalverbs such as can, may, must, ought, etc:

I can cook perfectly.

Present Simple = Present Indefinite

The Present Indefinite is formed from the infinitive without the particle to. In the third person singular the ending –s is added. The interrogative and the negative forms are formed by means of the Present Indefinite of the auxiliary verb to do and the infinitive of the notional verb without the particle to.

Affirmative	Interrogative	Negative
I work	DoI work?	Ido not (don’t)work
He work s	Doeshe work?	Hedoes not (doesn’t)work
She work s	Doesshe work?	Shedoes not (doesn’t)work
It work s	Doesit work?	Itdoes not (doesn’t)work
We work	Dowe work?	Wedo not (don’t)work
You work	Doyou work?	Youdo not (don’t)work
They work	Dothey work?	Theydo not (don’t)work

The Present Indefinite is used:

1. To express facts which are always true, general statements or a universal truth:

The earth goes round the sun.

Domestic animals return to their homes.

2. To express habitual or repeated actions in present (usually, sometimes, often, rarely/seldom, never, always, every…, once/twice a week).

We often see him in the evening.

She never drinks coffee.

3. To express permanent actions. Such actions give a general characteristic to a person.

She has skills in her work.

She sings and plays the piano beautifully.

4. When the action as such attracts the attention of the speaker and the idea of its progress becomes unimportant at the moment:

You talk too much.

I repeat, you have to stay.

5. With verbs that perform the action they describe (performative verbs), e.g. to accept, to advise, to apologize, to deny, to guarantee, to inform, to predict, to promise, to recommend, to suggest, to suppose etc.:

I admit I can’t see you.

I refuse to believe in it. (refusal)

6. To describe the events in a narrative, when the events are summarized. To describe what happens in a film or book.

In Chapter 1, Susan meets David, and agrees to go to the school dance with him.

7. With Stative Verbs (verbs describing states) (not used in the Continuous), e.g. to agree, to love, to like, to belong, to contain, to consist, to cost, to hear, to know etc.:

Now I know what you mean.

I see she understands me perfectly.

8. To express future actions according to timetable, programme (for public transport, theatre etc.).

My train leaves at 11.30.

Tomorrow is Monday.

The Present Indefinite is used with the following time indicators:

every day, usually, often, always, never, sometimes, from time to time, seldom=rarely, at weekends, on Sundays, (several times)/once/twice a week, as a rule.

Present Continuous = Present Progressive

The Present Continuous is formed by means of the Present Indefinite of the auxiliary verb to be and Participle I of the notional verb. In the interrogative form the auxiliary verb is placed before the subject. In the negative form the negative particle not is placed after the auxiliary verb.

Affirmative	Interrogative	Negative
I am working	AmI working?	I am not working
He is working	Ishe working?	He is not working
She is working	Isshe working?	She is not working
It is working	Isit working?	It is not working
We are working	Arewe working?	We are not working
You are working	Areyou working?	You are not working
They are working	Arethey working?	They are not working

The Present Continuous is used:

1. To express actions which are in progress, in their development now, at the/this moment:

It is raining now. I can’t go out.

We are not speaking at the moment.

2. To express habits over a period of time, temporary habits. The action is not necessarily happening at the time of speaking.

He is writing a new play now. I think it will be successful.

I am reading a very interesting historical novel. It’s about the Second World War.

3. To show that the situation is temporary (at this period, currently, this year, this season).

Banks are lending more money these days to encourage new businesses.

I’m living with some friends until I find a flat.

4. To express changes, developments and trends over a period of time.

The climate is getting warmer.

The prices are going up.

5. To express anger or irritation at a repeated action, to emphasize that something is done repeatedly (too/very often, all the time) (always, constantly, continually).

You are always coming late.

He is constantly losing his keys.

6. To describe background events when we give commentaries, instructions, tell a story or a joke.

She goes up. She looks tired. She is carrying a bag full of shopping.

7. With some Stative Verbs when there is a change of meaning and they become dynamic verbs (denote an action):

I am thinking of you.

She is having breakfast.

8. To express future actions which are fixed personal arrangements made in advance.

Peter is getting married next month.

We are flying to Paris tomorrow.

9. With never … again to show the intention not to do something in future.

I’m never speaking to you again.

I’m never driving again.

The Present Continuous is used with the following time indicators: now, at the moment, at present, nowadays, still, these days, this year (month),today, at this period, currently, always/constantly/continually (постійно).

Дата добавления: 2014-12-29