The Conception ofAJ. Smirnitsky
According to A.I. Smirnitsky, circumstantial and qualitative adverbs are too heterogeneous to be united in one class. First of all, they differ semantically: circumstantial adverbs give an external characteristic of an action; qualitative adverbs give an internal characteristic of an action.
Second, they differ syntactically. Since circumstantial adverbs give an external characteristic of an action, they are not inwardly connected with the verb they are said to modify and do not form a word combination with it. Circumstantial adverbs usually refer not to the verb, but to the sentence as a whole.
Giving an inward characteristic of an action, qualitative adverbs are inwardly bound with the verb of the sentence and form with it an attributive word combination similar to that formed by an adjective with a noun. Cf.:
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He speaks slowly. — A slow speech.
They live happily. — A happy life.
Qualitative adverbs can modify not only verbs but also adjectives. The relationship between a qualitative adverb and the adjective it modifies is similar to that between an adjective and the noun it modifies. Cf.:
wonderfully beautiful —~ wonderful beauty,
awfully dark - awful darkness.
Circumstantial adverbs freely combine with the verb be, e.g.:
We shall soon be there (A.S. Hornby, A.P. Cowie, A.C. Gimson).
Qualitative adverbs generally do not combine with the verb be. One of the few exceptions is the adverb well, e.g.:
I'm quite well, thank you (A.S. Hornby, A.P. Cowie, A.C. Gimson).
All is well that ends well (Proverb).
Third, circumstantial and qualitative adverbs differ morphologically. Circumstantial adverbs have no regular connection with any other part of speech. As for qualitative adverbs, they are usually formed from adjectives with an -ly suffix, which is a productive adverb-forming suffix in Modern English. Since qualitative adverbs have the same stem as adjectives, dictionary compilers very often do not make a separate entry for them. Just like qualitative adjectives, qualitative adverbs have degrees of comparison.
In view of the fact that qualitative ^adverbs in -ly are semantically, syntactically, and morphologically closer to adjectives than to circumstantial adverbs, A.I. Smirnitsky suggests that they should be regarded as grammatical forms of adjectives. Adjectives, in his opinion, have two forms: adjectival and adverbial. The adjectival form is used in the function of an attribute to a noun. The adverbial form in -ly is used in the function of an attribute to a verb or an adjective. In other words, A.I. Smirnitsky recognizes the existence of circumstantial adverbs only.
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There is a grain of truth in his conception. However, since most linguists refer formations in -ly to qualitative adverbs, we shall regard them as adverbs, too.
Adverbs can name properties and circumstances or point to them. L.S. Barkhudarov and D.A. Shteling call adverbs that point to
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properties or circumstances pronominal adverbs because, just like pronouns, they have a very general meaning, e.g.: then, when, there, here, where, somewhere, anywhere, nowhere, everywhere, thus, so, how, sometimes, always, ever, never, etc.
Some pronominal adverbs, the so-called conjunctive adverbs, introduce direct questions and dependent clauses. Cf.:
When did that happen? (A.S. Hornby, A.P. Cowie, A.C. Gimson).
/ don't know when that happened (A.S. Hornby, A.P. Cowie, A.C. Gimson).
B.S. Khaimovich and B.I. Rogovskaya single out a third class of adverbs - quantitative adverbs that show the degree, measure, or quantity of an action, quality, or state. This class, in their opinion, includes such adverbs as very, rather, too, nearly, greatly, fully, hardly, quite, utterly, twofold, etc. Cf.:
It's very warm today (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
She was a rather big woman... (W.S. Maugham).
This dress is too small for me (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
The train was nearly full (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
My mother was quite a passionate woman (J.D. Salinger).
English grammarians do not classify adverbs into qualitative, circumstantial, and quantitative. They merely enumerate the semantic categories covered by adverbs. Thus, D. Biber and his coauthors mention 7 semantic types of adverbs: adverbs of place, time, manner, degree, additive adverbs (too, also, etc.), stance adverbs (probably, definitely, actually, really, apparently, mainly, typically, unfortunately, frankly, etc.) and linking adverbs (first, secondly, thirdly, altogether, namely, therefore, thus, though, however, etc.).
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THE VERB
General Characteristics
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The following features are commonly considered to be characteristic of the verb.
1. Meaning.
Verbs have either a generalized lexico-grammatical primary meaning of temporal property, e.g.: run, sleep, eat, etc. or a generalized grammatical secondary meaning of temporal property, e.g.: quicken, nationalize, etc.
2. Cpmbinabijity.
A. Intransitive verbs combine with nouns in preposition;
transitive verbs combine with nouns both in preposition and in
postposition. Cf.:
Your brother is waiting downstairs (A.S. Hornby, A.P. Cowie, A.C. Gimson).
No servants had entered the room (N. Monsarrat).
B. Intransitive verbs may combine with adverbs in
postposition, e.g.:
She smiled and laughed easily (Oxford Collocations Dictionary for Students of English).
C. Intransitive and copular verbs may combine with adjectives
in postposition, e.g.:
They both lay still for a long time (E. Caldwell).
George grew red in the face (W.S. Maugham).
3..Syntactic:..Functions.
Notional verbs perform the function of a predicate; auxiliary, copular, aspectual, and modal verbs make part of a predicate. Cf.:
The British invented football (L. and I. Soars).
/'// wake them (R. Lardner).
Bill became serious (J. Steinbeck).
We stopped working at tea-time (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
You can use my computer (P. Viney).
4. .Morphological .Structure.
Verbs can be simple (ask, say, come, go, etc,), derived, and compound. Derived verbs have either a prefix or a suffix or both. Verb derivational prefixes usually do not change the word class; i.e.
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a verb prefix is attached to a verb root to form a new verb with a changed meaning, e.g.: cook — overcook. The most common verb derivational prefixes are: re- (rewrite), dis- (dislike), over- (overeat), un- (unpack), mis- (mislead), and out- (outgrow).
Verb derivational suffixes usually change the word class; i.e. a verb suffix is attached to a noun or an adjective base to form a verb with a different meaning, e.g.:
class - classify,
black-blacken.
There are few derivational suffixes used for verb formation. The most productive verb derivational suffixes are: -ize/ise (characterize), -en (moisten), -ate (differentiate), and -(i)fy (notijy).
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The most productive way of forming new verbs is zero derivation (or conversion), e.g.:
a book (n) - to book (v),
better (adj) - to better (v), etc.
Another productive means of verb building is back formation, i.e. the creation of a new word from a false derivative by omitting the elements traditionally qualified as suffixes. Cf.:
a beggar (n) - to beg (v),
an editor (n) - to edit (v).
Blends, i.e. verbs formed by means of merging parts of two words into one, are also characterized by a high frequency of occurrence in Modern English. Cf:
grumble = growl + rumble,
clash = clap + crash,
flush =flash + blush.
The method of clipping consists in the cutting of one or several syllables of a word. Clipping is not typical of verbs since clipped verbs are generally formed by means of conversion from the corresponding clipped nouns. The derivational process can be represented in the following way:
a telephone (n) - a phone (n) <clipping> - to phone (v) <conversion>.
Sound interchange is not productive either, e.g.:
food —feed,
blood - bleed.
Neither is the change of stress, e.g.:
'export - (to) ex'port,
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'transport— (to) trans'port.
At the synchronic level, it is only verbs with prefixes or suffixes that are truly derived. The derivative nature of verbs formed by means of conversion, back formation, blending, clipping, sound interchange, and change of stress becomes evident only at the diachronic level. Synchronically, they are regarded as simple verbs.
Compound verbs include at least two stems, e.g.: broadcast, whitewash, etc. Compounding is not a productive means of forming new verbs.
The so-called phrasal verbs consist of two words: a verbal stem and an adverbial particle, which is usually referred to as postposition and, strictly speaking, should be excluded from the class of verbs. However, since the meaning of phrasal verbs often cannot be predicted from the meanings of the individual parts, English grammarians regard them as a subclass of verbs. In our opinion, they had better be called verb equivalents. Here are a few examples:
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find out - discover, obtain information,
give in — yield,
bring up - raise, educate.
This is one of the most productive ways of forming new verbs. No wonder that R. Courtney compiled a dictionary of phrasal verbs. Unfortunately, it includes not only combinations of verbs with postpositions but also combinations of verbs with prepositions. The use of a preposition often does change the meaning of a verb. Cf.: look after, look at, look for, etc.
But the preposition makes part of the following noun phrase, not of the verb. Cf.:
Who will look after the children while you go out to work? (R. Courtney).
A cat may look at a king (L. Carroll).
Are you still looking for a job? (A.S. Hornby, A.P. Cowie, A.C. Gimson).
That's why combinations of the kind look after, look at, look for, etc. can hardly be called phrasal verbs or verb equivalents.
5. MprpkQlQSical. Categories.
Morphologically, the verb is the most developed part of speech. It has the grammatical categories of person, number, tense, aspect, phase, posteriority, mood, and voice.
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Major Verb Classes
Morphplogical .Classes of Verbs
The English verb has three basic forms: infinitive, past indefinite, and Participle II. According to the way the past indefinite and Participle II are formed, verbs are divided into regular and irregular. Regular verbs go back to the so-called weak verbs in Old English. They form the past indefinite and Participle II by the suffix -(e)dft\aH originated from the verb do, e.g.:
to move - moved - moved,
to look - looked - looked.
Since they constitute the majority of verbs, it is logical to call them regular verbs.
Besides weak verbs, Old English had seven classes of strong verbs that distinguished their main forms by means of vowel gradation. In the course of time, radical changes have taken place in the domain of strong verbs. Some strong verbs have joined the weak conjugation; some have dropped out of use altogether. Nowadays, about 200 verbs depart from the regular way of forming the past indefinite and Participle II. Hence, the term 'irregular verbs'.
English grammarians single out seven classes of irregular verbs in the modern language.
1. Class 1 verbs take a voiceless -t suffix to mark both the past
indefinite and Participle II. It can replace a final -d of the infinitive,
or it may be added to the infinitive. Cf.:
to build - built - built, to learn - learnt ~ learnt.
2. Class 2 verbs take a -t or -d suffix to mark both the past
indefinite and Participle II, with a change in the infinitive vowel.
Cf.:
to feel-felt-felt, to sell - sold - sold.
3. Class 3 verbs take the regular -ed suffix for the past
indefinite but the -(e)n suffix for Participle II, e.g.:
to show - showed — shown.
4. Class 4 verbs have no suffix for the past indefinite but take
the suffix ~(e)n for Participle n, with a change in the infinitive
vowel for one or both. Cf.:
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to give - gave - given, to break - broke — broken.
5. Class 5 verbs have the past indefinite and Participle II
marked only by a change in the infinitive vowel, e.g.:
to begin - began - begun, to sit - sat - sat.
6. Class 6 verbs have past indefinite forms and Participle II
forms identical to the infinitive forms, e.g.:
to cut - cut — cut.
1. Class 7 verbs have one or more suppletive forms, e.g.:
to go - went — gone,
to be — was, were - been.
M. Ganshina and N. Vasilevskaya think that the seven classes of irregular verbs can be reduced to three main types: consonantal, vocalic, and unchangeable.
There is no one-to-one correspondence between the group of regular and weak verbs, on the one hand, irregular and strong verbs, on the other. The group of regular verbs includes etymological ly both weak and strong verbs, e.g.: grip, glide, lie, help, swallow, wash, shave, laugh, walk, etc.; while in the group of irregular verbs there are a number of etymologically weak verbs, e.g.: hide, put, send, teach, etc.
For many verbs, regular and irregular variants can be used both as past indefinite and Participle II forms, e.g.:
to burn - burnt (burned) - burnt (burned),
to dream - dreamt (dreamed) - dreamt (dreamed),
to learn - learnt (learned) - learnt (learned),
to smell - smelt (smelled) - smelt (swelled),
to spoil - spoilt (spoiled) - spoilt (spoiled).
The historical trend is towards a greater use of the regular -ed pattern. So it is not surprising that American English has a stronger preference for the regular variant of these verbs than British English. It is unexpected, however, to find conversation more conservative than the written registers in using the irregular forms.
The verb get has two irregular Participle II variants that occur following have: got and gotten. The form gotten is used in American English and almost always has a perfective meaning, e.g.:
/ can't believe Ginger's bike hasn't gotten stolen yet (D. Biber et al.).
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Have got in American English has a meaning roughly equivalent to have as a lexical verb, e.g.:
Look at that face. He hasn 'tgot any teeth (D. Biber et al.).
This example means He doesn't have any teeth/He doesn't possess any teeth rather than the true perfective use of get with the meaning He hasn't obtained any teeth.
In British English, both the simple and the perfective meanings are typically realized by have got. Cf:
Have you got an exam on Monday? (D. Biber et al.).
We have got ourselves into a rut (D. Biber et al.).
Nptional/Semi-Ngtipnal/Fun^
Taking into consideration the lexical meaning and the syntactic function of verbs, linguists divide them into notional, semi-notional, and functional.
A notional verb possesses a full lexical meaning of its own and forms a simple verbal predicate, e.g.:
Actions speak louder than words (Proverb).
The group of semi-notional verbs is constituted by aspectual verbs and verbs with a modal shade of meaning which do not weaken or lose their lexical meaning but which cannot form a predicate by themselves. They make part of a compound verbal aspective or modal predicate. Cf.:
It started raining (A.S. Hornby, A.P. Cowie, A.C. Gimson).
She wants to go to Italy (A.S. Hornby, A.P. Cowie, A.C. Gimson).
Functional verbs either lose or weaken their lexical meaning, but retain all the grammatical meanings common to the verb. In a sentence, they form part of a predicate. Functional verbs include auxiliary, copular, and modal verbs.
Auxiliary verbs constitute the first component of an analytical form of a simple verbal predicate, e.g.:
I did not answer (T. Chevalier).
Copular verbs form part of a compound nominal predicate, e.g.:
My daughter is tired today (T. Chevalier).
It is customary to classify copular verbs into three groups:
1) copulas of being, e.g.: be, feel, look, smell, taste, etc.;
2) copulas of becoming, e.g.: become, grow, get, turn, etc.;
3) copulas of remaining, e.g.: remain, continue, keep, stay, etc.
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Modal verbs form part of a compound verbal modal predicate,
/ could go back to my parents (T. Chevalier).
Auxiliary, copular, and modal verbs can also function as verb-substitutes. In this case they are stressed. Cf:
/ hear the tour went wonderfully. - It did (S. Sheldon).
But I-want you to be proud of me. -lam (S. Sheldon),
Change your mind. -I can't (S. Sheldon).
Auxiliary, copular, and modal verbs are referred to the class of intensifiers when special emphasis is put on them, e.g.:
/ am telling the truth -you must believe me (M. Swan).
// was a nice party] (M. Swan).
Imperative sentences and declarative sentences with the predicate-verb in the present or past indefinite are made emphatic by means of the intensifier do, which is always pronounced with strong stress. Cf.:
Do sit down (M. Swan).
Ida like the sun on my face (T. Chevalier).
She does talk a lot, doesn 't she? (M. Swan).
Why didn 'tyou tell him? -Idid tell him (M. Swan).
Semantic.Domains.of Verbs
Although many verbs have more than one meaning, D. Biber and his co-authors find it possible to classify verbs into seven major semantic domains.
1. Activity verbs.
Activity verbs primarily denote actions and events that could be associated with choice, and so take a subject with the semantic role of agent, e.g.: bring, buy, carry, come, give, go, leave, move, open, run, take, work, etc. Cf:
/ bought this car from Chris (A.S. Hornby, A.P. Cowie, A.C. Gimson).
We went to France for our holidays (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
2. Communication verbs.
Communication verbs can be considered a special subclass of activity verbs that involve communication activities (speaking and writing), e.g.: ask, announce, call, discuss, explain, say, shout, speak, state, suggest, talk, tell, write, etc. Cf.:
I told him my name (A.S. Hornby, A.P. Cowie, A.C. Gimson).
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George wrote me that he couldn 't come (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
3. Mental verbs.
Mental verbs denote a wide range of activities and states experienced by humans. They do not involve physical action and do not necessarily entail volition. Their subject often has the semantic role of recipient. They include both cognitive meanings (e.g. think, know, etc.) and emotional meanings expressing various attitudes or desires (e.g. love, want, etc.), together with perception (e.g. see, taste, etc.) and receipt of communication (e.g. read, hear, etc.). Cf:
/ don 't know what he wants (T. Chevalier).
I love you (D. Robins).
Can you see that ship on the horizon? (A.S. Hornby, A.P. Cowie, A.C. Gimson).
/ read that the new director is Spanish (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
4. Causative verbs.
Causative verbs, such as allow, cause, enable, force, help, let, acquire, permit, etc. indicate that some person or inanimate entity brings about a new state of affairs. Cf.:
His illness caused him to miss the game (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
/ helped him find his things (A.S. Hornby, A.P. Cowie, A.C. Gimson).
5. Occurrence verbs.
Occurrence verbs report events (typically physical events) that occur apart from any volitional activities. They include such verbs as become, change, happen, develop, grow, increase, occur, etc. Cf.:
He became a doctor (A.S. Hornby, A.P. Cowie, A.C. Gimson).
In autumn the leaves change from green to brown (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
6. Existence verbs.
Existence verbs report a state that exists between entities, e.g.: be, seem, appear, exist, live, stay, contain, include, involve, represent, etc. Cf.:
The book seems quite interesting (A.S. Hornby, A.P. Cowie, A.C. Gimson).
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This atlas contains fifty maps... (A.S, Hornby, A.P. Cowie, A.C. Gimson).
7. Aspectual verbs.
Aspectual verbs, such as begin, continue, finish, keep, start, stop, etc. characterize the stage of progress of some other event or activity. Cf.:
/ began to cry silently (T. Chevalier).
My parents kept encouraging me to study (M. Swan).
Richard stopped playing and came towards us (D. Robins).
Aspectiye Character of Verbs
The first attempt to classify verbs in accordance with their aspective character was made by E. Kruisinga and H. Poutsma. However, neither was a success because both failed to distinguish the aspective character in the meaning of the verb from the grammatical category of aspect.
G.N. Vorontsova has overcome this drawback. She regards the distinction between terminative verbs, non-termi native verbs, and verbs of double nature as lexical.
Terminative verbs, in her opinion, denote an action implying a certain limit beyond which it cannot go on. They answer the question ^fmo cdejiamb? Cf.: come, bring, stop, rise, reach, catch, leave, etc. Thus, in the verb come the internal limit is constituted by the moment of coming. When this limit is reached, the action is regarded as completed. No further development is possible.
Non-terminative verbs denote actions that do not imply any limit. They answer the question ^imo dejiamb? Non-terminative verbs are few in number. As a rule, they are verbs denoting state, e.g.: go, sleep, exist, stand, sit, speak, etc. The absence of the internal limit in non-terminative verbs is relative, of course. We are born and we die. Nevertheless, we qualify the verb live as non-terminative.
The aspective character of verbs of double nature varies in accordance with the situation. Cf:
When it's a nice day I walk to work, otherwise I go by bus (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English) - non-terminative meaning.
We must have walked ten miles today (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English) - terminative meaning.
The division of verbs into terminative, non-terminative, and verbs of double nature, suggested by G.N. Vorontsova, is not devoid of drawbacks either. According to V.N. Zhigadlo, I.P. Ivanova and L.L. lofik, there are no grounds for qualifying the distinction as lexical since the meanings of terminativeness and non-terminativesness do not constitute words as such but only accompany the lexical meaning of words, which is characteristic of grammatical meanings. The opposition 'terminative verbs - non-terminative verbs', however, does not form a grammatical category because to constitute a grammatical category grammatical meanings must have constant grammatical forms of their expression. As for the distinction of terminative and non-terminative verbs, it is not based on any difference in form. Such grammatical meanings are called dependent grammatical meanings.
Syndetic. Classes, of Verbs
In accordance with their combinability, verbs are usually divided into transitive and intransitive. Transitive verbs, in the opinion of H. Sweet, combine with a direct object, e.g.:
Boys like jam (H. Sweet).
Verbs that do not take a direct object after them are called by him intransitive, e.g.:
He fell (H. Sweet).
This definition is easily applied to inflected languages, such as Russian, for instance, in which the direct object is expressed by a substantive word in the accusative case. In English, things are different. The almost complete absence of inflections makes it difficult to distinguish between direct and indirect objects. Thus, in the sentence / gave David a book (A.S. Hornby, A.P. Cowie, A,C. Gimson) both the indirect object David and the direct object a book are inflectionally non-marked. That's why A.L Smirnitsky gives the following definition: transitive verbs are those that take non-prepositional objects; intransitive verbs are those that take prepositional objects. L.S. Barkhudarov, D.A. Shteling, N.A. Kobrina, E.A. Korneyeva, M.I. Ossovskaya and K.A. Guzeyeva widen the domain of transitive verbs by including into them verbs that combine with prepositional objects, e.g.:
He was waiting for me (T. Chevalier).
It is impossible to make a sharp distinction between transitive and intransitive verbs because transitive verbs can be used
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intransitively and intransitive verbs are often converted into transitive by a slight change of meaning. Cf.:
He sold the car at a good price (E.A.M. Wilson).
His new novel is setting well (A.S. Hornby, A.P. Cowie, A.C. Gimson).
He worked hard (O. Jespersen).
He worked his servants hard (O. Jespersen).
That's why O. Jespersen suggests that we should speak not of transitive and intransitive verbs, but rather of transitive and intransitive use of verbs.
Following O. Jespersen, V.L. Kaushanskaya and her co-authors, L.S. Barkhudarov and D.A. Shteling propose drawing a distinction between the primary and secondary meaning in verbs. Accordingly, they single out two verb classes.
1. Verbs whose primary meaning is transitive and whose
secondary meaning is intransitive. Here belong such verbs as sell,
read, act, etc.
2. Verbs whose primary meaning is intransitive and whose
secondary meaning is transitive. Here belong such verbs as work,
walk, run, etc.
Unfortunately, it is not always easy to say which meaning is primary and which is secondary.
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