Adjective Grammemes in Speech 17 страница
§ 275. What makes the present non-continuous perfect fundamentally different from the past non-continuous non-perfect can be briefly summarized as follows:
1) The present non-continuous perfect ex presses an act ion
which though belonging to the past is connected with the
present situation, whereas the past non-continuous non-
perfect denotes an act wholly unconnected with the present.
In brief, the past non-continuous non-perfect belongs to the
sphere of the past, the present non-continuous perfect — to
that of the present.
2) The present non-continuous perfect does not, as a rule,
occur in narration. For the most part it represents individual
acts, but not a successive chain of events.
3) The present non-continuous perfect denoting isolated
acts attracts the attention of the listener (or reader) towards
the action it expresses, whereas the past indefinite non-perfect
may leave it in the shadow 2.
!Op. cit , p. 115.
2 See И. П. И в а н о в a, op. cit., p. 128.
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Cf. I f о г go t Adrian: lie'll have to sit on his sticks and
think about bones and Diana. (Galsworthy). That American chap has not forgotten anything I see. (Galsworthy).
In the first situation the act of forgetting is not made prominent, what happens to Adrian being uppermost in the speaker's mind. In the second sentence it is the action of forgetting that counts.
The Past Non-Continuous Perfect
§ 276. As a unit of the language system it presents an act in the past (past tense) unspecified as to its character (non-continuous aspect) and preceding some situation (perfect order).
When it occurs in speech, the situation is usually specified either within the same sentence or outside it
E. g. He called all the powers of heaven to witness that never h a d a woman repaid with such gross deception an honest man's belief in her. (Maugham). He looked at his watch. He had been asked to dinner at half past nine... (Ib.).
Cf. The ministry has fallen. (Ib.).
(The situation in the present is not specified, as it is the situation of speech.)
§ 277. When used with terminative verbs it may acquire a distinct connotation of resultativity, as in
He reminded the bride that her father was a hero of the great war whose glorious wounds had been rewarded by a concession to sell tobacco. (Maugham).
The resultative tinge is sometimes uppermost in the speaker's (or writer's) mind, so'that the meaning of priority is actually suppressed.
E. g. He waited sullenly till the engineer had spread out the drawings on the floor. (Black). No one had bothered us when we were in plain sight along the railway. (Hemingway).
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§ 278. The past non-continuous perfect may be inclusive in meaning if supported by the context.
Dinny said you ha d n' t had any new breeches since the war (Galsworthy).
Unless supported by the context it is mostly exclusive.
He was not looking at her, so she was able to study him as she h a d n о t yet h a d the chance of doing. (Galsworthy). / knew he ha d I i v e d in China. (Randall).
§ 279. What makes it different from the present non-continuous perfect, apart from its tense meaning is the fact that the past non-continuous perfect is freely used in narration. Thus in the sentence The young man had opened the door, threw the pyjamas at the senator's head and quickly closed it again (Maugham) the past non-continuous perfect occurs in a sentence reproducing a succession of past events, where the past non-continuous non-perfect is the usual gram-meme. The past non-continuous perfect helps to stress the completeness of the first action. Here are some more passages illustrative of its use in narration.
Our house had collapsed backward..., by a chance the kitchen and scullery had escaped and stood buried now under soil and ruins closed in by tons of soil. (Wells).
Stephen had r e с о g n i z e d him at once and barely glanced at the crisp engraved visiting-card which the other presented to him as Jenny, with a murmured word, excused herself and left the room. (Cronin).
Occasionally it may acquire a distinct modal tinge of
irreality when used with to hope, to mean, etc., showing that
the hope or intention has not been carried out '. A person
says / had meant to apologize (Buck) when reprimanded for
not having done so. n
The Future No n-C ontinuous Perfect
§ 280. As a part of the verb system it presents a future action (future tense), unspecified as to its character (non-continuous aspect) and prior to some situation in the future (perfect order).
1 See Г. Н. В о р о н ц о в a, op. cit., p. 242.
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E. g. By their arrival everything will have been made nice and tidy. (Grey).
It sometimes acquires the modal meaning of supposition, as in
Mest people will have h e a r d of the beauty and cleanliness of this line. (Daily Worker).
The Present Continuous Perfect
§ 281. As a language unit it presents an action associated with the present (present tense), viewed in its development (continuous aspect) and preceding some situation in the present (perfect order).
§ 282. It is but natural that the present continuous perfect may have ал inclusive meaning in speech, in which case it is, as a rule, associated with an adverbial phrase or clause showing that the action still goes on.
Dinny, what have you been doing since we met last? (Galsworthy).
We h a v e b-e e n g о i n g to pictures about twice a week ever since. (Maugham).
The absence of the inclusive meaning when there is no adverbial to bring it out testifies to the truth of I. P. Iva-nova's J opinion that the inclusive meaning is not incident to the present continuous perfect as such.
Don't get drunk and start telling Neddy what you've been telling me. (Amis).
When there is no adverbial to show that the action still goes on, the present continuous perfect often carries the connotation of 'recently', 'just now'.
I'v e been telling her stories and telling her stories, and she just can't go to sleep. (Benson).
They have been dining here I think, sir. (Dickens).
You nave been dancing. You are heated. (Bronte).
1 Op. cit., p. 151.
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§ 283. It is self-evident that if a verb happens to be a non-terminative one the present non-continuous perfect and the present continuous perfect are synonymous, the difference between them lying in the manner of presenting an action.
Cf. "What sort of company have you kept since I last saw you?" she began. (Collins). We h a v e been keeping company ever since. (Buck).
This is, naturally, not the case when the verb is a termin-ative one.
Cf. What have you been doing these three months? (Dickens). What have you done, Robina? (Jerome).
When used with verbs of instantaneous action, it may denote an action of reiterative nature as in The new maid has been breaking my best china. (Braddon).
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§ 284. The present continuous perfect may acquire an emotional tinge, an emphatic force which occasionally grows so strong that the continuous nature of the action is hardly felt at all as in What have you been d о i n g to your hair? You are a picture (surprise, disapproval).
/ have been he a r ing all of your activities from little nurse Triar. No wonder everyone loves you. (Randall), (approbation).
The present continuous perfect is common in colloquial speech.
"You know I've been down to the Home several times" he said presently... "I h a v e been talking to them now on the "phone". (Galsworthy).
I'v e been feeling so jumpy lately, I thought may be it might be a good thing if I kind of got off by myself... (Lewis).
The Past Continuous Perfect
§ 285. The past continuous perfect has much in common with the present continuous perfect, the main difference between them being that of tense.
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It presents a past action as preceding a certain situation and viewed in its development.
E. g. I was aware that my railway worker and his wife had been living in Paris at the time of the war. (Bennett).
/ took the sculls, I h a d not been pulling for a minute or so when George noticed something black floating on the water. (Jerome).
§ 286. Like the present continuous perfect it may be inclusive if supported by the context or else exclusive as in
By that time I h a d been wo r k i n g for the firm for about a year and they seemed to be quite satisfied. (The Worker).
Here I saw this man whom I had lost sight of some time, for I h a d been travelling in the provinces. (Dickens).
It differs, however, from the present continuous perfect in being used chiefly in narration and in not possessing that peculiar emotional tinge which is sometimes found in the present continuous perfect.
§ 287. The future perfect continuous is actually nonexistent.
Voice Grammemes
§ 288. In the' system of the English language the active (non-marked) and the passive (marked) members of the voice opposeme are equal in rank, mutually complementing each other. This is not the case in speech where, in conformity with the general tendency, non-marked, i. e. less specific opposeme members usually prevail over marked ones.
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According to our statistics based on the analysis of 10,000 objective verbs, both finite and non-finite, the active voice occurs in speech in about 94 per cent and the passive — in 6 per cent of all cases.
§ 289. In Modern English speech the passive voice is mostly used in those cases when the doer of the action is a) unknown, indefinite or b) left unexpressed for some reason, as m: She was much admired. I hate being looked at. He re-
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fused to be beaten. In our family his behaviour was not spoken about.
According to Sweet "The passive is a grammatical device of bringing the object into prominence, of getting rid of the necessity of naming the subject" 1.
As proved by the research of some linguists, the so-called two-member passive (passive constructions in which the producer of the action is not mentioned) is much more common in English speech than the three-member passive (passive constructions including a word indicating the producer of the action). More than 70 per cent of all passive constructions in English speech are two-member ones.
§ 290. As we know, verb grammemes containing the meaning of 'active voice', whether actual or oblique, present the action as issuing from the doer, but sometimes they may acquire what can be described as 'passive' meaning.
Cf. to let a house and a house to let (i. e. offered for rent). The book reads well (i. e. is read easily). The surface felt smooth (i. e. when felt, it gave the impression of being smooth). In such cases transitive verbs do not attach an object.
~ § 291. It has been noted (§ 208) that 'passive voice' analytical words of the type is filled, was done-have homonymous word combinations denoting 'states', not 'actions'. The context often differentiates,the homonyms.
a) The presence of adverbial modifiers emphasizes the
dynamic meaning of the analytical word, as in Such letters
are often written in haste.
b) The syntactical coordination with 'active' verbs often
brings the idea of action into prominence.
E. g. He stepped into the coach away.
and was borne
c) The presence of the '6y-phrase' strengthens the idea
of action, making the passive construction to some degree
parallel to the active construction.
E. g. That was d о п e by his elder sister.
d) The continuous aspect is a sure sign of the analytical verb.
E. g. This work is being d о п e all over the world.
1 H. Sweet, op. cit, v. I, p. 113.
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§ 292. It has often been claimed that passive structures can be regarded as transforms of certain active structures 1.
It would, however, be erroneous to think that these constructions are always mutually convertible, provided the verb is objective.
a) To begin with, some verbal grammemes (e. g. those
represented by will be singing, has been singing, had been
singing, will have been singing, to be singing, to have been
singing) have no passive opposites.
b) Repin painted this famous picture and this famous
picture was painted by Repin are not absolutely identical
in meaning. In the passive construction the main stress falls
upon the word naming the doer of the action. It serves to
answer the question Who(m) was the picture painted by?,
while the active construction answers some question like
What did Repin do?
c) Two-member passive constructions which constitute
the bulk of passive constructions in Modern English speech
cannot be made active since they contain no word which might
become the subject of a parallel active construction 2.
d) A passive construction with the impersonal subject
cannot be made active, e. g. // is said, believed,
hoped, etc.
e) An active construction cannot be made passive if it
contains a reflexive pronoun or an infinitive as an object.
E. g. She admired herself in the mirror, but not *herself was admired... She promised to come. *To come was promised is impossible.
f) As already mentioned (§ 205) some objective verbs
have no passive opposites.
g) Active and passive constructions differ stylistically:
the active is markedly more colloquial, the passive being
largely confined to literary English, scientific prose 8.
1 See, for instance, N. Chomsky. Syntactical Structures. Russian
translation in «Новое в лингвистике», вып. II, М., 1962, р. 448—450.
See also К. Pike, op. cit., p. 26 "...a passive may be derived from an
active... John was hit by Bill would be a transform sentence of the under
lying sentence Bill hit John".
2 В. Н. Ж и г а д л о, И. П. Иванова, Л. Л. И о ф и к,
op. cit., p. 131.
3 М. Bryant, op. cit., p. 69.
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