Summary of English verb phrase structures
| Modal | Perfective | Progressive | Passive | Main (lexical) |
| might | have | seen | ||
| has | been | trying | ||
| is | being | turned | ||
| should | be | buying | ||
| can | be | bought | ||
| have | been | being | considered | |
| will | have | been | being | thought |
The Structure of Verb Phrases. Their Grammatical Categories.
The Verb Phrases exist of two types: finite VP and nonfinite VP. A finite VP is a verb phrase in which the first or only word is a finite verb, the rest of the verb phrase consisting of nonfinite verbs. Finite VPs can be distinguished as follows:
a) Finite verb phrases can occur as the VP of independent clauses.
b) Finite verb phrases have tense contrast, i.e. the distinction between present and past tenses:
Dear June is so original [59, p.87]
James sat down, all knees, elbows, frock-coat, and long white whiskers.[59, p.66]
c)There is person concord and number concord between the subject of a clause and the finite verb phrase. Concord is particularly clear with the present tense of be:
I am He/She/It is
} here } here
You are We/They are
But with most full verbs overt concord is restricted to a contrast between the 3rd person singular present and other persons of plural number.
He/She/Jim reads
} the paper every morning.
I/We/You/They read
With modal auxiliaries there is no overt concord at all:
I/You/She/ We/They can play the cello.
d) Finite verb phrases have mood, which indicates the factual, or counterfactual status of predication. In contrast to the “unmarked” Indicative Mood, we distinguish the “marked” moods Imperative (used to express commands and other directive speech acts), and Subjunctive (used to express a wish, recommendation, etc.)
A clause with a finite verb phrase as its Verb element is called a “finite verb clause” or, just a “finite clause”. Similarly, a clause with a nonfinite verb phrase as its Verb element is called a “nonfinite (verb) clause”.
The infinitive ((to)call), the –ing participle (calling), the –ed participle (called) are the nonfinite forms of the verb. Hence any phrase in which one of these verb forms is the first or only word (disregarding the infinitive marker to) is a nonfinite verb phrase. Such phrases do not normally occur as the verb phrase of an independent clause. Compare:
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The past subjunctive (or were-subjunctive) survives only in were as a past form of be. It is distinguishable from the past indicative of be only in the 1st and 3rd persons singular:
If she was leaving, you would have heard about it. [indicative]
If she were leaving, you would have heard about it.[subjunctive]
The indicative was is more common in less formal style.
Uses of the subjunctive. We distinguish two main uses of the present subjunctive:
a) the Mandative Subjunctive is used in a that-clause after an expression of such notions as demand, recommendation, proposal, intention (e.g. We insist, prefer, request; It is necessary, desirable, imperative ; the decision, requirement, resolution ).
b) The Formulaic (or optative) Subjunctive is used in certain set expressions:
God save the Queen Heaven forbid that…
Long live the King Be that as it may…
Come what may Suffice it to say that…
The past subjunctive is hypothetical in meaning. It is used in conditional and concessive clauses and in subordinate clauses after wish and suppose:
If I were a rich man, I would…
I wish the journey were over.
Just suppose everyone were to act like you.
Subjunctive were is often replaced in informal style by indicative was.
Voice. Active and Passive. The distinction between active and passive applies only to sentences where the verb is transitive. The difference between the active voice and the passive voice involves both the verb phrase and the clause as a whole. In the verb phrase, the passive adds a form of the auxiliary be followed by the –ed participle of the main verb. For example:
Kisses is kissed
Has kissed has been kissed
May be kissing may be being kissed
At the clause level, changing from active to passive has the following results:
a) the active subject, if retained, becomes the passive agent.
b) the active object becomes the passive subject.
c) the preposition by is inserted before the agent.
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Aspect. Aspect is a grammatical category that reflects the way in which the action of a verb is viewed with respect on time. We recognize two aspects in English, the perfect and the progressive, which may combine in a complex verb phrase, and are marked for present or past tense:
Present perfect - has examined
Past perfect - had examined
Present progressive - is examining
Past progressive - was examining
Present perfect progressive - has been examining
Past perfect progressive - had been examining
Conclusions to Part II
1. Verbs are the very large lexical word class in English. Verb is a part of speech which denotes an action.
2. The verb has the following grammatical categories: person, number, tense, aspect, voice and mood. These categories can be expressed by means of affixes, inner flexion and by form words.
3. As a word class verbs can be divided into three main categories, according to their function within the verb phrase: the open class of Full Verbs (or lexical verbs), and the very small closed classes of Primary Verbs, and Modal Auxiliary Verbs.
4. The verb has finite and nonfinite forms (called verbals). There are three verbals in English: the participle, the gerund and the infinitive.
5. The subclasses of lexical verb that can be identified tend to depend on the context in which they occur. Whilst the traditional grammars distinguished between transitive and intransitive verbs.
6. Verbs are the nucleus around which sentences are typically built.
7. Whether an item takes a specifier or not is an important characterizing feature for the functional categories. Those lexical categories that take a specifier are verbs; those that do not are nouns and adjectives.
8. Verb phrase is the part of the predicate constituent that does not contain optional adverbials.
9. The simplest verb phrase will be a main lexical verb on its own. The other constituents of the verb phrase will be modal auxiliary, perfect auxiliary, progressive auxiliary, and passive verb.
10. The Verb Phrases exist of two types: finite VP and nonfinite VP. They have the grammatical categories of the verb itself.
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Part III. Discourse Analysis of Verb Phrases in John Galsworthy’s
FORSYTE SAGA. Part I. THE MAN OF PROPERTY (pp.1-10)
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