1. Major verb classes, full verbs

Question 1

The term verb is used in two senses

Answer 1

1. Clause element (like Subject and Object)
2. Word class (like noun, adjective…)

Question 2

Verb phrase

Answer 2

Verb Phrase consists of one or more verbs -> “He is making a noise”
Verb phrase can operate as the verb in the clause -> “They linked hands”; “I can believe you”

Main verb - if there is only one verb in a phrase
Auxiliaries - if there are more verbs in the VP, the last one is main verb (the ones before are auxiliaries)

Question 3

Classification of verbs

Answer 3

1. Full verbs – main, lexical, meaningful, content – open class
2. Primary (auxiliary) verbs – to be, do, have – closed class
3. Modal (auxiliary) verbs – closed class
   - Central – can, may, must, will, shall, could, might, would, should
   - Marginal – used to, dare, need, ought to
   - Semi-auxiliaries – to be able to, to be about to
   - Modal idioms – had better, would rather, be over

Question 4

Three main categories, verbs can act in a sentence as:

Answer 4

• lexical (main verb in a sentence),
• primary auxiliary (main or auxiliary),
• modal auxiliary (auxiliary)

Question 5

Irregular verbs

Answer 5

They differ from regular verbs either:
- in the past inflection
- in the -ed participle inflection
- both of the above-mentioned

Question 6

Morphological form - morphemes (base form, inflectional -ing, -s, -ed)

Answer 6

1. Base form = root, listed in the dictionary, infinitive without the “to” (work, look…)
2. -s = 3rd person singular form (goes, plays, stays)
3. -ing
   - gerund = an infinitive which is used as a noun (a painting, voting, traveling)
   - Present/active = an action happening at this particular point in time (“he is eating right now”)
4. -ed
   - past tense = ed1 (“They spoke to me”)
   - Past passive participle = ed2 = -en (“They have spoken to me”)

Some verbs have 3 (put, bet, cost, hit, let)
5 (catch, bring, pay, say)
6 (burn, (drink – drank – drunk – drunken, shrunken)
8 (to be)
morphological forms (be, was, were, been, are, is, being, am)

Question 7

Spelling change Doubling

Answer 7

the consonant in front of the inflectional suffix (-ed, -ing) is doubled
+ Bar = barred, barring
– enter = entered, entering, dread – dreading

Exceptions:
- If the unstressed syllable ends with -l, -m, -p
Example: travelling, travelled, programming, worshipping…
- When word ends with -s, there is an option
Example: – bus = bussing, busing; focus = focussing, focusing

Question 8

Spelling change Deletion or addition of -e

Answer 8

• If the base ends in unpronounced -e (usually dropped -ing and -ed)
• Create = creating; bake = baking,
• If the base ends -ye, -oe, -nge (usually not dropped in front of -ing, but in front of -ed)
• Dye = dyeing, dyed
• -e also lost before -ed with words -ie, -ee
• Tie = tied; die = died
• -s words -> -e is added
• Pass = Passed, passes

Question 9

Spelling change Treatment of -y

Answer 9

• -y changes to -ie, -s (try - tries)
• -y changes to -I, -ed (try - tried)
• -y remains (preceded by a vowel) – stay – stayed
• -y remains -ing (carrying, saying, trying)
• -ie changes to -y -ing (die – dying, lie – lying, vie – vying, tie - tying)

Exceptions
- -y is preceded by -a → changes to -i (pay - paid)

Question 10

Finiteness

Answer 10

1. Finite V (určité, viem určiť gramatické kategórie) - In a finite VP – simple sentences – only the 1st verb is finite
   - 3rd person -s (always finite) “He calls me a duchebag.”
   - past form (ed1) (always finite) “I called you yesterday.”
   - Base:
   -> present “I call you”
   -> imperative “Call me again!”
   -> present subjunctive “I insist that she call and do that.”
2. Non-finite V - In a non-finite VP – all verbs are non-finite
   - -ing participle:
   -> Progressive form “I’m calling your mom right now.”
   -> ing participle “Calling Josh, I finally understood grammar.”
   - -ed2
   -> Perfect aspect, after have “I have called you twice today.”
   -> Passive voice after be “I was called to the principal’s office.”
   -> -ed participle clauses “Called twice, he ran as fast as he could.”
   - To infinitive “He wants her to call.”
   - Bare infinitive “he may call tonight.”

Question 11

Semantic feature Stative and dynamic verbs

Answer 11

• Depends on meaning in a given context
  1. Stative - refer to states, do not have a progressive form, no imperative
• when they take progressive form – the meaning is different (no longer a stative verb)
  a) States of mind (think, know, forget, believe, understand, realize)
  -> I’m thinking about what you think of me.
  b) States of 5 senses (see, smell, hear, taste, feel)
  -> I’m smelling this flower. It smells lovely.
  -> I see you (different meaning), I can see you (meaning with senses)
  -> It tastes delicious – adjectives!
  c) States of emotions (love, hate, prefer, adore, disagree, agree, wish)
  -> I like chocolate.
  d) Verbs of possession (have, own, belong)
  -> He has a new boyfriend.
  e) States of bodily sensation (ache, feel sick, hurt, itch, tickle)
  f) Some other verbs (need, cost, depend, consist)
  2. Dynamic - refer to activities, can be progressive (I’m learning how to knit.) and create imperative (Learn how to swim!)
  a) Activity V
• Inanimate forces – wind blows, engine runs, watch works
• Animate forces – dance, eat, work, play, sing
  b) Process V – over a period of time, grow, widen, ripen, change
  c) Stative verb as a dynamic one - different meaning

Verbs may shift from one category to the other – have (usually stative – I have a book., can be dynamic – I have dinner with my boyfriend every Friday)

Question 12

Syntactic features linking, transitive verb…

Answer 12

• According to the function in a given clause
  1. Linking (copular) V - Cs, A – verbs like “be” and similar, also “senses”
• become, make, elect, grow, go, get
• seem, feel, look, sound, appear
• (SVC, SVA)
  2. Intransitive V – its raining. I’m smiling – do not require an object, makes perfect sense by itself, sentence structure – most often SV
• SV It is raining.
• SVA He walks every morning.
• SV plane flies. (can be also used as monotransitive (we fly a kite))
  3. Transitive V – require an object
  a) Monotransitive - Od (I’ve written a book)
  b) Ditransitive – Oi+Od (She gave her a book)
  c) Complex tr.
  -> Od+Co (I find grammar easy)
  -> Od+ A (the adverbial here is obligatory) – he put the book on the table
  Some verbs may be transitive and intransitive, it depends on a context
• We can fly (I)
• we can fly a plane (Mt)
• we can fly you anywhere (DiT)
  4. Ergative V - (intransitive or transitive with the same meaning) - the subject of the intransitive verb is the same as the object of the transitive verb
• open, ring, cook, boil, wash, sell…
  -> Mary opened the window T (active meaning)
  -> The door opened I (passive meaning)