动词1、VERBS(I)

CHAPTER VIVERBS (I)6.1 A verb is a word for saying something (usually an action or a state) about some person or thing. The verb has the following grammatical categories: person, number, tense, voice, mood, etc. (动词是表示人或物的行为或状态的词。

它具有人称，数，时态，语气等语法范畴。

)7.2 Finite and Non-finite Forms of the VerbIn the finite from the verb agrees in person and number with its grammatical subject since it is used, by itself or along with a predicative or a non-finite form, as a predicate in the sentence. The non-finite forms of a verb are three in number : the infinitive, the participle and the gerund. They may fulfil different functions in a sentence, but they do not by themselves serve as a predicate. The term “non-finite”indicates that they are not limited in person and number by the subject. Compare the forms in the following sentences: Sichuan dogs bark at the sun. (finite)Barking dogs seldom bite (participle as attribute).He interfered with the matter by freely exercising his fraternal authority. (finite)We warned him not to interfere with the matter.(infinitive as part of complex object)Men almost invariably learn by experience. (finite)There is no royal road to learning.(gerund as prepositional object)6.3Notional, Auxiliary, Link, Modal and Semi-auxiliaryverbsAccording to their meaning and syntactical functions verbs may be divided into five classes: notional, auxiliary, link, modal and semi-auxiliary.1)A notional verb has a meaning of its own and forms asimple predicate, e.g.He persisted in denying his knowledge of it.2)An auxiliary verb helps to form a verb phrase used toexpress a simple predicate.3)A link verb helps to form a compound [nominal]predicate. The most commonly-usedlink verbs are “be”, “become”, “remain”, “get”, “turn”, “look”, etc.4)A modal verb helps to form a compound [verbal]predicate5)A semi-auxiliary verb, like a modal verb, also helps toform a compound [verbal]predicate.The following are commonly-used semi-auxiliary verbs: be about to be apt to be bound to be certain tobe going to be liable to be (un) likely to be sure tobe to had better/best have [got] to appear tocome to fail to get to happen toseem to turn out to, etc.all semi-auxiliary verbs, except those with “be” or “have”as a first element, do not takeinversion or negation with “not”without an auxiliary or modal verb, e.g.I didn’t get to see her yesterday.I got not to see her yesterday. (wrong)How could you get to see her yesterday?How got you to see her yesterday? (wrong)But : Is the teacher likely to come?You had better not to go.Semi-auxiliary verbs, similar to modal verbs, cannot bemade passive themselves. They allow the passive only in the infinitive after them, e.g.She got to be seen.She was got to be seen. (wrong) [by him]The play happened not to be seen.The play wasn’t happened to be seen(wrong)6.4Transitive and Intransitive VerbsNotional verbs can be further divided into two classes: transitive and intransitive.1)Transitive verbsThere are three types of transitive verbs corresponding closely to the different types of objectand complement:(1)Monotransitive (those taking a direct object), e.g.Don’t sidestep the crucial question.I believe that he is correct.(2) Ditransitive (those permitting an indirect object inaddition to a direct one), e.g.Can you show me the book you mean?She didn’t tell me what she was looking for.(2)Complex-transitive (those taking a complex object i.e.an object + complement), e.g.He always thinks himself something.Return the magazines where they have been.2)Intransitive verbs (those taking no object), e.g.She dances very well.The birds were still singing when I awoke.3)Some verbs which are essentially transitive maysometimes be used intransitively. Thistakes place:(1)Owing to the result of the omission of the self-pronoun,e.g.As he rose and dressed [himself], he thought over what had happened the day before.John, behave [yourself]!(2)As the verb is intransitive in form but passive inmeaning, e.g.The car can’t drive.The play reads more easily than it acts.(3)When the object is clear from the context, e.g.Hasn’t he received my letter? I wrote [the letter] two weeks ago.They arrived in Changsha last Monday and I left[Changsha] yesterday.(4)When the object is of “general meaning”, e.g.He speaks and writes well.She paints nicely.4)In contrast, there are some other verbs which areessentially intransitive may be usedtransitively:(1)With a causative meaning, e.g.He walked the horse to and fro. (=He made the horse walk to and fro.)She ran her eyes over the list.They marched the prisoners away.He stood the bottle near the window sill.(2)With the preposition after the verb left out, e.g.The dethroned king has already fled [from] the country.They talked [about] literature all the evening.He knows an intern who is walking [in] the hospitals there.(3)With a cognate object (i.e. an object already impliedmore or less in the verb itself), e.g.He lived a great life.She died a glorious death.He laughed a hearty laugh.Last night I slept a peaceful sleep and dreamed a happy dream.5)Very often with some verbs which can be used bothtransitively and intransitively, it is difficult to know which of the two uses is the original one, e.g.Transitive IntransitiveI didn’t get his idea. I didn’t get at the meaning of what he said.She opened her heart to the Party. The exhibition opened last Friday.He is reading the newspaper. He reads well.He stopped the car and studied the opening The car stopped.with his field glasses. The vacation begins on July 1st.He at once began a third book.6.5Fundamental Forms of VerbsThe four fundamental forms are “the present form”, “the past form”, “the past participle” and“the present participle”, e.g.Prese Past Past Presentnt ParticipleParticipleRegular work worked worked workingIrregular speak spoke spoken speakingFrom these the other forms of the verb can be made. The past participle is used with various forms of the auxiliary verb “be” to form the passive voice, with the auxiliary verb “have”to form the perfect tenses. The present participle, when preceded by various forms of the auxiliary verb “be”, forms the continuous tenses. Take the verb “speak”as an example, the following are the 16 tense forms (active) of it:Pres ent Indefinite Continuous Perfect PerfectContinuous SpeakspeaksamarespeakingishavespokenhasHave beenspeakinghasPast spoke wasspeakingwere hadspokenhad beenspeakingFut ure Shallspeakshall bespeakingshallhaveshall havebeen speakingwill will willspokenwillPast Fut ure shouldspeakwouldshould bewouldspeakingshouldhavewouldspokenshould havebeenwouldspeaking6.6Regular and Irregular Verbs1)Regular verbs form the past form and the pastparticiple by adding “-ed” and the presentparticiple by adding “-ing”, to the present form, e.g.Present Past Past Present form form participle participlelaugh laughed laughed laughingwant wanted wanted wantingBut some spelling changes should be noted:(1) With verbs ending in “e”, add “d” only for their pastand past participle and omit“e” before “-ing” in the present participle, e.g.live lived lived livingarrive arrived arrived arriving(2) With verbs ending in “ie”, change “ie” to “y” before“-ing” in the present participle, e.g.die died died dyinglie (说谎) lied lied lying(3)With verbs that end in “y”preceded by a consonant,change the “y” to “i” before “-ed”,e.g.dry dried dried dryingtry tried tried trying(4)The final consonant letter is doubled before “-ed” and“-ing” if the consonant is single,preceded by a single vowel letter, and if the verb is monosyllabic or stressed on the last syllable, e.g.dip dipped dipped dippinglag lagged lagged laggingcontrol controlled controlled controlling(5)With a few verbs ending in “c”, change “c”to “ck”before “-ed” and “-ing”, e.g.mimic mimicked mimicked mimickingtraffic trafficked trafficked trafficking(6)With verbs that end in “I”and a few other verbs,double the final consonant even whenthe last syllable is not stressed, e.g.marvel marvelled marvelled marvelingtravel travelled travelled travellingworship worshipped worshipped worshipping2) All verbs that do not form the past form and the pastparticiple by adding the ending “-ed”to the present form are called irregular verbs. Irregular verbs may be divided into four groups:(1)Both the past form and the past participle areidentical with the present form, e.g.cut cut cut cutting let let let letting spread spread spreadspreading(2)The past form and the past participle are identical butdiffer from the present form, e.g.sit sat sat sitting tell told told telling build built built building teach taught taught teaching(3)Either the past form or the past participle is identicalwith the present form, e,g.beat beat beaten beating come came come coming run ran run running(4)The past form and the past participle differ from eachother as well as from the presentform, (过去式和过去分词都与现在式不同，而且两者又互不相同，) e.g.see saw seen seeingbegin began begun beginningfall fell fallen falling6.7Phrasal VerbsUnlike single-word verbs as in (a), phrasal verbs aremulti-word verbs, i.e. verb + adverb (or preposition, etc.) forming a semantic and syntactic unit, as in (b) in the following:She brought up (=reared) her children to be considerate of others.Phrasal verbs are made up of :1)vi + adv. (=vi), e.g.I will never give in (=yield).2) vi+ prep. (= vt), e.g.I came upon (=discovered) the book the other day.Newspapers called for (=demanded) the severest punishment of the criminals.3)vt + adv. (= vt), e.g.We can’t take on (=engage) a new clerk.4) vi + adv. (= vt), e.g.I can’t put up with (= tolerate) his insolence any longer.5) vt + n. + prep. (=vt), e.g.The director set store by (= valued) the engineer’s report.Note ) The noun in some of such combinations can be modified by a premodifier, e.g.He laid a greater emphasis on this problem than on others.6)vt + n. (=vi), e.g.If you don’t make haste (=hurry), you will miss the train.7)[link] v. + adj. + prep. (=vt), e.g.She is fond of (= likes) poetry.Cf: There is the larder. Make free with(=use freely) the food.You must fight shy of (= keep away from) bad company.8)v. + adj. (= vt or vi), e.g.The enemy laid waste (=devastated) the whole country by fire.Will you see if you can put (or set)this bicycle right (=se t…in order) for me?9)v. +v. [+ prep.] (=vt or vi), e.g.Don’t let go [of] (=release) the rope until I tell you.We can’t afford a new carpet, so we shall have to make do with (=manage with) the old one for the being.。