ENGL 390: The Linguistic Structure of Modern English
Fall 2005
Dr. J. Rubba
© Johanna Rubba 2005

English Verbs

English verbs: Verbs and sentence meaning

+ A sentence describes a scene, situation, event, etc.

“The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of a full-summer day ... ”
Shirley Jackson, “The Lottery”

“In walks these three girls in nothing but bathing suits.” John Updike, “A & P”

“Humanism, by its very character, implied a revolt against all religious authority.” William Manchester, A World Lit Only by Fire

“Just how many pixels a monitor can display depends on the monitor’s capabilities and those of the video card the system is using.” Bryan Pfaffenberger, The Elements of Hypertext Style

+ There are participants (things, people, abstractions), events, relationships, qualities

• Participants: morning, day, girls, bathing suits, humanism, revolt, pixels, video card

• Events/situations/relationships: was (clear and sunny); in walks; implied; depends

• Relationships, qualities: clear and sunny, fresh, nothing but, how many, religious

Verbs and sentence meaning - cont’d

+Meaning of the verb determines structure of much of sentence: allows/requires/forbids other elements

• How many possible participants?

• What sort of participants?

• How do participants relate to/interact with each other?

• What qualities do participants have?

+Definition of a verb includes a “frame” of participants / relations / qualities

(puzzle pieces)

Verbs and sentence meaning - cont’d

+ Definition of a verb includes a “frame” of participants / relations / qualities

(puzzle pieces)

Verb types

Intransitive:
(puzzle pieces)

+

+Transitive:

(puzzle pieces)

+Ditransitive (di- = two participants besides ‘actor’)

(puzzle pieces)

Verb forms: Form vs. meaning/function

+Names of verb forms: p. 54 “Principal parts” of a verb

• Base, infinitive, present tense, past tense, present participle, past participle

• Just names - do not identify meaning or function

+Meanings, functions of verb forms:

• To build tense/aspect constructions:

F present tense be + present participle = present progressive is walking

F past tense have + past participle = past perfect had walked

• To fill other grammatical roles in phrases/sentences:

F Participles as modifiers:

] Present participle : a sleeping child

] Past participle: a stolen bicycle

F Infinitive as sentence subject: To turn without signalling is illegal.

F Gerund = present participle in noun functions:

] Sentence subject: Sailing is fun.

] Direct object: I love sailing.

Verb forms: Form vs. meaning/function

+Meanings of participles:

• Present participle : event underway

] Snow is falling.

] The falling snow slowly covered the streets.

F Technical name: progressive, continuous, or imperfective aspect.

• Past participle: event completed

] Snow has fallen.

] The streets were covered with fallen snow.

F Technical name: perfect, perfective, or completive aspect.

Verbs:
Using principal parts to build verb phrases

+Verb phrase = the main (lexical) verb of the sentence and any auxiliaries that go with it

• Main/lexical = primary meaning-carrying word

• Auxiliary = word(s) adding aspect, mood, nuances of meaning

+Examples:

• The FBI interrogated your client at that time.
main verb

• The FBI was interrogating your client at that time.
auxiliary | main verb

• The FBI may have been interrogating your client at that time.
auxiliary - auxiliary - auxiliary main verb

• Your client may have been being interrogated by the FBI at that time.
auxiliary - auxiliary - auxiliary - auxiliary | main verb

Verbs:
Using principal parts to build tense/aspect constructions

+Combine verb forms to build tense/aspect/mood constructions:

F present tense be + present participle = present progressive is walking

F past tense have + past participle = past perfect had walked

F Modal will + base have + past participle = future perfect will have walked

F be + past participle = passive (the car) was damaged

Tense/aspect constructions: Form vs. meaning/function

+Names of tense/aspect constructions: present progressive, simple present, past perfect, etc.

+Just names: Do not identify meaning or function. One construction can have several meanings.

• Simple present:

F Present time for state verbs, verbs of perception, mental verbs:

] Carlos likes this pie.

] I see a bat!

] I think she believes your crazy story.

F Habitual aspect for other verb types:

] Carlos eats pie every day.

] The trees lose their leaves every fall.

] If I can’t sleep at night, I read a novel.

Verbs:
Using principal parts to build tense/aspect constructions

+ Combine verb forms to build tense/aspect/mood constructions:

F present tense be + present participle = present progressive is eating

] means walking is underway at time sentence is uttered

] “She is eating lunch right now.”

F past tense have + past participle = past perfect had eaten

] means event was completed before another past event

] “By the time she got home, we had eaten supper already.”

F Modal will + base have + past participle = future perfect will have eaten

] means event will be completed after a future point in time

] “By ten o’clock tonight, the guests will have eaten all your beautiful pastries.”

F be + past participle = passive (the car) was damaged

+ Using time expressions to test meanings of tense/asepect constructions - p. 58

• A native-speaker trick to detect the meaning of a certain tense/aspect

Verbs: Verb type (event, action, state) and tense/aspect

+Verb type: Does anything change?

+Think of a verb in a sentence as “playing a movie” .

+Look at the “movie” frame by frame.

• Is each frame the same exact picture? = state verb

• Or is there change from frame to frame? = event or action verb

Verbs:Verb type (event, action, state) and tense/aspect

• Is each frame the same exact picture? = state verb

(photos of sister and brother; photos from movie of horse galloping)

Verbs: Use of tense/aspect in literature

+ Function of tense/aspect constructions and participles in 3rd-person narration:

• Set up fictitious location in time of story events (here, past perfect -- had (verb)ed)

• Distinguish between scene-setting (creating a background -- progressive tense/aspect and present participles (-ing form)) ** and events which advance the narrative (move the story forward -- simple past -- -ed form)
** except stative verbs such as “be”

• I was sitting on the couch when the phone rang.

• The phone was ringing when I sat on the couch.

+ It had been two days since Evan Hamilton had stopped smoking, and it seemed to him everything he’d said and thought for the two days somehow suggested cigarettes. He looked at his hands under the kitchen light. He sniffed his knuckles and his fingers.
“I can smell it,” he said .
“I know. It’s as if it sweats out of you,” Ann Hamilton said . “For three days after I stopped I could smell it on me. Even when I got out of the bath. It was disgusting.” She was putting plates on the table for dinner. “I’m so sorry, dear. I know what you’re going through. But, if it’s any consolation, the second day is always the hardest. The third day is hard, too, of course, but from then on, if you can stay with it that long, you’re over the hump. But I’m so happy you’re serious about quitting, I can’t tell you.” She touched his arm. “Now, if you’ll just call Roger, we’ll eat.”
Hamilton opened the front door. It was already dark. It was early November and the days were short and cool. An older boy he had never seen before was sitting on a small, well-equipped bicycle in the driveway. The boy leaned forward just off the seat, the toes of his shoes touching the pavement and keeping him upright.

Raymond Carver, “Bicycles, Muscles, Cigarettes”. In Where I’m Calling From, Vintage Books, 1988, p. 21.