Regular and irregular verbs

§ 6. Owing to the historical development of the verb system the English verbs fall into two groups: regular and irregular verbs.

The regular verbs, which go back to the Germanic weak verbs, constitute the largest group. The past indefinite and participle II of these verbs are formed by means of the dental suffix -ed added to the stem of the verb. This is the productive pattern according to which all new verbs form their past indefinite and participle II.

The irregular verbs form their past indefinite and participle II according tо some fixed traditional patterns going back partly to the Germanic strong verbs, partly to the weak verbs, which underwent some changes in the process of history.

The irregular verbs are about 250 in number. They can be arranged according to sound changes.

§ 9. The category of person expresses the relation of the action and its doer to the speaker, showing whether the action is performed by the speaker (the 1st person), someone addressed by the speaker (the 2nd person) or someone/something other than the speaker or the person addressed (the 3rd person).

The category of number shows whether the action is performed by one or more than one persons or non-persons.

For the present indefinite tense* of the verb to be there are three contrasting forms: the 1st person singular, the 3rd person singular and the form for all persons plural: (I) am - (he) is - (we, you, they) are.

* The other term used for indefinite tenses is "simple tenses". Accordingly there are the simple present, "the simple past", "the simple future".

In the past indefinite tense it is only the verb to be that has one of these categories - the category of number, formed by the opposition of the singular and the plural forms: (I, he) was - (we, you, they) were. All the other verbs have the same form for all the persons, both singular and plural.

In the future and future in the past tenses there are two opposing forms: the 1st person singular and plural and the other persons: (I, we) shall go - (he, you, they) will go; (I, we) should come - (he, you, they) would come.

In colloquial style, however, no person distinctions are found either in the future or in the future in the past tenses. The only marker for the future tenses is ‘llused with all persons, both singular and plural: I'll do it; He'll do it; We'll do it, etc. The marker for the future in the past tenses is ‘d, also used with all persons and numbers: I said I’d come; He said he’d come; We said we’d come, etc. Historically ‘ll is the shortened form of will, ‘d is the shortened form of would.

The categories of person and number, with the same restrictions, as those mentioned above, are naturally found in all analytical forms contain­ing the present indefinite tense of the auxiliaries to be and to have, or the past indefinite tense of the auxiliary to be: (I) am reading - (he) is reading - (we, you, they) are reading; (I) amtold - (he) is told - (we, you, they) are told; (he) hascome - (I, we, you, they) havecome; (he) has been told - (I, we, you, they) havebeen told; (he) hasbeen reading - (I, we, you, they) havebeen reading.

A more regular way of expressing the categories of person and number is the use of personal pronouns. They are indispensable when the finite verb forms in the indicative as well as the subjunctive moods have no markers of person or number distinctions.

I stepped aside and they moved away.

They had been walking along, side by side, and she had been talking very earnestly.

If you were his own son, you could have all this.

If she were not a housemaid, she might not feel it so keenly.

The verb is always in the 3rd person singular if the subject of the predicate verb is expressed by a negative or indefinite pronoun, by an infinitive, a gerund or a clause:

Nothing has happened. Somebody has come.

To see him at last was a real pleasure. To shut that lid seems an easy task.

Seeing is believing. Visiting their house again seems out of the question.

What she has told me frightens me*.

* For further details see § on Agreement of the Subject and Predicate.

Date: 2016-01-03; view: 1063