The dual nature of non-finite forms of the verb. Morphological categories of verbals.

The main division inside the verb is that between the finite verbs (finites) and non-finite verbs (verbals). Through the opposition of finite and non-finite forms the category of finitude is revealed. Finites present marked and intensive member of the opposition. Non-finite forms present unmarked and extensive member of the opposition.

Verbals possess some verbal and some non-verbal features. Lexically verbals do not differ from finite forms. Grammatically non-finites may denote a secondary action or a process related to that expressed by the finite verb.

The finites can be subdivided into 3 systems - moods: indicative, imperative, subjunctive.

The verbids can be subdivided into 3 systems: infinitive, gerund, participle.

Formal morphological characteristics. Verbals possess the verb categories of voice, perfect, and aspect. They lack the categories of person, number, mood, and tense. None of the forms have morphological features of non-verbal parts of speech, neither nominal, adjectival or adverbial.

Combinability and functions. Non-verbal character of verbals reveals itself in their syntactical functions. Thus, the infinitive and the gerund perform the main syntactical functions of the noun, which are those of subject, object and predicative. Participle I functions as attribute, predicative and adverbial modifier; participle II as attribute and predicative. They cannot form a predicate by themselves, although unlike non-verbal parts of speech they can function as part of a compound verbal predicate.

Verbals may combine with nouns functioning as direct, indirect, or prepositional objects, with adverbs and prepositional phrases used as adverbial modifiers, and with subordinate clauses. Non-finites may also work as link verbs, combining with nouns, adjectives or statives as predicatives, as in. They may also act as modal verb semantic equivalents when combined with an infinitive. All non-finite verb forms may participate in the so-called predicative constructions.

The infinitive has the verb categories of voice (to praise ? to be praised), order (to keep ? to have kept) and aspect (to bring ? to be bringing).

The gerund is a non-finite form of the verb with some noun features. Morphologically the verbal character of the gerund is manifested in the categories of voice and order.

Participle is a non-finite form of the verb with some adjectival and adverbial features. The verbal character of participle is manifested morphologically in the categories of voice and order.

19. Phrase. Principles of classification (H.Sweet, O.Jespersen, L.Bloomfield)

A narrower definition: a phrase is a unity of 2 or more notional words. A wider definition: phrase - any syntactic group of words. Phrases may be built by:

- combining notional words (out of),

- notional and functional words (in the corner),

- functional words (out of).

Notional phrases are more independent structurally and semantically, other types function as part of notional phrases. A phrase is naming unit. A phrase may have a system of forms. Each component of a phrase may undergo grammatical changes without destroying the identity of the phrase. The naming function of the phrase distinguishes it from the sentence, whose main function is communicative. Therefore the structure N+V is traditionally excluded from phrases. A phrase is usually smaller than a sentence, but it may also function as a sentence (N+V), and it may be larger than a sentence, as the latter may consist of one word.

Phrases may be classified partly by their inner structure (syntactic relations between the components, morphological expression and position of components, or by order and arrangement) and partly by their external functioning (distribution, functions of the components).

The components of the phrase can be connected by different types of syntactic relations. H.Sweet: the most general type of relation is that of the modifier and modified (headword and adjunct), or the relation of subordination. He also distinguished the relation of coordination.

The syntactic theory of O.Jespersen can be applied to phrases and sentences. The theory of three ranks is based on the principle of determination. In the word-group a furiously³ barking² dog¹ 1 is independent and is called a primary, 2 modifies 1 and is called a secondary, 3 modifies 2 and is called a tertiary. A secondary may be joined to a primary in two ways: junction and nexus. These terms are used to differentiate between attributive and predicative relations (relations between the subject and the predicate), or the relations of subordination and interdependence.

The structural theory of word-groups (L.Bloomfield), divides word-groups into two main types: endocentric (headed) and exocentric (non-headed). The criteria for distinguishing between them are distribution and substitution. .An endocentric group has the same position as its headword: An old man came in. - A man came in.

The distribution of an exocentric group differs from the distribution of its components: A man came in.

Date: 2016-06-12; view: 339