Verbs

Verbs

Verb inflection
1. To convey a meaning distinction
2. "verbs are variable lexemes"
3. By a grammatical rule
4. Verb paradigm
  1. A set of inflectional forms of a verb
  2. Primary forms
    1. -Preterite │worked
      1. Inflectionally marked past tense
        It's an inflectional form rather than by means of an auxiliary
        TIP: remember that the verbs don't always express their explicit time
    2. -3rd singular present│works
      1. inflection of the 'plain' present for present time
        Depends on the agreement NP & VP
    3. -Plain present │ work
      1. Indicates present time│And it's the root for derivation
    4. inflectional distinction of tense: sole verb in a clause
  3. Secondary forms
    1. -Plain form │work
      1. Used for: Imperative, Subjunctive, and Infinitival
        To- infinitival
        Bare infinitival (after auxiliaries)
    2. -Gerund participle │working
      1. Gerund > vb similar: noun Participle > adjective
    3. -Past participle │worked
      1. (Second past inflection + participle) For perfect and passive structures (can be also adjective)
    4. No tense inflection: can't occur as the head of an VP
5. Inflectional form
  1. The derivational form of a verb: gives meaning and function
    1. Some verbs have different shapes for each inflectional form: fly - flew (preterite) / flown (past participle)
6. Shape
  1. spelling (written) or pronunciation (spoken)
    1. Some other verbs have the same shape: past participle - worked & preterite - worked
Auxiliaries
2. They are a small class of verbs used to mark tense, aspect, mood, or voice.
  1. They behave differently
    1. e.g.
      1. Subject-auxiliary inversion
        Interrogative
        Clauses have to be built differently, so they need an arbitrary addition of the "Dummy Do"
      2. Negation
        A "Dummy Do" is needed as well in order to make a grammatical structure
    2. They cannot be used consequently (one after another)
    3. All the auxiliaries have negative inflectional forms
  2. Modal auxiliaries
    1. They only have primary form (lack of secondary)
    2. No distinct 3rd singular agreement
    3. Bare infinitival complement is necessary
  3. Dual-behaviour
    1. Can work as lexicals or auxiliaries:
      1. Do│Have│Need│Dare
Finiteness
1. Marks a formation distinction between main and subordinate clauses
  1. Finite clauses
    1. can be main or subordinate
  2. Non-finite clauses
    1. are only subordinate
  3. Relation verb inflection - clause finiteness
    1. primary form = finite clause
      1. gerund participle & past participle = non-finite
        plain form: imperative, subjunctive = finite infinitival = non-finite
"Perfectiveness"
1. four systems are associated with the verb:
  1. Primary tense│Second tense│Aspect│Mood
2. Perfective interpretation
  1. A situation as a whole, a short moment, a complete action
    1. Situation:
      1. Cover term for the kinds of things described in a clause.
  2. These are kinds of semantic interpretations, unlike "Perfect", a type of past tense.
3. Imperfective interpretation
  1. Reference to the context, its internal temporary structure, a repetitive or on-going activity
Primary tense
1. "A tense system is a system associated with the verb and telling the location in time of the situation
2. The present tense (uses)
  1. Present time
    1. The time of the utterance is very short
  2. Future time: Futurate
    1. Use of the present tense for situations referred in the future
  3. Future time: Subordinate clauses.
    1. Subordinate clauses
      1. Meaning-dependent clauses
    2. For situations of subordination, condition, consequence, etc.
  4. Past time: Historic present
    1. (informal style) Narrating situations in the past with the present tense
3. The preterite (uses)
  1. Past time
    1. Perfective situations located as a whole in past time
    2. Modal remoteness
      1. Modal preterite is about modality, not time. For situations establishing 'possibility' degrees
      2. Backshift
        Its main use is for 'reporting'. Indirect reported speech
The perfect
1. It's a past tense marked by an auxiliary rather than by inflection
2. Compound tenses
  1. Present + perfect
    1. have / has
    2. Locates the situation or part of it in past time
    3. Time adjuncts
      1. Under some conditions, the present perfect allows adding time adjuncts referring to present
    4. Current relevance
      1. Indicates present relevance or result of past events
  2. Preterite + perfect
    1. had
    2. Indicates remote past events or remote modal
    3. Past time
    4. Modal remoteness
    5. Backshift
3. Plain form
4. have
5. Perfect in clauses without primary tense
  1. The auxiliary 'have' appears in secondary form. There is no primary (inflectional) tense
6. The continuative perfect
  1. Indicates an action started in the past that lasts up to somewhen in the past (Starts in the past and ends in the past)
Aspect
1. Progressive aspect
  1. Imperfectivity
    1. Clauses with progressive form usually have imperfective interpretations
  2. Non-progressive vs Progressive
    1. Progressive is about situations in progress, however, there are some that are naturally progressive (e.g. watch)
  3. Progressive futurate
    1. They are progressive sentences with future meaning
2. Speaker's perspective of the situation
Progressive
2. Auxiliary 'be'
Mood
1. Grammatical category related to modality
2. The uses of the 'modals' create families of meaning
  1. Epistemic
    1. knowledge
  2. Deontic
    1. obligation
  3. Dynamic interpretations
    1. Modals with certain properties or dispositions
  4. All modals have preterite forms
    1. They can flex the time of the clause for adapting it to them
    2. The modal remoteness occurs freely in main clauses
    3. Irrealis
      1. 'Were' mood form: imaginary situations, used in 2nd conditional
3. Futurity
  1. English does not have a future tense
    1. will
      1. The modal auxiliary is needed: The relation is modality, not time.
      2. willingness - predictions - inferences - act.location

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	Created by Emilio Enrique Negrete Hernández about 4 years ago