Глагол в английском языке

The Present Tense is formed by the Infinitive without the particle to in the 3-rd person singular the verb takes the inflexion -s(-es). The Past Tense of the regular verb is formed with the help of the inflexion -ed. The Past Tense of the irregular verbs is formed in some different ways:

1) by sound alternation (sit-sat-sat);

2) by sound alternation and a dental suffix (keep-kept-kept);

3) supplitively (be-was/were-been);

4) without any change in the form of the verb (put-put-put).

The Future Tense is formed with the help of the auxiliary verb shall/will and the infinitive of the notional verb.

The Future-in-the-Past is formed with should/would and infinitive of the notional verb without the particle "to".

Traditional grammar speaks of 16 tense forms in English but actually there exist only 4 of them. The matter is that when speaking about an action we express its primary characteristics of tense but then it may be necessary to show the character of the development of the action or to compare the action with some other one and then in suchycases the primary tense category is modified by some other verb categories such as aspect (continuous or non-continuous), perfect (perfect or non-perfect).

So we get complex analytical forms, which express not one category of tense but a number of them. Ex. If we analyze such forms, as "is reading" we should say that this verb expresses Present Tense and continuous aspect or perfect. Hence the modification of the category of Tense by the category of aspect brings about the appearance of 16 verb forms.

When speaking about the category of tense we should remember that we distinguish different tense forms on the basis of some opposition. But in a number of cases these oppositions may be reduced. It means that morphological form typical of one tense may express the meaning of some other tense. We usually observe it in definite contexts.

Ex. The form of the Present Tense may express the meaning of the Past, Future Tense in subordinate clauses of time and condition (If I see him tomorrow I will ask him to do it for you).

Besides the Present Tense may be used to express an action planned for the Future especially with verbs of motion. When dealing with the category of tense we should touch upon one more problems, which is typical of English. The problem is known as the Sequence of tenses. In English if the predicate verb in the main clause of a complex sentence is used in the past tense, the predicate verbs in the subordinate clauses саn be used in the present or future tenses. The Present tense is replaced by the Past Tense modified or not modified by the Perfect and the Future Tense is replaced by the Future-in-the-Past.

The Sequence of tenses is explained by many traditional grammars as a mechanical shift of tenses. However, this explanation can't be treated as adequate. No mechanical shift takes place.

In the events in the main and subordinate clauses are simultaneous, then the same tense forms are used. If the events of the subordinate clause precede the events of the main clause, than the predicate verb in the subordinate clause is modified by the Perfect.

In the actions the subordinate clause follow the events of the main clause, then the predicate verb takes the specific form in the Future-in-the-Past.

We observe this correlation of events only when the starting temporal center is in the Past.

But if the starting point is in the Present, no sequence of tenses is observed and we use any tense form in the subordinate clause or clauses, which is required by the logical sequence of events. So what we mean by the traditional term Sequence of Tenses that is in reality sequence of events is nothing but a synthesis of two categorical notions:

1) The category of tense which expresses the relation of the action to some moment of time.;

2) The category of perfect, which expresses the relation of actions to each other.

 

 

The Category of Mood

The category of Mood is the most controversial category of the verb.

B.A. Ilyish: " The category of mood in the present English verb has given rise to so many discussions, and has been treated in so many different ways, that it seems hardly possible to arrive at any more less convincing and universally acceptable conclusion concerning it."

Among the scholars to be named in the first place in relation to the problem are A.I. Smirnitsky, whose theories revolutionized the presentation of English verbal grammar; then B.A. Ilyish , a linguist who made a great contribution to the general problem of mood; then Y.N. Vorontsova; Z.S. Khlebnikova.

The category of Mood expresses the relations between the action, denoted by the verb, and the actual reality from the point of view of the speaker. The speaker may treat the action/event as real, unreal or problematic or as fact that really happened, happens or will happen, or as an imaginary phenomenon.

It follows from this that the category of Mood may be presented by the opposition

obligue mood  -   direct mood

=  unreality        = reality.

The former is the strong member.

The latter is the weak member.

Mood relates the verbal action to such conditions as certainty, obligation, necessity, possibility.

The most disputable question in the category of mood is the problem of number and types of Obligue Moods. Obligue Moods denote unreal or problematic actions so they can't be modified by the category of tense proper. They denote only relative time, that is simultaneousness or priority. Due to the variety of forms it's impossible to make up regular paradigms of Obligue Moods and so classify them.

Some authors pay more attention to the plane of expression, other to the plane of content. So different authors speak of different number and types of moods. The most popular in Grammar has become the system of moods put forward By Prof. Smirnitsky. He speaks of 6 mood forms:

 

The Indicative Mood

The Imperative Mood

Subjunctive I

Subjunctive II

The Conditional Mood

The Suppositional Mood

 

 

Subjunctive I expresses a problematic action. Subjunctive I is used in American English and in newspaper style. Subjunctive I coincides with the Infinitive without the particle to. Ex.:      Ring me up if he would be there.

This mood is expressed in English to a very minor extent (e.g.: So be it then!). It is only used in certain set expressions, which have to be learned as wholes:

 

Come what may, we will go ahead.

God save the Queen!

Suffice it to say that...

Be that as it may...

Heaven forbid that...

So be it then.

Long live the King!

Grammar be hanged!

 

This Mood is also used in that clauses, when the main clause contains an expression of recommendation, resolution, demand, etc. The use of this subjunctive I occurs chiefly in formal style (and especially in Am E) where in less other devices, such as to - infinitive or should = infinitive.

It is necessary that he be there.

It is necessary that he should be there.

It is necessary for him to be there.

Subjunctive II denotes an unreal action and it coincides in the form with the Past Indefinite Tense (Subjunctive II Present) or Past Perfect (Subjunctive II Past). Ex.: I wish he had told the truth. If only he were here!

Mood is expressed in English to a much greater extent by past tense forms. E.g.:

If you taught me, I would learn quickly.

If she was/were to do smth like that.

He spoke to me as if I was/ were deaf...

I wish I was/were was

Note:

1) “Was” is more common in less formal style

2) Only “were” is acceptable in "As it were" (= so to speak)

3) “Were” is usual in "If I were you".

 

The Conditional Mood denotes an unreal action and is built by the auxiliary verb "world" + any Infinitive a non-perfect infinitive expresses Simultaneousness while a perfect infinitive expresses priority. E.g.: But for the rain we would go for a walk. But for the rain we would have gone...

The Suppositional Mood also expresses a problematic action and is formed with the help of the auxiliary verb "should" for all the persons + Infinitive. E.g.: Ring me up if he should be there.

This mood can be used with any verb in subordinate that - clauses when the main clause contains an expression of recommendation resolution, demand etc. (demand, require, insist, suggest...) E.g.: It is necessary that every member should inform himself of these rules = It is necessary for every member to inform... It is strange that he should have left so early.

Subjunctive I and the Suppositional Mood are differentiated only by their form but their meaning is the same.

Taking into consideration the fact that the forms of the Obligue Moods coincide in many cases with the forms of the Indicative Mood, there arises a problem of homonymy or polysemy. E.g.: He lived here. (The indicative Mood, Past Tense, Priority, real action).

If only he lived! (Subjunctive II, simultaneousness, unreal action)

 

CONDITIONAL SENTENCES

 

The Advanced English Course for Foreign Students by Brian Kelly, B.A. L., Longmans, 1980, pp. 76-91. Theme “Verb: Mood”

 

A. prose passages. (See also pars. 358-359.)

1. Unless Jim stops burning the candle at both ends, he may ruin both his health and his prospects. He is certainly going the pace. If he were able to look into the future, he would not be so wild. There is no doubt that he will go to the bad. unless he changes his ways. In any case, he will not get on in the world, if he gives way to his inclinations so easily. If he tried to control himself, and live more quietly, it would be better for him. But he is game for anything, when he is in one of his wild moods. If a young man fools away the time that he should spend in study, he cannot expect to come off with flying colours in his examinations. But Jim makes fun of steadiness, and says that if it means drudgery, hard work is not worth while. According to him, a life that did not include women, wine, and cards, would not be life at all, but mere existence. He forgets that if you do not take advantage of your opportunities while you are young, your life must necessarily be a failure afterwards. Even supposing a man like that got over his folly later, and turned over a new leaf, it would probably be too late. If you should see him, I think you ought to try to persuade him of his foolishness. You might tell him that it is a shame to see a brilliant young fellow like him making a fool of himself. If you would try, I think it might do some good. Do you think you could? Unless we lay our heads together and find some way of getting him away from the company he is keeping, he will so to the dogs altogether. But as long as he meets all attempts to help him with high words, it will be difficult even for the friends of a lifetime to have patience with him. It would be difficult to expect anybody to lend a helping hand to a man. // he persisted, as Jim does, in placing a wrong construction on everything that is said to him. If only he realized that his friends are acting for the best, it might be possible to do something for him. But if he persists in calling everybody a busybody for taking an interest in his welfare, he must not be surprised if they draw in their horns. If he keeps on in that strain, everybody will give him up as a bad job. Supposing everybody were to behave as he does, what would become of the world? He says that it would be a better place to live in; and that he would be more impressed with my remarks, did he not suspect that I speak with my tongue in my cheek. It seems that he has heard rumors of my own gay and joyous youth. All I can say is that if his actions were to be considered as a norm of natural behaviour, then / should have been considered an anchorite by comparison. / should be the last person in the world to condemn a little fun. provided it did not interfere with the more serious business of life. A nation can only prosper on condition • that its citizens work hard and live soberly. Of course. if Jim is bent on picking quarrels with his best friends, he may do so, provided that he does not come running to them afterwards to make friends again. If he sows his wild oats, we are not going to reap the crop.

 

2. I must visit Mrs. X. today, because she is not well again. If she were more careful of her health, she would not have these attacks. Things would be different with her, if only she took the rest that she so badly needs. But she will not, unless somebody convinces her of the necessity for it. She would get into a state of nervous excitement, if her relatives were to press her too much about it. Supposing someone did so, it would only aggregate the already dangerous state in which she now finds herself. I dare say she could easily get better, provided she took a little more nourishment. But even supposing she did, it would probably be of little use, for she would immediately start overtaxing her strength again. She would work from dawn to dusk, provided she could stand on her feet. She tries to be patient, but finds it difficult. She says that if only people would remember how miserable cantankerousness makes those around them, sick people might be more patient. If she let her daughter Mary look after household matters, it would be a help. But she says that Mary is very young yet; and that the servants would probably not obey her. if she were in charge. I think that Mrs. X. is mistaken. I am sure that the servants would obey Maty without hesitation, provided that Mrs. X. supported her with her authority.

 

3. In the third exercise, we saw that John and Maty had decided to go to Worthing.

" What station do we leave from?" asked John.

"Waterloo," answered Mary promptly. "If we hurry, we should get a train at about two thirty. If we should be late for that, we could get one about half an hour later."

" If you would decide beforehand what we are going to do over the week-end, and avoid this last-minute rush." said John, " we might have some chance of getting somewhere sometime."

Arrived at Waterloo Station, Mary made her way to the inquiry-office. "Could you tell me what platform the trains leave for Worthing from? " she asked.

" I might, if this were Victoria Station," answered the clerk with a grin. "You might try going there."

" Well now! I must have been mistaken," cried Mary gaily, turning to John. " What do you think of that?"

" If I were to say what I thought," growled John, " this building would go up in flames."

" Oh, well," said Maty cheerfully, " anybody might make a mistake. You might have made sure yourself before we started, instead of leaving it all to me."

" But what shall we do? " persisted John. " If we went to Victoria at once, we might get a train to arrive in Worthing somewhere before four. But the afternoon would be half over. Couldn't we get a train for some place from this station? We might try Salisbury, where you were born. I wish we had some kind of hiker's guide-book."

" Ask at that bookstall over there," suggested Mary. " And if they have one, buy it."

" Would you mind showing me some kind of hiker's guide ? " said John; at the bookstall.

" Certainly, sir," said the assistant. " Might I suggest this one ? "

" Could I have a look at it first ? " said John, and examined it.

" I wish you would consult me before paying for things," said Mary, on looking John's purchase over. " If you did, you might buy the wrong thing less often. This one has nothing about camping-grounds."

" Might I suggest," remarked John, " that Saturday afternoon is hardly the best time to buy books of the kind anyway ? Even if we should find one, it would be too late to make any use of it."

Mary stood stock-still in the middle of the station. "I want a proper guide-book!" she wailed. "You would get the wrong one \ You might try and please me just for once. If you were really a loving husband, you would. You have been behaving like a bear all afternoon. If you don't stop, I'll scream \ "

And she looked as if she would, too. John cast an uneasy glance around at the passers-by, who were eyeing "the pair curiously. " Come on," he said urgently. " If you go on like that, we will never get anywhere. Let's go to Victoria, by all means, and see if there is a train. Though we should have been in Worthing by now, if you had not made the silly mistake of bringing us here first."

" If you were as clever as you think you are, you wouldn't have let me make it." retorted Mary.

" Look here, if we go into all that again, we shall be here all night," answered John impatiently. " Let's go."

They got into a train at a quarter past three, and had to take seats separately, at opposite ends of the coach, the train was so crowded. John reflected that it might have been worse, for he required time to cool down. He found himself sitting with a married couple and their child, and got into conversation with them.

" Might I ask you," he said to the man, " if your wife likes hiking ? "

" If she does," replied the man, " she's kept the secret pretty well. You might ask her, though."

" If I did," replied the lady, with a placid smile, " it wouldn't make much difference, anyway. It would take a good deal to move my husband out of his garden over a week-end."

" Lucky husband ! " said John.

 

4. If you should happen to meet a seer who could look into the future as well as into the past, you might let me know. If / had ever met such a person, / should have asked him to drop in and have a chat, long ago. For there are so many interesting questions that / could have asked him. For it seems to me that many of the events which have so influenced modern life might not have taken place, and that many of the advantages we now enjoy could never have been ours, had not certain men lived 'in certain countries at certain dates. For instance, unless there are financial or personal reasons to slop me, / can go to America if I want to. Do I owe this to Columbus and Isabella of Castile, or should I have been able to go even if these people had never seen the light? Again, it would be interesting to know what would have happened to Asia Minor and North Africa if Mahomed had never been born ; and whether the Greek Empire might have recovered from the decline that had set in or whether some other power would have hurried it on to its ruin and destruction.

If Luther had been a Dominican instead of an Augustinian, what a difference it might have made. The flower of the Renaissance need not have withered so soon in northern Europe ; Kant's philosophy might have taken a different direction ; Henry the Eighth might not have repudiated his first wife; and English thought might perhaps have been a little more logical. But in that case, we should not have had the charming destructiveness of Bernard Shaw, or the wild and beautiful expression of Shelly's spiritual hunger.

If we had not taken Western ideas to Japan, need we have been worrying to-day about her expansion in the Far East ? Dared she have undertaken the Chinese adventure, if England and the U.S.A. had put, their foot down firmly in the beginning ?

Would I have had a vote to-day, if Rousseau had not written his " Social Contract," and if Voltaire had not blazed up in a white flame of anger at the injustices of his epoch ?

As for the Great War, could the Allies have been .successful, if Gettysburg had been lost instead of gained by the forces of the North ?

Who knows . . .? There are so many "ifs" in life!

B. THE USE OF THE CONDITIONAL SENTENCES

38. In a simple statement of cause and effect (par. 66), the verb which expresses the condition is either of the same tense as the verb that expresses the result, or one of the verbs is in the present tense, and the other is in the present perfect.

E.g.: If you mix glycerine with potassium permanganate, you get spontaneous combustion. If you live in London, you have learnt what fog is. If you have lived in Madrid, you know the Puerto del Sol. If one lived in London during the war, one had to do without many luxuries. If you have been in Rome, you have probably seen St. Peter's.

39. Where the possibility of fulfilling the condition is entertained, we express the residt by means of "shall" or " will", or by means of the imperative, or by means of any other suitable anomalous finite in the present tense. The condition can be expressed by means of any ordinary verb in the present tense.

E.g.: If I drink wine with my lunch to-day, / shall feel uncomfortable all afternoon. If you break your journey-in Paris, you will have time to see Notre Dame. If John studies hard, he may pass the exam. If you finish your work before six, you can go home. If you get the opportunity, you must meet her. If you go to London, you must visit the British Museum. If he comes here, you ought to refuse to see him. If he calls, tell him / am not at home. He will talk about religion, if he can get a listener. If you really are unwell, you had better go to bed. If he gives the order, / dare not obey it. If his father leaves him the money, he need not work any more. If you really are diabetic, you must not eat sugary food. If you cannot control your temper, you should not get into arguments.

40. If the fulfillment of the condition is considered less likely or less welcome than some other alternative, however," should" is used in the conditional clause. E.g., Should he refuse to do it, arrest him at once. Should the worst come to the worst, I can always leave the country. Should the crisis come, I shall be at my post.

41. When the fulfillment of the condition is considered rather unlikely, the condition is expressed by the preterit (q.v.) of any suitable verb ; and the result by means of " should," " would," " might," or " could ". E.g., If I drank wine with my lunch, / should be uncomfortable all afternoon. Provided / broke my journey in Paris, / could see Notre Dame. If she stood up to her husband, he would not bully her. He might be cured of his tuberculosis, on condition that he went to some place like Colorado.¹