Understanding verbs 1

In this post I have explained some basic notions for which I believe to be central to understanding of verbs, especially full verbs.

MAIN MORPHOLOGICAL FORMS

Regular verbs have four morphological forms; irregular verbs can have more or less than four:

- base form (plan, sing, cut, etc.)

- -s form (plans, sings, cuts, etc.)

- -ing form (planning,  singing, cutting, etc.)

- -ed form (planned, sang, cut, etc.) –this form is the same for both the past participle and the passive participle

* verb CUT has only three distinct morphological forms (base form: cut; -s form: cuts; -ing form: cutting; -ed form = base form)

* verb SPEAK has five morphological forms (base form: speak; -s form: speaks; -ing form: speaking; the past form: spoke; the -ed participle: spoken)

Since the –s form and –ing form are always predictable for both regular and irregular verbs (e.g. plans/cuts; planning/cutting/speaking), the only forms that are listed for irregular verbs are the base form, the past form and the –ed participle, these three forms are known as the PRINCIPAL PARTS of the verb. 

These main four forms (or more forms for irreg. v.) are all we need to express different contrasts in a verb phrase, e.g. tense (strictly speaking, there are only two - present and past) works vs. worked; aspect (the perfect or progressive) does (no aspect) vs. has done (the perfect) vs. is writing (progressive) vs. has been writing (perfect and progressive), etc.

This is something you will be able to see for yourself after studying the list of grammatical tenses shown below.

E.g. In simple present (only the tense is expressed); present perfect (tense + the perfect aspect); present perfect cont. (tense + both aspects); present perfect continuous passive (tense + both aspects + voice):

MAJOR VERB CLASSES

There are three major verb classes:

- primary verbs (be, have, do)

- modal auxiliaries (can, may, will, etc.)

- full verbs (believe, speak, etc.)

The primary verbs can function as auxiliaries or main verbs in a sentence, modal auxiliaries can only function as auxiliary verbs and full verbs can only be main verbs. 

It is also useful to know that modal auxiliaries can be further divided into the central modal auxiliaries (can/could, may/might, must, will/would, shall/should); the marginal modal auxiliaries (used to, ought to, need, dare), modal idioms (had better, would rather, be to, have got to, etc.) and semi-auxiliaries (be able to, be about to, be going to, be bound to, be due to, have to, be supposed to, etc.) 

Secondly, modal verbs and primary verbs used as auxiliaries do not have all the morphological forms described above. They are different from full verbs in many respects, which requires a lot of further elaboration and therefore another post.

And finally, here are some useful lists of verb phrases:

INFINITIVES

PRESENT INFINITIVE	to work	to do
PRESENT CONTINUOUS INFINITIVE	to be working	to be doing
PERFECT INFINITIVE	to have worked	to have done
PERFECT CONTINUOUS INFINITIVE	to have been working	to have been doing
PRESENT INFINITIVE PASSIVE		to be done
PERFECT INFINITIVE PASSIVE		to have been done

* work is a transitive verb only in some senses

Note
Sometimes essentially the same structures are called or described differently, depending on the approach. According to Quirk & Greenbaum (A student's grammar of the English language)

Present inf. = simple (nonperfect, nonprogressive) infinitive (i.e. no aspect* expressed)

Present cont. inf. = expressed progressive aspect in an infinitive phrase

Perfect inf. = expressed perfect aspect in an infinitive phrase

Perfect cont. inf. = expressed both perf. and progressive aspect in an inf. phrase

Passive infinitive(s) = expressed passive voice in an infinitive phrase

*The perfect conveys the meaning of "an event which started at some point in the past and lasted up to the present moment" (the present moment now or in the past); and the progressive conveys the meaning of "an event in progress", and it also conveys the meaning of "temporariness" and sometimes "incompleteness".

** Infinitive is the only nonfinite (the verb phrase which cannot function as the main verb of an independent clause) verb phrase that can have all the combinations of aspects expressed in it (this is not the case with -ing participles or -ed participles).

PARTICIPLES (AND GERUNDS)

-ing participle

PRESENT PARTICIPLE	working	doing
PERFECT PARTICIPLE	having worked	having done
PRESENT PARTICIPLE PASSIVE		being done
PERFECT PARTICIPLE PASSIVE		having been done

*GERUNDS have the same forms as the participles.

Note (according to Quirk):

- present participle = -ing participle

- perfect participle= expressed perfect aspect in an –ing participle

- passive forms = expressed passive voice in an –ing participle (alone or combined with expressed perfect aspect)

* progressive aspect in an –ing participle may be expressed only in contrast with an infinitive, where an infinitive conveys the meaning of a completed action, while an -ing participle expresses the progressive aspect and implies incompleteness (e.g I saw them stealing the car. vs. I saw them steal the car.)

-ed participle             

PAST PARTICIPLE

worked

done

* The aspects cannot be expressed formally in -ed participle, this can be achieved only through contrasts:

-  with passive –ing participle (present participle passive, e.g. being done) the progressive/nonprogressive aspect is expressed:
The parcel was delivered. vs. The parcel was being delivered.

- with perfect passive –ing participle (perf. participle passive, e.g. having been reprimanded) the perfect/nonperfect aspect is expressed:
Reprimanded for being late, he blushed. vs.
Having been reprimanded for being late, he blushed.

TRADITIONAL GRAMMAR	MORPHOSYNTAX  (Quirk)
present participle (+ passive)	- ing participle (+ passive)
perfect participle (+ passive)	= -ing part. with perf. aspect (+passive)
past participle	- ed participle

TENSES – ACTIVE AND PASSIVE

TENSE	ACTIVE	PASSIVE
SIMPLE PRESENT	keeps	is kept
PRESENT CONTINUOUS	is keeping	is being kept
SIMPLE PAST	kept	was kept
PAST CONTINUOUS	was keeping	was being kept
PRESENT PERFECT	has kept	has been kept
PRESENT PERF. CONT.	has been keeping	has been being kept
PAST PERFECT	had kept	had been kept
PAST PERF.CONT.	had been keeping	had been being kept
FUTURE	will keep	will be kept
(PRES.) CONDITIONAL	would keep	would be kept
PAST CONDITIONAL	would have kept	would have been kept

* present perf. c.  and past perfect continuous are rarely used in passive voice.

* strictly speaking future is not a tense because there is no inflection for future, it is only expressed by various means depending on what meaning we want to convey.