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42
Edgar's room led out of the wall without a door. She had herself a liking for richness and excess. It was all
over the morning papers. That's what I'm afraid of. I do love you, really I do.
And this holds true not only about the finite verb, but also about the non-finite verb. The processual
semantic character of the verbal lexeme even in the non-finite form is proved by the fact that in all its forms it is
modified by the adverb and, with the transitive verb, it takes a direct object. Cf.:
Mr. Brown received the visitor Instantly, which was unusual. - Mr. Brown's receiving the visitor instantly
was unusual. - It was unusual for Mr. Brown to receive the visitor Instantly. But: An instant reception of the
visitor was unusual for Mr. Brown.
The processual categorial meaning of the notional verb determines its characteristic combination with a
noun expressing both the doer of the action (its subject) and, in cases of the objective verb, the recipient of the
action (its object); it also determines its combination with an adverb as the modifier of the action.
In the sentence the finite verb invariably performs the function of the verb-predicate, expressing the
processual categorial features of predication, i.e. time, aspect, voice, and mood.
The non-finite verb performs different functions according to its intermediary nature (those of the syntactic
subject, object, adverbial modifier, attribute), but its non-processual functions are always actualized in close
combination with its processual semantic features. This is especially evident in demonstrative correlations of
the "sentence - phrase" type. Cf.:
His rejecting the proposal surprised us.-That he had rejected the proposal surprised us. Taking this into
consideration, her attitude can be understood. - If one takes this into consideration, her attitude can be
understood.
In other words, the non-finite forms of the verb in self-dependent use (i.e. if they are used not as parts of the
analytical verb-forms) perform a potentially predicative function, constituting secondary predicative centres in
the sentence. In each case of such use they refer to some subject which is expressed either explicitly or im-
plicitly. Cf:.
Roddy cared enough about his mother to want to make amends for Arabella. > Roddy wanted to make
amends... > Roddy will make amends... Changing gear, the taxi turned the sharp corner.
>
The taxi changed
gear and turned the corner. Acting as mate is often more difficult than acting as captain. > One acts as mate;
one acts as captain.
§ 3. From the point of view of their outward structure, verbs are characterized by specific forms of word-
building, as well as by the formal features expressing the corresponding grammatical categories.
The verb stems may be simple, sound-replacive, stress-repladve, expanded, composite, and phrasal.
The original simple verb stems are not numerous. Cf. such verbs as go, take, read, etc. But conversion
(zero-suffixation) as means of derivation, especially conversion of the "noun - verb" type, greatly enlarges the
simple stem set of verbs, since it is one of the most productive ways of forming verb lexemes in modern
English. Cf.: a cloud-to cloud;' a house-to house; a man-to man; a park-to park, etc.
The sound-replacive type of derivation and the stress-replacive type of derivation are unproductive. Cf:.
food - to feed, blood - to bleed; 'import - to im'port, 'transport - to trans’port.
The typical suffixes expanding the stem of the verb are: -ate
(cultivate), -en (broaden), -ify (clarify), -ize
(normalize). The verb-deriving prefixes of the inter-class type are: be- (belittle, befriend, bemoan) and en-/em-
(engulf, embed). Some other characteristic verbal prefixes are: re- (remake), under- (undergo), over-
(overestfmate), sub- (submerge), mis- (misunderstand), un- (undo), etc.
The composite (compound) verb stems correspond to the composite non-verb stems from which they are
etymologically derived. Here belong the compounds of the conversion type (blackmail n. - blackmail v.) and of
the reduction type (proof-reader . - proofread v.).
The phrasal verb stems occupy an intermediary position between analytical forms of the verb and syntactic
word combinations. Among such stems two specific constructions should be mentioned. The first is a
combination of the head-verb have, give, take, and occasionally some others with a noun; the combination has
as its equivalent an ordinary verb. Cf.: to have a smoke-to smoke; to give a smile-to smile; to take a stroll - to
stroll.
The second is a combination of . head-verb with a verbal postposition that has a specificational value. Cf:.
stand up, go on, give in, be off, get along, etc.
§ 4. The grammatical categories which find formal expression in the outward structure of the verb and
which will be analysed further are, first, the category of finitude dividing the verb into finite and non-finite