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64
In point of fact, the English finite verb presented without its person-subject is grammatically almost
meaningless. The presence of the two you's in practical tables of examples like the one above, in our opinion, is
also justified by the inner structure of language. Indeed, since you is part of the person-number system, and not
only of the person system, it should be but natural to take it in the two different, though mutually
complementing interpretations - one for each of the two series of pronouns in question, i.e. the singular series
and the plural series. In the light of this approach, the archaic form thou plus the verb should be understood as a
specific variant of the second person singular with its respective stylistic connotations.
§ 6. The exposition of the verbal categories of person and number presented here helps conveniently explain
some special cases of the subject-verb categorial relations. The bulk of these cases have been treated by
traditional grammar in terms of "agreement in sense", or "notional concord". We refer to the grammatical
agreement of the verb not with the categorial form of the subject expressed morphemically, but with the actual
personal-numerical interpretation of the denoted referent.
Here belong, in the first place, combinations of the finite verb with collective nouns. According as they are
meant by the speaker either to reflect the plural composition of the subject, or, on the contrary, to render its
integral, single-unit quality, the verb is used either in the plural, or in the singular. E.g.:
The government were definitely against the bill introduced by the opposing liberal party. -
- The newly
appointed government has gathered for its first session.
In the second place, we see here predicative constructions whose subject is made imperatively plural by a
numeral attribute. Still, the corresponding verb-form is used to treat it both ways: either as an ordinary plural
which fulfils its function in immediate keeping with its factual plural referent, or as an integrating name, whose
plural grammatical form and constituent composition give only a measure to the subject-matter of denotation.
Cf.:
Three years have elapsed since we saw him last.- -Three years is a long time to wait.
In the third place, under the considered bearding come constructions whose subject is expressed by a
coordinative group of nouns, the verb being given an option of treating it either as a plural or as a singular. E.g.:
My heart and soul belongs to this small nation in its desperate struggle for survival.
-
-
My emotional self
and rational self have been at variance about the attitude adopted by Jane.
The same rule of "agreement in sense" is operative in relative clauses, where the finite verb directly reflects
the categories of the nounal antecedent of the clause-introductory relative pronoun-subject. Cf.:
I who am practically unacquainted with the formal theory of games can hardly suggest an alternative
solution. - - Your words show the courage and the truth that I have always felt was in your heart
On the face of it, the cited examples might seem to testify to the analysed verbal categories being altogether
self-sufficient, capable, as it were, even of "bossing" the subject as to its referential content. However, the inner
regularities underlying the outer arrangement of grammatical connections are necessarily of a contrary nature: it
is the subject that induces the verb, through its inflexion, however scanty it may be, to help express the
substantival meaning not represented in the immediate substantival form. That this is so and not otherwise, can
be seen on examples where the subject seeks the needed formal assistance from other quarters than the verbal,
in particular, having recourse to determiners. Cf.:
A full thirty miles was covered in less than half an hour; the car could be safely relied on.
Thus, the role of the verb in such and like cases comes at most to that of a grammatical intermediary.
From the functional point of view, the direct opposite to the shown categorial connections is represented by
instances of dialectal and colloquial person-number neutralization. Cf:.
"Ah! It's a pity you never was trained to use your reason, miss" (B. Shaw). "He's been in his room all day,"
the landlady said downstairs. "I guess he don't feel well" (E. Hemingway). "What are they going to do to me?"
Johnny said. - "Nothing," I said. "They ain't going to do nothing to you" (W. Saroyan).
Such and similar oppositional neutralizations of the surviving verbal person-number indicators, on their part,
clearly emphasize the significance of the junctional aspect of the two inter-connected categories reflected in the
verbal lexeme from the substantival subject.
C H A P T E R XIV
VERB: TENSE
§ 1. The immediate expression of grammatical time, or "tense" (Lat. tempus), is one of the typical functions
of the finite verb. It is typical because the meaning of process, inherently embedded in the verbal lexeme, finds
its complete realization only if presented in certain time conditions. That is why the expression or non-
expression of grammatical time, together with the expression or non-expression of grammatical mood in
person-form presentation, constitutes the basis of the verbal category of finitude, i.e. the basis of the division of