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THE NOUN
Definition:
The noun is the part of speech that is used to name or identify a person , place ,
thing , quality or action.
MORPHOLOGICAL STRUCTURE
OF THE NOUN
According to their morphological structure nouns fall into three groups: simple
nouns, derivative nouns and compound nouns.
1. Simple nouns consist of only the root which very often coincides with the word;
the usual or most favoured phonetic shape is one single stressed syllable: bus, bear,
land, glass, wife, etc. Simple nouns are undecomposable, having neither suffixes
nor prefixes.
2. Derivative nouns have affixes (prefixes or suffixes or both): worker, kindness,
brotherhood, misdemeanour, ingratitude, etc.
The suffixes are:
-er: worker, writer, builder, joiner;
-ness: tenderness, redness, madness;
-ist: novelist, dramatist, columnist;
-ism: heroism, capitalism, nationalism;
-ess: actress, waitress, hostess.
-hood: childhood, manhood;
-ance: importance, arrogance;
-dom: kingdom, freedom;
-ence: reference, dependence;
-ship: friendship, relationship;
3. Compound nouns are the words consisting of at least two stems which occur in
the language as free forms (sunbeam, snowball, film-star, searchlight, readinghall, dining-room, blackmail, make-up) .
GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES
OF THE NOUN
1. The Category of Number
The English number system comprises singular, which denotes one thing, person,
idea, etc., and plural, which denotes more than one thing, person, idea, etc
Variable (Countable) Nouns
Regular Plural
English countable nouns have two forms, singular and plural. The vast majority of
nouns occur with either singular or plural number, and normally have a plural form
which is built up by means of the inflection, or ending, -s: room — rooms, motel —
motels, jeep — jeeps, or -es: ax — axes, bench — benches. This is the regular
plural.
Some plural forms create significant spelling difficulties.
1. When a noun ends in the letter -y preceded by a consonant letter, -y is changed
into -i and -es is added: country — countries, fly — flies, enemy — enemies, cry —
cries. Proper names retain -y in the plural form: Mary — Marys, Kennedy — the
Kennedys.
If the final -y is preceded by a vowel it remains unchanged and
only -s is added: day — days, key — keys.
2. When a noun ends in -s, -ss, -ch and -x, the inflection -es is added: bus — buses,
class — classes, bush — bushes, bench — benches, watch — watches, box —
boxes.
3. -es is also added to nouns ending in -o preceded by a consonant: echo — echoes,
potato — potatoes, hero — heroes, Negro — Negroes, tomato — tomatoes, torpedo
— torpedoes, veto — vetoes.
Piano, photo, solo, kilo have plurals in -s: pianos, photos, solos, kilos. With some
nouns plurals ending in -os and -oes are equally possible: cargo — cargos /
cargoes. It also applies to archipelago, banjo, buffalo, commando, tornado,
volcano.
When the final -o is preceded by a vowel, only -s is added: cuckoo— cuckoos,
radio — radios.
4. The following nouns ending in the voiceless fricative [f] have voiced plurals
spelt -ves: calf, elf, half, knife, life, loaf, self, sheaf, shelf, thief, wife, wolf, e. g. half
— halves θ
Irregular Plural
A number of nouns form their plural by means of vowel mutation: foot — feet,
goose — geese, tooth — teeth, man — men, woman — women, louse — lice, mouse
— mice.
The plural ending -men occurs in words like: fireman — firemen, gentleman —
gentlemen, Englishman — Englishmen.
The plural is regular in: Germans, Romans, etc. and personal names like the
Bowmans, the Freemans.
The -en plural occurs in three nouns: ox — oxen, child — children (with vowel
change [`ta_ld] — [`t_ldrn]), brother — brethren (not blood relations but fellow
members of a religious society).
Zero Plural
Some nouns have identical forms for both singular and plural. Thus, there is no
separate plural form for nouns denoting certain animals, birds and fish: deer,
grouse, mackerel, plaice, salmon, sheep, trout.
Thus, it is possible to say That is a deer, a sheep, etc. or These are deer, sheep,
etc.:
This sheep looks small.
All these sheep are mine.
Both regular and zero plural is used with antelope, reindeer, fish, flounder,
herring. The zero plural is more common in contexts of hunting (We caught only a
few fish), whereas the regular plural form is used to denote different individuals or
species: the fishes of the Mediterranean.
The Plural of Compound Nouns
Compounds consisting of two or more elements form the plural in various ways.
The most usual one is to make the final element plural: bookcase — bookcases,
grown-up — grown-ups, stand-by — standbys, boy friend — boy friends.
So also: assistant director — assistant directors, fountain pen — fountain pens,
breakdown — breakdowns, pullover — pullovers, headache— headaches, take-off
— take-offs, forget-me-not — forget-me-nots, etc.
In a number of compounds the first element is made plural: passerby — passersby, runner-up — runners-up, court martial — courts martial, notary public —
notaries public, man-of-war — men-of-war, mother-in-law — mothers-in-law, but
also mother-in-laws informally.
When the first component is man or woman, the plural is expressed in both the first
and last element: manservant — menservants, woman doctor — women doctors,
gentleman farmer — gentlemen farmers, woman driver — women drivers but: lady
driver — lady drivers.
The first component is always singular in: man-holes, woman-haters, where
emphasis is on holes and haters rather than on man and woman.
Foreign Plurals
Foreign plurals occur in a number of words borrowed from Latin, Greek, French
etc., though there is a strong tendency to use the regular -s plural in everyday
language and to restrict the foreign plural to scientific contexts.
1. Latin nouns in -us.
The foreign plural in -i pronounced as [ai] or [i:] only: stimulus —stimuli (also
bacillus, locus, nucleus).
Only regular plural (-uses): bonus — bonuses (also campus, chorus, circus, genius,
virus, etc.).
Both plurals: cactus — cacti / cactuses (also focus, fungus, nucleus, radius,
terminus, syllabus).
The plural forms of corpus and genus are corpora and genera.
2. Latin nouns in -um.
Usually foreign plural in -a, pronounced [ə]: curriculum — curricula
(also addendum, bacterium, erratum, stratum).
Only regular plural: forum — forums (also stadium, ultimatum).
Both plurals, normally regular: aquarium, medium, memorandum, symposium. The
plurals media (with reference to press and radio) and strata (with reference to
society) are sometimes used informally as singular. The technical singular datum is
rather rare while data is used both as a mass noun and as count noun plural: The
results of the experiment are still uncertain: there is / are not enough data yet.
3. Latin nouns in -a.
Only foreign plural in -ae pronounced as [ai] or [i:]: alumna — alumnae (also alga,
larva).
Only regular plural form in -s: antenna, formula, nebula, vertebra, dogma.
Formulas is being increasingly adopted, with formulae [-i:] reserved for scientific
contexts; antennas prevails in general use and electronics with antennae [-i:] in
biology.
4. Nouns of Greek origin may also have foreign plurals only: basis — bases,
analysis — analyses (also axis, crisis, diagnosis, ellipsis, parenthesis, thesis),
phenomenon — phenomena, criterion — criteria or regular plurals: demon —
demons, electron — electrons. Informally, criteria and phenomena are sometimes
used as singulars.
5. French nouns ending in -eau, pronounced [əu] retain their original plural, e. g.
bureau — bureaux, tableau — tableaux (also plateau,
portmanteau), beside the commoner -s but the plurals are mainly pronounced
as regular [z], irrespective of spelling.
Invariable (Uncountable) Nouns
Unlike variable nouns occurring with both singular and plural number, invariable
nouns are used only in the singular or only in the plural. The singular uncountable
nouns, usually referred to as singularia tantum, are modified by much and little
and take the finite verb in the singular while the plural uncountable nouns referred
to as pluralia tantum take the finite verb in the plural.
Singularia tantum
Singular invariable nouns occur in the singular only. Here belong non-count nouns,
concrete (gold, furniture, iron, bread, cheese, grass, oil, wine, tea, coffee, etc.) and
abstract (advice, behaviour, education, homework, information, generosity,
luggage, knowledge, importance, permission, progress, scenery, weather, traffic,
etc.).
Special attention should be paid to invariable nouns ending in –s used as singular
only with a singular verb.
1. The noun news:
This is very good news.
Bad news travels fast.
No news is good news.
2. Names of some diseases and abnormal states of body and mind: measles,
German measles, mumps, rickets, shingles, creeps (some speakers also accept a
plural verb, however):
Measles is a catching disease while rickets is not.
3. Names of sciences and subject names in -ics: classics, linguistics, mathematics,
phonetics, etc. usually take a singular verb:
Ethics is a science of moral principles and rules of conduct.
4. Names of some games: billiards, bowls (esp. BrE), darts, dominoes,
draughts (BrE), checkers (AmE), fives, ninepins:
25
In England bowls is played on flat greens or on sloping (crown)
greens.
Darts is a traditional English game which presumably developed
from archery.
5. Some proper nouns: Algiers, Athens, Brussels, Flander ,Marseilles, Naples,
Wales; the United Nations and the United States
have a singular verb when considered as units:
The United States has immense mineral wealth.
Pluralia Tantum
A number of nouns in English occur in the plural only. To this group belong the
following nouns.
1. Nouns denoting articles of dress, tools and instruments consisting of two equal
parts: trousers, pants, breeches, trunks, pyjamas (BrE), pajamas (AmE), drawers,
braces, suspenders, tights, knickers; scissors, spectacles, glasses, tongs, pincers,
binoculars, tweezers, pliers, shears, etc.
These trousers are too long for me, give me another pair, please.
Is there a decent pair of scissors in this house? — Take these,
they are quite sharp.
2. Miscellaneous nouns ending in -s used only with a plural verb, not with a
numeral. In some cases, however, there are also forms without -s with different
meaning and use: amends (make every / all possible amends), annals, archives,
arms (= weapons, as in arms depot), arrears, ashes (= human remains, but
tobacco ash), auspices, banns (of marriage), belongings, bowels, clothes (cf.
cloths, plural of cloth), congratulations, credentials, contents (but the silver
content of the coin), customs (customs duty), dregs (coffee dregs), earnings,
goods (a goods train), lodgings, looks (= appearance), manners (= behaviour),
odds (in betting), outskirts, premises (= buildings), quarlaria 26 ters (=
lodgings), remains, savings, shortcomings, surroundings, thanks, valuables.
3. The Category of Case
The category of case expresses relations between objects and phenomena denoted
by nouns in a sentence. The widely accepted view is that English nouns have two
cases. The category of case is expressed by the opposition between the form in -’s,
usually called the possessive (genitive) case and the unmarked form of the noun,
usually called the common case. The genitive case is formed by means of the
inflection -’s which is added to singular nouns and to irregular plural nouns.
Gender
English makes very few gender distinctions. Gender applies only to certain gendersensitive pronouns, where the categories of masculine / feminine and personal /
non-personal can apply.
Since nouns have no grammatical gender, the choice of pronoun substitutes he, she
and it is based on natural distinctions of meaning.
The choice between he or she, for example, is almost entirely determined by sex.
Thus, he refers to a man or a male animal; she — to a woman or a female animal;
it — to an inanimate object or an animal which is not regarded as either male or
female; the plural pronoun they is not gender specific.
1. Animate personal nouns may refer to males or females. Some of them are
morphologically marked for gender: actor — actress, duke— duchess, emperor —
empress, god — goddess, host — hostess, prince— princess, waiter — waitress.
Steward and stewardess are being replaced by other terms such as flight attendant.
-Ess is practically the only gender-forming suffix in Modern English; note also
hero — heroine
2. Animate personal nouns may refer to both male or female. Here belong artist,
cook, doctor, enemy, fool, foreigner, friend, guest, musician, neighbour, parent,
person, servant, student, teacher, writer
THE ADJECTIVE
An adjective is a word that describes (modifies) a noun (person, place, thing,
or idea).
Morphological composition
Simple adjectives are kind, new, fresh
Derived adjectives are recognizable morphologically. They consist of one root
morpheme and one or more derivational morphemes - suffixes or prefixes. There
are the following adjective-forming suffixes:
-able
-al
-ary
-ed
-en
-que
-fold
-ful
-ic
-id
-ish
understandable
musical, governmental
documentary
beaded, barbed
wooden, silken, shrunken
picturesque
twofold, manifold
careful, sinful
pessimistic, atomic
torpid, morbid
feverish, bluish
-ive
-less
-like
-ly
-most
-ory
-ous
-some
-y
effective, distinctive
careless, spotless
manlike, warlike
kindly, weekly, homely
uttermost
observatory
glorious
lonesome, troublesome
handy, messy
Some adjectives are former participles and therefore retain participial suffixes:
charming, interesting, cunning, daring.
Compound adjectives consist of at least two stems. They may be of several
patterns:
a) consisting of a noun + an adjective:
colour-blind, grass-green;
b) consisting of an adjective + an adjective:
deaf-mute;
c) consisting of an adverb + a participle:
well-known, newly-repaired, much-praised;
d) Consisting of a noun/pronoun + a verbal:
all-seeing, heart-breaking, high-born, high-flown, man-made;
e) consisting of an adjective/adverb + a noun + the suffix -ed:
blue-eyed, long-legged, fair-haired, down-hearted.
Morphological characteristics
There are three grades of comparison: positive, comparative, and superlative.
The superlative is generally used with the definite article. Ways of formation may
be synthetic, analytic, and suppletive (irregular). The synthetic way is by adding
the inflection -er, -est, as fine -finer - finest. This means is found with
monosyllabic and some disyllabic adjectives in which the stress falls on the last
syllable:
1) full - fuller - fullest
polite
- politer
profoun - profounder
d
- completer
- politest
- profoundest
- completest
complet
e
2) in which the second syllable is the syllabic [1]:
able
noble
- abler
- nobler
- ablest
- noblest
3) with adjectives in -er, -y, -some, -ow:,
tender
happy
handsom
e
narrow
- tenderer
- happier
handsome
r
- narrower
- tenderest
- happiest
- handsomest
- narrowest
Synthetic inflection, however, is often found in other disyllabic adjectives:
You are the horridest man I have ever seen.
Polysyllabic adjectives form their degrees of comparison analytically, by means of
more and most:
difficult - more difficult - most difficult
curious - more curious - most curious
Several adjectives form their degrees of comparison by means of (suppletive
forms) irregularly:
good/well
bad
little
many
- better
- worse
- less
- more
- best
- worst
- least
- most
far
farther - farthest (with reference to distance)
further - furthest (with reference to distance, abstract notions and in figurative use)
old
older - oldest (with reference to age)
elder - eldest (with reference to the sequence of brothers and sisters)
Adjectival compounds can be inflected in two ways, either the first element is
inflected (if it is an adjective or adverb), or comparison is with more and most, for
example:
well-known
dull-witted
kindhearted
- better-known
- best-known
- more dull- - most dull-witted
witted
- most kind-hearted
- more kindhearted
The following adjectives generally do not form degrees of comparison:
1. Limiting qualitative adjectives which single out or determine the type of things
or persons, such as:
previous, middle, left, childless, medical, dead, etc.
2. Relative adjectives (which are also limiting in their meaning) such as:
woollen, wooden, flaxen, earthen, ashen.
3. Adjectives with comparative and superlative meaning (the so-called gradables)
which are of Latin origin:
former, inner, upper, junior, senior, prior, superior, etc. (originally with
comparative meaning), and
minimal, optimal, proximal, etc. (originally with superlative meaning).
With most of them the comparative meaning has been lost and they are used as
positive forms (the inner wall, the upper lip, superior quality, minimal losses).
However, some comparatives borrowed from Latin (major, minor, exterior,
interior, junior, senior) may form their own comparatives with a change of
meaning.
1. Adjectives already denoting some gradation of quality, such as darkish,
greenish, etc.
ORDER OF ADJECTIVES
Sometimes we use more than one adjective in front of a noun:
He
was
a nice intelligent young man.
She had a small round black wooden box.
Opinion adjectives:
Some adjectives give a general opinion. We can use these adjectives to describe
almost any noun:
good
bad
lovely
strange
beautiful
nice
brilliant
excellent
awful
important
wonderful
nasty
Some adjectives give a specific opinion. We only use these adjectives to describe
particular kinds of noun:
Food:
tasty;
delicious
Furniture,
buildings:
comfortable;
uncomfortable
People, animals: clever; intelligent; friendly
We usually put a general opinion in front of a specific opinion:
Nice tasty soup.
A nasty uncomfortable armchair
A lovely intelligent animal
Usually we put an adjective that gives an opinion in front of an adjective that
is descriptive:
a nice red dress; a silly old man; those horrible yellow curtains
We often have two adjectives in front of a noun:
a handsome young man; a big black car; that horrible big dog
Sometimes we have three adjectives, but this is unusual:
a nice handsome young man;
a big black American car;
that horrible big fierce dog
It is very unusual to have more than three adjectives.
Adjectives usually come in this order:
1
2
3
4
5
General Specific
Size
opinion opinion
Shape Age
6
7
Colour Nationality Material
We use some adjectives only after a link verb:
afraid
alive
alone
asleep
content
ready
glad
ill
8
sorry
sure
unable
well
Some of the commonest -ed adjectives are normally used only after a link verb:
annoyed; finished; bored; pleased; thrilled
We say:
Our
teacher
was
ill.
My
uncle
was
very
glad
when
he
heard
the
news.
The policeman seemed to be very annoyed
but we do not say:
We
had
an ill teacher.
When
he
heard
the
news
he
was a
very
glad
uncle
He seemed to be a very annoyed policeman
A few adjectives are used only in front of a noun:
north
northern
countless
eventful
south
southern
occasional
indoor
east
eastern
lone
outdoor
west
western
We say:
He
lives
in
There were countless problems with the new machinery.
but we do not say:
The
district
he
lives
in
The problems with the new machinery were countless.
the eastern district.
TYPES OF COMPARISONS
Конструкция
Пример
as… as - такой же… как и
His hands were as cold as ice
not so/as … as - не так(ой) … It is not so/as cold as it was
как
yesterday.
such a/ so… as - такой же… It is not such an interesting
как и
book as his last one.
twice/ three times/ half etc. Their house is twice as big as
as…as - в два/ три раза и т.д./ ours.
наполовину такой же… как и
the same as - такой же, как
Your jacket is the same as the
one I bought last month
look, sound, smell, taste + She looks like an angel.
like - выглядеть, звучать,
пахнуть, иметь вкус чего-л…
less …than - менее… чем
The green sofa is less
expensive than the black one,
the
least…
of/in - but the blue one is the least
наименее….из чего-либо
expensive of all.
the
+
сравнительная The sooner you'll start, the
степень - чем…., тем….
sooner you'll finish.
сравнительная степень + Life is getting harder and
and
+сравнительная harder.
степень
is
eastern
prefer doing / сущ. to I prefer watching TV to going
doing/сущ. - предпочитать out.
что-либо чему-либо
would prefer + to + I would prefer to eat in rather
инфинитив + rather that than go to a restaurant.
+ инфинитив скорее
делать что-либо, чем чтолибо
would rather/
sooner I'd rather look for a new flat
+инфинитив +
THAN than stay in this house any
+инфинитив - лучше бы longer.
сделать что-либо, чем чтолибо
предложение + whereas / Tom likes living in the country
while + предложение - … в whereas his sister likes living
то время как ….
in the city.
THE VERB
Most verbs denote action or state. However, there are some verbs which have other meanings.
They are modal verbs, causative verbs, some impersonal verbs, relational and link-verbs.
They present a system of finite and non-finite forms, except for modal verbs, which have no nonfinite forms.
The verb in its finite forms possesses the morphological categories of person, number, tense,
aspect, perfect, voice and mood. Its syntactical function is that of the predicate.
The non-finite forms (or verbals) are four in number, they are: the infinitive, the gerund,
participle I and participle II.
Non-finite verb forms possess the verbal categories of perfect, voice and to a certain extent
aspect. Owing to the richness of its morphological categories, the flexibility of its syntactical
functioning and wide combinability, the verb is of the greatest importance in the structure of the
sentence.
The morphological categories of the verb are interrelated, that is every verb form expresses all
these categories simultaneously.
1.CLASSIFICATIONS OF VERBS
Morphological structure
According to their morphological composition verbs can be divided into simple, derivative,
compound and phrasal.
Simple verbs consist of only one root morpheme: to ask, to build, to come.
Derivative verbs are composed of one root morpheme and one or more derivational
morphemes (prefixes and suffixes). The main verbforming suffixes are -ize, -fy, -en, -ate, as in:
to criticize, to justify, to blacken, to enumerate.
Compound verbs consist of at least two stems: to overgrow, to undertake.
Phrasal verbs consist of a verbal stem and an adverbial particle, which is sometimes referred
to as postposition. The adverbial meaning is evident in phrasal verbs of the type to come in, to
look out, whereas it is quite lost in the verbs to give up, to give in, to bring up.
Regular and irregular verbs
Owing to the historical development of the verb system the English verbs fall into two
groups: regular and irregular verbs.
The regular verbs, which go back to the Germanic weak verbs, constitute the largest group.
The past indefinite and participle II of these verbs are formed by means of the dental suffix ed added to the stem of the verb. This is the productive pattern according to which all new
verbs form their past indefinite and participle II.
The irregular verbs form their past indefinite and participle II according tо some fixed
traditional patterns going back partly to the Germanic strong verbs, partly to the weak verbs,
which underwent some changes in the process of history.
The irregular verbs are about 250 in number.
Semantic classifications of the verb
Semantic classifications of the verb may be undertaken from different standpoints.
Grammatically important is the devision of verbs into the following classes:
Actional verbs, which denote a c t i o n s p r o p e r (do, make, go, read, etc.) and statal
verbs, which denote s t a t e (be, exist, lie, sit, know, etc.) сor r e l a t i o n s ( fit, belong, have,
match, cost, etc.). The difference in their categorical meaning affects their morphological
paradigm: s t a t a l and r e l a t i o n a l v e r b s have no passive voice (though some have
forms coinciding with the passive voice as in The curtains and the carpet were matched). A l s o
s t a t a l and r e l a t i o n a l v e r b s generally are not used in the continuous and perfect
continuous tenses. Their occasional use in these tenses is always exceptional and results in the
change of meaning.
From the syntactic standpoint verbs may be subdivided into transivite (переходные) and
intransitive (непереходные) ones.
Intransitive verbs do not require any object for the completion of their meaning:
The sun is rising.
Transitive verbs can take a direct object:
Jane gave her sister an apple.
There are many verbs in English that can function as both transitive and intransitive.
Tom is writing a letter. (transitive)
Tom writes clearly. (intransitive)
Who has broken the cup? (transitive)
Glass breaks easily. (intransitive)
Jane stood near the piano. (intransitive)
Jane stood the vase on the piano. (transitive)
Classification based on lexical meaning
Fro the point of view of their lexical meaning, the verbs can be terminative and nonterminative.
T e r m i n a t i v e v e r b s (предельные глаголы) besides their specific meaning contain
the idea that the action must be fulfilled and come to an end, reaching some point where it has
logically to stop. These are such verbs as sit down, come, fall, stop, begin, open, close, shut, die,
bring, find, etc.
N o n - t e r m i n a t i v e , or d u r a t i v e v e r b s (непредельные глаголы) imply that
actions or states expressed by these verbs may go on indefinitely without reaching any logically
necessary final point. These are such verbs as carry, run, walk, sleep, stand, sit, live, know,
suppose, talk, speak, etc.
Classification based on lexical meaning
According to their meaning and function in the sentence English verbs are classified into
notional and structural ones.
Notional verbs always have a lexical meaning of their own and can have an independent
syntactic function in the sentence. (e.g. During the war he lived in London.)
When a verb is used as a structural word, it may either preserve or lose its lexical meaning..
Here belong modal verbs, auxiliary verbs and link-verbs.
2. Categories of the verb
The category of person expresses the relation of the action and its doer to the speaker, showing
whether the action is performed by the speaker (the 1st person), someone addressed by the
speaker (the 2nd person) or someone/something other than the speaker or the person addressed
(the 3rd person).
The category of number shows whether the action is performed by one or more than one
persons or non-persons.
For the present indefinite tense of the verb to be there are three contrasting forms: the 1st person
singular, the 3rd person singular and the form for all persons plural: (I) am - (he) is - (we, you,
they) are.
In the past indefinite tense it is only the verb to be that has one of these categories - the category
of number, formed by the opposition of the singular and the plural forms: (I, he) was - (we, you,
they) were. All the other verbs have the same form for all the persons, both singular and plural.
In the future and future in the past tenses there are two opposing forms: the 1st person singular
and plural and the other persons: (I, we) shall go - (he, you, they) will go; (I, we) should come (he, you, they) would come.
The category of tense in English (as well as in Russian) expresses the relationship between
the time of the action and the time of speaking.
The time of speaking is designated as present time and is the starting point for the whole scale
of time measuring. The time that follows the time of speaking is designated as future time; the
time that precedes the time of speaking is designated as past time. Accordingly there are three
tenses in English - the present tense, the future tense and the past tense which refer actions to
present, future or past time.
Besides these three tenses there is one more tense in English, the so-called future in the past.
The peculiarity of this tense lies in the fact that the future is looked upon not from the point of
view of the moment of speaking (the present) but from the point of view of some moment in the
past.
Each tense is represented by four verb forms involving such categories as aspect and perfect.
Thus there are four present tense forms: the present indefinite, the present continuous, the
present perfect, the present perfect continuous; four past tense forms: the past indefinite, the past
continuous, the past perfect and the past perfect continuous; four future tense forms: the future
indefinite, the future continuous, the future perfect and the future perfect continuous; and four
future in the past tense forms: the future in the past indefinite, the future in the past continuous,
the future in the past perfect, the future in the past perfect continuous.
The category of aspect shows the way or manner in which an action is performed, that is
whether the action is perfective (совершенное), imperfective (несовершенное), momentary
(мгновенное, однократное), iterative (многократное, повторяющееся), inchoative
(зачинательное), durative (продолженное, длительное), etc.
Some verbs do not usually have the forms of the continuous aspect. They are referred to as
statal verbs. The most common of them are the following:
1. Relational verbs have, be and some link verbs:
become, remain, appear, seem, sound.
However, both to be and to have can be used in the continuous aspect forms where to be has
the meaning to act and to have has a meaning other than to possess.
She is so foolish!
I have three brothers.
She is being so foolish (acting foolishly) today
I am having dinner (am dining) now.
Other verbs having the same meaning of relation are not used in the continuous aspect forms:
to apply to
to belong to
to compare (to)
to concern
to contain
to cost
to depend on
to deserve
to differ from
to exist
to hold
to interest
to matter
to measure
to own
to possess
to remember
to stand for
to weigh
2. Verbs expressing sense perception, that is involuntary reactions of the senses:
to feel (чувствовать),
to hear (слышать),
to see (видеть),
to smell (чувствовать запах),
to taste (чувствовать вкус).
However these verbs as well as other statal verbs may be sometimes used in continuous and
perfect continuous forms, especially in informal English.
3. Verbs expressing emotional state:
to care, to detest, to envy, to fear, to hate, to hope, to like, to love, to prefer, to want, to
wish.
4. Verbs expressing mental state:
to assume, to believe, to consider, to doubt, to expect, to find, to forget, to imagine, to
know, to mean, to mind, to notice, to perceive, to remember, to suggest, to suppose, to
think, to understand.
Note:
Care should be taken to distinguish between some of these verbs denoting a mental state
proper and the same verbs used in other meanings. In the latter case continuous aspect forms
also occur. Compare, for example, the following pairs of sentences:
I consider (believe) her to be a very good student.
I expected (supposed, thought) you’d agree with
me.
I feel (suppose) there is something wrong about
him.
I think (suppose) you’re right.
I’m still considering (studying) all the pros and con
I could not come for I was expecting (waiting for) a
friend at the time.
I’m feeling quite cold.
I am thinking over (studying) your offer.
I am forgetting things more and more now (beginning to forget).
She is understanding grammar better now (beginning to understand).
Moreover, all the verbs treated in § 12 can occur in the continuous aspect when the ideas they
denote are to be emphasized:
Don’t shout, I'am hearing you perfectly well!
Why are you staring into the darkness? What are you seeing there?
Are you still remaining my friend.
You see, she’s knowing too much.
They don’t know that inside I know what they’re like, and that all the time I’m hating
them.


The category of Voice indicates the relation of the predicate to the subject and the object of
the sentence and shows whether the subject is the doer of the action. Active voice shows that
the subject is the doer or performer of the action. It is preferred in writing because it is more
forceful and direct than the passive voice.
Passive voice shows that the subject is the receiver of the action.
The category of Mood. Mood identifies the manner in which a verb expresses an idea.
The Three Moods of Verbs are:
1. The indicative mood states a fact or asks a question.
2. The subjunctive mood is used to express:

a wish or a condition that is contrary to fact.
 a command or request after the word that.
3. The imperative mood gives a command or makes a request. Verbs in this mood are
always in the present tense and second person.