Download Smith & Wilhelm 19

VERBS:
TENSE, VOICE, ASPECT
AND MODALITY
by Don L. F. Nilsen
and Alleen Pace Nilsen
19
1
Active vs. Passive Headlines
• American Bomb Kills 10 Iraqi Civilians
• Ten Iraqi Civilians Killed by American Bomb
• Ten Iraqi Civilians Killed
• Ten Iraqi Citizens Are Casualties
(Smith & Wilhelm 19)
19
2
Active vs. Passive Headlines
• IN A NEW YORK PAPER:
– Sox Win Another One!
– Sox Trounce Yanks in Extra Innings
• IN A BOSTON PAPER:
– Yankees Beaten Again
– Bronx Bombers Let Another One Slip Away
• In discussing these headlines, explain “the
curse of the Babe.”
(Smith & Wilhelm 20)
19
3
Subject-Verb Agreement
• Smith & Wilhelm suggest that if students want their
subjects and verbs to agree, they should:
• “cross out all of the words that separate subjects
from their predicates and then check that their verb
choice was correct.”
• Remember that each, either, every, everyone,
everybody, someone, and somebody are
grammatically singular.
(Smith & Wilhelm 124-126)
19
4
Verbs are the boss
• In “The chair laughed,” the verb takes control.
– This sentence personifies “chair.”
– It does not depersonify “laughed.”
• Verbs (like the sun in the solar system) control the
nouns and prepositional phrases that surround them
(their case frames).
19
5
Transitivity
• dance
• Mary dances beautifully.
• slap
• Mary slapped John.
• be
• Obama is President/smart/here.
• give
• Mary gave John a new car.
• elect
• The country elected Obama President.
19
6
Irregular Verbs
Auxiliary
Verbs
Bring
Buy
Dive
Be (suppletive) Drive
Go
Have
(suppletive)
Cf. wend
Do
Hang (2)
Hit
19
Lie/Lay
Rise/Raise
Sit/Set
Sell
Swim
(Smith & Wilhelm 250-269)
7
Irregular-Verb Paradox
• Rare verbs tend to become regular.
• Therefore, in all languages, the
most common verbs tend to be the
most irregular.
19
8
Converses
Break:
John broke the window
with a hammer
A hammer broke the
window
The window broke.
Buy & Sell
Sense Verbs
Feel
Smell
Hear/Sound
Look at/Look
Taste
Rent to & Rent From
19
9
TENSE:
Past: -ed
Present: -s
Future: will or shall
ASPECT:
Perfect (have + -en)
Progressive (be + -ing)
VOICE:
Passive (be + -en)
MODALITY:
can
will
shall
may
must
could
would
should
might
19
10
TENSE:
Past: -ed
Present: -s
Future: will or shall
*NOTE:
ASPECT:
Perfect (have + -en)*
Progressive (be + -ing)*
Present Participles always end in
–ing
Past Participles usually end in –ed
or –en
Gerunds always end in -ing
VOICE:
Passive (be + -en)*
MODALITY:
can
will
shall
may
must
could
would
should
might
19
11
TIME:
|
TENSE
TRUTH:
|
(MODAL)
ASPECT:
VOICE:
/
\
|
(PERFECT)
(PROGRESSIVE) (PASSIVE) VERB
past
present
future
can could
(have + -en)
will would
shall should
may might
must
(be + -ing)
19
(be + -en)
drive
12
can
=
be able to
will
=
be going to
shall
=
be going to
should
=
be supposed to
may
=
be expected to
might
=
be expected to
must
=
be obligated to
19
13
EXPLAIN THE FOLLOWING IN TERMS OF SOUNDS AND
MEANINGS:
John supposed that the meeting had begun.
John was supposed to do something.
I have two wives.
I have to leave school early.
Alleen has two husbands.
Mary has to prepare dinner for her husbands.
Mary used all of the medicine.
Mary used to be ill.
19
14
The cake was eaten (passive)
The cake got eaten (get passive)
John doesn’t have a book. (American
John hasn’t a book. (British)
Does John have a book? (American)
Has John a book? (British)
John is eating the cake. (progressive)
The cake is eaten. (passive)
John is an idiot. (main verb: set membership)
John has eaten the cake. (perfect)
John has a new car. (main verb: possessive)
John doesn’t know what to do. (do-support)
John does the dishes once a week. (main verb)
19
15
TIME OF SPEAKING: ^
TIME OF EATING: before )
TIME OF ARRIVING: !
1). I had eaten before you arrived (past perfect).
_____)!_________^____________
2). I have eaten. (present perfect)
_______________)^____________
3). I will have eaten when you arrive (future
perfect).
________________^______)!_____
19
16
4). I was eating when you arrived. (past progressive)
------==!===---------^------------------
5). I am eating. (present progressive)
-----------------====^=====---------
6). I will be eating when you arrive (future progressive)
------------------------^------====!===
19
17
7). A prisoner ate the cake 
The cake was eaten by a prisoner. (past passive)
8). Rust corrodes iron. 
Iron is corroded by rust (present passive)
9). A prisoner will eat the cake. 
The cake will be eaten by a prisoner. (future passive)
19
18
!EXPLAIN THE TENSE, VOICE AND ASPECT OF THE
FOLLOWING SENTENCES!
1). Ryan is driving a taxi.
2). Sally has baked a cake.
3). Jeri had finished her homework before you left for
work.
4). Mark will have finished the repairs tomorrow
morning.
5). Brenda had been eating cherries all morning.
19
19
!!
6). The new kid was being beaten by some gang members.
7). The presidency will be won by the hardest campaigner.
8). The article is being written by a real sports enthusiast.
9). Mikey has been eating this kind of cereal for years.
19
20
!!!AND NOW FOR THE MOST DIFFICULT SENTENCE
IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
10). The taxi might have been being driven by a nut.
19
21
References:
Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman, and
Nina Hyams. An Introduction to
Language, Seventh Edition. Boston,
MA: Thomson/Heinle, 2003.
Smith, Michael W., and Jeffrey D.
Wilhelm. Getting It Right: Fresh
Approaches to Teaching Grammar,
Usage and Correctness. New York, NY:
Scholastic, 2007
19
22