Filologiya
məsələləri, № 7, 2017
144
NIGAR ABDULLAYEVA
Azərbaycan Dövlət Neft və Sənaye Universiteti
nigar@mail.ru
TYPES AND FUNCTIONS OF VERBS
Açar sözlər: fel, forma, əsas, köməkçi, bağlayıcı, cümlə, xəbər,
nitq hissəsi,
struktur
Key words:verb, form, main, auxiliary, link, sentence, predicate,
part of
speech, structure
Ключевые слова: глагол, форма, главный, вспомогательный, связка,
предложения, сказуемое,
часть речи, структур
The focus of this article is on the different types and forms of verbs
and especially on their semantic and grammatical function. Verbs can
convey lexical meaning or solely be used for grammatical constructions
without conveying meaning. A verb is the part of speech (or word class) that
describes an action or occurrence or indicates a state of being. There are two
main classes of verbs: (1) the large open class of lexical verbs (also known
as main verbs or full verbs--that is, verbs that aren't dependent on other
verbs); and (2) the small closed class of auxiliary verbs (also called helping
verbs). The two subtypes of auxiliaries are the primary auxiliaries (be, have,
and do), which can also act as lexical verbs, and the modal auxiliaries (can,
could, may, might, must, ought, shall, should, will, and would).
These are the main types of Verbs:
•
Auxiliary Verbs and Lexical Verbs
•
Causative Verbs
•
Compound Verbs
•
Denominal Verbs
•
Dynamic Verbs and Stative Verbs
•
Finite
Verbs and Nonfinite Verbs
•
Hidden Verbs
•
Intransitive Verbs and Transitive Verbs
•
Irregular Verbs and Regular Verbs
•
Light Verbs
•
Linking Verbs
•
Main Verbs
•
Modal
•
Performative Verbs
•
Phrasal Verbs and Prepositional Verbs
•
Predicator
Filologiya məsələləri, № 7, 2017
145
•
Primary Verbs
•
Reporting Verbs
Now let’s have a look some of these types:
main verbs, link verbs and
auxiliary verbs
Main verbs
- carry lexical meaning,
- can stand alone in a sentence without being
accompanied by other words,
- “convey the key meaning in any group of verbs”.
Main verbs can describe either an event or a state or both. We can
also talk about static verbs, which express a state, and dynamic verbs, which
describe an action. There can be made further distinctions within the field of
static verbs and verbs that can describe both an event and a state.
Auxiliary Verbs
- do not carry lexical meaning (exception: modals)
- cannot stand alone in a sentence
- must be accompanied by at least one main verb in a complete sentence
- 1. can be used to build grammatical constructions
- 2. can be
used for stylistic reasons
- 3. can be used to modify an utterance
Traditional grammars define verbs as words that “describe an action
or a state of being.” Auxiliary verbs are a subclass of verbs that add
functional or grammatical meaning to the main verb. Auxiliary verbs differ
from prototypical verbs in that auxiliary verbs perform a limited set of
grammatical functions.In grammar, a passive is a word that expresses
the passive voice in the English language. The auxiliary verb that can
function as the passive is the verb be, which is referred to as the passive be.
Do not confuse the passivebe with the copular be or the progressive be. The
verb get can also function as the passive in less formal registers. For
example, the following italicized auxiliary verbs function as passives:
•
The lawn is mown every Tuesday.
•
The child got served an alcoholic beverage by the clueless waiter.
•
I am driven crazy by the customers.
•
The books are shelved in the evenings.
•
Some of the articles are being proofread.
•
Will the flowers have been being watered enough?
A linking verb
- connects the subject with a word that gives information about the
subject, such as a condition or relationship.
-They do not show any action; but, they link the subject with the rest
of the sentence. For example, in the sentence "They
are a problem," the word
Filologiya məsələləri, № 7, 2017
146
"are" is the linking verb that connects "they" and "problem" to show the
relationship between the two words.
Verbs and verb phrases usually function as predicates. They can
display differences in tense, mood, aspect, number, person, and voice.
Verbs are also classified according to function.
Action verbs show
action or possession. Action verbs are either transitive or intransitive.
Linking verbs show the condition of the subject. Auxiliary verbs, also called
helping verbs, are used with other verbs to change the tense, voice, or
condition of the verb. You probably know that every sentence has at least
one verb in it. There are two main types of verbs. Action verbs are used to
depict activities that are doable, and linking verbs are used to describe
conditions. Both action verbs and linking verbs can accompany auxiliary
verbs including the three main ones: do, be, and have. Sometimes actions or
conditions occur only one time and then they’re over. It’s at times like these
that some of the same verbs that are used as auxiliary verbs are instead used
as action or linking verbs. In this example, we see the word “is”. This is one
of the most common auxiliary verbs, but because it stands alone here, it is
not functioning as an auxiliary verb. Jerry slammed the car door on his
thumb. He is in horrible pain. “Is” is a linking verb in this sentence. Because
it stands alone, it is not an auxiliary verb. At other times, an action or
condition is ongoing, happening predictably, or occurring in relationship to
another event or set of events. In these cases, single-word verbs like is are
not accurately capable of describing what happened, so phrases that include
auxiliary verbs are used instead. These can be made up of anywhere from
two to four words. A main verb, also known as a base verb, indicates the
kind of action or condition taking place. An auxiliary or helping verb
accompanies the main verb and conveys other nuances that help the reader
gain specific insight into the event that is taking place.Most link verbs to
some extent preserve their meaning. The following are the most common of
these link verbs: to appear, to get, to grow, to continue, to feel, to keep, to
look, to turn, to hold, to prove, to turn out, to loom, to rank, to remain, to
run, to seem, to smell, to taste, to fall, to stand, to go, to work. For example:
His wife sighed and remained silent.
He grew more cheerful.
Many of these verbs can be used both as verbs of complete
predication fully preserving their concrete meaning and as link verbs. For
example:
The sun was full of promise (link verb).
No one was there to meet him. (verbs of complete predication)
She had grown too proud or too passive. (link verb)
Perhaps he should grow a beard. (verbs of complete predication)