Regular and irregular verbs

1) The letter -d is added to stems ending in -e:

2) In all the other cases the letters -ed are added:

The final consonant letter is doubled if it is single and follows a short vowel in a stressed syllable:

The final - l is doubled even in an unstressed syllable (British English):

In some words the final -p is doubled in the same position:

The final -y is changed to -i if it is preceded by a consonant:

Formation of participle I

§ 7. Participle I of both regular and irregular verbs is composed by adding the suffix -ing to the stem of the verb. In writing the following rules of spelling are observed:

1) if the stem ends in a mute -e, the -e is dropped before adding -ing:

skate - skating

2) if the stem ends in a single consonant letter preceded by a short vowel of a stressed syllable, the consonant letter is doubled:

3) if the stem ends in -l after a short vowel of an unstressed syllable, the -l is doubled (in British English):

The same refers to some words ending in -p:

4) verbs ending in -ie drop the final -e and change i into у before taking the suffix - ing:

Note:

The same rules apply to the formation of the gerund.

Semantic classifications of the verb

§ 8. 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 actions proper (do, make, go, read, etc.) and statal verbs, which denote state (be, exist, lie, sit, know, etc.) or relations (fit, belong, have, match, cost, etc.). The difference in their categorical meaning affects their morphological paradigm: statal and relational verbs have no passive voice (though some have forms coinciding with the passive voice as in The curtains and the carpet were matched). Also statal and relational verbs 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.

Without the object the meaning of the transitive verb is incomplete or entirely different. Transitive verbs may be followed:

a) by one direct object (monotransitive verbs);

Jane is helping her sister.

b) by a direct and an indirect objects (ditransitive verbs);

Jane gave her sister an apple.

c) by a prepositional object (prepositional transitive verbs):

Jane looks after her sister.

Intransitive verbs do not require any object for the completion of their meaning:

The sun is rising.

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)

The division of verbs into terminative and non-terminative depends on the aspectual characteristic in the lexical meaning of the verb which influences the use of aspect forms.

Terminative verbs (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.

Non-terminative, or durative verbs(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.

The end, which is simply an interruption of these actions, may be shown only by means of some adverbial modifier:

He slept till nine in the morning.

The last subclass comprises verbs that can function as both termi­native and non-terminative (verbs of double aspectual meaning). The difference is clear from the context:

Can you see well? (non-terminative)

I see nothing there. (terminative)

The finite forms of the verb

§ 9. 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.

* The other term used for indefinite tenses is "simple tenses". Accordingly there are the simple present, "the simple past", "the simple future".

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.

In colloquial style, however, no person distinctions are found either in the future or in the future in the past tenses. The only marker for the future tenses is ‘ll used with all persons, both singular and plural: I'll do it; He'll do it; We'll do it, etc. The marker for the future in the past tenses is ‘d, also used with all persons and numbers: I said I’d come; He said he’d come; We said we’d come, etc. Historically ‘ll is the shortened form of will, ‘d is the shortened form of would.

The categories of person and number, with the same restrictions, as those mentioned above, are naturally found in all analytical forms contain­ing the present indefinite tense of the auxiliaries to be and to have, or the past indefinite tense of the auxiliary to be: (I) am reading - (he) is reading - (we, you, they) are reading; (I) am told - (he) is told - (we, you, they) are told; (he) has come - (I, we, you, they) have come; (he) has been told - (I, we, you, they) have been told; (he) has been reading - (I, we, you, they) have been reading.

A more regular way of expressing the categories of person and number is the use of personal pronouns. They are indispensable when the finite verb forms in the indicative as well as the subjunctive moods have no markers of person or number distinctions.

I stepped aside and they moved away.

They had been walking along, side by side, and she had been talking very earnestly.

If you were his own son, you could have all this.

If she were not a housemaid, she might not feel it so keenly.

The verb is always in the 3rd person singular if the subject of the predicate verb is expressed by a negative or indefinite pronoun, by an infinitive, a gerund or a clause:

Nothing has happened. Somebody has come.

To see him at last was a real pleasure. To shut that lid seems an easy task.

Seeing is believing. Visiting their house again seems out of the question.

What she has told me frightens me*.

* For further details see § on Agreement of the Subject and Predicate.