【语法忽悠】Verbs and Verbals (1) / 四六文摘

语法忽悠

作为对echo的回应，今天开始跟大夥儿一块讨论让人爱恨交加的英文语法。这第一帖是英文写的，题目也正好与非谓语动词有关，是我以前为儿子服务时写的，现在图省事就先试着让大家读英文，但看了一定要及时给我反馈，告诉我这英文是否太深。如果是，我们还得将它们写成中文重贴。

因这题目不小，来龙去脉需要铺垫，请耐住性子。第一帖只是介绍性的，为求"全面"，还是有点长，但为我们以后一帖一帖地讨论指了个方向。有不少人把语法看成固定条文，认为背过了记住了我们就可以过关了。就好比是女朋友的生日，一定得记住，忘了考验(试)过不了，兹事体大。等交上新女友了，前任的生日记不记得无关紧要，但你又得记住新女友的去迎接新的考验，换多了会有"张冠李戴"的风险。我的感觉是把你的女友直接看成是你将来的不二老婆，她的生日，你不仅现在要记，将来要记，一辈子都得记。一来是消除风险，二则是对"同一条文"有经常应用的机会。

不仅要记，还得尽可能地多去理解，解释语法现象。有不少中国人会认为，以英语为母语的学生是不用学语法的，这是个认识上的误区。在英国很多中学就叫grammar school，就是因为中学生要学语法。在美国，中学生的大学入学考试SAT三大部分之一，名字就叫Writing，但这部分可不是考写作，二而是考语法。在英美的大中学阶段，写作好坏很大成份即指语法掌握的好坏。

中文好坏跟语法关联不大恐怕没错，古文中本就没有语法，现代汉语的语法是以西方语言的语法为框框生搬硬套加上去的，但再怎么加，都没法将西方语法的名词变格动词变位加到汉语中去，因为从根上汉语就不需要这些。不少以中文为母语的学生觉着学英文语法很是生硬，你想跟她亲热，但总有热脸贴冷屁股的感觉，原因也就在于此。

学英语，说来归去就是词汇语法。到此，对语法的重要性各位应有了认识，误区也消除了，motivation该是enough了! 开场锣鼓就此打住，请看第一帖。

In this section and the next two, we will discuss English verbs and verbals, not in so much of details, but in general terms, to increase the general understanding of all kinds of verbs and verbals.

Verbs carry the idea of being or action in the sentence, but they can be classified in many ways.

First, in terms of whether a verb has an object or not, we have already learned that a verb can be called "transitive" if it requires an object, or can be called "intransitive" if it requires no object. In English, we can't tell the whether a verb is transitive or intransitive by simply looking at its form. Not only that, but also many verbs can be both transitive and intransitive. Therefore, you will have to see how a verb functions within a sentence. For example:

The building collapsed. (intransitive)

The monster collapsed the building by sitting on it. (transitive)

His heart beats so quickly whenever he sees her. (intrans.)

He physically beats her badly. (trans.)

Second, quite a few verbs require not only one, but two objects: one called direct object, and the other indirect object. Verbs requiring both indirect and direct objects are called distributive verbs[1].

If a verb is used as the main verb of a sentence or a clause, that is, it makes an assertion about or expresses a state of being of its subject, then it is called a finite verb (let's call it a predicate[2] verb of a clause or sentence):

The truck demolished the restaurant.

The leaves were yellow and sickly.

We all know that he loves her so much. (both know and love are finite verbs)

Verbals

When a verb is not used as the predicate verb of a clause or a sentence, then it is called non-finite verb. Three major forms of non-finite verbs are gerund, participle (present and past participles), and infinitive. Another name for non-finite verbs is called verbal.

Four Basic Forms of a Verb

Fortunately, the inflections (endings) of English verb forms are not difficult to remember. There are only four basic forms: base form (looks same as bare infinitive, i.e., without the infinitive article to), past form, present participle, and past participle[3].

Instead of forming complex tense forms with endings, English uses auxiliary verb forms. For instance, English does not have a proper ending for future forms; we use auxiliaries such as "I am going to read this afternoon", or "I will read", or even "I am reading this book tomorrow".

Linking Verbs

A linking verb connects a subject and its complement. A linking verb is also called "copula". The verb "to be" is the first linking verb; other linking verbs are ones related to the five senses of human bodily feelings (look, sound, smell, feel, and taste); still others are ones that reflect a state of being (appear, seem, become, grow, turn, prove, remain). What follows the linking verb will be either a noun complement or an adjective complement. Examples:

They are professors;

Those professors are stupid;

This room smells bad;

I feel great;

A victory today seems unlikely.

Have you studied Latin? From Latin we know that the complement of a linking verb must take the nominative case (Latin calls it predicate nominative); that is, the complement must take the same form as the subject. With such a understanding, we should say that "It's us" is a grammatically wrong sentence. The correct one is "It's we", because "us" is the accusative case that an object should take and "we" is the nominative case that can be used as a predicate. By the same reasoning, "It's me", "It's him", "It's her", and "It's them" are all wrong sentences since these pronouns are all in the accusative case but they are not objects in these sentences. Therefore, they should be corrected as "It's I", "It's he", "It's she", and "It's they"[4].

Finally, there are another handful of verbs that reflect a change in state of being and are sometimes called resulting copula (linking verbs)[5].

His face turned red;

She became older;

The boy ran wild;

The milk has gone sour;

The crowd grew ugly;

Active and Passive Voice

Verbs can be expressed in different voices and English has two of them: active and passive. This is a big topic that justifies a separate section of note.

Mood

Mood in verbs refers to one of three attitudes (you can call it emotions if you like) whoever expresses the verb holds (indicative, imperative, and subjunctive). The indicative mood is used to make a statement or ask a question; and it is most used by all of us. The imperative mood is used when we are feeling sort of bossish and want to give a directive, a strong suggestion, or an order:

Get your homework done before you play X-box[6].

Please include cash payment with your order form.

Get out of town.

Note that no subject is shown in these imperative sentences and the pronouns "you" is the understood subject (the second person pronoun, singular or plural, depending on context), except in this kind of imperative sentences "Let's work on these issues now", in which the subject is "we", the first person pronoun plural.

The subjunctive mood is mostly used in dependent clauses that do the following: 1) express a wish; 2) begin with "if" and express a condition that does not exist or is contrary to the fact; 3) begin with "as if" and "as though" when such a clause describes a speculation or condition contrary to fact; and 4) begin with "that" and express a demand, requirement, request, or suggestion[7]. Examples:

She wishes her boyfriend were here.

If Juan were more aggressive, he’d be a better hockey player.

We would have passed the exam if we had studied harder.

He acted as if he were guilty.

I requested that he be present at the hearing.

It’s great that she agree to meet him.

The subjunctive mood is not as important in English as it is in other languages, like Latin, French and Spanish, which happen to be more subtle and discriminating in hypothetical, doubtful, or wishful expressions. Many situations which would require the subjunctive in other languages are satisfied by use of one of the several auxiliary verbs in English.

The words "if", "as if", or "as though" do not always signal the subjunctive mood. If the information in such a clause points out a condition that is or was probable or likely, the verb should be in the indicative mood. The indicative tells the reader that the information in the dependent clause could possibly be true. Pay attention to the tense of the following verbs:

Verbs like "demand", "require" and "suggest" in the main clause requires the subjunctive use of only the base form of the verb in the subjunctive dependent clause:

He demands that his students use two-inch margins when printing term papers.

She suggests that we be on time tomorrow.

Also, in the sentence structure "it is great (or possible, ideal, nice, necessary) that …", the verb in the dependent clause needs to be in the base form, too.

It is great that he leave this afternoon.

It is possible that our team win.

It is ideal that the math competition take place in our town.

The past tense of the subjunctive has the same forms as the indicative past tense except for the verb "to be", which uses "were" regardless of the number of the subject.

If he knew how to use his brain, he would be totally a different person.

If we could drive faster than the speed limit, we would be arrive sooner.

If he learned how to treat a lady nicely, he would probably find a girl-friend.

If he were seven feet tall, he’d be a great basketball player.

If I were on that position, I'd take her and her needs as my top priority.

He wishes he were a better student.

If you were rich, we wouldn't be in this mess.

If the girl were faster, she could have won that race.

Auxiliary or Helping Verbs

Also a separate section of notes on both Auxiliary Verbs and Modal Auxiliaries will be done soon. See these notes.

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[1] "distributive verbs" is a term not used frequently. It should be OK if you don't like this term, as long as you understand "direct" and "indirect" objects.

[2] "predicate" means the part of a sentence or clause that expresses what is said of the subject and that usually consists of a verb with or without objects, complements, or adverbial modifiers.

[3] This is where we like English and hate Latin (don't make me mention German, Spanish, French and Italian, either).

[4] However, in American English, we have kept using these wrong expressions for so long, now they have become part of informal colloquial English. Custom vs. academics: the former overpowers.

[5] Be careful here: when some of these verbs are followed by adverbs, they are regular (intransitive) verb instead of linking verbs: The vehicle turned left at the corner; The dog ran away so quickly; The milk has gone now; Her vegetables grew quite well; etc... So the judgment you should have is that when they are followed by adjectives, they are linking verbs; and when they are followed by adverbs, they are regular intransitive verbs.

[6] Although sometimes the word "please" is added, or many times the exclamation mark (!) is not used, the verbs are still in imperative mood.

[7] To get a better understanding, a good idea is to check the original meanings of "indicative, imperative, and subjunctive" in Latin since these words are from Latin. For instance, "indicative" from the Latin word "in+dicare" meaning to declare or proclaim an objective fact or a denoted act; "imperative" is from Latin "imperare" meaning to command and express a will to influence the behavior of another; "subjunctive" is from Latin "subjungere", meaning "to subordinate", and in grammar terms representing a denoted act or state (not as a fact, but as contingent or possible or viewed emotionally (as with doubt or desire)).