Transcript Smith & Wilhelm 19

VERBS:
TENSE, VOICE, ASPECT
AND MODALITY
by Don L. F. Nilsen
and Alleen Pace Nilsen
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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)
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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)
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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)
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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).
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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.
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Irregular Verbs
Auxiliary
Verbs
Bring
Buy
Dive
Be (suppletive) Drive
Go
Have
(suppletive)
Cf. wend
Do
Hang (2)
Hit
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Lie/Lay
Rise/Raise
Sit/Set
Sell
Swim
(Smith & Wilhelm 250-269)
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Irregular-Verb Paradox
• Rare verbs tend to become regular.
• Therefore, in all languages, the
most common verbs tend to be the
most irregular.
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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
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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
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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
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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)
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(be + -en)
drive
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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
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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.
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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)
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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).
________________^______)!_____
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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)
------------------------^------====!===
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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)
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!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.
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!!
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.
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!!!AND NOW FOR THE MOST DIFFICULT SENTENCE
IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
10). The taxi might have been being driven by a nut.
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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
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