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MORPHOLOGY

Morphology is the part of linguistics that studies of word formation and the internal structure of words. The morphology of a language includes the analysis of morphemes, words, their pronunciation, their meanings, and how they are combined.

Morpheme: types of morphemes The smallest syntactic unit is the morpheme. In other words, a morpheme is the most elemental unit of grammatical form. In ancient Greek, morphe meant form. Morphemes vary in size. Neither syllables nor length are any guide to their identification. The essential criterion is that a morpheme cannot be cut up into smaller syntactic morphemes:

The sleep walk ing albatross chant ed a dream y lullaby (The sleep-walking albatross chanted a dreamy lullaby)

The dinosaur sniff- ed arrogant ly and plodd ed for - wards (The dinosaur sniffed arrogantly and plodded forwards)

A single word may be composed of one or more morphemes: One: boy, desire Two: boy + ish, desire + able Three: boy + ish + ness, desire + able + ity Four: gentle + man + li + ness, un + desire + able + ity More than four: un + gentle + man + li + ness, anti + dis + establish + ment + ari + an + ism

A morpheme may be represented by a single sound, such as the morpheme a meaning without as in amoral or asexual or by a single syllable, such as child and ish in childish. A morpheme, however, may be represented by

more than one syllable: by two syllables, as in lady or water; or by three syllables, as in crocodile, or by four or more syllables, as in salamander Therefore, a morpheme may be defined as the minimal linguistic sign, a grammatical unit in which there is an arbitrary union of a sound and a meaning that cannot be further analysed. When a word (such as water or boy) is a single morpheme, it is called a monomorphemic word. In this case the morpheme is a sound-meaning unit. A polymorphemic word is a word with more than one morpheme: un-friend-liness. All morphemes then are bound or free. Affixes (prefixes and suffixes) are bound morphemes (-ship, in-, un-, -ish, -ly, trans-, etc). Bound morphemes must be joined to other morphemes, they are always part of words and never words by themselves. On the other hand, free morphemes do not need to be attached to other morphemes. Non-affix lexical content morphemes, called roots or root morphemes (free, king, bore), are free. Lexical content or root morphemes constitute the major word classes: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs. These are open class items because their classes are easily added to. Some grammatical morphemes or function words (pronouns, determinants and prepositions), together with the bound inflectional morphemes, constitute a closed class: they are inserted into sentences according to the syntax structure. For example: the past tense morpheme, often written as d, is added as a suffix to a verb, and the future tense morpheme will, is inserted in a sentence according to the syntactic rules of the English language.

Allomorphs Sometimes a morpheme has only one phonological form: loud, ly. But frequently a morpheme has a number of variants called allomorphs. Allomorphs are not always easy to classify. Totally dissimilar forms may be allomorphs of the same morpheme: cats, dogs, horses, sheep, oxen, geese, all contain the English plural morpheme. The plural allomorphs in English are the following: /s/ (cat s) /z/ (dog s) /iz/ (horse - s) (sheep sheep) (=zero suffix) en (ox en) -ee- or /i:/ (goose geese)

Inflection vs. word formation

Morphemes may also be classified as derivational or inflectional. Derivational morphological rules are lexical rules of word formation. Inflectional morphemes are determined by the rules of syntax. They are added to complete words, simple monomorphemic words or complex polymorphemic words. We can distinguish two kinds of morphological rules. Some morphological rules relate to different forms of the same lexeme; while other rules relate to different lexemes. Rules of the first kind are called inflectional rules, while those of the second kind are called word formation or derivational rules. For instances, the English plural, as illustrated by dog and dogs, is an inflectional rule; compounds like dog catcher or dishwasher provide an example of a word formation/derivational rule. Informally, word formation allows us to form "new words" (that is, new lexemes), while inflection rules allow us to create variant forms of the "same" word (lexeme). There is a further distinction between two kinds of word formation: derivation and compounding. Compounding is a process of word formation that involves combining complete word forms into a single compound form; dog catcher is therefore a compound, because both dog and catcher are complete word forms in their own right before the compounding process has been applied, and are subsequently treated as one form, one semantic unit (a lexeme). Derivation involves affixing (non-independent) forms to existing lexemes, whereby the addition of the affix derives a new lexeme, a new word. One example of derivation is clear in this case: the word independent is derived from the word dependent by prefixing it with the derivational prefix in-, while dependent itself is derived from the verb depend. Word formation is a process where you combine two complete words, whereas with inflection you can combine a suffix with some verb to change its form to subject of the sentence. For example: in the present indefinite, we use go with subject I/we/you/they and plural nouns, whereas for third person singular pronouns (he/she/it) and singular nouns we use goes. So this -es is an inflectional marker and is used to match with its subject. A further difference is that in word formation, the resultant word may differ from its source words grammatical category whereas in the process of inflection the word never changes its grammatical category.

Different mechanisms of word formation

Word formation is the creation of a new word. In linguistics there are various mechanisms of word formation:

Agglutination or affixation (the process of forming new words from existing ones by adding affixes (suffixes and prefixes) to them, like shame + less + ness shamelessness) Back-formation (removing seeming affixes from existing words, like forming edit from editor) Blending (a word formed by joining parts of two or more older words, like smog, which comes from smoke and fog; brunch = breakfast + lunch; motel = motor + hotel; transistor = transfer + resistor. o Acronym (a word formed from initial letters of the words in a phrase, like English laser from light amplified by stimulated emission of radiation; TV, UN, GHQ, etc). o Clipping or abbreviations (taking part of an existing word, like forming ad from advertisement): telephone-phone, photographphoto, influenza-flu, television-telly, etc. Calque (borrowing a word or phrase from another language by literal, word-for-word or root-for-root translation; for example the English phrase to lose face, which is a calque from Chinese), it goes without saying (il va sans dire, from French). o Semantic loan (the extension of the meaning of a word to include new, foreign meanings). Compound (a word formed by stringing together older words, like earthquake) o Incorporation (a compound of a verb and an object or particle, like intake) Conversion (forming a new word from an existing identical one, like forming the verb green from the existing adjective) Neologism (a completely new word, like quark) o Loanword (a word borrowed from another language, like clich, from French), guerrilla, armadillo, siesta, parasol (from Spanish) o Onomatopoeia (the creation of words that imitate natural sounds, like the bird name cuckoo, cockdoodledoo, wofwof, baabaa) Words from names: vocabulary that derives from proper names of individuals or places: sandwich, gargantuan, mackintosh, cardigan, wellingtons, etc.

AFFIXATION: PREFIXES AND SUFFIXES


INTRODUCTION PREFIXATION: Negative prefixes Privative prefixes Pejorative prefixes Prefixes of degree or size Prefixes of attitude Locative prefixes Prefixes of time and order Number prefixes Conversion prefixes Other prefixes

SUFFIXATION Noun suffixes: Occupational suffixes Diminutive and feminine suffixes Suffixes of status, domain, etc Other noun suffixes Noun/adjective suffixes De-verbal suffixes De-adjectival suffixes Verb suffixes Adjective suffixes Adverb suffixes

INTRODUCTION
Some morphemes like boy, desire, gentle and man can constitute words by themselves. Other morphemes like -ish, -able, -ness, -ly, dis-, trans- and un- are never words but always parts of words. The basic part of any word is the stem; to it, you can add a prefix at the beginning and/or a suffix at the end to change the meaning. For example, in the word "unflattering," the root is simply "flatter," while the prefix "un-" makes the word negative, and the suffix "-ing" changes it from a verb into an adjective (specifically, a participle). English itself does not use prefixes as heavily as it once did, but many English words come from Latin, which uses prefixes and suffixes (you can use the word affix to refer either to a prefix or a suffix) quite extensively. For example, the words "prefix," "suffix," and "affix" themselves are all formed from "fix" by the use of prefixes:

"ad" (to) + "fix" (attached) = "affix" "pre" (before) + "fix" = "prefix" "sub" (under) + "fix" = "suffix" Note that both the "-d" of "ad" and the "-b" of "sub" change the last letter.

PREFIXATION
A prefix is a verbal element placed before and joined to a word to stem to add or qualify its meaning. The foreign and neoclassical influences have been so great on the English language that the majority of the prefixes in the language are of Latin, Greek or French origin (that is, of non-Germanic origin), with the exception of a-, be-, fore-, mis- and un-. English prefixes do not generally alter the word class of the base. Prefixes normally have a light stress on their first (or only) syllable, the main stress of the word falling on the base. PREFIXES A prefix is a word, or letter(s) placed at the beginning of another word (a base word) to adjust or qualify its usage or meaning. The opposite of prefix is suffix. Most prefixes come from Latin or Greek, but not all.

Different types of prefixes in English:


- Negative prefixes: a) Un- (the opposite of, not): it is the commonest negative prefix in English. It is used with native English words, especially adjectives, adverbs and ed and ing participles: UNWISE, UNKIND, UNHAPPY, UNEXPECTED, UNWILLING b) Non- (not): normally considered as derivable from clause-negations: NON-SMOKER. It is prefixed to adjectives (NON-CONFORMIST, NON-EXISTENT), nouns of action (NONPOLITICIAN, NON-AGGRESSION, NON-COMMITMENT), a verb-stem (NON-STOP) c) In-, Il- (before /l/), Im- (before labials), Ir- (before /r/) (same as for un-). They are normally preferred to un- in learned words of Latin or French origin, although their use has declined. They are added to adjectives (INSANE, INAUDIBLE, INCREDIBLE, ILLEGAL, ILLOGICAL, ILLEGIBLE, IMPROPER, IMPOLITE, IRRELEVANT, IRREAL, IRRELIGIOUS). d) Dis- (same as for un-). This prefix negates the word to which it is prefixed. This word may be an adjective (DISLOYAL, DISOBEDIENT), a verb (DISAGREE, DISOBEY), an abstract noun (DISFAVOUR, DISHONOUR). e) A(n)- (lacking in, lack of) denotes the mere absence of a quality and is mostly found in borrowed or neoclassical words. It may be added to an adjective (AMORAL, ASEXUAL, AMORPHOUS) or to a noun (ASYMMETRY, ATHEIST, ANARCHY)

- Privative prefixes: a) Un-: when it is prefixed to a verb it denotes an action contrary to or annulling that of the simple verb. It may be added to a verb (meaning to reverse the action), such as UNDO, UNBEND, UNDRESS; a noun (meaning to deprive of or to release from), such as: UNHORSE, UNEARTH. b) De- (/di:/, /di/) means to remove, to get rid of, to undo. It forms verbs from nouns: DECODE, DEFROST and from other verbs. DEHUMANIZE c) Dis- (as for un-) may also express deprivation or the reverse of an action when added to verbs (DISCONNECT, DISINFECT), participles (DISHEARTEN, DISCOLOURED), nouns (DISCONTENT). - Pejorative prefixes: a) Mis- (badly, wrongly). Normally unstressed if next is stressed. It may be added to verbs (MISCALCULATE, MISHEAR, MISFIRE), abstract nouns (MISCONDUCT, MISFORTUNE), participles (MISLEADING) b) Mal- (badly, bad). The second element is always a word of non-Germanic origin. It is chiefly added to verbs (MALTREAT), adjectives (MALODOROUS), abstract nouns (MALFUNCTION, MALPRACTICE), participles (MALFORMED). c) Pseudo- (false, imitation). Added to nouns (PSEUDO-CHRISTIANITY, PSEUDOCLASSICISM), adjectives/nouns (PSEUDO-INTELLECTUAL, PSEUDO-SCIENTIFIC/PSEUDOSCIENTIST) - Prefixes of degree or size: a) Arch- (supreme, highest, worst) is only combined with nouns with favourable or unfavourable meaning. The addition of the prefix arch- sometimes gives the word a certain pejorative shade of meaning, but not always. It is added to mainly human nouns: ARCHDUKE, ARCHBISHOP, ARCH-ENEMY, ARCH-LIAR. b) Super- (above, more than, better). Nouns usually have initial main stress. In adjectives it usually means beyond. It is added to nouns (SUPERMARKET, SUPERMAN), adjectives (SUPERNATURAL, SUPERSENSITIVE). c) Out- (to do something better, faster, longer, etc, than). It is added to intransitive verbs to form transitive verbs (OUTGROW, OUTRUN, OUTLIVE). d) Sub- (under, lower than, less than). Normally added to adjectives (SUBNORMAL, SUBHUMAN), but SUBWAY, SUBMARINE e) Over- (too much, excess). Added to verbs (OVERDO, OVEREAT, OVERSIMPLIFY, OVERWORK, OVERSLEEP), adjectives (OVERCONFIDENT), -ed participles (OVERDRESSED, OVERJOYED) f) Under- (too little), added to verbs (UNDERCOOK, UNDERCHARGE), -ed participles (UNDERWORKED, UNDERPRIVILEGED), occasionally to nouns (UNDERGROUND) g) Hyper- (extra, specially, excessively). It is used to form adjectives: HYPERSENSITIVE, HYPERCRITICAL. It can be used with nouns: HYPERSENSIBILITY.

h) Ultra- (beyond, extremely, excessively). Added to adjectives: ULTRA-MODERN, ULTRACONSERVATIVE, ULTRA-VIOLET. From such adjectives nouns can be derived: ULTRACONSERVATISM. k) Mini- (Little). Often used in humourous or modern coinages as a contrast to maxi- (large, long) and midi- (medium). It may be added to nouns (MINI-SKIRT, MINI-CAR, MINI-BUDGET). - Prefixes of attitude: a) Co- (accompanying, with, joint, together) can be prefixed to verbs (COOPERATE, COEXIST), nouns (COOPERATION, CO-EDUCATION, CO-HEIR, CO-DIRECTOR), adjectives (COOPERATIVE). Hypens are used in unfamiliar words and often arbitrarily: CO-OPERATE / COOPERATE b) Counter- (against, in opposition to) is prefixed to verbs (COUNTER-ATTACK, COUNTERBALANCE), abstract nouns (COUNTER-REVOLUTION, COUNTER-ESPIONAGE, COUNTERPOINT). The nouns are usually stressed on the first element, the verbs on the second. Some nouns have compound stress: counter-a, ttraction. c) Anti- (against, rival). It suggests simply a state of mind, an attitude of opposition, whereas counter- suggests action in opposition, an activity. A counterattack can take place only if there has already been an attack. It may be added to nouns (ANTIBODY, ANTICHRIST, ANTIMISSILE), adjectives (ANTI-SEMITIC, ANTI-CLERICAL), adverbs (ANTI-CLOCKWISE). d) Pro- (for, on the side of, opposite of anti-) is combined with adjectives (PRO-COMMUNIST, PRO-GERMAN), nouns (PRO-COMMON MARKET, PRO-CASTRO, PRO-LIFE). - Locative prefixes: a) Super- (over, above) is used to form nouns: SUPERSTRUCTURE. It is uncommon except in borrowed or neo-Latin words: SUPERNUMERARY. b) Sub- (under, beneath, lesser in rank) usually forms nouns (SUBWAY, SUBSECTION), adjectives (SUBCONSCIOUS), verbs (SUBDIVIDE, SUBLET). The nouns frequently have compound stress: sub,way; sub,section. c) Trans- (across, from one place to another) is used in geographical terms to form denominal adjectives (TRANSATLANTIC, TRANSALPINE, TRANS-SIBERIAN), verbs (TRANSPLANT). Words such as TRANSFER, TRANSLATE, TRANSPORT, etc, are not derivative from a grammatical point of view. d) Inter- (between, among) may be prefixed to adjectives (INTERNATIONAL, INTERCONTINENTAL), verbs (INTERMARRY, INTERWAVE), nouns (INTERMARRIAGE, INTERPLAY). - Prefixes of time and order: a) Fore- (before) might be thought to form compounds rather than derivatives. It is used with verbs (FORETELL, FORESEE), abstract nouns (FOREKNOWLEDGE, FOREWORD, FOREGROUND), concrete nouns (FOREHEAD, FOREARM, FORELEG). b) Pre- (before) is used a) in the sense of beforehand: nouns (PRE-ARRANGEMENT) and verbs (PRE-ARRANGE), b) in the sense of existing before the time of: nouns (PRE -WAR, PRE-REFORMATION) and adjectives (PRE-MARITAL, PRE-SHAKESPEAREAN). c) Post- (after) refers to time and order. It is chiefly used to form nouns (POST-WAR, POSTELECTION), adjectives (POST-CLASSICAL, POST-DILUVIAN).

d) Ex- (former) may be prefixed to human or personal nouns especially those denoting office or occupation: EX-PRESIDENT, EX-PRIME MINISTER, EX-HUSBAND). e) Re- (again, back) is one of the most important prefixes in English, occurring in many words borrowed from Latin and French. It is prefixed to nouns (REBIRTH, RECONSTRUCTION), verbs (REBUILD, RECLAIM), and adjectives (RE-ELIGIBLE). - Number prefixes: English uses a mixture of Latin and Greek prefixes to express number: a) Uni- /Mono- (one): UNICYCLE, UNILATERAL, UNISEX, MONOTHEISM, MONOPLANE, MONORAIL b) Bi-/Di- (two): MONOTHEISM, MONOPLANE, MONORAIL, DICHOTOMY, BIFOCAL, BILINGUAL, BICEPS, BICYCLE c) Tri- (three): TRIPARTITE, TRIPOD, TRICYCLE, TRIDENT d) Multi-/Poly- (many): MULTI-NATIONAL, MULTI-RACIAL, POLYSYLLABIC, POLYGAMY, POLYGLOT - Conversion prefixes: In contrast to other prefixes, its function is to convert the base into different grammatical class. is added to a) benouns verbs adjectives nouns b) enc) anouns verbs to form participal adjectives transitive verbs transitive verbs transitive verbs verbs examples BESPECTACLED BEMOAN BELITTLE BEWITCH ENDANGER, ENSLAVE AWAKE, ASLEEP,

predicative adjectives

- Other prefixes: a) Dead or unproductive prefixes: for- (FORGET, FORGIVE), with- (WITHDRAW, WITHHOLD) b) Auto- (self): AUTOBIOGRAPHY, AUTOMATIC c) Neo- (new, revived): NEO-CLASSICISM, NEO-GOTHIC d) Pan- (all, worldwide): PAN-AMERICAN, PAN-AFRICAN e) Proto- (first, original): PROTO-GERMANIC, PROTOTYPE

SUFFIXATION

Unlike prefixes, suffixes frequently alter the word class of the base. Prefixes, though not used as separate words, mostly have a distinct meaning of their own, suffixes rarely have, but as a rule only serve to modify the meaning of the main element (red-reddish). Definition of suffix: a term for fixing one or more letters or syllables to the end of words to modify their meaning. Suffixes in English can be classified as:
NOUN SUFFIXES - Occupational: a) eer (person concerned with or engaged in an occupation or activity): AUCTIONEER, MOUNTAINEER, ENGINEER. They are stressed on the last syllable. (Words such as PIONEER or VOLUNTEER have the same suffix but are not derived from English words.) b) ster (person engaged in an occupation or activity or given to the practice of) is often a pejorative suffix. Added to non-personal nouns to form personal nouns: GANGSTER, GAMESTER, TRICKSTER. In YOUNGSTER the pejorative meaning does not exist. c) er (maker of, inhabitant of, person engaged in a trade or profession). It is added to form personal and inanimate nouns: GLOVER, LONDONER, BANKER, HATTER - Diminutive/affective and feminine: English is poor in feminine or diminutive suffixes. Even those usually called diminutive suffixes are often affective. Smallness may also be denoted by the adjectives small or little: a small glass of wine (un vasito de vino). a) -let (small, unimportant) is added to countable nouns to form new countables: BOOKLET, PIGLET, STARLET, OWLET b) -ette is added to nouns to form pure diminutive denoting things: CIGARETTE, KITCHENETTE. Applied to names of persons, the suffix expresses feminity: USHERETTE. c) -ling (diminutive): added to other word classes as well as nouns to denote youth. It is usually added to names of animals or plants: DUCKLING, SAPLING, SUCKLING. d) -ess (female persons): COUNTESS, HOSTESS, STEWARDESS, WAITRESS, ACTRESS, AUTHORESS, POETESS (sometimes with a shade of indelicateness: JEWESS, NEGRESS). It is used for animals too: LIONESS, TIGRESS. e) -y/-ie (restricted to familiar contexts to imply affection or familiarity): JOHNNY, GRANNY, DADDY, PUSSY, NIGHTY, FATTY, ANNIE, PIGGIE, DOGGIE, AUNTIE. - Status/domain, condition, etc: a) -hood (status): added to nouns to form abstract nouns: BOYHOOD, CHILDHOOD, NEIGHBOURHOOD, WIDOWHOOD, BROTHERHOOD. b) -ship (status, condition) may be added to nouns (persons) to form abstract nouns: FRIENDSHIP, MEMBERSHIP, DICTATORSHIP. (In HARDSHIP the suffix is added to an adjective.)

c) -dom (domain, realm, condition, etc) is added to (usually personal) nouns to form abstract nouns expressing domain or realm (KINGDOM, CHRISTENDOM), rank or condition (EARLDOM, DUKEDOM, MARTYRDOM), a group of persons collectively (HEATHENDOM, CHRISTENDOM), a pejorative shade of meaning (OFFICIALDOM, BOREDOM) d) -ocracy (system of government). It may be added to nouns to form abstract nouns: DEMOCRACY, MERITOCRACY. They alternate with personal nouns in crat: DEMOCRAT. e) -ery/-ry: they are added to words of one syllable or more than one syllable respectively. They are used to express behaviour, action or condition in abstract nouns (FOOLERY, SLAVERY), place of activity in concrete countable nouns (NUNNERY, NURSERY, REFINERY), collectivity of persons or things (CROOKERY, MACHINERY), science, occupation or trade (CHEMISTRY, DENTISTRY). - Other noun suffixes: a) -ing is added to countable nouns to form mass nouns. These words are either collective in meaning (SHIPPING, IRONING) b) -ful is added to countable nouns to form new countable nouns that indicate amount: MOUTHFUL, SPOONFUL, HANDFUL - Noun/adjective suffixes: These are suffixes that are added to nouns or adjectives to form new nouns or adjectives. a) ite may be added to proper nouns denoting places or persons in the sense of member of a tribe or a community, faction or sect: ISRAELIT E, STALINITE, PRE-RAPHAELITE b) -(i)an means belonging to: it is chiefly added to proper nouns to form personal and non gradable adjectives (ELIZABETHAN, SHAKESPEAREAN, REPUBLICAN, LUTHERAN, AMERICAN, DARWINIAN) or to geographical names: INDONESIAN, PARISIAN, CANADIAN. c) ese means nationality. It is used to form personal nouns and adjectives from names of foreign countries and towns: CHINESE, PORTUGUESE, JAPANESE. It is also used for languages and dialects: CANTONESE. d) ist is used to denote personal nouns or adjectives, meaning member of a party, occupation, etc. It is added to nouns: NOVELIST, VIOLINIST, BUDHIST ; to a small number of verbs (TYPIST, COPYIST) and to adjectives in al: SOCIALIST, ROYALIST. Nouns in ist may be divided into: a) persons practicing a science or an art: PHILOLOGIST, VIOLINIST; b) persons exercising a trade or profession: TOBACCONIST, DENTIST; c) adherents of a system or principle denoted by a noun in ism: IDEALIST, CALVINIST, SOCIALIST; d) other persons: EGOIST, ANTAGONIST, COLONIST. e) ism means doctrine, point of view, political or artistic movement, etc. it is added to nouns and adjectives to form abstract nouns expressing: a) a typical conduct or condition (FANATICISM, DESPOTISM, ALCOHOLISM); b) a system or principle (COMMUNISM, IMPERIALISM, IMPRESSIONISM); c) a peculiarity of language (ANGLICISM, AMERICANISM, ARCHAISM, NEOLOGISM). - Deverbal suffixes: They may be added to verbs to form nouns (personal, impersonal, abstract, concrete and collective nouns):

a) er/-or is an extremely productive suffix that is potentially affixable to any verb in English. It is used to form personal or agent-nouns from mainly dynamic verbs: SINGER, WRITER, WORKER, DRINKER, EMPLOYER, THRILLER, RECEIVER, ONLOOKER. The spelling of the affix is often or in borrowed and non-classical words: INSPECTOR, ACTOR, SAILOR. Special cases: BEGGAR, LIAR. b) ant. It forms personal or impersonal nouns from verbs: INHABITANT, LUBRICANT, DISINFECTANT c) ee is a passive suffix: it is added to verb-stems to denote the person affected by the action: PAYEE, EMPLOYEE, TRAINEE, NOMINEE, REFUGEE, ABSENTEE. d) ation. It forms abstract nouns meaning state, action, etc (OPERATION, FIXATION, EXPLORATION) or collective nouns (ORGANIZATION, FOUNDATION) e) ment is added to verbs to form chiefly abstract nouns expressing action, state, etc: ARGUMENT, AMAZEMENT, EMBODIMENT, and sometimes to form concrete nouns: EQUIPMENT, SEDIMENT, EMBARKMENT. f) al forms nouns (mainly countable abstract nouns) from verbs, mostly of French origin, expressing action, etc: REFUSAL, REVIVAL, APPROVAL, TRIAL. g) ing is combined with verbs to form: a) abstract nouns expressing activity, state: BATHING, DRIVING, BETTING; b) concrete nouns expressing that which results from the activity of the verb: PAINTING, BUILDING, OPENING. h) age forms mass abstract nouns expressing a) amount or collectivity (PACKAGE, LUGGAGE); b) function or condition (BONDAGE, SHORTAGE); c) action (STOPPAGE, DRAINAGE); d) fee or charge (POSTAGE); e) residence (HERMITAGE, VICARAGE, ORPHANAGE) - De-adjectival suffixes: These are suffixes which may be added to adjectives to form abstract nouns expressing state, quality, etc a) ness is a very productive suffix in Modern English: GOODNESS, HAPPINESS, SELFISHNESS, DARKNESS. b) ity is added to many adjectives of classical or French origin, and regularly to those with the suffixes able, -ible, -al and -ic(al): READABLE-READABILITY; VISIBLE-VISIBILITY; SENTIMENTAL-SENTIMENTALITY; HISTORIC-HISTORICITY; COMICAL-COMICALITY. VERB SUFFIXES Verb-forming suffixes are very few in English: a) fy: added to nouns, adjectives, etc, to form chiefly transitive verbs. It is used normally in borrowed and neo-classical formations: CERTIFY, IDENTIFY, SIGNIFY, BEAUTIFY, INTENSIFY. b) ize/-ise. It is added to nouns and adjectives to form chiefly transitive verbs usually in borrowed and neo-classical formations: ORGANIZE, SCANDALIZE (Look out: SURPRISE, ADVERTISE, DESPISE do not contain this suffix.) c) en is added to monosyllabic adjectives form transitive verbs with the sense become: BLACKEN, RIPEN, SHORTEN, SADDEN... The suffix is never added to adjectives ending in

vocalic sound. These are either converted into verbs without any suffixes (TO FREE) or give rise to different formations: TO RENEW, TO IMPOVERISH, TO ENTHREATEN ADJECTIVE SUFFIXES a) able/-ible is added to transitive verbs to form adjectives with a passive meaning: able to be V-ed, worthy of being V-ed: ACCEPTABLE, READABLE, DRINKABLE. A number of these derivatives have an active sense: AGREEABLE, COMFORTABLE, SUITABLE, KNOWLEDGEABLE. A few are derived from nouns: IMPRESSIONABLE. In words of Latin origin the suffix is often spelt ible: CONVERTIBLE, AUDIBLE, (IN)VISIBLE. b) al/-ical/-ial are used to form non-gradable adjectives: CRIMINAL, CULTURAL, MUSICAL, PHILOSOPHICAL c) fold is added to cardinal numerals higher than one with the sense of multiplied by: TWOFOLD, THREEFOLD Also to many: MANIFOLD. They are chiefly literary. d) ful is added to abstract nouns. It means full of: USEFUL, COLOURFUL, DELIGHTFUL, SUCCESSFUL, HELPFUL. It is also used with verb bases: FORGETFUL. e) ed is added to nouns or noun phrases to form adjectives meaning having, provided with: BLUE-EYES, ODD-SHAPED, WELL-MANNERED, HIGHLY-PRICED, THREE-LEGGED (-ed suffix is often given a syllabic pronunciation: /id/). f) en is used as a suffix in a few adjectives derived from names of material: WOODEN, LEADEN, EARTHEN, GOLDEN, SILKEN g) esque is added to proper nouns meaning in the style of, after the manner of: DANTESQUE, PICTURESQUE, PICARESQUE. h) ic is added to proper gradable or non-gradable adjectives: ATOMIC, EMPHATIC, HEROIC, SPECIFIC. It is often used for language names: CELTIC, ARABIC. i) ish is added to proper and countable nouns in the sense: a) belonging to: SWEDISH, TURKISHb) having the character of: FOOLISH, CHILDISH, SNOBBISH (often pejorative); c) rather, somewhat: REDDISH, BLUISH, OLDISH. (With ages it has the meaning of approximately: SEVENTYISH. j) ive is used to form gradable or non-gradable adjectives: ATTRACTIVE, EXPENSIVE, PRODUCTIVE, SENSITIVE. (The corresponding noun suffix is in most cases ion.) k) less may be added to nouns meaning without: SPEECHLESS, PENNILESS, CHILDLESS. There are some antonym pairs with ful: CAREFUL-CARELESS, HARMFUL-HARMLESS, USEFUL-USELESS. l) like is added to concrete nouns meaning having the qualities of: CHILDLIKE, GODLIKE, LADYLIKE. m) ly is added to personal nouns with the meaning having the qualities of: MANLY, BEASTLY, COWARDLY and to non-personal nouns: EARTHLY, HEAVENLY. It is also used with adjectives: DEADLY. A special group of ly adjectives consists of those derived from nouns of time: DAILY, MONTHLY, YEARLY. n) ous forms gradable adjectives: AMBITIOUS, COURTEOUS, VIRTUOUS, DANGEROUS.

o) y is added to concrete mass nouns meaning like, full of, covered with: HAIRY, SILKY, SANDY, CREAMY, NOISY. Sometimes they are applied to verbs to form adjectives: CRUNCHY, STITCHY. p) Other less important suffixes that are used to form adjectives from noun bases or adverbs: some (FEARSOME, TROUBLESOME), -ward (BACKWARD, DOWNWARD, UPWARD), worthy (PRAISEWORTY), -arian (AUTHORITARIAN, PARLAMENTARIAN). The suffix arian is also used to form nouns: VEGETARIAN, OCTOGENARIAN. ADVERB SUFFIXES a) ly is a very productive suffix. It forms adverbs of manner, viewpoint, etc from many adjectives (including participles and ordinal numbers), meaning in a manner: HAPPILY, GREATLY, STRANGELY, SECONDLY, LOVINGLY; and from nouns: INSTANTLY, PARTLY. Orthographic variations: - Adjectives ending in consonant + syllabic /l/ have adverbs in consonant + /li/: NOBLE-NOBLY, POSSIBLE-POSSIBLY. - Following ic, the suffix ly generally takes the form ally: SYSTEMATICALLY, EMPHATICALLY. (Exception: PUBLICLY). - Adjectives in ly rarely take the adverbial suffix ly: *FRIENDLYLY. It is substituted by the phrase IN A FRIENDLY MANNER. b) ward(s) is added to prepositional adverbs and nouns to form adverbs of manner or direction: ONWARD(S), BACKWARD(S). Am. E. without s. c) wise is added to nouns to form adverbs of manner (CLOCKWISE, CRABWISE), viewpoint adverbs meaning as far as is concerned: WEATHER-WISE. d) style / -fashion: AMERICAN-STYLE, CRAB-FASHION, PARROT-FASHION.

CONVERSION Conversion is the derivational process by which an item changes its word-class without the addition of an affix. Release (v): They released him Release (n): They ordered his release. Types of conversion: a) Verb -> noun: doubt, love, laugh, walk, answer, walk, bore, cheat, cover, wrap, throw, turn b) Adjective -> noun: daily, comic c) Noun -> verb: bottle, corner, coat, mask, peel, skin, brake, knife, nurse, referee, cash, mail d) Adjective- > verb: calm, dirty, dry, empty

e) Approximate conversion: a word changes its grammatical function after undergoing a slight change of pronunciation or spelling: Voicing of final consonant (noun -> verb): advice -> advise; house (voiceless /s/) -> house (voiced /z/) Shift of stress: conduct, contrast, convert, export, extract, import, insult, permit, present, produce, rebel, record (exceptions: contact, debate) COMPOUNDS A compound is a unit consisting of two or more bases. In other words, compound, compounding or word-compounding occurs when a person attaches two or more words together to make them one word. The meanings of the words interrelate in such a way that a new meaning comes out which is very different from the meanings of the words in isolation. In English, words, particularly adjectives and nouns, are combined into compound structures in a variety of ways. There is only one sure way to know how to spell compounds in English: use an authoritative dictionary. There are three forms of compound words: a) The closed form, in which the words are melded together, such as: secondhand, softball, childlike, redhead, keyboard, makeup, notebook; b) The hyphenated form, such as: daughter-in-law, man-of-war, overthe-counter, six-pack, six-year-old, mass-produced; c) The open form, such as: post office, real estate, middle class, full moon, half sister, attorney general.

The Plurals of Compounds Compounds form the plural in different ways: a) Plural in last element (the most usual way): assistant director assistant directors; boy friend boy friends; fountain pen fountain pens; womanhater women-haters; breakdown breakdowns; grown-up grownups; take-off take-offs; forget-me-not forget-me-nots b) Plural in first element: notary public notaries public; passer-by passers-by; mother-in-law mothers-in-law; man-of-war men-of-war; mouthful mouthsful (but also mouthfuls); spoonful spoonsful (but also spoonfuls) c) Plural in both first and last element: gentleman farmer gentlemen farmers; manservant menservants; woman doctor women doctors The Possessive of Compounds

The possessive of a hyphenated compound is created by attaching an apostrophe -s to the end of the compound itself: my daughter-in-law's car, a friend of mine's car. To create the possessive of pluralized and compounded forms, the apostrophe s form is avoided and an "of" phrase (the "post genitive") is used instead: the meeting of the daughters-in-law, the schedule of half-moons. Otherwise, the possessive form becomes weird: *the daughters-in-law's meeting, *friends of mine's cars. Compounds with Prefixes With a handful of exceptions, compounds created by the addition of a prefix are not hyphenated: anteroom, antisocial, binomial, biochemistry, coordinate, counterclockwise, extraordinary, infrastructure, interrelated, intramural, macroeconomics, metaphysical, microeconomics, midtown, minibike, multicultural, neoromantic, nonviolent, overanxious, postwar, preconference, pseudointellectual, reunify, semiconductor, socioeconomic, subpar, supertanker, transatlantic, unnatural, underdeveloped, etc. Classification of compounds NOUN COMPOUNDS: Subject and verb compounds: bee-sting, sunrise, rattlesnake, dancing girl, earthquake, headache, flashlight, hangman, firing squad, washing machine Verb and object compounds: sightseeing, taxpayer, blood test, call-girl, chewing gum, air-conditioning, brainwashing, dressmaking, story-telling, goalkeeper, record-player, songwriter, window-cleaner, birth-control, selfcontrol, cooking apple, spending money Verb and adverbial compounds: swimming pool, daydreaming, typing paper, adding machine, walking stick, sun-bathing, sleepwalking, handwriting, factory-walker, baby-sitter, daydreamer, homework, boatride, dance hall Verbless compounds: windmill, motorcycle, toy factory, oil well, tear gas, hay fever, sawdust, bloodstain, doorknob, shirt-sleeves, table leg, television screen, girl-friend, oak tree, tape measure, madman, goldfish, frogman, tissue paper, snowflake, bread-crumb, sand dune, ashtray, coffee time

ADJECTIVE COMPOUNDS:

Verb and object compounds: man-eating, breath-taking, heart-breaking Verb and adverbial compounds: law-abiding, mouth-watering, handmade, heartfelt, good-looking, quick-frozen, far-fetched, new-laid Verbless compounds: class-conscious, duty-free, homesick, brick red, sea-green, bitter-sweet, British-American, deaf-mute

VERB COMPOUNDS: House-hunt, lip-read, sightsee, baby-sit, sleep-walk

REDUPLICATIVES: Some compounds have two or more elements which are either identical or only slightly different: goody-goody, walkie-talkie, criss-cross, din-din, tick-tock, seesaw, tip-top.

THE VERB
DIFFERENT DEFINITIONS OF A VERB. According to some grammarians, verbs are not a difficult class to identify. We all recognise a verb in words such as "say", "be", "do" or "can". However, it is also true that they are a difficult class to define. Some define verbs as the parts of speech which say what a person or a thing does or what is done to a person or a thing. But this is clearly a traditional definition. Other authors prefer to define verbs according to form. Verbs are therefore the parts of speech which take a suffix "-s" in the third person singular of the present indicative. But this definition would exclude modal verbs. Another possibility is to define verbs as the parts of speech that have a different form for the present and for the past. This definition excludes irregular verbs such as "hit", "cut", "put" and modal verbs, as some of them such as "could", "would", "should" or "might") do not have past forms (modal verbs such as "could", "would", "should" or "might"). Other authors have tried to define verbs according to their function. In this respect, verbs are the parts of speech which function as verb phrases; however, this definition does not take into account non-finite forms (infinitive, present participle and past participle).

CHARACTERISTICS OF VERBS. Verbs have simplified their forms considerably throughout the history of the language. Due to the inflectional decay of the language at the end of the so called Old English Period and throughout the Middle English Period, verbs have dramatically reduced the number and complexity of their forms. The English verbal system could be summarised thus: - Most verbs have four forms: "talk", "talks", "talked", "talking". - Some verbs have five forms: "drink", "drinks", "drank", "drunk", "drinking". - Other verbs have three forms: "cut", "cuts", "cutting". - Only the verb "be", the most irregular verb in the English language, has eight forms: "be", "am", "is", "are", "was", "were", "been", "being". - A few verbs have just one or two forms: modal verbs. Only four modal verbs have two forms: "can"/"could", "may"/"might", "shall"/"should", "will"/"would". As the majority of the verbs in the English language have four forms, we will base our analysis on them.

THE BASE FORM. The base form is the form of the verb with no inflections. It is generally used in the present indicative (except for the third person singular), the bare infinitive, the present subjunctive and the imperative. The exceptions are the following: - The verb "be" has three different forms for the present indicative tense: "am", "is", "are".

- Modal or defective verbs only have the present indicative tense, the past tense or the conditional tense.

THE "-S" SUFFIX. The suffix "-s" is used to form the third person singular of the present indicative tense of most verbs. Naturally, modal verbs are exceptions to this rule. a) Pronunciation of the "-s/-es" suffix. The "-s" suffix can be pronounced in three different ways: - /s/: in verbs finishing with voiceless consonants, except sibilants /s/, / / and /t /. - /z/: in verbs finishing with vowels or with voiced consonants, except sibilants /z/, / / and /d /. - /Iz/: in verbs whose base forms end in sibilant consonants /s/, /z/, / /, / /, /t /, /d /. b) Spelling. - Verbs ending in mute "e" add "-s" to the base form: take - takes, make - makes. - Verbs ending in sibilant consonants (like / /, /t /, /s/ or /z/) add "-es" to the base form: wash - washes, watch - watches, kiss - kisses, buzz - buzzes. - Verbs ending in vowel "o" add "-es" to the base form: do - does, go - goes. - Verbs ending in consonant + "y" change the "y" into "i": try - tries, dry - dries.

THE "-ED" SUFFIX. The suffix "-ed" is added to bases in order to form the past simple and the past participle of regular verbs. But there are some exceptions to this rule: - Modal verbs: they do not have non-finite forms and some of them not even past forms. - The verb "be", which has two different past tense forms: "was", for the first and third person singular, and "were" for the rest of persons. Its past participle form is "been". - Irregular verbs, which usually, but not always, present different forms for the past and past participle to that of the present: see-saw-seen, stand-stood-stood, (but bet-bet-bet, among others). a) Pronunciation of the "-ed" suffix. The "-ed" suffix can present three different pronunciations: - /d/ in base forms that end with a voiced consonant other than /d/, and vowels. - /t/ in base forms that end with voiceless sounds. - /Id/ in base forms ending in /d/ and /t/.

b) Spelling. - Verbs ending with a mute "-e" add just "-d": decide - decided. - Monosyllabic verbs ending with the structure "consonant + vowel + consonant", double the final consonant: stop - stopped, chop - chopped. - Bisyllabic verbs ending with the structure "consonant + vowel + consonant" preceded by a stressed syllable double the last consonant: travel - travelled, quarrel - quarrelled, program - programmed, worship - worshipped, kidnap - kidnapped. - Verbs whose base forms end with the structure "consonant + y" change the "y" into "i": try - tried, cry - cried.

THE "-ING" SUFFIX. The "-ing" suffix is added to base forms to make the present participle. The only exceptions are once again modal verbs. a) Pronunciation of the "-ing" suffix. Its standard pronunciation is always /I day speech), and / / in unstressed position. b) Spelling. - Base forms that end with a mute "-e" drop the "e": hope - hoping. There are however some exceptions to this general rule: eye - ey(e)ing, singe - singeing, tinge - tingeing, swinge - swingeing, canoe - canoeing. - Verbs ending in "-ie" change the "i" to "y" and the "e" disappears when added the "-ing" suffix: die - dying, lie - lying. - Base forms ending with a "-c" add a "k" when added the "-ing" suffix: mimic - mimicking. - Monosyllabic base forms ending with the structure "consonant + vowel + consonant" double the last consonant when added the "-ing" suffix: cut - cutting, set - setting, rob robbing. - Some bisyllabic base forms that end with the structure "consonant + vowel + consonant" double the last consonant when added the "-ing" suffix: begin - beginning, kidnap kidnapping, commit - committing, worship - worshipping. / in stressed position (very rare in every

CLASSIFICATION OF VERBS. Traditional classifications of verbs divide verbs into different groups: - Regular verbs: verbs that have the aforementioned forms. - Irregular verbs: verbs that have different forms. - Modal or defective verbs: verbs that lack certain forms. Contemporary grammarians prefer other classifications. Quirk and al. consider that verbs should be divided into:

a) Auxiliary verbs. They are helping verbs, as they cannot have an independent existence on their own. They have specific characteristics: - They form the negative by adding "not" or "n't": He must not tell lies. They don't like teaching. - They form the interrogative by inversion subject - auxiliary: Can you drive? Are you a doctor? - They can be used as operators in short answers: Should she go? Yes, she should. Do you speak English? Yes, I do. Auxiliary verbs can be divided into: 1. Primary auxiliaries: "be", "have", "do". - "Do" is an empty carrier. It is used to form negative and interrogative forms of verbs in the present and the past tenses. - "Be" contributes with voice and aspect. - "Have" contributes with aspect. 2. Modal auxiliaries: they contribute with modality (possibility, ability and permission). - Modal auxiliaries do not add "-s" in the third person singular of the present indicative. - They do not have non-finite forms. - They are always followed by a bare infinitive. 3. Marginal modals: "dare", "need", "used to". These are verbs in the process of becoming full verbs. "Dare" and "need" can work as modals (therefore they do not take the "-s" suffix for the third person singular, are never followed by a full infinitive and make interrogative sentences through inversion). However, they can also function as lexical verbs. In this case they behave like normal verbs. b) Lexical or full verbs. They are independent verbs with semantic meaning. They can form verbal phrases on their own. According to Quirk, lexical verbs can be dynamic or stative. Dynamic verbs can take the progressive form whereas stative verbs cannot. 1. Stative verbs can be divided into: - Verbs of cognition and understanding: know, think, believe, understand, etc. - Relational verbs: have, own, possess, etc. - Verbs of volition: like, dislike, love (when it means "encantar"), hate, want, wish, etc. - Verbs of measurement: weigh, measure, etc.

2. Dynamic verbs can be divided into: - Activity verbs: do, eat, read, walk, etc. - Momentary verbs: hit, jump. In the progressive tenses these verbs imply repetitive action: He is hitting a dog. - Verbs of feeling: feel, hurt, ache, etc. - Transitional verbs: arrive, come, etc. They imply a change in the situation. In the progressive tenses they involve inception: The train is arriving. Quirk proposes another classification: - Transitive verbs: they accept direct or/and indirect objects. Transitive verbs can be divided into: a) Monotransitive verbs: verbs followed by a direct object. I like your new car. b) Ditransitive verbs: verbs that can be followed by two objects, direct and indirect objects. She gave me a kiss. c) Complex-transitive verbs: verbs that take an object complement. He made his wife famous. - Intransitive verbs: they do not take any object. I can run very fast. - Copular or linking verbs: they take a subject complement. He is a good teacher.

REGULAR AND IRREGULAR VERBS Regular verbs: They have no change in the stem itself. The past and participle are formed by the addition of written (e)d, which has three phonetic forms according to the final sound of the base: /id/ after /d/, /t/: ended, rested /d/ after voiced sounds other than /d/: gathered, called /t/ after voiceless sounds other than /t/: locked, kissed

Contrary to the above rules, the old full pronunciation /id/ is often retained in the archaic language. In poetry the old form comes in useful when an extra syllable is required. In ordinary prose a few participles are pronounced with /id/: a learned professor, his beloved wife. Regular verbs have only four different forms: the base, the base + -s/-es, the base + ing, the base + dental suffix. The reason why they are called regular is that we can predict what all the other three forms are if we know the base of the verb. Irregular verbs: they are like regular verbs in having s/ forms and ing forms predictable from the base. But they differ from regular verbs in that irregular verbs do not have the predictable ed inflection. Different grammarians have tried to classify them into different classes. Otto Jespersen classes the chief irregularities as follows: d is added but the vowel of the base is changed: say, hear, sell, tell d is added and the consonant of the base is omitted (the vowel changes in a few verbs too): have-had, make-made, can-could t is added after a voiced sound, a nasal or l: burn-burnt, learn-learnt, smell-smelt

t is added but d- disappears before it: bend-bent, lend-lent, send-sent t is added and the vowel of the base is changed: deal-dealt, feel-felt, dreamdreamt, leave-left, lose-lost t is added after further change of the base: bring-brought, seek-sought, catchcaught Some bases ending in d or t are unchanged in the past and participle: spread, bet, burst, put, split In other verbs ending in d or t the vowel is changed: meet-met, fight-fought, hold-held, stand-stood In some verbs there is a vowel change without any addition: win-won, cling-clung, strike-struck, hang-hung There are different vowels in past and participle, with no addition: swim-swamswum; begin-began-begun No addition in the past, but n in the participle. There is a vowel-difference between the present and the participle, and often between the past and the participle: drive-drove-driven, blow-blew-blown, lie-lay-lain, see-saw-seen, givegave-given Several verbs with regularly inflected past forms have n participles, sometimes with vowel change: saw-sawed-sawn, mow-mowed-mowed/mown Two verbs form their past forms from a different root altogether: be-am-is-are-waswere-been; go-went-gone

Quirk classifies the 200 or so irregular English verbs according to the following criteria: a) Identity of past and participle (example: met) b) Suffixation in past and/or participle (dental or nasal suffixes: dreamt, shaken) c) Vowel identity (the base vowel is kept unchanged in other parts of the verb: put) He then classifies irregular verbs into seven classes: Past and participle are identical and vowel identity in all the parts: burn, dwell, spoil, bend, build, have, make Past and participle are identical but there is a change of the base vowel: creep, feel, lean, sleep, bring, catch, lose, sell All three parts are identical, no change of base vowel: bet, burst, cost, cut, hit, hurt, put, set, shut Past is identical with participle, with change of base vowel: feed, read, hold, dig, hang, strike, meet, find, light, sit, get, fight, stand Participle has two suffixes, an alveolar one and a nasal one: saw, mow, sew, show, Past and participle are different: break, choose, speak, bite, hide, lie, blow, know, give, draw, fall, eat, beat Past and participle are different, no suffixation and no change of base vowel: begin, drink, swim, come, run, go

TIME AND TENSE. Time is a universal concept which can be divided into past, present and future. Time is applied to extra-linguistic realities. On the other hand tense is a linguistic concept found mainly in verbs. The English language has two tenses: past tense and present tense. In Old English these two tenses were used to express all types of temporal relations, not only present and past, but also future time. Traditional definitions considered that English had also a future tense, but nowadays it is claimed that it has just two tense. According to Palmer, tense serves different functions:

1. To express purely temporal expressions of present and past time. 2. To mark the sequence of verbs in reported speech. She said, 'I like chocolate' becomes She said that she liked chocolate. 3. To express unreality as hypothetical meaning, especially in clauses of condition and wish: If I had a lot of money, I would buy a car, I wish I were taller.

PRESENT TENSE. The Present Tense in English can be used to express the following relations: - Present tense without reference to time when the validity of the expression is not bound by time. a) Universal truths: Two and two make four. b) Habits: I have milk for breakfast. - Present tense used to refer to actions that start and finish at the moment of speaking: a) Commentaries: Now Ral gets the ball and passes it to Morientes and ... b) Demonstrations: I stir the sauce slowly. c) Performative verb: I thank you; I bid you good night. - Present tense used to express future time: a) When there is a time adverbial in the sentence: The plane takes off at nine o'clock. b) In temporal and conditional sentences: When I grow up I'd like to go to Paris. If she comes soon, we'll arrive on time. - Present tense used to express past time: a) Historic present: used in narratives to make the events narrated more vivid. Columbus discovers America in 1492. b) Fictional present: the difference of fictional tense in respect to historic present is that the former is narrates fictional events.

PAST TENSE. The past tense is used mainly to denote past events, that is, events that started and finished in the past: I went to Rome last year. Nevertheless, as we have already mentioned, the past tense can also be used in the following circumstances: - In the sequence of tenses in reported speech: She said, 'I saw Mary on the bus' is backshifted to She said that she had seen Mary on the bus. - In hypothetical or unreal clauses: If you studied harder, you could pass your exams easily. - To express politeness: I wondered if you could help me.

FUTURE. Although in our analysis future is not to be considered a tense, it is advisable to look at its expression: - Will/shall. "Will" is used for all persons; "shall" is reserved for the first person singular and plural. Whereas "will" expresses neutral future, "shall" expresses an intention: "I will meet you tomorrow" versus "I shall kill you!". In American English they hardly ever use the shall form for the future. - Going to + Infinitive. It is used to express future as a result of some present evidence. It's going to rain (there may be black clouds); She's going to have a baby (she is pregnant). Intention can also be expressed with this structure: I'm going to be a teacher when I grow up. - The Present Progressive. It expresses an arrangement which usually means future. We're having fish for supper tonight. - The Present Tense. a) When there is a time adverbial in the sentence: The place takes off at nine o'clock. b) In temporal and conditional sentences: When I grow up I'd like to go to Paris. If she comes soon, we'll arrive on time. - Will + Progressive Tense. It adds the meaning of duration. It is considered to be more polite than the structure will + bare infinitive because it has no reference to intention: When will you visit us? vs When will you be visiting us? - Other expressions such as "to be on the verge to", "to be about to" or "to be to" usually indicate a near future: The Prime Minister is to visit/is about to visit/on the verge of visiting Spain.

VOICE. (see more on Voice further on) According to Quirk, voice is the grammatical category which serves to view the action of the verb from two points of view: the butler murdered the detective and the detective was murdered by the butler. When the object of the sentence denotes the agent of the action, the verb is in the active voice. However, when the person of thing denoted by the subject is the receiver or sufferer of the action, then the verb is in the passive voice. Active and passive voices are not synonymous and it is not irrelevant for a language to have such an option. According to Quirk, the change from active to passive voice entails: - A change in the verb phrase: the verb "be" is put in the tense of the active verb and added the past participle of the active verb. - The active subject becomes the passive agent, preceded by the preposition "by". - The active object becomes the passive subject. - Other auxiliaries other than "be" can be used: "get" and "become".

ASPECT. Verbal aspect means reviewing the action of the verb as completed (perfective aspect) or in progression (progressive aspect). We can distinguish two aspects in English: - Perfective aspect. - Progressive aspect. Aspect and tense can be combined in English. The following are the possible combinations: - Present Perfect: I've been to Rome. - Past Perfect: I had driven all night long. - Present Progressive: She's singing very well. - Past Progressive: She was living with her parents. - Present Perfect Progressive: She has been learning English for ten years. - Past Perfect Progressive: She had been studying all night.

PERFECTIVE ASPECT. The perfective aspect is usually employed to express a past action with a current relevance. In the following examples we can notice the difference between the past simple tense, whose action is started and finished in the past, and the present perfect, in which the action started in the past but is still relevant in the present: She lived in Paris for two years; She has lived in Paris for two years. The Present Perfect is normally employed to express: - Past state leading up to the present time: I've lived in Madrid since I was born. - Indefinite event in the past: Have you ever been to the USA? In American English this use can be also expressed in the past tense: Did you ever go the USA? - Past action with present results: Someone has smashed the window.

PROGRESSIVE ASPECT. The progressive aspect is used to refer to an action which has some duration and has not yet finished: The girl sings very well; The girl is singing very well. As it can be observed in the previous examples, the present tense is used to express the child's competence as a singer, whereas the present progressive (also called continuous) expresses the child's performance itself. In the past the difference exists too: The girl sang very well; The girl was singing very well. The difference here lies in the fact that the first sentence refers to the action as a whole, whereas the second one refers to the action taking place at a given moment. The perfective and progressive aspects can combine for some tenses, namely, the Present Perfect Progressive and the Past Perfect Progressive.

MOOD. Mood is a grammatical category which reflects the attitude of the speaker towards the action of the verb. However, in some special cases it is just a grammatical contrivance which shows the dependence of the verb to a nexus. We can distinguish three moods in English: the indicative, the subjunctive and the imperative.

THE INDICATIVE MOOD. The Indicative mood is the most neutral mood. It usually does not express the attitude of the speaker towards the action denoted by the verb. It is the most commonly used mood. In Present Tense there is a difference between the third person singular and the rest of the persons. This difference is denoted by the "-s" suffix (which sometimes appears as "-es").

THE SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD. The subjunctive was used to express a large number of meanings in Old English, whereas in contemporary English its use has become very reduced. Some grammarians believe that the subjunctive has not disappeared from English yet. The subjunctive is still used to express a number of different relations. In contemporary English we can distinguish between the present and the past subjunctive. The present subjunctive is in form equal to the present indicative, except that the third person singular does not inflect: God save the Queen. The past subjunctive is in form equal to the past tense, except in the verb "be": "were" is used for all its persons. The negative in the subjunctive is usually expressed by placing "not" before the verb. In contemporary English the subjunctive is generally used: - To express a demand or command: The ship captain demanded the canvass be lowered. - To express a wish: I wish I were rich; May God be with you. - To express hypothetical events (normally in the second type conditionals): If she were here, she would know how to behave.

THE IMPERATIVE MOOD. The imperative mood is very much used in English. It often expresses a command or a request, which may range in tone from very rude to very formal. The imperative is formed with the bare infinitive for the affirmative and with "do not" (= "don't"), or "never" in negative, including in combination with the verb "be": Open the door, Never say that in front of men, Do not move; Don't be such a cry baby. The imperative in affirmative may also take the emphatic "do", in which case the meaning conveyed is that of persuasion or emphasis: Do be quiet!; Do come, please! This type of persuasive "do" is not used in American English.

In imperative the subject is usually the second person singular or plural, which by the way are not expressed but implied. This can be observed in the use of the reflexive pronouns or in tag questions: Behave yourself/ves; Be quiet, will you? Sometimes the subject can be expressed. In this case it is stressed and carries the meaning of a strong emphasis or invitation: Yu stay here! Imperatives can be used with other persons: "Let me/us", "Let's + V" and "Let someone + V". Imperatives are liable to sound abrupt if they are not downtoned with "please" (or less frequently, "if you please", "kindly" or the archaic "pray" or "prithee"). The tone of voice is also an important factor to determine if the imperative used is meant to be a means of politeness or command.

VOICE. THE PASSIVE VOICE


INTRODUCTION. Voice is a grammatical category that could be defined as the contrast existing between a sentence in which the doer of the action is the subject ("active") and one in which the person or thing affected is subject ("passive"). In both English and Spanish, as well as in many other Indo-European languages, the concept of voice is a relevant one. We say that the English and the Spanish languages have two different types of voice: active voice and passive voice. One sentence may be expressed in either active or passive, and the overall meaning of the sentence will not change: Active voice: "John ate a chocolate last night." Passive voice: "A chocolate was eaten last night by John." From a semantic point of view, both sentences mean the same: "somebody called John, presumably known to both the speaker/writer and the listener/reader, carried out the action of eating a chocolate". The main difference between both examples is that in the active voice sentence the protagonist of the action of eating the chocolate is the so called John, whereas in the second example the protagonist of the action is the thing eaten, the chocolate, being its eater, John, relegated to a secondary position. Therefore, though the meaning of both sentences is virtually the same, their difference lies in the voice. If we were to summarise the syntactical structure of a model active voice sentence, it would be something like this: Subject + Verb + Object (+ Adverbials). John + ate + a chocolate + last night.

On the other hand, if we wish to summarise the basic structure of a model passive sentence, it would be like this: Subject + Passive verb (+ Object) (+ Adverbials) (+ Agent). A chocolate + was eaten + ---------- + last night + by John.

THE ACTIVE-PASSIVE TRANSFORMATION. Let us analyse the process of active-passive transformation in detail: 1. The active subject becomes a passive agent, normally introduced by the preposition "by". This agent presents two possible structures: "by + noun phrase" ("by John", "by my friend", "by a good man", etc) or "by + object pronoun" ("by me", "by you", "by him", "by her", etc). - However, very often passive sentences do not present an agent; in other words: an agent is not a compulsory element in a passive sentence. The sentence "A chocolate was eaten last night" is still a passive sentence, even though it lacks the agent. The agent is usually omitted under the following circumstances: a. When the agent is unknown or too vague. My money was stolen. Spanish is spoken in Spain. b. When the protagonist of the action carried out is either irrelevant, taken for granted or too unimportant. I am going to be operated on (by a doctor). c. When the subject in the active voice sentence is "they", "somebody/someone" or "people". People like Peter. --> Peter is liked. Someone is looking after my child. --> My child is being looked after. - There are some instances in which the preposition "by" of the agent is substituted by other prepositions ("with", "in"). "By" is used when the agent is considered to be an animate one: John ate a chocolate. --> A chocolate was eaten by John. If the agent is an inanimate one, prepositions "with" or "in" are used instead of "by": Water filled the bottle. --> The bottle was filled with water. The food contained poison. --> Poison was contained in the food. 2. The active verb becomes a passive verb. By a passive verb we understand the one that presents the structure "to be + a verb in its past participle form". In the aforementioned example, "John ate a chocolate", "ate" (active verb) becomes "was eaten" (past tense of the verb "to be" followed by "eaten", the past participle of the verb "to eat"). These rules apply to the affirmative, interrogative and negative forms: Was a chocolate eaten by John? Who was a chocolate eaten by? What was eaten by John? A chocolate was not/wasn't eaten by John.

- Here is the paradigm of the possible active verb tenses and their passive equivalents: ACTIVE VOICE Present simple (I speak ...) Present continuous (I am speaking ...) Past simple (I spoke ...) Past continuous (I was speaking ...) Present perfect (I have spoken ...) PASSIVE VOICE am/is/are spoken am/is/are being spoken was/were spoken was/were being spoken have/has been spoken

P. perfect continuous (I have been speaking) (have/has been being spoken) (RARELY USED IN THE PASSIVE) Past perfect (I had spoken ...) had been spoken

P. perfect continuous (I had been speaking) (had been being spoken) (RARELY USED IN THE PASSIVE) Future (I will/shall speak ...) will/shall be spoken

Future continuous (I will/shall be speaking) (will/shall be being spoken) (RARELY USED IN THE PASSIVE) Future perfect (I will/shall have spoken) will/shall have been spoken

Future perfect continuous (I will/shall have been speaking) (will/shall have been being spoken) (RARELY USED IN THE PASSIVE) "Going to" + V (I am going to speak) Conditional (I would speak) am/is/are going to be spoken would be spoken

Conditional continuous (I would be speaking) (would be being spoken) (RARELY USED IN THE PASSIVE) Modal verbs (I must speak, etc) spoken, etc) Modal + perfective (I must have spoken) Modal + be+ past participle (I must be I must have been spoken, etc.

Modal + perfective + continuous (I must have been speaking, etc ...) (must have been being spoken) (RARELY USED IN THE PASSIVE) Infinitive (to speak) to be spoken

- However, there are some cases of passive voice sentences without the verb "to be". In informal English the verb "to be" may be substituted by the verb "to get". I was stung by a wasp. = I got stung by a wasp. - In other instances, especially in formal English, the verb "to be" can be substituted by "to become": John and I became acquainted.

The results became known to us as soon as we arrived. - There is another type of passive transformation that does not require the verb "to be", but the verb "to have". Its syntactical structure is the following: Subject + To have + Object + Past participle (+ Adverbial(s)) This type of passive sentence is used to express an action carried out by a different person from the person who receives the result of the action. In the sentence "Tom is having his hair cut" somebody else that is not Tom (presumably a barber) is carrying out the action of cutting Tom's hair, an action that has a direct consequence on Tom, who suffers or enjoys the action of the verb. The object of this type of passive sentence is always a noun phrase (a proper name, an object pronoun, or a possessive adjective followed by an adjective and/or a noun). Tom + is having + + his hair + cut

Subject + [to have]

Object + Past participle

Needless to say, the verb "to have" can be conjugated in any verb tense and put in the affirmative, interrogative or negative: I have just had my mobile telephone installed. My mother is going to have her bedroom cleaned next week. The bank manager didn't have his safe opened yesterday. Will we have them emptied by six o'clock? 3. The active (direct or indirect) object becomes the subject of the passive sentence. In the previous examples, "a chocolate" was the (direct) object of the active sentence and the subject of the passive sentence. It is important to note that if any given active sentence does not present at least a direct object or an indirect object (or both), the active-passive transformation is not possible. For instance: the active sentence "Yesterday I went to the zoo" cannot be transformed to the passive voice due to the fact that it lacks an object. - However, phrasal and prepositional verbs can be used in passive sentences provided that they are followed by an object. They looked at him.---> He was looked at. She was run over while she was crossing the street. My joke was laughed at by everyone in the room. But some prepositional verbs do not allow the passive voice. You cannot say * I was agreed with by everybody or *The palace was walked into. Phrasal verbs do not normally present many problems when used in passive sentences. - It is characteristic of the English language to allow the active-passive transformation in sentences that present a direct object, an indirect object or both. In other words, an active sentence may present two objects (a direct one, usually denoting a thing, and an indirect one, usually denoting a person). In such circumstances, two different passive sentences may result from this type of di-transitive sentence. In Peter gave us a sweet we find two objects: "us" (indirect object) and "a sweet" (direct object). This means that two passive sentences can be obtained:

a) We were given a sweet by Peter. (The indirect object in the active has become the subject of the passive sentence.) b) A sweet was given (to) us by Peter. (The direct object of the active has become the subject of the passive sentence.) The indirect object form (a) is more widely used than the direct object one (b). As for the use of "to" before the indirect object in sentence (b), it should be noted that it may be left out in more informal speech. - There are some instances in which the direct object of the passive sentence is followed by an object complement, that is, an adjective or a noun that describes the object. Passive sentences can therefore only be made from the direct object: They made him general. --> He was made general. 4. Adverbials in active sentences stay the same in their passive counterparts. As may be noted, in John ate a chocolate last night and A chocolate was eaten last night by John, the adverbial "last night" in both examples has not suffered any change whatsoever with the active-passive transformation. In any case, it is up to the individual speaker's idiolect to write the adverbial "last night" before the agent "by John", or to write the agent "by John" before the adverbial "last night".

VERB CONSTRAINTS IN THE ACTIVE-PASSIVE VOICE TRANSFORMATION. - There are verbs in English that do not allow the active-passive transformation, namely: a. The verb "to have (got)" meaning possession: I have a red car in the garage. It is not possible to say * A red car is had by me in the garage. b. The verb "to have" with the meaning of "to eat" or to drink: Peter had lunch at the Ritz does not allow the passive. c. Some stative verbs (e.g. verbs that do not normally allow progressive tenses) like "to fit", "to lack", "to resemble", "to seem", "to sound", "to prove" or "to suit". Sentences like My dress doesn't suit me, Jack lacks style or It sounds a good idea cannot be transformed into passive voice. d. Verbs with reflexive pronouns or reciprocal pronouns such as "each other" or "one another". Sentences like I shave myself every morning, Paul could see himself in the mirror or We could hardly see each other in the dark do not allow the passive voice. e. Intransitive verbs such as "to go" or other verbs of movement such as "to walk", "to run", "to fly", etc. However, under some circumstances these verbs are sometimes made to accept the passive transformation: The prisoners were flown to a desert island. f. Some phrasal and prepositional verbs such as "to agree with", "to walk into", etc. g. Progressive verb forms are in most cases avoided in the passive. Although it would be grammatically correct to say Peter has been being watched by the police lately, common use and common sense would always simplify it to Peter has been watched by the police lately. h. The verb "to be born" is always used in the passive. It would sound weird to say something like My mother bore me in Granada. Passive sentences with either "to be

drowned" or "to be born" never carry agents. It is not correct to say * I was born in Granada by my mother or * My best friend was drowned in the sea by someone.

TYPES OF PASSIVE SENTENCES. 1. Central or true passives. This is the type of passive that follows the general structure of "subject + to be + past participle". Central or true passives can be divided into: a) Passives with expressed agents: My uncle built that house. --> That house was built by my uncle. (With a personal agent) The results do not justify this conclusion. --> This conclusion is not justified by the results. (With a non-personal agent) Oil filled the tank. --> The tank was filled with oil. (With a "with" agent) b) Passives without expressed agents: Problems can be avoided in different ways. My money was stolen last night. 2. Semi-passives. These are sentences whose past participle share verbal qualities with adjectival qualities. We are encouraged to go on with the project. (Active: They encourage us to go on with the project.) Jane was interested in computers. (Active: Computers interested Jane.) The passive structure of the examples above corresponds to the typical passive one. Indeed, being passive sentences, they also have their active counterparts. But they also have some adjectival properties, namely: the past participles ("encouraged", "interested") can also be considered as adjectives. Proof of this is the fact that they can be modified by intensifiers such as "very", "quite", "rather", "more", etc. Last but not least, the verb "to be" is perfectly interchangeable with lexical copular verbs such as "to feel" or "to seem". 3. Pseudo-passives. These sentences are so called because at least their verbs have the superficial form of a passive structure, that is, "to be + past participle". But in reality, the verb "to be" of these pseudo-passives is working more as a copula than as an actual passive auxiliary. In fact, it is perfectly substituted by verbs such as "to become", "to seem", "to feel", "to remain", etc. Similarly, the past participles also have adjectival values, especially if we consider the verb "to be" (or "to get", "to become" or "to grow") as a copula: The building was already demolished. The world is getting more and more industrialised everyday. 4. Passives with clauses as objects.

When the object of an active sentence is a clause, the passive transformation is to a certain extent more limited. If the clause is a finite one it is not possible to put it into the passive. In sentences like They believe that Tom loves chips, it is not possible to consider *That Tom loves chips is believed (by them) as a correct passive sentence. If the clause is non-finite (that is, an infinitive or a gerund), the passive is not possible either. Examples like Tom expected to see me or Jane loved visiting her aunt are not liable for the passive transformation. It is not correct to say * To see me was expected by Tom or *Visiting her aunt was loved by Jane. However, it is possible to make a passive sentence out of a finite clause as object provided that the clausal object begins with the pronoun "it": They believe that Tom loves chips can be made into the following passive: It is believed that Tom loves chips. This intermediate transformation step can be taken further into a definitive one: Tom is believed to love chips.

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