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Unit 1. General Information
Chapter 7 V E R B S
Unit 1 GENERAL INFORMATION
ENTRY TEST
§ 1
1. Identify the verbs as simple (S), derived (D) or composite (C) as in the model. Start with the second verb.
Model: 1) work – S (simple)
1) work 2) stand up 3) milk 4) reread 5) give in 6) stay up 7) disagree
8) overcook 9) uncover 10) compute
2. Identify the verbs as derived by prefixation (P), suffixation (S) or by conversion (C). Start with the second verb.
Model: 1) lengthen – S (by suffix -en)
1) lengthen 2) water 3) dust 4) falsify 5) undercook 6) unload
7) misunderstand 8) enrich 9) patronize 10) fish
3. Say which of the following words are verbs or may be used as verbs:
1) feed 2) loss 3) blood 4) short 5) strike 6) sing 7) economize 8) law 9) belief 10) advise 11) arrival 12) slowly 13) strength 14) blacken
15) election 16) bite 17) ride 18) fill 19) live 20) pay
4. Derive new verbs from the following verbs, nouns and adjectives by means of the prefixes: re-, mis-, be-, un-, de-, dis-, over-, en-. Use each prefix only once.
1) pronounce 2) arrange 3) cover 4) little 5) value 6) feed 7) connect 8) rich
5. Translate using phrasal verbs.
1) Она примирилась с потерей.
2) Не сдавайся! Попытайся снова!
3) Он бросил курить год назад.
4) Их семья распалась.
5) Когда началась война?
6) Берегись! (Осторожно!)
7) Говорите громче, пожалуйста.
8) Давайте прервемся и попьем чая.
9) Я присмотрю за вашим ребенком.
10) Что вы ищете?
§ 2
1. Identify the verbs in the following sentences as auxiliary (A) or main (M) as in the model. Start with the second sentence.
Model: 1) did – A (auxiliary), like – M (main)
1) Did you like the film?
2) The milk is sour.
3) You must wait.
4) His face turned pale.
5) He knows English well.
6) He turned round the corner.
7) I am leaving now.
8) The boy looks strong.
9) Will you come?
10) He hasn't helped me.
2. Identify transitive (T) and intransitive verbs (I) in the following sentences as in the model. Start with the second sentence.
Model: 1) took – T (transitive)
1) They took a taxi.
2) She sells books.
3) The sun has just risen.
4) He is studying for a law degree.
5) The books sell well.
6) He studied law at University.
7) Did you stay at a hotel?
8) He stopped the car.
9) He stopped to buy a newspaper.
10) She rose from the chair.
§ 3
1. Identify the tense form of the verbs in the following sentences as in the model. Start with the second sentence.
Model: 1) left – Past Ind., had talked – Past Perf.
1) He left after he had talked to the manager.
2) She drinks tea in the morning.
3) The children were sleeping when he came home.
4) If you are tired I'll bring you some coffee.
5) Tomorrow at this time we'll be flying to Italy.
6) Will you have translated the text by 6 o'clock?
7) I have been waiting for you since morning.
8) When will you return?
9) By tomorrow morning he will have been writing the report for 3 months.
10) Have you had dinner?
2. Choose the verb form you would use to translate the following sentences.
1) Они встречаются два раза в год.
A) have met / C) areB) met / D) meet
2) В прошлом году моя сестра поступила в университет.
A) entered / C) was enteringB) had entered / D) has entered
3) Через год он закончит школу.
A) will have finished / C) has finishedB) will have been finishing / D) will finish
4) Они уезжают в субботу.
A)are leaving / C) leftB) leave / D) have left
5) Она всегда смеется над ним.
A) laughs / C) has been laughingB) is laughing / D) will laugh
6) Он уже ушел домой, когда мы пришли.
A)went / C) had goneB) has gone / D) had been going
7) Завтра в это время я буду сдавать экзамен по английскому языку.
A) will take / C) will have takenB) will be taking / D) will have been taking
8) К началу сентября они переедут в новый дом.
A) will have moved / C) will moveB) will be moving / D) are moving
9) Когда я позвонил, они обедали.
A) had / C) had hadB) were having / D) would have
10) К лету будет уже 10 лет, как они живут здесь.
A) will live / C) will have been livingB) will be living / D) have lived
11) Он был уверен, что встречал ее ранее.
A) had met / C) had been meetingB) met / D) was meeting
12) Я уйду, если ты не вернешься в 7.
A) won't come / C) will not have comeB) don't come / D) aren't coming
Total: 100/____
§ 1 MEANING AND CREATION OF VERBS
I. General meaning
Verbs are words that express a physical or mental action (This machine cleans carpets. She hopes for the best) or a state of being (She is a student).
Without a verb, it is usually impossible to make a sentence in English. On the other hand, a sentence can be made of only one word if it is a verb: Read!
II. Verb creation
Verbs can be simple (read, run), derived (endanger, intensify) or composite (sit down, give up).
1. Simple verbs (get, go, come, take, give, etc.) make up the core of the English verbal system: most of them are native and most frequently used words.
Some of these verbs are differentiated from their historically related nouns or adjectives by means of a sound alteration in the root. The change may affect the root vowel (food n– feed v), root consonant (speech n – speak v), or both (life n – live v).
There are many verbs in Modern English that were borrowed from Latin and French together with their verb-building suffixes (e.g. -ate/ -ute) as dictate, pollute. Now these verbs are simple because their roots do not have homonymous free words with the same meaning in Modern English (*dict, *poll).
Some simple dissyllabic verbs borrowed from French retain the stress on the second syllable while their homographic nouns, which have become more assimilated in English, are already forestressed: to re´cord (v) – a ´record (n), to pre´sent (v) – a ´present (n) (See Ch.1, Unit 1).
2. Derived verbs make up the majority of the English verbal system.
Derivation of verbs is mostly done by means of prefixes attached to:
a) verbal bases:
re- (‘to repeat an action’): to reread, to reconsider;
under- (‘to do too little’): to underestimate, to undercook;
over-(‘to do too much’): to overestimate, to overcook;
un- (‘to act contrary to that of the simple stem’): to unload, to uncover;
dis- (‘to negate the action’): to disconnect, to disagree;
de- (‘to do the opposite’, ‘to undo the action’) – used in many neologisms: to demobilize, to devalue, to deactivate;
mis- (‘to act wrongly, badly’): to misunderstand, to miscalculate;
b) adjectival bases:
en- (‘to bring into a certain condition or a state’): to enrich, to enable
c) nominal or adjectival bases:
be- (‘to make a thing or quality’): to befriend, to belittle.
Derivation of verbs by suffixes is less common in English. The most common verbal suffixes are usually added to:
a) adjectival bases:
-fy/-ify: to falsify, to purify;
-en: to widen, to shorten;
b) nominal bases:
-ize, -ise: to cryslalize, to patronise;
Some verbs are derived by conversion – an affixless way of word formation. Such verbs look simple and usually denote ‘an action highly characteristic of the object’ (to monkey, to fool), ‘an action with the object’ (to knife, to water), ‘an acquisition or deprivation of the object’ (to milk, to dust, to fish) or ‘an action leading to a certain state or quality’ (to empty, to dirty, to clean).
3. Complex verbs (give up, outgrow) are viewed as phrasal or composite verbs.
A phrasal verb is a multi-word verb consisting of a verb followed by one or more particles and having a meaning larger than the meaning of each of its constituent (drink up 'выпить до дна', put up with 'примириться').
Some phrasal verbs are used in sentences without a direct object: You have to stay up late tonight.
Some phrasal verbs may be followed by a noun or pronoun: He looked after the baby. He looked after him.
Some verbs in phrasal constructions may be followed by a noun or pronoun and then by a particle: He answered John back. He answered him back.
The number of phrasal verbs in English has remarkably grown in the last century. They constitute one of the most distinctive features of English grammar. There are thousands of them now and they require a lot of memory work on the part of a learner. (Some of them are presented in Unit 7, § 8 in this book.)
As for compound verbs, the situation is rather complicated.
Some verbs as outgrow, overflow, snowball, or housekeep are often called compound. But many other scholars deny word compounding in verbs and view such verbs either derivatives either by means of prefixation (outgrow, overflow), conversion (to snowball (v) from a snowball (n)) or back-formation (housekeep (v) from housekeeper (n)).
E x e r c i s e s
1.1. Read and translate into Russian the following pairs of words. Observe the vowel interchange in nouns and verbs.
Fill (v) – full (adj); feed (v) – food (n); strike (v) – stroke (n); ride (v) – rode (n); knit (v) – knot (n); bleed (v) – blood (n); bit (v) – bite (n); sing (v) – song (n); tell (v) – tale (n).
1.2. Read the semantically and morphologically related pair set words. Observe the opposition of unvoiced consonants in nouns (or adjectives) and voiced consonants in verbs.
Bath (n) – bathe (v); belief (n) – believe (v); advice (n) – advise (v); cloth (n) – clothe (v); glass (n) – glaze (v); life (n) – live (v); half (n) – halve (v); loss (n) – lose (v); proof (n) – prove (v); serf (n) – serve (v); shelf (n) – shelve (v); close (adj) – close (v), choice (n) – choose (v), use (n) – use (v).
1.3. Read each of the following disyllabic words first as a verb and then as a noun (or adjective). Observe the stress distinction. Explain and translate the words into Russian.
Model: to con´vert - ‘to persuade to accept a particular religion, political belief, etc.; to change into another form’ (обращать, превращать, конвертировать) – a ´convert - ‘a person who has been persuaded to accept a particular religion, political belief, etc.’ (новообращенный)
Abstract, contest, contract, contrast, convict, digest, transport, increase, protest, progress, import, export, produce, rebel, record, survey, conflict, frequent, perfect, present, impress, permit, object, conduct.
1.4. Change the following nouns and adjectives into verbs by conversion. Explain and translate the verbs into Russian, give examples of their usage.
Model: land (n) ‘the solid dry part of the earth’s surface’ (земля) – to land (v) ‘to come to, to bring to, or put on land or water (приземлиться): We landed safely.
Class, hand, measure, place, clean, dirty, empty, free, market, map, sledge, skate, ski, rain, snow, bubble, block, shop.
1.5. Derive new verbs from the following verbs, adjectives and nouns by means of prefixes re-, un-, dis-, under-, over-, de-, pre-, post-, mis-, en-, be-.
Model: cover – uncover, feed – overfeed, rich – enrich
Agree, arrange, centralize, view, nourish, calculate, contaminate, pronounce, appear, appoint, little, cook, write, pay, marry, understand, large, graduate, behave, cloud, bed, able, act, inform, consider, read, simplify, stay, turn, moralize, work, compose.
1.6. Derive new verbs from the following adjectives and nouns by means of suffixes -fy/-ify, -en, -ize, -ise.
Model: crystal – crystallize, black – blacken, false -- falsify
Sharp, false, sympathy, character, patron, intense, pure, strength, short, equal, formal, private, broad, simple, oxide, idol, fertile.
1.7. Say which of the following words are verbs or may be used as verbs. Translate them and explain your choice.
Arrival, date, execute, strengthen, day, sing, slowly, part, choose, indicate, simplify, home, short, pay, law, empty, elect, educate, economy.
1.8. Complete the sentences using a suitable phrasal verb from the box.
break away 'to escape from someone'
break down 'to destroy something, to cause to be defeated'
break in 'to enter a building by force'
break of 'to cure someone of a habit'
break off 'to end'
break out 'to begin suddenly'
break through 'to make a discovery'
break up (esp. of a relationship) 'to come to an end'
1) Scientists hope to … … soon in their fight against cancer.
2) Fifteen minutes were enough for them to … … and steal my money.
3) The police tried to … ... the prisoner’s opposition.
4) Doctors keep trying to … …his dependence on the drug.
5) I am afraid their marriage will … … .
6) The criminal used a gun to … … from the policemen.
7) The war there may … … at any moment.