Transitive Intransitive

He stopped the car and studied The car stopped.

the opening with his field glasses. (Hemingway)

There are still a few cases in English where intransitive and transitive verbs have different forms.

a) Through a change of the root vowel:

Intransitive Transitive

to sit to set

to lie to lay

to fall to fell

to rise to raise

b) Through the addition of a prefix:

Intransitive Transitive

to moan to be moan

to speak to be speak

to live to out live

Terminative, Durative and Mixed Verbs

According to their lexical character verbs in English may be classified into two groups: terminative verbs (предельные глаголы) and durative verbs

(непредельные глаголы). Besides these two main groups there is an extensive group of verbs of a mixed (or double) character.

A terminative verb expresses an action which has a final aim in view, a certain limit beyond which the action cannot be continued.(to come, to bring, to find, to lose, to break).

Such verbs may be used in both aspects-common and continuous, but independent on the aspect form the verb always preserves its terminative lexical character.

A durative verb expresses an action which has no final aim in view, no limit beyond which the action cannot be continued. (to like, to love, to admire, to hate, to hope, to possess et cetera).

‘ How do you like Thornfield?’(Bronte)

Verbs of a mixed lexical character are such verbs which may have durative meaning in one context and terminative meaning in another.

Durative meaning Terminative meaning

He sat very still a moment. (Maurier) I went and sat beside him.

Он сидел… Я пошел и сел…

To the class of mixed verbs belong also such verbs as to see, to hear, to read, to write, to read, to write, These verbs have durative meaning when they denote actions of a general character(the ability of seeing, writing) and terminative meaning when they are used with references to concrete instances.

The Finite Forms of the Verb

The verb in the finite form expresses the following categories: person, number, aspect, tense, voice and mood.

Person and Number

There are two numbers in the verb: singular and plural, and three persons: first, second and third.

Aspect

In Russian the verb possesses two clear-cut aspect forms: the imperfective which considers the action in its progress, and the perfective which shows the action in its entirety.

In English the verb has also two aspect forms: the continuous aspect and the common aspect.

The difference between the two forms is not a temporal one, the time indication being the same in both; the forms differ in the manner in which the action is presented.

Ex.: She is carrying water from the well.

Ex.: She always carries water from this well.

Tense

Tense is the form of the verb which indicates the time of the action. The main divisions of time- present, past and future are represented in English by the three primary tenses: present, past, and future.

These three tenses are expressed in two aspect forms: the common and the continuous.

But besides these three primary tenses the English tense system comprises three secondary tenses: the present perfect, the past perfect and the future perfect. The perfect tenses are also expressed in two aspect forms: the common and the continuous.

The perfect tenses do not merely indicate that the action refers to the present, past or future but show that the action is brought into relation with some other action or situation in the present, past or future, that it took place before that action or situation. Therefore the perfect tenses are relative tenses.

But besides a purely temporal element (relative time indication) which characterizes all three perfect tenses, the present perfect contains also some other meaning- it shows that the action which took place before the present situation is connected in its consequences with this situation.

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