Worksheet seminar 7 English Morphology – The Verb

I. Answer the following questions:

1. What are the categories of the verb in English? 16.
2. Which is the marked finite verb tense in English?
3. Which are the three main meanings of Present Tense 17.
in English?
4. What is the meaning of Past Tense with a present 18.
value?
5. Which are the verbs used frequently with the historic 19.
Present Tense?
6. What are the meanings of Present Tense in 20.
conversation / in academic prose?
7. Which are the verbs most frequently used in the 21.
Present Tense / Past Tense?
8. When is the Present Tense with a future meaning 22.
used? 23.
9. How is the Future marked in English?
10. What information does the category of Aspect bring to24.
the verb phrase? 25.
11. What kind of action does the Present Perfect / Past 26.
Perfect refer to?
12. What is the meaning of the Progressive Aspect? 27.
13. Which is the register with the most frequent use of
the3 Perfect Aspect? 28.
14. What are some differences between A.E. and B.E. in
terms of the use of aspectual forms? 29.
15. Which are the verbs most commonly used in the
Present Perfect Aspect? What semantic categories do
they belong to?
Which are the verbs seldom used in the Present
Aspect?
Which are the verbs most commonly used in the Past
Perfect Aspect?
What is the main difference in meaning between the
Present Perfect and the Simple Past?
What semantic category of verbs does the Past
Progressive most frequently occur?
Which are the verbs that seldom occur in the
Progressive?
Which are the characteristic(s) that determine whether
a verb is commonly or rarely used in the Progressive?
Which is the unmarked voice?
Which are the auxiliaries used to form Passive
constructions?
What is the Short Passive?
In what register is the Passive most frequently used?
What is the role of the agentless Passive in academic
prose?
What are principles that determine the choice of the
long / short Passive?
Which verbs are commonly / rarely used in the
Passive Voice?
Which are the most frequent combinations of Passive
and Aspect?

II. Practice:
1. What combinations of categories do the following verbs display:
a. The guards had found a note.
b. For nearly a year, the Zairian president has been living just down the road.
c. I think now I might be going to San Diego this weekend.
d. Vecco’s family has lived since 1969 in the spacious apartment that has become the ultimate room with a view.
e. Well, you could have used the meat pot.
f. At that point, Ritchie had been sitting in one of the 8-feet-by-8-feet rooms for about five hours.
g. He is young enough to be in his prime and old enough to have acquired the necessary experience at both
baseball and life.
h. But he was just saying that he doesn’t want a reward.

1. Identify and analyse all the verb phrases (finite and non-finite) in the texts:
a. They said that the Lincoln Bedroom was used only sporadically for family members and close friends.
b. As is shown in Figure 15, a considerable amount of waste crosses State lines.
c. I flew from New York to Uganda, where I settled among black people with the same assumptions of welcome
kindness I had taken for granted in Georgia. I was taken on rides down the Nile as a matter of course, and
accepted all invitations to dinner, where the best local dishes were superbly prepared in my honour. I became,
in fact, a lost relative of the people, whose ancestors had foolishly strayed, long ago, to America. Currently,
assistance can only be resumed when the president certifies that the country has returned to a democratically
elected govern. (from Longman Student Grammar Workbook)

2. Rewrite the fragment from a report on an experiment using Passive forms:

I conducted the test in the school library to minimise noise. I took the children out of their normal lessons and
I tested them. I carried out all the tests in January 2009. The test consisted of two components. First, I showed
the children a design (I presented these in Chapter 3) and I asked them to describe what they saw. I recorded
all their answers. I then gave them a set of anagrams which I instructed them to solve in as short a time as
possible. I remained in the room while the children did this.
Begin: The test…