Statives

The essence of the words asleep, afloat, ablaze, etc. And their position in the system of parts of speech is still under the discussion. We take the view that they constitute a special part of speech, which may be called “stative” and is char-zed by the prefix a-.

The main function of the statives is that of predicative and in this case they are preceded by a link verb, most usually the verb “be”, but occasionally also fall, keep, feel. Ex. to be asleep, to fall asleep, to feel ashamed.

Statives are also occasionally found in the function of objective predicatives, particularly after the verb find and have and N or ProN, as in the s-ces: He found his sister alone. Then Skene spoke, and in a moment had his audience afire.

The phrase ‘be + stative” may sometimes be synonymous with the continuous form of the corresponding verb. Ex. He is asleep → He is sleeping, he was asleep → He was sleeping. But they are not always interchangeable.

We find that the statives in Eng. and in Russ. do not correspond to each other, i.e. a Russ. stative is, it seems, never translated by an Eng. stative, and vice versa. Ex. мне его жаль – I pity him, I feel pity for him, жаль усов – I fell sorry for my moustache; уму лень было вставать – he felt too lazy to get up; здесь тепло – it is warm here; ↔ he is asleep - он спит; the ship is afloat; судно в плавании дом был в огне – the house is ablaze. It follows that the phenomena which can be expressed by statives in Russ. and in Eng., are far from being the same.

L. Barhudarov in an article (1958) denies the existence of statives as a separate part of speech in Eng. the conclusion L.Barkhudarov arrives at is that words of this type are adjectives, which of course is the traditional view.

PREDICATIVE ADJECTIVES, A-WORDS, APROXIMATELY 30 FIXED AND ABOT 100 NONCE-FORMATIONS, NOWADAYS VERBS ARE TURNING TO STATIVES.

The category of mood. Indicative. Imperative.

It’s very disputable category in E. Vinogr: mood expresses the relation of the action to reality as stated by the speaker. With the help of this category we can represent an action as a real fact. He goes to Paris every summer. Or the action can be represented as unreal but highly probable. Go to Paris right now. Or when the action seems very doubtful. I think you’d like to go to Paris.

The number of moods in E is also disputable & fluctuates from 2 to 16. In case of 2 moods the Imperative is excluded (George Curme. Traditional number of moods is 3 (indic, imper, subj). A peculiar feature of E.gr. is that 1&the same form of the V, usu called the bare infin, can be met in all 3 moods. Go there. I insist he go there. I go there. Each mood is ch-ized by its own gram.m. & a number of formal distinctive features.

(1)The Ind.M. shows that the speaker represents an action as a real fact. I have finished my task & now walking to the station.

This ability & this meaning of the indicative mood is widely used in fiction or in deceiving other people. Some doubts may arise if we turn to the Future Tense of the indicative mood, in this case the action has not been performed so it doesn’t correspond to reality. But the degree of its probability borders with certainty which is especially obvious if we compare the forms of the subjunctive & indicative mood used in context. 1)I’ll come & help you. 2)I would like to come & help you. In case of the indicative mood in the Future Tense the action is an actual point of the speaker’s program.

(2) The Imperative mood. Not all scholars include it into the number of E moods.

G. Curme believed there is no special mood of this kind in E because it is represented by 1 form only which is homonymous to the form of bare infinitive & it has no paradigm.

Henry Sweet considered it to be right to speak about the Imp.M. because it has its own gram.m. different from the Ind. or Subj.M-s. 1) it has no person, number, tense distinctions. 2) it’s used only in 1 type of sentences which is the imperative sentence. There’re some peculiar features ch-izing the Imp.m. 1)it has a specific modal m. of inducement wh. can be realized in a number of more specific forms:a command, prohibition, order, request, advice, offer, invitation. In some of these cases an action is in favour of the speaker, in other cases it’s in favour of the doer. 2)formal features.The negative form is alw derived with the help of ‘do’ including the V ‘to be’. Don’t be so silly. 3)in E. the Imp.M. has an analytical construction with the help of wh. it’s possible to address or command to the 3d person or include the speaker himself into the number of action performed. Let us go there. Let me come. Let them.

There appears a mixed paradigm of the Imp.M. including analytical & synthetic forms. Let me speak (anal). Speak! (synth).