滿眼風光
古今中外事，都付笑談中。
因這題目不小，來龍去脈需要鋪墊，請耐住性子。第一帖隻是介紹性的，為求"全麵"，還是有點長，但為我們以後一帖一帖地討論指了個方向。有不少人把語法看成固定條文，認為背過了記住了我們就可以過關了。就好比是女朋友的生日，一定得記住，忘了考驗(試)過不了，茲事體大。等交上新女友了，前任的生日記不記得無關緊要，但你又得記住新女友的去迎接新的考驗， 換多了會有"張冠李戴"的風險。我的感覺是把你的女友直接看成是你將來的不二老婆，她的生日，你不僅現在要記，將來要記，一輩子都得記。一來是消除風險，二則是對"同一條文"有經常應用的機會。
不僅要記，還得盡可能地多去理解，解釋語法現象。有不少中國人會認為，以英語為母語的學生是不用學語法的，這是個認識上的誤區。在英國很多中學就叫grammar school，就是因為中學生要學語法。在美國，中學生的大學入學考試SAT三大部分之一，名字就叫Writing，但這部分可不是考寫作，二而是考語法。在英美的大中學階段，寫作好壞很大成份即指語法掌握的好壞。
中文好壞跟語法關聯不大恐怕沒錯，古文中本就沒有語法，現代漢語的語法是以西方語言的語法為框框生搬硬套加上去的，但再怎麽加，都沒法將西方語法的名詞變格動詞變位加到漢語中去，因為從根上漢語就不需要這些。不少以中文為母語的學生覺著學英文語法很是生硬，你想跟她親熱，但總有熱臉貼冷屁股的感覺，原因也就在於此。
學英語，說來歸去就是詞匯語法。到此，對語法的重要性各位應有了認識，誤區也消除了，motivation該是enough了! 開場鑼鼓就此打住，請看第一帖。
In this section and the next two, we will discuss English verbs and verbals, not in so much of details, but in general terms, to increase the general understanding of all kinds of verbs and verbals.
Verbs carry the idea of being or action in the sentence, but they can be classified in many ways.
First, in terms of whether a verb has an object or not, we have already learned that a verb can be called "transitive" if it requires an object, or can be called "intransitive" if it requires no object. In English, we can't tell the whether a verb is transitive or intransitive by simply looking at its form. Not only that, but also many verbs can be both transitive and intransitive. Therefore, you will have to see how a verb functions within a sentence. For example:
The building collapsed. (intransitive)
The monster collapsed the building by sitting on it. (transitive)
Second, quite a few verbs require not only one, but two objects: one called direct object, and the other indirect object. Verbs requiring both indirect and direct objects are called distributive verbs[1].
If a verb is used as the main verb of a sentence or a clause, that is, it makes an assertion about or expresses a state of being of its subject, then it is called a finite verb (let's call it a predicate[2] verb of a clause or sentence):
The truck demolished the restaurant.
Verbals
When a verb is not used as the predicate verb of a clause or a sentence, then it is called non-finite verb. Three major forms of non-finite verbs are gerund, participle (present and past participles), and infinitive. Another name for non-finite verbs is called verbal.
Four Basic Forms of a Verb
Fortunately, the inflections (endings) of English verb forms are not difficult to remember. There are only four basic forms: base form (looks same as bare infinitive, i.e., without the infinitive article to), past form, present participle, and past participle[3].
Instead of forming complex tense forms with endings, English uses auxiliary verb forms. For instance, English does not have a proper ending for future forms; we use auxiliaries such as "I am going to read this afternoon", or "I will read", or even "I am reading this book tomorrow".
Linking Verbs
A linking verb connects a subject and its complement. A linking verb is also called "copula". The verb "to be" is the first linking verb; other linking verbs are ones related to the five senses of human bodily feelings (look, sound, smell, feel, and taste); still others are ones that reflect a state of being (appear, seem, become, grow, turn, prove, remain). What follows the linking verb will be either a noun complement or an adjective complement. Examples:
Those professors are stupid;
I feel great;
Have you studied Latin? From Latin we know that the complement of a linking verb must take the nominative case (Latin calls it predicate nominative); that is, the complement must take the same form as the subject. With such a understanding, we should say that "It's us" is a grammatically wrong sentence. The correct one is "It's we", because "us" is the accusative case that an object should take and "we" is the nominative case that can be used as a predicate. By the same reasoning, "It's me", "It's him", "It's her", and "It's them" are all wrong sentences since these pronouns are all in the accusative case but they are not objects in these sentences. Therefore, they should be corrected as "It's I", "It's he", "It's she", and "It's they"[4].
Finally, there are another handful of verbs that reflect a change in state of being and are sometimes called resulting copula (linking verbs)[5].
His face turned red;
She became older;
The milk has gone sour;
Active and Passive Voice
Verbs can be expressed in different voices and English has two of them: active and passive. This is a big topic that justifies a separate section of note.
Mood
Mood in verbs refers to one of three attitudes (you can call it emotions if you like) whoever expresses the verb holds (indicative, imperative, and subjunctive). The indicative mood is used to make a statement or ask a question; and it is most used by all of us. The imperative mood is used when we are feeling sort of bossish and want to give a directive, a strong suggestion, or an order:
Get your homework done before you play X-box[6].
P
Get out of town.
Note that no subject is shown in these imperative sentences and the pronouns "you" is the understood subject (the second person pronoun, singular or plural, depending on context), except in this kind of imperative sentences "Let's work on these issues now", in which the subject is "we", the first person pronoun plural.
The subjunctive mood is mostly used in dependent clauses that do the following: 1) express a wish; 2) begin with "if" and express a condition that does not exist or is contrary to the fact; 3) begin with "as if" and "as though" when such a clause describes a speculation or condition contrary to fact; and 4) begin with "that" and express a demand, requirement, request, or suggestion[7]. Examples:
If Juan were more aggressive, he’d be a better hockey player.
The subjunctive mood is not as important in English as it is in other languages, like Latin, French and Spanish, which happen to be more subtle and discriminating in hypothetical, doubtful, or wishful expressions. Many situations which would require the subjunctive in other languages are satisfied by use of one of the several auxiliary verbs in English.
The words "if", "as if", or "as though" do not always signal the subjunctive mood. If the information in such a clause points out a condition that is or was probable or likely, the verb should be in the indicative mood. The indicative tells the reader that the information in the dependent clause could possibly be true. P
Verbs like "demand", "require" and "suggest" in the main clause requires the subjunctive use of only the base form of the verb in the subjunctive dependent clause:
He demands that his students use two-inch margins when printing term papers.
She suggests that we be on time tomorrow.
Also, in the sentence structure "it is great (or possible, ideal, nice, necessary) that …", the verb in the dependent clause needs to be in the base form, too.
It is great that he leave this afternoon.
The past tense of the subjunctive has the same forms as the indicative past tense except for the verb "to be", which uses "were" regardless of the number of the subject.
Auxiliary or Helping Verbs
Also a separate section of notes on both Auxiliary Verbs and Modal Auxiliaries will be done soon. See these notes.
[1] "distributive verbs" is a term not used frequently. It should be OK if you don't like this term, as long as you understand "direct" and "indirect" objects.
