Английского

parts of this system was demonstrated explicitly on the copious 
material gathered. 
Theoretical discussions have not ceased, nor subsided. On the con-
trary, they continue and develop, though on an ever more solid sci-
entific foundation; and the cumulative 

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descriptions of the English verb provide now an integral picture of 
its nature which the grammatical theory has never possessed be-
fore. Indeed, it is due to this advanced types of study that the struc-
tural and semantic patterning of verbal constructions successfully 
applied to teaching practices on all the stages of tuition has 
achieved so wide a scope. 
§ 2. The following presentation of the categorial system of the 
English verb is based on oppositional criteria worked out in the 
course of grammatical studies of language by Soviet and foreign 
scholars. We do not propose to develop a description in which the 
many points of discussion would receive an exposition in terms of 
anything like detailed analysis. Our aim will rather be only to dem-
onstrate some general principles of approach — such principles as 
would stimulate the student's desire to see into the inner meaning-
ful workings of any grammatical construction which are more of-
ten than not hidden under the outer connections of its textual ele-
ments; such principles as would develop the student's ability to rely 
on his own resources when coming across concrete dubious cases 
of grammatical structure and use; such principles as, finally, would 
provide the student with a competence enabling him to bring his 
personal efforts of grammatical understanding to relevant correla-
tion with the recognised theories, steering open-eyed among the 
differences of expert opinion. 
The categorial spheres to be considered in this book are known 
from every topical description of English grammar. They include 
the systems of expressing verbal person, number, time, aspect, 
voice, and mood. But the identification and the distribution of the 
actual grammatical categories of the verb recognised in our survey 
will not necessarily coincide with the given enumeration, which 
will be exposed and defended with the presentation of each particu-
lar category that is to come under study.