Б. С. Хаймович, Б. И. Роговская теоретическая грамматика английского языка

Aspects ofthe Russian Verb

perfective	non	— p e r f e c t i ve
Aspects	of the	English Verb
поп— co	ntinuous	continuous

Unlike the English participle, the participle in Russian has aspect distinctions делавший — сделавший.

c) Though English and Russian tenses have much in common, they differ in the distribution of absolute and rela­tive meanings. (Cf. Он сказал, что живет в Москве. Не said that he l i v e d in Moscow.) (In the subordinate clause the Russian verb has a relative tense meaning, the English verb an absolute one.) Когда 6 у д у в Москве, зайду. When I am in Moscow, I shall drop in. (In the subordinate clause the tense meaning of the Russian verb is absolute, that of the English verb relative.)
d) English and Russian moods, though fundamentally alike, have a number of distinctions: thus Russian impera­tive grammemes include number meanings not found in English (Cf. читай — читайте), Russian subjunctive gram­memes are uniform (Cf. читал бы, читали бы). In English their forms are markedly varied (invite, should invite, would invite, invited, had invited, etc.); in Russian speech one and the same mood grammeme serves to express different shades of non-fact. (Cf. Я настаиваю на том, чтобы он сде­лал это сам — problematic, если б ы он тогда сделал это сам ... —contrary to reality.) English grammemes are differentiated: some are used to present an act as problematic (I insist that he s h о и l d do it himself), others — as contra­dicting reality (If he ha d d о п е it himself, it would be different now), etc.
e) The category of person in English differs from its three-member Russian counterpart in having two-member opposemes (am — is, write — writes, opposing the third per­son to the first, shall — will, opposing the first person to the non-first), in not having person meaning in the plural grammemes of the present tense (Cf. читаем — читаете, читают, we (you, they) read), in the limited extent of the category of person.
f) Number is an all pervading category in Russian, em­bracing the finite verb and the verbids (the participle). With the exception of impersonal verbs no verb is thinkable outside this category, whereas in English it is but scantily represent­ed in the finite verb, the verbids being altogether bereft of number.
g) Dissimilarity in the nature of the categories is coupled with considerable dissimilarity in the subclasses of verbs in English and Russian. Thus, in Russian the division of verbs into transitive and intransitive is most essential with regard to the category of voice. In English more relevant is the di­vision into subjective and objective verbs. Likewise the subclasses of terminative and durative verbs distinguishable in English prove less relevant for the Russian verb.
IV. As to their combinability English and Russian verbs have a number of common properties (both in English and in Russian they are associated with nouns and pronouns denoting the subjects or objects of the actions denoted by the verb, they attach adverbs, etc.), but in English, owing to the existence of the gerund the verb may be modified by a noun in the possessive case, a possessive pronoun attached to the verb as its attribute, or it may be introduced by a pre­position, all that is absolutely impossible in Russian. Pecul­iar is the combinability of English verbids in the so-called complexes.
E. g. Miss Subil had no desire for me to stay. (Snaith).
Tell me about this horrible business of my father wanting to set me aside for another son. (Shaw).
Connected with the difference in combinability is the difference in function.
a) In English the verb participates in different complexes with secondary predication (nexuses) which is not typical of Russian. "(I saw him come, I saw him coming, I am not against Tom coming, Tom was seen to come, etc.).
b) Owing to the existence of the gerund the verb may be used as a prepositional object, an adverbial modifier of concession, condition, etc., that is in those functions which are not discharged by the verbs in Russian.
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1}We have not counted combinations like был сделан as analytical forms {see note 3 below).
² Though opposemes like делая — сделав, or делающий — делавший, traditionally regarded as belonging to the category of tense, resemble rather English order opposemes.
³ Some linguists speak of the passive voice in Russian built up analytically with the help of быть and the short forms of the participle, e. g. Дом был построен. Seeing that there is grammatical combi-nability between был and построен, дом and построен (cf. Изба была построена, Дома были построены) we must regard them as combina­tions of words like Дом был красив, Изба была красива, Дома были красивы.