The English Verb System – Contrastive Approach 1 November 10, 2018 Lesson 6 LEXICAL ASPECT and VENDLER’S CLASSIFICATION (Part 2) I Determine the situation type in the following sentences: 1. a) The light flashed. b) The light flashed for six hours. c) The light was flashing for six hours. 2. a) He banged his fist on the table. b) He banged his fist on the table for 20 seconds. c) He was banging his fist on the table for 20 seconds.
For with achievements implies repetition. Leonard reads fashion magazines. → STATE or ACTIVITY? He smokes. → He is a smoker. He writes. → He is a writer. Activities are “habit-forming”?
Vendler (1967: 109) distinguishes between generic and specific states. Generic states: He is an educator. He is a grocer. He is servant. Specific states: He is a painter. He is a dogcatcher. He is a taxi driver. Specific states such as driving a taxi, painting and catching dogs are uniform activities; there is one activity which is “the” activity of a taxi driver, painter or a dogcatcher. Generic states involve manifold activities, quite disparate in nature. There is not a single particular activity that can be called “educating, grocing or serving”.
II Discuss the possible difference in the interpretation of almost in the following examples: 1. a) Leonard almost swam. b) Leonard almost wrote an article. 1
III What are the possible readings of the following example: 1. He almost went to London. He almost started a journey to London. He started a journey to London and almost arrived.
Accomplishments modified by almost show an ambiguity. Almost might refer to the whole event or just the completion of the event. Tests involving the use of PPs for x time and in x time The time taken by telic situations can be measured by PPs of the type in x time. The time taken by atelic situations is measured by PPs of the type for x time. However, the tests using in X time and for X time are only valid when the period named in the PP measures the duration of the event named by the verb. 1. a) I opened the window for 10 minutes. b) Basil went to Paris for 10 days. 2. a) The can exploded in 2 minutes. b) ?I worked in 3 days. c) ?The cheese stank in 3 days. Sometimes the sentences can be acceptable for reasons irrelevant to telicity, e.g. because for X time measures the duration of a situation after the event (cf.(1 a,b)) or because in X time measures the time between some contextually determined time point and the start of the situation named by the verb (cf. (2 a,b)).
IV Are the following sentences acceptable or not? Give reasons for your choice. 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) 9)
Henry painted the house for an hour. Henry painted a house in an hour. The ambassador arrived in Moscow. The ambassador arrived in an hour in Moscow. The ambassador arrived for an hour in Moscow. The ambassador arrived in Moscow for an hour. The ambassador will arrive in an hour. Mary pushed the baby-carriage in the park. Mary pushed the baby-carriage to the park.
V Classify the verbs and VPs in the following sentences into Vendler’s types. Account for your choice.
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1) Richard called them “Industrial Novels” because they dealt with social and economic problems. 2) Now, we’ve gone into reverse. 3) I’ll tell them that I’ve changed my mind. 4) The pressure of his foot triggered the burglar alarm. 5) Have you brought me to the phone just to tell me that? 6) He spread his money around, picked up more cases and by the age of forty had an aggressive firm and a decent reputation. 7) He grew a beard, oiled his hair and became a radical. 8) Rohr had networked his way into a circle of acquaintances who were dreaming the grandest dreams ever known to trial lawyers. 9) Now they met several times a year and plotted ways to make millions. 10) In the case of a less ambitious lawyer, the case appeared to be nothing more than a dead smoker. 11) Jacob Wood died at the age of 95 after smoking three packs a day for almost thirty years. 1) Leonardo joj je rekao da mora da ode na neko vreme i sredi njihov novi dom u Švajcarskoj, ali je obećao da će poslati po nju za šest meseci. 2) Zbog toga će istraga sačekati dok se g-đica Petrović ne vrati. 3) A to sam uradio zbog prismotre Panteona, na osnovu saveta nekog Amerikanca koga nikada pre nisam video, a koji je interpretirao stihove stare četiri stotine godina. 4) I njihove lokacije su ostale tajna četiri stotine godina. 5) Bratstvo se potrudilo da takvu zabludu proširi. 6) Onaj drski Terdik otvorio je svoju “kuću” pod topolama i privukao mnoge od Lotikinih gostiju, pružajući im lako i neposredno ono što u njenom hotelu nisu nikad ni za kakav novac mogli da imaju. 7) Neki od kasabalija samo su saučesno gledali u njih i ćutali, a drugi su pokušavali da ih zadrže i ponude nečim. 8) To što se sada sručilo na kasabu i ceo ovaj kraj bila je velika, nerazumljiva napast kojoj se nije moglo dogledati kraja. 9) Osećali su kako im znoj curi ispod novih svečanih anterija i kako se u svakog od njih brzo i neodoljivo useljavaju strah i briga. 10) Nije ga stvarno razumeo, ali prema toj teoriji, usamljena tačka izuzetno koncentrovane energije je buknula u kataklizmičkoj eksploziji, šireći se u svim pravcima da bi stvorila univerzum.
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