Verb: the Category of Mood

6. Compare similar transpositions in the expressions of anticipated future. E.g.: Dr. Aarons will be seeing the patient this morning (A.Hailey). Soon we shall be hearing the news about the docking of the spaceships having gone through.

Since the neutralization of the Continuous with these verbs is quite regular, we have an emphatic reduction serving the purpose of speech expressiveness.

The Category of voice

The category of Voice expresses relations between the subject and the object of the action or between the subject and the action.The opposition of the passive form of the verb to the active form of the verb expresses the voice of the English Verb. E.g.: writes - is written. The passive form is the strong member of the opposition. On the plane of expression it is marked by the combination of the auxiliary be with the Past Participle of the notional verb. The active form as a weak member of the opposition expresses "non-passivity". The Active Voice shows that the subject of the sentence is the doer of the action. The Passive Voice shows that the subject is acted upon. The agent may be expressed in the sentence and it's usually introduced with the help of the preposition by. Ex. The book is written by a young writer.

The sentence with the passive voice may include a means of the action, which is introduced, with the help of the conjunction with. Ex. The book is covered with a newspaper.

The category of voice has a much broader representation in the system of the English verb than in the system of the Russian verb, since in English not only transitive but also intransitive verbs can be used.

In accord with their relation to the passive voice, all the verbs can be divided into 2 large sets: the set of passivized verbs and the set of non-passivized verbs. In particular the passive is alien to many verbs of the statal subclass, such as have, belong, cost, resemble, fail, misgive, etc.

The demarcation line between the passivized and non-passivized set is not rigid, and the verbs of the non-passivized set may migrate into the passivized set in various contexts. Ex. The bed has not been slept in. The house seems not to have been lived in.

Sometimes the opposition between 2 forms may be reduced. It means that the verb may be used in the Active Voice form with the meaning of the Passive Voice. Usually we observe it with medial verbs and some authors speak of the medial Voice.

The matter is that verbs may be transitive (which require a subject and an object) and intransitive (which do not require an object) because an action of the verb is directed at a subject. Ex. He reads a book. She smiled.

Medial verbs do not require any subject but as the English sentence requires that the position of the subject should be filled in, then the object fills in the position of the subject. Ex. The book sells well.

Verbs that are Active in Form but Passive in Meaning

Some verbs which are usually followed by an object (to sell, to cut, to wash) can be used without an object and take on a passive meaning. In this, case, the person carrying out the action of the Verb is not referred to. Ex. This book sells well, i.e. it is sold to many people. The dress washes/irons, well, i.e. it is easily washed/ironed. This material makes up nicely into suits, i.e. it can be used by the tailor for making suits. The butter spreads easily, i.e. it can be spread easily. The bread is cutting badly because it's very soft, i.e. to cut the bread is difficult. Other tenses may also be used. The book sold well. The dress has washed well. The material will make up nicely.

Note: the verbs are followed by adverbs in the above examples. It is also possible to omit the adverb, if the meaning is clear. This is often the case in the question form and in the negative. E.g.: The book didn't sell, so it wasn't reprinted. The dress is very pretty. Will it wash? The material should make up into a winter dress, shouldn't it? Butter won’t spread when it's been in the fridge. Will the bread cut? If not, try the other knife.

There are some other verbs of this sort, with the nouns (subjects) that they are often used with in this construction

(A car) drives, steers

(A boat) sails

(A clock) winds up

(A door) locks, unlocks

(A book) reads well / easily, i.e. the book is good / easy to read.

Large native cigarettes smoked easily and coolly. The lion chops will eat better than they look.