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The verb is one of the oldest parts of speech and has a very developed grammatical paradigm. It possesses more grammatical categories that any other part of speech. All deviant usages of its tense, voice and aspect forms have strong stylistic connotations and play an important role in creating a metaphorical meaning. A vivid example of the grammatical metaphor of the first type (form transposition) is the use of 'historical present' that makes the description very pictorial, almost visible.
Stylistic
Function of the Verb
The verb is one of the oldest parts of speech and has a very developed grammatical paradigm. It possesses more grammatical categories that any other part of speech. All deviant usages of its tense, voice and aspect forms have strong stylistic connotations and play an important role in creating a metaphorical meaning. A vivid example of the grammatical metaphor of the first type (form transposition) is the use of 'historical present' that makes the description very pictorial, almost visible.
The letter was received by a person of the royal family. While reading it she was interrupted, had no time to hide it and was obliged to put it open on the table. At this enters the Minister D... He sees the letter and guesses her secret. He first talks to her on business, then takes out a letter from his pocket, reads it, puts it down on the table near the other letter, talks for some more minutes, then, when taking leave, takes the royal lady's letter from the table instead of his own. The owner of the letter saw it, was afraid to say anything for there were other people in the room.
The use of 'historical present' pursues the aim of joining different time systems—that of the characters, of the author and of the reader all of whom may belong to different epochs. This can be done by making a reader into an on-looker or a witness whose timeframe is synchronous with the narration. The outcome is an effect of empathy ensured by the correlation of different time and tense systems.
The combination and unification of different time layers may also be achieved due to the universal character of the phenomenon described a phenomenon that is typical of any society at any time and thus make the reader a part of the events described.
Various shades of modality impart stylistically coloured expressiveness to the utterance. The Imperative form and the Present Indefinite referred to the future render determination, as in the following example:
Edward, let there be an end of this. I go home. (Dickens)
The use of shall with the second or third person will denote the speaker's emotions, intention or determination:
If there's a disputed decision, he said genially, they shall race again. (Waugh)
Similar connotations are evoked by the emphatic use of will with the first person pronoun:
—Adam. Are you tight again ?
—Look out of the window and see if you can see a Daimler waiting.
—Adam, what have you been doing? I will be told. (Waugh)
Likewise continuous forms do not always express continuity of the action and are frequently used to convey the emotional state of the speaker. Actually all 'exceptions to the rule' are not really exceptions. They should be considered as the forms in the domain of stylistic studies because they are used to proclaim the speaker's state of mind, his mood, his intentions or feelings.
go continuous forms may express:
• conviction, determination, persistence:
Well, she's never coming here again, I tell you that straight; (Maugham)
• impatience, irritation:
—I didn't mean to hurt you.
-You did. You're doing nothing else; (Shaw)
• surprise, indignation, disapproval:
Women kill me. They are always leaving their goddam bags out in the middle of the aisle. (Salinger)
Present Continuous may be used instead of the Present Indefinite form to characterize the current emotional state or behaviour:
-How is Carol?
—Blooming, Charley said. She is being so brave. (Shaw)
You are being very absurd, Laura, he said coldly. (Mansfield)
Verbs of physical and mental perception do not regularly have continuous forms. When they do, however, we observe a semi-marked structure that is highly emphatic due to the incompatible combination of lexical meaning and grammatical form.
Why, you must be the famous Captain Butler we have been hearing so much about—the blockade runner. (Mitchell)
The use of non-finite forms of the verb such as the infinitive and participle I in place of the personal forms communicates certain stylistic connotations to the utterance.
Consider the following examples containing non-finite verb forms:
Expect Leo to propose to her! (Lawrence)
The real meaning of the sentence is: It's hard to believe that Leo would propose to her!
Death! To decide about death! (Galsworthy)
The implication of this sentence reads: We couldn't decide about death!
To take steps! How? Winifred's affair was bad enough! To have a double dose of publicity in the family! (Galsworthy)
The meaning of this sentence could be rendered as: He must take some steps to avoid a double dose of publicity in the family!
Far be it from him to ask after Reinhart's unprecedented geiup and environs. (Berger)
Such use of the verb be is a means of character sketching: He was not the kind of person to ask such questions.
Since the sentences containing the infinitive have no explicit doer of the action these sentences acquire a generalized universal character. The world of the personage and the reader blend into one whole as if the question is asked of the reader (what to do, how to act). This creates empathy. The same happens when participle I is used impersonally:
…he whole thing is preposterous—preposterous! Slinging accusations like this! (Christie)
The passive voice of the verb when viewed from a stylistic angle may demonstrate such functions as extreme generalisation and deperson-alisation because an utterance is devoid of the doer of an action and the action itself loses direction.
...he is a long-time citizen and to be trusted... (Michener)
Little Mexico, the area was called contemptuously, as sad and filthy a collection of dwellings as had ever been allowed to exist in the west. (Michener)
The use of the auxiliary do in affirmative sentences is a notable emphatic device:
I don't want to look at Sit a. I sip my coffee as long as possible. Then I do look at her and see that all the colour has left her face, she is fearfully pale. (Erdrich)
So the stylistic potential of the verb is high enough. The major mechanism of creating additional connotations is the transposition of verb forms that brings about the appearance of metaphors of the first and second types.