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.