The purpose of this study was to find out how well Swedish pupils succeeded in their use of the progressive verb forms. A comprehensive research has been carried out in the area of second language acquisition, in which an interest in the order of acquisition of a second language as well as verb forms also was included. The material for the study was collected from second year pupils at an upper secondary school and consisted of two consecutive writing assignments. The first assignment was preceded by the teaching of the progressive verb forms, which the pupils were implicitly expected to use in their writing. In the second assignment, no grammar lessons were given prior to the assignment. A comparison of the evolution of the use of the verb forms mentioned was then conducted. The result indicates an increase of an accurate use. One conclusion that can be drawn is that learner strategies and motivation are beneficial to second language acquisition, as well as learning a more accurate grammar.

This thesis explores ways in which 12 learners of Japanese as a foreign language transform morphologically complex verbs taught as whole words. Written data, collected via a grammar test, and oral data, collected via think-aloud protocols, were used to explore verb-form transformation to the gerund (-te) form. These data were analysed to determine processes participants utilised during derivations. Resulting data indicate participants (1) are largely unaware of morphology, (2) cannot identify consonant-final verb-roots, (3) focus on verb-final characters during categorisation, (4) derive the gerund using prior knowledge – generally grammar rules, (5) link to vocabulary, morphological, phonological, and grammar knowledge during derivations, and (6) differ in performance as measured by the grammar test through utilising types of knowledge differently and in combinations. This implies current pedagogy may not heed learning preferences of learners. This thesis identifies types of knowledge involved during verb transformation tasks and suggests research into task-appropriate lessons.

Работа посвящена исследованию особенностей использования форм русского глагола при переводе с английского языка форм длительного аспекта глагола (Continuous). Объектом исследования выступают тексты романа «Дюна» Ф. Герберта в переводе на русский язык А. Нового, П. Вязникова и Ю. Соколова, предметом - глаголы в форме длительного аспекта Continuous в романе Ф. Герберта «Дюна» и их соответствия в переводах на русский язык. Цель исследования: изучить специфику передачи форм Continuous на русский язык в контексте переводов А. Нового, П. Вязникова и Ю. Соколова. Материал исследования составили 319 глаголов в форме Continuous и их соответствия в трех переводах романа. Анализ показал, что более 50 % форм длительного разряда пришлось на Present Continuous. В большинстве случаев эта форма была передана настоящим временем несовершенного вида, как и в случае с Past Continuous, где преобладала форма прошедшего времени несовершенного вида. В случае с Future Continuous преобладали формы совершенного вида будущего времени, более распространенные в русском языке чем формы будущего сложного. Особое внимание на себя обращают случаи так называемого синтаксического расщепления – передачи «длительных» форм составными сказуемыми. Во многих случаях такое расщепление – следствие того, что переводчик учитывает оттенки значения связочных глаголов: to go, to get и др. Таким образом, перевод форм Continuous основывается не только на видовой и/или временной семантике, но и на контексте всей глагольной формы, на валентности основного глагола, а также на контекстном окружении. / The study investigates the specificity of using Russian verb forms when translating the Continuous forms of English verb. The object of the study is the texts of the novel "Dune" by F. Herbert, translated into Russian by A. Novy, P. Vyaznikov and Y. Sokolov. The subject of research is the Continuous verb forms used in the novel "Dune" by F. Herbert and their matches in Russian translations. The objective of the research is to study the specifics of translation of Continuous verb forms into Russian in the context of translations by A. Novy, P. Vyaznikov and Y. Sokolov. The research material consists of 319 Continuous verb forms and the corresponding Russian verb forms in translations of the novel. The analysis shows that more than 50 % of Continuous forms accounted for Present Continuous. In most cases, this form was translated with the present tense of an imperfect form of the Russian verb, as in the case of Past Continuous, where the past tense of an imperfect form predominated. In the case of Future Continuous, the forms of the perfect future tense prevailed, which are more common in Russian than the forms of the imperfect aspect of future tense. The cases of so-called syntactic splitting draw special attention. In many cases, such splitting is a consequence of the fact that the translator considers the shades of the meaning of the linking verbs: to go, to get, etc. Thus, the translation of Continuous forms is based not only on aspectual and / or temporal semantics, but also on the context of the entire verb form, on the valency of the main verb, as well as on the contextual environment.

This Master's thesis deals with the gerund and -ing participial clauses in written and spoken academic texts. The theoretical part defines the academic discourse and non-finite verb forms. Gerund and -ing participial constructions are further described regarding their forms and syntactic functions. The sources used for the research part are two corpora of contemporary academic British English: BASE and BAWE. BASE corpus contains transcripts of academic lectures. BAWE corpus is a collection of university-level students' writings. Both corpora contain texts from four different genres and moreover students' assignments are divided into four levels of study. For the purpose of the research part of our thesis, only the genre "Arts and Humanities" and the highest level of study will be taken into account. The practical part analyses the frequency of gerund and -ing participial clauses, frequency of verbs occurring in these constructions and collocations of these verbs. A detailed analysis aims at studying 100 sentences from written texts and 100 sentences from academic lectures. This sample is examined regarding the internal structure of each non-finite clause and its syntactic function. The final section summarizes the results or our research.

Swedish students’ morpheme acquisition order in English, including the acquisition of -s morphemes, is a relatively unstudied topic. Given the morphological differences between the English and Swedish languages, students learning English in Sweden may encounter difficulties in the use of the third person singular present tense -s morpheme. Research also shows that Swedish students use the plural -s morpheme rather accurately at 9-10 years old. Mapping out the usage of the -s morphemes may pave the way for understanding the difficulties learners encounter in the use of such morphemes. Furthermore, looking into the usage of morphemes that have the same form but different grammatical functions (e.g.,-s morphemes) may help us understand the relationship between different proficiency levels and the accuracy rate of morpheme usage in L2 English. To this end, this study investigates a corpus of texts produced by students learning English in Sweden in grades 6, 9 and 12. The focus is particularly on the frequency and accuracy of the use of -s morphemes, aiming at revealing which type of -s morphemes has a higher accuracy rate. The results show that the accuracy rate with the plural -s morpheme is relatively higher, whereas the possessive -‘s morpheme is the most problematic one across all levels. Additionally, the largest issue with the contracted verb form of be -‘s was that the students did not add an apostrophe between the word and the -s, rather than not using the form at all. Lastly, the third person singular present tense-s accuracy was very low in grade 6 but increased a lot through grade 9 and 12 where more complex subjects were the largest issue. However, the results indicate that further research with a larger corpus size is required to be able to generalize the findings.

L’infinitif est souvent présenté comme un mode qui ne présente ni les marques de temps, ni de personne, ni de nombre. De ce fait, la grammaire traditionnelle le classe parmi les formes non personnelles du verbe avec le gérondif et le participe. Cependant, l’infinitif sert à exprimer un ordre, un conseil, une interdiction, entre autres actes directifs. On le retrouve dans les modes d’emploi de divers produits, dans les recettes de cuisine, dans le code de la route, dans les libellés de conseil, pour ne citer que quelques exemples. Selon les grammaires, dans cet emploi, l’infinitif serait utilisé à la place de l’impératif, dont il serait l’équivalent. Au vu de ces affirmations, cette thèse se propose d’étudier les caractéristiques de l’infinitif injonctif. Pour ce faire, nous nous intéressons à la catégorisation de l’infinitif et aux propriétés de l’injonction. En effet, l’utilisation de l’infinitif injonctif soulève des questions. Le texte injonctif est associé à un acte d’intimation à l’action ; il s’agit d’un acte directif par lequel un locuteur veut agir sur le comportement de son destinataire. Alors comment expliquer qu’une forme qui serait non personnelle et intemporelle puisse être employée dans un genre qui s’inscrit résolument dans une situation de communication où la présence d’un locuteur ne fait pas de doute, et où le message est destiné à un public déterminé ? Notre recherche a permis de montrer que l’infinitif est une forme verbale à part entière, avec des particularités qui lui sont propres. Notre étude sur corpus vient confirmer cette position au vu de l’organisation des constituants très riche de l’infinitif injonctif / The infinitive is often described as a mood which does not possess time, person or number markers. Hence, traditional grammars classify it as impersonal, along with the gerund and the participial. However, the infinitive can express an order, an advice, and a prohibition, among other directive speech acts. It is used in instruction manuals, in cooking recipes, in traffic regulation texts, in advisory texts, to name a few. According to grammars, in such cases, the infinitive is used instead of the imperative. It would thus be similar to the imperative. On the basis of these statements, this thesis intends to study the characteristics of the injunctive infinitive. To do this, we consider the categorisation of the infinitive as well as the properties of the injunctive discourse. Indeed, the use of the injunctive infinitive raises questions. The injunctive text relates to a directive speech act through which the speaker attempts to get the addressee to perform the action described. How is it, then, that an impersonal and tenseless verb form can be used in a discourse which is clearly linked to a communication situation where there is no doubt as to the existence of a speaker and where the speech is directed towards a particular audience? Our research shows that the infinitive is a verb form in its own right, with its own unique features. Our corpus-based study confirms this fact, as shown by the rich syntactic possibilities with the injunctive infinitive.