THE EFFECTS OF THE EMPLOYMENT OF DYNAMIC AND
STATIVE VERBS IN HEMINGWAY’S “IN ANOTHER
COUNTRY” AND “THE KILLER”
An Undergraduate Thesis
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
In English Letters
By
Lucia Tri Natalia Sudarmo
Student Number : 034214082
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOU MAY SHOOT ME W I TH YOUR W ORDS, YOU MAY CUT ME W I TH YOUR EYES, YOU MAY KI LL ME W I TH YOUR HATEFULN ESS,
f or
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
All praise for the Almighty God for giving me a chance to finish this thesis, for giving the obstacle and guidance, for sending lovely people who have been willing to help me in finishing this thesis.
I would like to give my enormous gratitude toward my advisor, Adventina Putranti, S.S., M.Hum. I would like to thank her for the guidance, patience, help in solving my problem in finishing this thesis, and for her willingness to give her time, even her day off, in guiding me. I am also deeply grateful to my co-advisor, M. Luluk Artika W., S.S. for her willingness to read my thesis, check the content, and give constructive criticisms.
I would like to express my uncountable thanks for my parents who have been supporting me with love. Also, for my sisters, Ike and Fit ri, who shower me with their love, laughter, criticism, anger and many more. I never wish to have another sister but the two of them.
I thank Ratna and Dwi for lending me their flash disks, Dita for the friendship and criticism, for Icha, Dian, Ami and the gang, mbak Nik at the secretariat, Tika, Atiec, and Puteh for constantly dropping by at my house and being the oasis in the desert.
Lastly, as the saying said “no rose without a thorn,” I deeply realize that this thesis is still out of perfect. Nevertheless, hopefully it will be useful for others.
TABLE OF CONTENT
A. Verb Meanings Based on the Same Semantic Property(s) They Share ……… 22
B. The Distribution of the Verbs into Dynamic and Stative Verbs ………. 41
C. The Effects Evoked from the Employment of Dynamic and Stative Verbs ……….. 46
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION………... 54
BIBLIOGRAPHY ……… 56
LIST OF TABLES
ABSTRACT
LUCIA TRI NATALIA SUDARMO. The Effects of the Employment of Dynamic and Stative Verbs in Hemingway’s “In Another Country” and”The Killer.” Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University, 2007.
In case of categorical level, a writer may have his own tendency in employing classes of word, such as verbs. Verbs can evoke certain effects on, for example a narration of a story. Hemingway is a writer who is well-known for his simple style. However, instead of analyzing the simplicity that has been proven by many analysts, the writer has decided to analyze the employment of verbs in the narration of Hemingway’s short stories, “In Another Country” and “The Killer”, in order to figure out the effects of Hemingway’s tendency in using verbs in the narrations. “In Another Country” is chosen for the domination of narrations in it while “The Killer” is selected because narrations are the minimum part of it.
There are three objectives to answer in this thesis. The first objective is to find out the meaning of each verb in the data found in both short stories based on the same property shared. The second is to classify the verbs into dynamic and stative verbs. The last one is to identify the effects that are evoked by the tendency of using certain meanings in the narrations of the two short stories.
The method applied in the discussion consists of the techniques of collecting and analyzing data. The data used in this thesis are full verbs and multi-word verbs in the narration of both short stories. The number got is, after excluding the same verbs encountered, 114 verbs in 107 sentences from both of them.
ABSTRAK
LUCIA TRI NATALIA SUDARMO. The Effects of the Employment of Dynamic and Stative Verbs in Hemingway’s “In Another Country” and”The Killer.” Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma, 2007.
Pada level kategori, seorang penulis dapat memiliki kecenderungan tersendiri dalam penggunaan kelas kata, seperti verba. Sebagai contoh verba mampu menimbulkan suatu efek pada narasi sebuah cerita. Hemingway adalah seorang pengarang yang terkenal dengan gaya bahasa yang sederhana. Namun, karena telah banyak analis yang membuktikan kesederhanaan gaya bahasanya, penulis memutuskan untuk menganalisis penggunaan verba di dalam narasi cerita pendek yang ditulis oleh Hemingway yaitu “In Another Country” dan “The Killer” untuk memerikan efek- efek yang diakibatkan oleh kecenderungan Hemingway dalam menggunakan ve rba tertentu di dalam narasi kedua cerita pendeknya tersebut. “In Another Country” dipilih karena narasi mendominasi cerita tersebut sedangkan “The Killer” dipilih karena narasinya hanya bagian kecil dari cerita.
Ada tiga pokok permasalahan yang akan dianalisis dalam skripsi ini. Permasalahan yang pertama adalah untuk menemukan arti dari ma sing- masing verba di dalam data yang ditemukan dalam kedua cerita pendek tersebut berdasarkan pada properti yang sama yang ditemukan pada tiap verba. Yang kedua adalah untuk mengklasifikasikan verba- verba tersebut ke dalam verba yang bersifat dinamis dan statis. Yang terakhir adalah untuk mengidentifikasi efek yang ditimbulkan oleh kecenderunga n penggunaan arti tertentu dalam narasi kedua cerita pendek tersebut.
Metode yang digunakan dalam pembahasan permasalahan terdiri dari tehnik pengumpulan data dan analisis data. Data yang digunakan adalah verba penuh dan verba ganda yang ada dalam narasi kedua cerita pendek tersebut. Jumlah verba yang didapatkan adalah, setelah menyisihkan verba yang sama, 114 dari 107 kalimat dari dua cerita pendek tersebut.
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
A writer already has his own way that is consistently applied to produce his best literary works. He can intuitively or consciously create the style of his works. His style is a matter of choice since it results from his tendency to choose certain structures among other structures available in language (Traugott and Pratt, 1980: 29). One of the choices a writer may make is in the way he makes use of or chooses the verbs in his writings.
From the choice of the verbs only there are a lot of variations that can be made because verbs already carry meanings with them. The meanings they carry can show situation types. These situation types, like state, events or actions, can be durative or instantaneous.
Based on the quality of being durative or instantaneous, verbs can be classified into dynamic and stative verbs. Dynamic verbs can be either durative or instantaneous and included in them are event and actions. Stative verbs are durative only and states belong to them (Comrie, 1976 cited in Kreidler, 1998: 201). Actually, when used in a literary work, the choice to make use of dynamic and stative verbs in balance, more dynamic verbs, or more stative verbs can give a certain effect to the narration of the story for they can evoke different effects of feeling or emo tion.
important special meaning or value (1957:78). Moreover, this writer avoided describing the emotions and thoughts of his characters by giving descriptions of actions that are not influenced by feeling and by using simple verbs
(http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761577417/Hemingway_Ernest_Miller.html). The writer is Ernest Miller Hemingway.
Hemingway, who ended his life by committing suicide with gunshot at his home in Idaho on July 2, 1961, is considered one of the great stylists in American fiction besides William Faulkner. Nobel Prize committee acknowledged that he gave his greatest contribution in the area of prose style (http://www.people.vcu.edu/~bmangum/hemstories.htm). He was a genius who created emotion of his stories “by walking away from emotion” (Edel, 1955: 170). Hemingway, instead of flourishing his narration with too much detail, just made his writings in an arrangement of simple clauses or complex clauses formed from the arrangement of simple clauses plus simple clauses (Foerster and Falk, 1960: 1080- 1). Furthermore, rooted on an architectural maxim of Mies Van Der Rohe’s writing “Less is more”, as Hemingway admitted, his writing gains its power by saying less but communicating more to the readers (Weeks, 1962: 1). From this point of view it is obvious that Hemingway chose not to flourish his writing; instead he crossed the road and created straight-to-the-point narrations.
(http://www.people.vcu.edu/~bmangum/hemstories.htm). These types of journalistic writing applied in fiction writing may result on certain effects of the verbs used and the narration in the stories written.
Based on those reasons, the writer has decided to observe and analyze Hemingway’s short stories to find out the use of the verbs in the narrations. Two short stories, “In Another Country” and “The Killer”, are selected for different reasons. The story of “In Another Country” is built by the use of narrations which dominate the story while “The Killer” barely consists of narrations. Therefore the writer intends to observe the major and minor narrations in the story, and it will be done through the analysis of the verbs in the narrations. The verbs, as the data of the analysis, are limited into full verbs and multi- word verbs only since modal, especially be which is predomina nt in every Hemingway’s writing (Levin, 1957: 78), often serves only as an obligatory verb and is empty in meaning (Jeffries, 1998: 72). In brief, in this thesis, the writer will try to figure out the use of the verbs in the narrations of Hemingway’s two short stories and the effect(s) of the verbs to the narrations of his short stories.
B. Problem Formulation
1. Based on the same property each verb shares, what meanings of verbs are found in the narrations of “In Another Country” and “The Killer”?
2. How is the distribution of the verbs into dynamic and stative verbs in both short stories?
C. Objectives of the Study
There are three objectives that will be discussed in this thesis. The first objective is to identify the meaning of each verb in the narration of “In Another Country” and ”The Killer” based on the property each verb shares. By analyzing the meaning of the verbs, then, the writer can classify them into dynamic and stative verbs, which is the objective of the second problem. The second problem is to figure out the distribution of the verbs. The verbs found in the narration are grouped into dynamic and stative verbs. From these two classifications, the type of the verbs employed by Hemingway can be clearly seen. Accordingly, the tendency of the verbs used in the narration can be revealed. The third, or the last, problem is to find out the effect(s) evoked from this tendency of verbs employment to the narration of the stories.
D. Definition of the Terms
Before moving further, it is important to define briefly specific terms mentioned in this chapter. The terms used in the discussion are narration, verbs, dynamic verb, and stative verb.
Narration can be defined simply as the production of a narrative (Mcquillan, 2000: 322). Narration can be posterior which comes after narrated events, anterior which precedes the event in time, simultaneous which occurs at the same time as the events, or intercalated which is situated between two moments of action as in epistolary novels (Mcquillan, 2000: 322- 3).
dynamic and stative verbs. Dynamic verbs are verbs that “are fitted to indicate action, activity, and temporary or changing conditions” (Quirk, et al., 1973: 21). They have the capacity to show tense and aspect. Some examples of this kind of verb are walk, move, kill, chase, and change. In contrast, stative verbs are verbs which cannot indicate action, activity, and temporary or changing conditions. They are not able to refer to something in progress, are stable and can neither determine the tense nor aspect in a sentence (Quirk et al., 1973: 21). Some of the examples are hate, love, lean, remember, remain, and stay.
CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
In this chapter the writer provides theories needed to analyze the data. The theories used in this thesis are theory of English verb that consists of theory of transitive and intransitive verbs, multi-word verbs and dynamic and stative verbs, and theory of narration.
A. Theory of English Verbs
English verbs are distinguished into several classifications due to various considerations. Some of them are the classification of verbs into transitive and intransitive verbs based on the potentialities for complementation, the classification of verbs into phrasal verbs, prepositional verbs, and phrasal- prepositional verbs based on the particles or prepositional attached to them, and the classification of verbs into dynamic and stative verbs based on the quality of being durative or instantaneous.
The distinctions of verbs into these three classifications will be described further in the following sub-sections.
1. Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
The classification of verbs into transitive and intransitive is based on whether one verb requires direct object as the complement or not. Verbs requiring direct objects as the complements are termed transitive verbs like sentences (1) and (2).
2. The other waitress wiped the table, (Quirk et al., 1985: 359).
In contrary to transitive verbs, intransitive verbs do not require any direct object, even they can never take direct objects as in (3)
3. Your friends have arrived, (Quirk et al., 1985: 352).
2. Multi-word Verbs
In their use verbs are not always on their own. There are cases where the main verbs consist of verbs and one or more other words, and result on what so-called multi- word verbs. This kind of verbs can be classified further into three; phrasal verbs, prepositional verbs, and phrasal-prepositional verbs.
Generally speaking phrasal verb is one type of multi- word verb which consists of a verb plus an adverbial particle.
4. The children were sitting down. 5. He can’ t live down his past. 6. He is playing around. 7. Get up once,
(Quirk et al., 1985: 347). 8. We will set up a new unit.
9. Find out whether they are coming. 10.They turned on the light.
11.I can’t make out what he means, (Quirk et al., 1985: 348).
direct objects. Therefore they are called intransitive phrasal verbs. Unlike sentences containing intransitive phrasal verbs, sentences (8) to (11) can take direct objects and thus, they are called transtitive phrasal verbs. It is worth noting, however, that there are some combinations that can be either transitive or intransitive with or without having different meanings like:
12.Drink up quickly. and 13. Drink up your milk Quickly. 14. When will they give in? and 15. They gave in their
resignation, (Quirk et al., 1985:
348).
If phrasal verbs contain verbs plus partic les, prepositional verbs consist of verbs in combination with preposition (Quirk et al., 1985: 349).
16. They called on the man.
17. They looked at the picture, (Quirk et al., 1985: 349).
In contrast to phrasal verbs, prepositional verbs allow an inserted adverb after the verbs and relative pronouns after the prepositions. Hence, in sentence (16) an adverb such as early can be inserted between the verb and the preposition, and will result in sentence (18) below:
18. They called early on the man (Quirk et al., 1985: 349).
While for phrasal verbs the insertion of adverbs or relative pronouns cannot be done. 19. They called up the man
*20. They called the man up, (Quirk et al., 1985: 349).
questions with who(m) for personal noun phrases and what for the whole prepositional phrases.
21. They called on the man (Quirk et al., 1985: 349). Sentence (21) above can be questioned with:
22. Who(m) did they call on? (Quirk et al., 1985:349) but cannot be questioned with:
23. Where did they call? (Quirk et al., 1985: 349)
Moreover, many prepositional verbs allow noun phrases to become the subject of a passive transformation of the sentence. Thus, sentence (21) can be passivized into
24. The man was called on (Quirk et al., 1985: 349).
Instead of taking one particle only, verbs may be followed by two particles and form phrasal-prepositional verbs.
25. He puts up with a lot of teasing (Quirk et al., 1985: 351).
They can be analyzed as transitive verbs with noun phrases as direct objects. Also, they allow pronominal questions and under certain conditions can occur in the passive:
26. He can’t put up with bad temper ~ What can’t he put up with?
~Bad temper can’t be put up with for long, (Quirk et al., 1985: 351). In the case of insertion, in phrasal-prepositional verbs, an adverb cannot be immediately inserted before the object although it is possible to do so between the particles.
28. He puts up willingly with that secretary of his (Quirk et al., 1985: 351)
Like phrasal and prepositional verbs, these multi-word verbs vary in their idiomaticity (Quirk et al., 1985: 351). Some examples of this kind of verbs are break in on (the conversation) which means interrupt, cut down on (expenses) which means curtail, and look in on (somebody) which means visit (Quirk et al., 1985: 352).
3. Dynamic and Stative Verbs
There are four types of situation; states, action, achievement, and accomplishment (Vendler, 1967 cited in Kreidler, 1998: 206). A state denotes a situation that will continue with or without energy until it turns into a certain state (Comrie, 1976 cited in Kreidler, 1998: 201). Thus, state is a durative verb. Unlike states; action, achievement, and accomplishment require energy that enables a situation to continue. The situation will continue as long as there is an input energy and it may cease when there is no energy any more. Thus action, achievement, and accomplishment can either be durative or instantaneous (Comrie, 1976 cited in Kreidler, 1998: 201). The qualities of being durative or instantaneous cause them to be classified into two classes of verb namely dynamic and stative verbs.
a. Dynamic Verbs
verbs can be characterized as dynamic because they can indicate action, activity, and temporary or changing conditions (Quirk et al., 1985: 21).
29. Something moved 30. The sun came up 31. They discussed the plan
(Kreidler, 1998: 201)
The above sentences are activity sentences with dynamic ve rbs. This type of verbs has several different meanings for each verb and the meaning includes:
1) Verbs that express some form of physical movement (Kreidler, 1998: 202) or activity verbs: abandon, ask, beg, call, come, drift, drink, eat, float, go, help hop, learn, pound, rain, read, slice, throw, rotate, turn, vibrate, walk , work,
and write (Quirk et al., 1985: 46).
Movement or activity verbs can be either durative or instantaneous. In the form of simple tenses, they are instantaneous while in progressive they refer to continuing movement or activity. In other words, in the form of progressive they are durative verbs (Leech, 1981: 19).
2) Verbs of communication: argue, complain, discuss, explain, invite, question, report, say, shout, talk, translate, whisper, write (Kreidler, 1998: 202)
3) Verbs of perception that involve doing something: listen, look at, look for, sniff, and watch (Kreidler, 1998: 202).
4) Process verbs, like change, deteriorate, dwindle, improve, and worsen, designate a change occurring over a period of time (Kreidler, 1998: 202). This type of dynamic verb ordinarily has duration, but not indefinite duration (Leech, 1981: 19). It does not either have instantaneous result (Kreidler, 1998: 207).
5) Transitional event verbs (Quirk et al., 1985: 46) which are about process moving towards completion (Kreidler, 1998: 206) are, for examples arrive, die, fall, land, leave, and lose (Quirk et al., 1985: 46). Similar to process verbs,
verbs having this meaning are durative.
6) Momentary verbs (Quirk et al., 1985: 46) which denote actions that are momentary and have no duration, and the meanings are repetitive and iterative (Kreidle r, 1998: 203) are like hit, jump, kick, knock , nod, tap (Quirk et al., 1985: 47).
32. Albert kicked a ball and the ball struck a post (Kreidler, 1998: 202). As in (32) the progressive aspect suggests repetition of kicking and striking. 7) Verbs of bodily sensation: ache, feel, hurt, itch, tingle.
b. Stative Verbs
According to Comrie, stative verbs are durative verbs since the situation in this type of verb will continue until it turns into a certain state with or without input energy (as cited in Kreidler, 1998: 201). Verbs are characterized as stative since they cannot be seen as referring to something that was in progress (Quirk et al., 1985: 21).
33. Jesse had a headache all morning (Kreidler, 1998: 201).
If the sentence above is true then at every time during that morning sentence (35) is true (Kreidler, 1998: 201).
Stative verbs also suggest a continuing and unchanging state. However, some of them can express change of state in certain context. Including in stative verbs are:
1) Verbs that express feeling: abhor, adore, desire, enjoy, envy, fear, hate, like, long for, mind, prefer, regret, wish, and want (Kreidler, 1998: 201).
2) Verbs that express other mental states: believe, doubt, expect, intend, interest, know, suppose, suspect, think, and understand (Kreidler, 1998: 202).
3) Verbs that express a physical stance or position: kneel, lean, lie, sit, and stand (Kreidler, 1998: 202). This kind of meaning seems to be dynamic because of the term “physical”. It is, however, stative since it denotes a state instead of an activity.
4) Verbs that express non-action: remain, stay, and wait (Kreidler, 1998: 202). 5) Verbs of inert perception. The term ‘inert’ is used for these verbs to
34. I could feel something hard under my foot 35. I could hear a knocking at the door 36. I could see someone through the window (Leech, 1981: 20)
These verbs usually have the equal verbs denoting activity, such as hear and listen to, and see and look at.
6) Verbs of inert cognition, like the verbs of perception above, are passive in meaning:
37. I think that they are coming 38. I believe we have met already 39. I forget what I paid for the house (Leech, 1981: 21)
This kind of verbs shows the meaning of knowing.
7) Relational verbs (Quirk, 1985: 47), or state verbs of Having and Being (Leech, 1981: 21) or verbs that express a relation between two entities (Kreidler, 1998: 202) comprise belong to, contain, consist of, cost, depend on, deserve, equal, fit, have, include, involve, lack, matter, mean, owe, own, require, resemble,
like
40. This carpet belongs to me 41. Your age doesn’t matter
B. Theory of Narrative Fiction
Newspaper reports, history books, films, comic strips, pantomime, gossip, dance, and psychoanalytic sessions are only some of the narratives in our lives. There is one kind of narratives that has direct relation with literature namely narrative fiction (Rimmon- Kenan, 1994: 1). Narrative fiction can be in the form of novel, short story or poem. The characteristics that distinguish this kind of narration from another narrative like film, dance, and gossip are, in this narration, the message of the narrative is transmitted by addresser to addressee and verbal form is used as the medium to transmit the message (Rimmon- Kenan, 1994: 2). Furthermore, unlike the other narratives, narrative fiction represents related events in order (Tomashevsky, 1965 cited in Rimmon- Kenan, 1994: 2). These related events can be summed up by a verb or a name of action (Rimmon- Kenan, 1994: 2).
A verb is able to sum up the events since one can find in narratives the principal verbal categories that are expanded and transformed proportionately. The verbal categories are tenses, aspects, moods, and persons (Barthes, 2000: 111). Moreover, verbal forms can also show the duration possessed by narration although most fiction ignores the duration and treats narration instantaneously (Rimmon- Kenan, 1994: 91).
readers interpret the assumed chronology. Although it can be presented in its minimal form, still a narrative needs flourishment.
Simpson notes some requirements for a good narrative in the following quotation. Of course, most narratives, whether those of canonical prose fiction or of the spontaneous stories of everyday social interaction, have rather more to offer than just two simple temporally arranged clauses. Narrative requires development, elaboration, embellishment; and it requires a sufficient degree of stylistic flourish to give it an imprint of individuality or personality. Stories narrated without that flourish will often feel flat and dull. (Simpson, 2004: 19).
It can be concluded then that a good narrative should have the characteristic of having flourishment and interesting addition detail so that it can give a certain remark of the writer. Violating this theory of flourishment can result in a flat and dull narration. The following quote can give a clear example of a narration without flourishment.
Well this person had a little too much to drink And he attacked me
And the friend came in
And she stopped it (Labov cited in Simpson, 2004: 19)
C. Theoretical Framework
In this chapter the writer has mentioned the theory needed to analyze the data. The first is theory of English verbs that are classified with certain consideration into transitive and intransitive verbs, multi-word verbs, and dynamic and stative verbs. The second one is theory of narrative fiction that contains the use of verbs in a narration.
These theories are provided in order to support the answer of the problems formulated in the previous chapter so as not to be merely an assumption without any base. The problems are to identify the meaning of the verbs in each group based on the property they share, to figure out the distribution of the verbs in “In Another Country” and “The Killer”, and to find out the effect(s) evoked from the tendency of the verbs used in the narrations of both short stories.
CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY A. Object of the Study
There are two short stories that are to be analyzed in this thesis and both of them are Hemingway’s literary works. They are “In Another Country” and “The Killer” which are included in the same collection, Men Without Women.
“In Another Country” is a touching story of ex-soldiers who, having finished their duties in war, took some medical treatment in Milan, Italy for the wounds they had and accepted rejection from their surrounding. The narrator of this story is an American. He got wounded on his knee and leg that caused them not to be able to drop and work properly. The others are a major who had a withered hand like a baby’s, another boy in the same age as the narrator who lost his nose and was about to rebuilt it, and three other men who also got injured in the war. They all felt a little detached from the society that disliked them because they were officers.
The strength of this story is built; beside from the content of the story itself, from the narrations that dominates it. The narration holds an important role in that it is the one to make the story known and to make it understood by the readers. In other words, since most part of it is narration, the narration is the only part that is able to tell the story.
his expectation, he chose to wait them to murder him. Nick felt sick knowing this and decided, then, to leave the town, avoiding seeing or hearing anything about the murder.
This short story is, unlike the previous one, dominated more with dialogues than the narrations. However, critics often praised it for the domination of dialogues and the way the narrator is not obvio usly presented in the story (Rimmon- Kenan, 1994: 96).
B. Research Methodology
Linguistics is a scientific study that applies scientific methods. As a scientific study, linguistics should be empirical, exact, and objective. Scientific investigation is described as being exact and objective because it employs an empirical approach. It is empirical in that the data analyzed is observable. It is exact in that it requires observation with the application of some related theories not only hypotheses, and it is objective in that it needs the observers to see the conformity of a subject in question to some sort of standard measure not based on the same mental they have (Dinneen, 1967: 4-5).
C. Data Collection
There are two major data that are used in this thesis. Both data are Hemingway’s short stories, “In Another Country” and “The Killer”. From these two short stories the writer will only take the narration of the stories to analyze and thus exclude the direct speeches in the stories. Moreover, although the writer intends only to observe the verbs, still the data are presented in full sentences.
The population of the data used in this thesis is all sentences in the narration of “In Another Country” and “The Killer”. From this population the writer takes only the sentences whose verbs are full verbs or multi- word verbs and leaves sentences with be. Having excluded sentences with be, the writer gets the “defined population” (Cates, 1985: 55) and from the sentences included in defined population are the sample drawn.
The sample is 107 sentences that are selected with variation on verbs found in the narration of these two short stories. From these 107, 65 sentences are of “In Another Country”. From these 65 sentences, there are 72 different verbs found in the narration. The rest of the sentences, which is 42 sentences, belong to “The Killer”. From these sentences, 42 different verbs are found there. These 114 verbs are going to be analyzed further in the discussion.
D. Data Analysis
the meaning of each verb, the writer then put them into group, whether they were verbs that express some from of physical movement or activity, verbs of communication, verbs of perception that involve doing something, process verbs, transitional event verbs, verbs of bodily sensation, momentary verbs, verbs that express feeling or other mental states, physical stance or position, non-action, inert perception, inert cognition or relation.
CHAPTER IV ANALYSIS
In this chapter the writer presents the result of analysis done. This part aims to answer the problems formulated previously. Hence this chapter consists of three sections of the analysis results on the meaning of the verbs found in the narration, the distribution of these verbs into dynamic and stative verbs, and the effects of the verbs used in the narration of the two short stories.
A. Verb Meanings Based on the Same Semantic Property(s) They Share
Verbs in this analysis are classified based on the same semantic properties shared by each verb. Generally speaking semantic property is information about the components of meaning (Fromkins, Blair, and Collins, 2000: 152-4). Hence, when the writer analyzes verb meanings based on the same semantic property each verb shares, it means that the writer puts two or more verbs of which meanings share similar component into one group of verb carrying the same property.
The meanings and the verbs having those meanings are arranged below. 1. Verbs Denoting Physical Movement and Activity
All verbs denoting the meaning of movement and activity share the same semantic property of doing some movement or activity. Moreover, the movement and activity are done physically.
a. “In Another Country”
In “In Another Country” verbs having the meaning of physical movement and activity dominate the narration. This kind of verbs is like
1. You crossed a bridge across a canal to enter the hospital (p. 53). 2. They rebuilt his face (p. 55).
3. I might seem a hawk to those who have never hunted (p. 57). 4. We drifted apart (p. 57).
5. (He) jerked his hand out from between the straps (p. 58).
The verbs cross, rebuild, hunt, drift, and jerk out carry one similar property in the sentences. It is all these verbs show some action or movement. The verb cross in sentence (1) denotes the meaning of going across from one side to the other side (Hornby, 1995: 278). Thus it shows the movement of you from one side of the bridge to the other side where the hospital lies. A little bit different from cross, in (2) the verb rebuild shows that they do the activity of restoring the form of his face (Hornby, 1995:
moves his little hand out with short sudden action from between the straps (Hornby, 1995: 638).
Those meaning of verbs are movements and activities done by human. Movement and activity, however, are not limited to human only. They also carry the meaning fo r dead things like wind, rock and darkness like in the examples below:
6. The wind blew their tails (p. 53).
The verb blow in (6) carries the meaning of moving the tails (Hornby, 1995: 117).
b. “The Killer”
Similar to “In Another Country”, physical movement and activity are the major meanings found in “The Killer”. Some of these verbs are:
7. The two men at the counter read the menu (p. 66). 8. He closed the wicket into the kitchen (p. 68). 9. (George) had wrapped it up in oiled paper (p. 72). 10.He straightened his coat with his gloved hands (p. 73). 11.(George) wiped the counter (p. 77).
12.The door shut after them (p. 69).
completely in paper or plastic (Hornby, 1995: 1380), in sentence (9) shows that George did the activity of covering it in oiled paper. Straighten, which means to make
something straight (Hornby, 1995: 1178), shows that he in (10) did the activity of making his coat straight. Wipe in (11), which means to remove dirt from something by rubbing its surface with a cloth or piece of paper (Hornby, 1995: 1368), shows that George did the activity of removing the dirt on the counter by rubbing it with a towel
respectively. The verb shut in (12), ne vertheless, has a bit different meaning from those five verbs. It denotes the meaning of passivity. Shut in (12) shows that the door was moved by them after they pass it. Thus, the movement of the door is done with some force outside, not by the door itself but still there is a movement of shutting that happens to the door.
The sentences presented in the analysis result of the first meaning are only some of the sentences with the same verb meaning found in both short stories. Since there are more than twenty verbs found, the rest of the sentences containing the same verb meaning can be seen in the appendix.
2. Verbs of Communication
Verbs having the meaning of communication share one similar property. It is that the communication involves the use of words to deliver the intended message. a. “In Another Country”
Some of the verbs carrying this meaning in “In Another Country” are: 13.He had complimented me on how I speak Italian (p. 57).
16.The doctor told me that the major’s wife had died of pneumonia (p. 58).
Sentence (13) has the verb compliment which means to express praise or admiration of somebody (Hornby, 1995: 234). The expression is done by showing the feeling of how good he speaks Italian with the use of words. Speak in (14) simply means to say words. Hence he said some words very angrily and bitterly. Almost similar to speak, shout in sentence (15) also means to say words. The saying of the words is, however, done with a loud voice (Hornby, 1995: 1092). It means that he almost said words with a loud voice. Unlike speak and shout, the meaning of tell in (16) is not simply to say words. Tell means to give information to somebody (Hornby, 1995: 1228) via words. Thus in (16) the doctor gave the information that the major’s wife had died of pneumonia to me.
b. “The Killer”
The verbs sharing the same property as in “In Another Country” in “The Killer” are:
17.One of the men said (p. 66).
18.He had been talking to George when they came in (p. 66). 19.George explained (p. 66).
20.Al asked his friend (p. 67).
Say in (17) carries the meaning of speaking or telling one of the men something by
Similar to talk, the meaning of explain in (19) and ask in (20) indicates goals to reach. Explain means to make something plain or clear (Hornby, 1995: 495) while ask means
to request information by means of question (Hornby, 1995: 59). Thus in (19) George said something to make something clear and in (20) Al gave a question to his friend to get information.
3. Verbs of Perception that Involves Doing Something
This meaning of verb differs from verbs denoting physical movement and activity in that this meaning indicates that the action done includes the employment of the senses, such as sense of seeing, of tasting, and of hearing.
a. “In Another Country”
Verbs having this meaning in “In Another Country” are: 21.He winked at me when the doctor examined his hand (p. 54). 22.(The major) looked at it very carefully (p. 54).
Examine in (21) means to look at something carefully and in detail in order to learn
something about it (Hornby, 1995: 398). Thus the doctor in (21) inspected the hand carefully and in detail to learn about it by using his sense of seeing. Similar to examine, look at in (22) also involves the use of the sense of seeing. Look at in (22) means to turn one’s eyes in a particular direction in order to see something (Hornby, 1995: 695). Here the major used his sense of seeing to observe it carefully.
b. “The Killer”
the analysis for it is the same as the verb found in the first short story above and the verb is look at. The other verb found in “The Killer” is:
23.From the other end of the counter Nick Adams watched them (p. 66).
The meaning of watch in (23) has almost similar meaning as examine or look at in (21) and (22). Watch means to look at somebody with attention (Hornby, 1995: 1343). Here watch requires the involvement of the sense of seeing; the same as what is required in examining or looking at.
4. Verbs of Process
Verbs carrying the meaning of process show that they have some duration and the cessation of the movement is not guaranteed. It means that verbs having this meaning do not come to the completion of the activities done.
a. “In Another Country”
Verbs having this meaning in “In Another Country” are: 24.He had lived a very long time with death (p. 55).
25.I found that the most patriotic people in Italy were the café girls (p. 56). 26.Their manner changed a little toward me (p. 56).
27.He began to cry (p. 59).
28.They had been cured by the machines (p. 59)
b. “The Killer”
No process verb is found in “The Killer”.
Verbs having the meaning of process can be a little bit confusing with verbs having the meaning of transitional verbs in that both meanings imply some process done. The distinction of these two meanings is analyzed further in the next part discussing transitional event verbs.
5. Verbs of Transitional Event
An event verb that signals a transition from one state to another denotes the completion of a process. It is different from verbs having the meaning of process in that transitional event verbs denote a process which ends in something.
a. “In Another Country”
There is one verb found in this short story which has the meaning of transitional event.
29.The doctor told me that the major’s wife had died of pneumonia (p. 58).
Die can be either a process verb or a transitional verb. As a process verb die has
duration, showing process which ends in death but die as a transitional event verb in (29) shows the completion that someone has died. It is obvious if seen from the meaning of the verb itself that is to come to an end of one’s life (Hornby, 1995: 321)
b. “The Killer”
Here the verb get denotes that first the situation is quite bright (for example at noon) then the light is fading into the doom of the afternoon and the darkness of the evening. Get denotes a reaching or bringing to a particular state (Hornby, 1995:494). It shows a
transition into a state. However, different from the meaning of get in (30), get found in “In Another Country” has different meaning that is as the synonym of doing an operation to recover the nose. Based on Hornby, it means to cause something to become (1995: 494). Thus it can be said that they could never make the nose in its previous form by operation.
31.They could never get the nose exactly right (p. 55).
Get in (31) shares the same property as cross, rebuild, hunt, drift, and jerk out in the
first meaning of the verbs. In other words, get in (31) shows an activity and belongs to dynamic verb.
6. Verbs of Momentary Action
Almost similar to physical movement and activity verbs, this meaning carried by verbs involves some action done. Nevertheless, the meaning of momentary verb indicates that the action happens so momentary that it is difficult to think that it has duration (Leech, 1981: 18- 19).
a. “In Another Country”
There are only a few verbs having this meaning in “In Another Country” or “The Killer”. The momentary verbs in “In Another Country” are:
Wink in (32) means to close one eye very briefly and open it again (Hornby, 1995: 1368). It shows that the act of winking does not take muc h times, instead it is done in a very short time. Similar to wink, pat in (33), which means to tap or hit somebody or something gently with the open hand or with a flat object with a quick light blow (Hornby, 1995: 848 and 1221), denotes that he did a quick action of tapping me’s shoulder with his good hand.
b. “The Killer”
Momentary verb found in “The Killer” is 34.She knocked on the door (p. 74).
Knock in (34) means to hit a door firmly with the back of one’s hand in order to attract attention (Hornby, 1995: 654). Though the meaning carried does not directly indicate that the action is done in a quick time, logically it is understood that a knocking is done several times with a brief stroke on the door.
7. Verbs of Bodily Sensation
Though the sensation felt seems to be the sensation felt by the body, it is in fact the sensation felt inside the body or related to internal sensation. It does not have relation whatsoever with the effect felt from the contact with outside of the body. a. “In Another Co untry”
There is only one verb found in “In Another Country” and it is:
Feel in (35) means to be aware of or experience something physical or emotional
(Hornby, 1995: 426-7). Here feel shows the effect evoked in the feeling of we. The effect is not felt because of a certain contact between one of the parts of the body with an object outside it, instead the effect results from the awareness of we to the attitude of the people who were not willing to understand we.
It is important to note that the meaning of feel here is different from feel carrying the meaning of inert perception. It is so because feel in inert perception shows the external sensation and is passive in meaning. A clearer distinction between these two meanings of feel will be described in the discussion of inert perception in the next part.
b. “The Killer”
There is no verb carrying this meaning found in this short story.
8. Verbs of Feeling and Other Mental States
From the meaning it is clear that verbs having this meaning are able to show emotion. It is, however, not only related to emotion. One property all verbs carrying this meaning has is the involvement of what is in the mind and in the heart.
a. “In Another Country”
The verbs expressing feeling or mental states with the property of what is in the heart in “In Another Country” are:
36.The people hated us because we were officers (p. 55).
38.I liked him because I thought perhaps he would not have turned out to be a hawk either (p. 56).
Hate in (36) which means to dislike somebody or something intensely (Hornby, 1995:
546), dislike in (37) which means not to like somebody or something (Hornby, 1995: 333), and like which means to find somebody or something pleasant or satisfactory (Hornby, 1995: 683) denote that the people in (36) and (37), and I in (38) feel something in their heart that cause them to have the feeling of hatred, unpleasantness, and pleasantness.
b. “The Killer”
No verb denoting this meaning is found in “The Killer”.
9. Verbs of Physical Stance or Position
Verbs having the meaning of physical stance or position indicate that the subject or the doer is in a certain position and sometimes the position is kept remained for a certain length of time.
a. “In Another Country”
Some verbs carrying this meaning in “In Another Country” are
39.(We) sat in the machines that were to make so much difference (p. 54). 40.He stood there biting his lower lip (p. 58).
Sit in (39) means to be in a position in which one’s bottom is resting on a machine and
b. “The Killer”
Similar to the meaning of verbs in “In Another Country”, in “The Killer” some verbs are found having this meaning also, and they are
41.He leaned forward (p. 68).
42.Ole Andreson was lying on the bed with all his clothes on (p. 74).
Lean in (41) means to be in a sloping position. Hence in sentence (41) he was in a
sloping position forward. Like the other verbs sharing the same property, lie in (42), which means to have or to put one’s body in a flat or resting position on a surface (Hornby, 1995: 679), shows that Ole Andreson was in a position of resting his body on the bed with all his clothes on.
There are two same verbs occurring in both sort stories. They are sit and lie. For these reason, the writer only presents one of each verb found, because they have the same meaning, in order to avoid the repetition of the same verbs.
10. Verbs of Non-Action
Most verbs encountered in both short stories are verbs indicating some action or movement. Nevertheless, there are actually verbs which do not indicate any actio n or movement.
a. “In Another Country”
One verb found carrying this meaning in “In Another Country” is: 43.I stayed good friends with the boy who had been wounded his first day at the
front (p. 56).
b. “The Killer”
Non-action verb is rarely found in both short stories. Even, none of this kind of verb can be found in this short story.
11. Verbs of Inert Perception
As mentioned in part seven, there is one verb found in the two short stories which has two different meanings. One meaning has been clarified in part six that the verb feel has the meaning of showing bodily sensation. The second meaning of the verb is what will be described in this part.
a. “In Another Country”
There is one verb having this meaning in “In Another Country” and it is: 44.I heard him ask the doctor if he might use his telephone (p. 58).
Hear in (44), which means to perceive sounds with ears (Hornby, 1995: 552), also
shows that I got the sensation from something said before. There is a certain stimulus that makes the subject gain the sensation or perception.
b. “The Killer”
Below is one sentence taken from “The Killer” containing the verb feel 45.The cook felt the corners of his mouth with his thumbs (p. 73).
Feel in (45) implies the second meaning of the verb, it shows the external sensation. It
mouth which was tied before. A difference can be drawn hence that bodily sensation shows only the sensation felt inside the body while inert perception requires some contact with some thing outside the body.
Another sentence having this meaning in the same short story is: 46.It sounded silly when he said it (p. 75).
Sound here means to give a specific impression when heard (Hornby, 1995: 1136).
Similar to the verb in sentence (45), sound in (46) indicates that he said something before and got the impression that the word said was silly for him.
12. Verbs of Inert Cognition
Verbs having the meaning of inert cognition indicate the quality of a process which acquires knowledge and understanding through thought, experience and sense (Longman, 1995:217).
a. “In Another Country”
The verbs found in “In Another Country” are: 47.One had intended to be soldier (p. 55).
48.We did not any of us know how it was going to be afterward (p. 55).
49.We felt held together by there being something that had happened that they, the people who disliked us, did not understand (p. 55).
50.I believe they are still patriotic (p. 56).
51.I would imagine myself having done all the things they had done to get their medals (p. 56).
Intend which means to have a particular purpose or plan in mind (Hornby, 1995: 621)
shows that someone in (47) has some thought in his mind that he wants to be a soldier. Know which means to have something in one’s mind as a result of experience,
learning, or being given information (Hornby, 1995: 655) shows that we in (48) do not have something in their mind about what will happen next. The verb understand, which means to have a sympathetic awareness of something or somebody (Hornby, 1995: 1299), implies that They in (49) had been through a certain thought to be aware and to have sympathy to we although here they cannot get the sense to understand we. believe which means to feel sure of the truth of something (Hornby, 1995: 97) shows
that I in (50) have something in I’s mind that make I sure about the truth that the girls are still patriotic. In (51) the imagination was done with a certain quality to be able to form a mental image of myself and the things they done to get the medals. It does not come abruptly in the mind of I, instead it needs some sense of the wish to do the same thing as they did in (51). Think in (52), as the verb itself indicates, requires some thought and sense to have a particular idea, opinion or belief about he (Hornby, 1995: 1241). Someone who is thinking cannot have nothing in his mind but there must be something like thought or experience. The last verb expect which means to think or believe that something will happen (Hornby, 1995: 403) shows that no one in(53) has the thought in mind that she will die.
b. “The Killer”
13. Verbs of Relation
As indicated from the word relation, verbs having this meaning show a certain relation carried by the verbs to relate two entities. Included to this meaning is also having and being. This kind of meaning can be hardly found in both short stories. a. “In Another Country”
One verb found in “In Another Country” is: 54.We all had the same medals (p. 55).
From the meaning of the word have itself, which is to possess or own something (Hornby, 1995:546), it is clear that have in (54) shows that we posses the same medals that each of them got.
b. “The Killer”
The same verb have denoting the same meaning is found in “The Killer”. 55.He had tight lips (67).
The explanation of this verb is the same as have in (54) respectively.
Another Country”. The number of the verbs found varies for each meaning. The counting of the number for each meaning is presented below.
Table 1. The number of verbs meanings and the verbs having the meaning.
No. Meaning “In Another
Country”
“The Killer”
1 Physical movement and activity 33 27
2 Communication 6 4
3 Perception that involves doing something
2 2
4 Process 5 __
5 Transitional event 1 1
6 Momentary action 2 1
7 Bodily sensation 1 __
8 Feeling and other mental state 3 __
9 Physical stance and position 8 3
10 Non-action 1 __
11 Inert perception 1 3
12 Inert cognition 8 __
13 Relation 1 1
TOTAL 72 42
stories. The difference between the result of verbs carrying the meaning of physical movement and activity and the other meanings is big enough. Here the verbs having the meaning of physical movement and activity in both short stories comprise more than 50 % from all total number of the verbs found. This result becomes the base for the analysis on the distribution of each verb into dynamic and stative verbs in the following section.
B. The Distribution of the Verbs into Dynamic and Stative Verbs
Having described the meaning of the verbs found in both short stories, in this section, the writer puts the verbs into two classifications of dynamic and stative verbs based on the meaning carried by each verb. It is worth noting, however, that the verbs mentioned in the discussion in this section are only some of all verbs found. The rest of the verbs can be seen in the appendix. Further discussion of the distribution is explained below.
1. Dynamic Verbs
From all meanings mentioned in section A, items (1) to (7) in that section belong to the category of dynamic verb. Those kinds of verb meanings denote the meaning of action, movement, communication, perception that involves doing something, process, transitional event, momentary action, and bodily sensation. The number of this verb meanings type dominates the number of verbs in the narration of both “In Another Country” and “The Killer”.
movement and activity including the activity of both human, or living things, and dead things, like I had not learned my grammar (p. 57), They rebuilt his face (p. 55), and
We walked the short way through the communist quarter because we were four
together (p. 55). Six verbs denote the meaning of communicating something via words or verbs of communication, like We talked together very easily (p. 57) and He almost shouted (p. 58). Two verbs denote the meaning of perception that involves doing something, like He winked at me when the doctor examined his hand (p. 54) and (The major) looked at it very carefully (p. 54). Five verbs carry the meaning of process, like I found that the most patriotic people in Italy were the café girls (p. 56) and He began to cry (p. 58). One verb denoting the meaning of transitional event is The doctor told me that the major’s wife had died of pneumonia (p. 58). Two verbs having the meaning of momentary action are He winked at me when the doctor examined his hand (p. 54) and He patted me on the shoulder with his good hand (p.
58); and one verb showing bodily sensation is We felt held together by there being something that had happened that they, the people who disliked us, did not understand
(p. 55).
Similar to the result of “In Another Country”, in “The Killer” the verb meanings found is also dominated by verbs of physical movement and activity, such as George put the two platters on the counter (p. 68) and He closed the wicket into the kitchen (p. 68). This verb meaning comprises twenty-seven of all thirty-five verbs
and they are From the other end of the counter Nick Adams watched them (p. 66) and George looked at the clock on the wall behind the counter (p. 66). The last verb meanings found which comprise the least are transitional event and momentary verb which is found one only for each of them. The verb having the meaning of transitional event is Outside it was getting dark (p. 66), while the verb denoting the meaning of momentary action is She knocked on the door (p. 74). The distribution of dynamic verb can be clearly seen from the table below:
Table 2. The distribution of dynamic verbs. “In Another
Country”
“The Killer”
No. Meaning
Numeral % (of 72) Numeral % (of 42) 1. Physical movement and
activity
33 45.83 27 64.29
2. Communication 6 8.33 4 9.52
3. Perception that involves doing something
2 2.78 2 4.76
4. Process 5 6.94 __ 0
5. Transitional event 1 1.39 1 2.38
6. Momentary 2 2.78 1 2.38
7. Bodily sensation 1 1.39 __ 0
It can be seen that physical movement and activity are the meanings encountered mostly in the narration of the stories with the percentage of 45.83 % of 72 verbs found in “In Another Country” and 64.29 % of 42 verbs found in “The Killer”. It means that the verbs found in the narration are dominated by verbs having the meaning of physical movement and activity.
2. Stative Verbs
The rest items in section A, which is items (8) to (13), are included in one group namely stative verbs. This verb denotes feeling and mental states, physical stance and position, non-action, inert perception, inert cognition, and relation. There is only six of this kind of verbs in the narration of the two short stories. There are six meanings found in “In Another Country” but there is only three meanings found in “The Killer”.
“In Another Country” has twenty-two stative verbs out of seventy-two verbs found in the narration. These twenty-two verbs are distinguished further into six different meanings of verb. The meaning of feeling and other mental states comprises three verbs and the examples are I liked him because I thought perhaps he would not have turned out to be a hawk either (p. 56) and The people hated us because we were
officers (p. 55). The meaning denoting physical stance and position, like (We) sat in
the machines that were to make so much difference (p. 54) and He stood there biting
his lower lip (p. 58) has the same number of verbs as the third meaning, inert
cognition like I do not think he ever missed a day (p. 57) and I would imagine myself having done all things the had done to get their medals (p. 56). The number of these
meanings of non-action, inert perception, and relation. They are I stayed good friends with the boy who had been wounded his first day at the front (p. 56), I heard him ask
the doctor if he might use his telephone (p. 58), and We all had the same medals (p.
55).
Unlike in “In Another Country” there are only three meanings found in “The Killer”. The meanings of the verbs are physical stance, like They sat down at the counter (p. 66), inert perception, like The cook felt the corners of his mouth with his
thumbs (p. 73), and relation, like He had tight lips (p. 67) which each of them comprises four, three, and one verb. Thus, the total number of verbs found is seven. The distribution of stative verbs in both short stories is shown in the table below:
Table 3. The distribution of stative verbs.
“In Another Country” “The Killer”
No. Meaning
Numeral % (of 72) Numeral % (of 42) 1 Feeling and other mental
states
3 9.72 __ 0
2 Physical stance or position 8 11.11 3 7.14
3 Non-action 1 1.39 __ 0
4 Inert perception 1 1.39 3 7.14
5 Inert cognition 8 11.11 __ 0
6 Relation 1 1.39 1 2.38
There are only 16.66 % verbs of forty-two verbs found in the narration of “The Killer” that carry the meaning of stative verbs. Nevertheless, no verb showing the meaning of feeling or other mental states is found in this short story, instead physical stance and inert perception share the same number, 7.14 %. Almost similar to the result in “The Killer”, verbs that denote feeling in “In Another Country” only comprise 9.72 % of 72 verbs found.
From the distribution shown, it is proven that in writing his two short stories Hemingway has a tendency to make use of dynamic verbs especially verbs having the meaning of physical movement and activity. Stative verbs that often express feeling and emotion are rarely found.
The result of this distribution becomes the base for the analysis of the effects of the verbs used in the narration of Hemingway’s short stories which will be discussed in the following section.
C. The Effects Evoked from the Employment of Dynamic and Stative Verbs From the result got in the distribution of the verbs into dynamic and stative verbs, one conclusion can be drawn. In writing his two short stories Hemingway tends to use more dynamic verbs than stative verbs. This result evokes certain effects to the stories. The effects are discussed in this section.
1. Lack of Emotion
action. The following examples of some verbs in “In Another Country” can show what is meant by the statement of Barthes’ theory.
56. (He) slapped it hard against his thigh (p. 58).
Slap in sentence (56) sums up the action of hitting it with the palm of his hand
(Hornby, 1995: 1111). Instead of writing the sentence into He hit it with the palm of his hand against his thigh, the verb slap is able to summarize the action with one meaningful verb only.
The next examples can also strengthen the idea:
57.He had complimented me on how I speak Italian (p. 57). 58.He winked at me when the doctor examined his hand (p. 54).
Compliment in (57) summarizes the action of expressing praise or admiration of how
good I speak Italian (Hornby, 1995: 234) and examine in (58) sums up the action of inspecting his hand closely and in detail to learn about it (Hornby, 1995: 398).
The result of the distribution of dynamic and stative verbs in “The Killer” is the same as in “In Another Country”. Dynamic verbs dominate the distribution and the verbs carrying the property of showing movement and activity comprise the major number also. One of them is explained below:
59.(He) took the ham and eggs (p. 68).
The verb take in (59) summarizes the action of getting hold of the ham and eggs with the hands (Hornby, 1995: 1215). Similar to the previous explanation the verb take is able to tell the complete action without having to mention detailed information about getting hold with hands.
The other examples are:
61.George explained (p. 66). 62.She knocked on the door (p. 74).
In sentence (60) the action of stretching out one’s hand to take the towel is summed up by the prepositional verb reach down while the verb explain in (61) summarizes the action of making something clear. Similar to the others, the action of hitting the door firmly with the back of one’s hand in order to attract attention in sentence (62) is summarized and replaced by the verb knock.
The theory that related events are summed up by a verb that shows action has been proven by the domination of dynamic verbs in the narrations of both short stories. This finding, nevertheless, will result on another effect. The domination of dynamic verbs can result on the lack of emotion in the narration of the stories. Since the stative verbs found are a few, the narrations that express feeling and emotion are so rarely found that almost no verbs expressing feeling or emotion are in the stories. The following is a quote from “In Another Country” that contains both dynamic and stative verbs:
The doctor told me that the major’s wife, who was very young and whom he had not married until he was definitely invalided out of the war, had died of pneumonia. She had been sick only a few days. No one expected her to die. The major did not come to the hospital for three days. Then he came at the usual hour, wearing a black band on the sleeve of his uniform. When he came back, there were large framed photographs around the wall, of all sorts of wounds before and after they had been cured by the machines. In front of the machine the major used were three photographs of hands like his that were completely restored. I do not know where the doctor got them. I always understood we were the first to use the machines. The photographs did not make much difference to the major because he only looked out of the window (“In Another Country”, p. 58- 9).
cure, and make which carry the meaning of doing some action of telling, coming, curing, and making while there is only three stative verbs found; expect, know, and understand which denote the meaning of believing that something will happen
(Hornby, 1995: 403), having something in mind (Ho rnby, 1995: 655), and having sympathetic awareness of someone (Hornby, 1995: 1299). It is obvious then that the narration that is actually full of emotion is written with more dynamic verbs that can hardly show the emotion of the story than stative verbs.
Almost similar to “In Another Country”, in the restricted narration of “The Killer” there is only a few stative verbs found. One of the narrations that contains stative verb is the quote below
It sounded silly when he said it. Ole Andreson said nothing (“The Killer”, p. 75).
Here the very short narration is, in fact, able to show the intended meaning. The narration is meant to show what Nick Adams felt when he told Ole Andreson the murder plan but he did not give the expected response. The verb sound is able to show that the words gave a silly impression when heard (Hornby, 1995: 1136). Since the number of dynamic and stative verbs is in balance, there is one dynamic verb and one stative verb, and the stative verb used can show the feeling evoked, the narration seems to be emotive enough.
Since the narrations in “The Killer” are mostly written in short paragraphs, the writer gives another example of the narration in order to strengthen the idea.
Here it can be seen that the narration consists of dynamic verbs only. The verbs get carries the meaning of transitional event, come shows that the activity of occupying a certain condition outside the window, read denotes the meaning of looking at and understanding the meaning of a piece of writing, watch has the meaning of having perception of looking at them, and talk is an activity of saying things. There are no other types of verb employing feeling or emotions found in the narration. Thus it lacks emotion.
2. Similarity to News Report’s Form.
News report is a piece of writing on factual event. It reports information to the readers (Reah, 2002: 87). In a news report, verbs are selected by the writers (Reah, 2002: 93). The verbs describe action (Reah, 2002: 73) and certain attributes or emotions are presented through relational verbs (Reah, 2002: 90).
Below is one example of news report
Set up years ago, after revolution from rule by Westminster, the Scottish legislature has made land reform its flagship issue. A classic tactic for new nationalistic regimes, the plan has evoked especially strong feelings in Scotland, where for centuries English Lord- and more recently Arab Sheiks and other foreigners- have bought up huge estates that are often used for no more than a few weeks of hunting and shooting year. On Jan. 23, the government will debate a bill giving communities the right to buy out their landlords- whether or not they want to sell. Prices would be established by independent valuation (regardless of other, possibly higher offers). Crofters, as Highland tenants farmers are called, would go from being latter-day serfs to the de facto monarchs of their realm. (Newsweek, January 20, 2003: 22). The news report taken from Newsweek above is dominated by dynamic verbs make that has the meaning of creating land reform into flagship issue (Hornby, 1995: 1339), buy that is an activity of obtaining huge estates by paying money (Hornby, 1995: 154), use that denotes an activity of employing the estates in hunting or shooting years (Hornby, 1995: 1315), debate that means to have an argument about a bill (Hornby, 1995: 299), establish that denotes the meaning of placing the price in a higher positio n (Hornby, 1995: 392), and call that means to address some people crofters (Hornby, 1995: 158) while the stative verb are only want that means to have a desire of something (Hornby, 1995: 1339) and go that means to pass into the specified condition from being latter-day serfs to the de facto monarchs of their realm (Hornby, 1995: 505). Go in this narration functions as a state of passing from one condition into
a specified condition, different from another meaning of go that denotes movement or activity.
