CATENATIVE VERBS IN ENGLISH AS A MEANS OF VERB–VERB CONNECTION

Abstract

This article investigates catenative verbs in English as a structural mechanism of hierarchical verb–verb integration within complex predicate constructions. While traditional descriptive grammars have catalogued complement types and control configurations, comparatively limited attention has been devoted to the interpretive architecture generated by recursive non-finite embedding. Drawing on a qualitative corpus sample of contemporary fiction and academic prose (N = 120), this paper analyzes complement selection, control relations, and recursive depth. The findings demonstrate that complement choice is lexically constrained yet semantically motivated, and that catenative constructions instantiate layered event representations in which syntactic embedding mirrors semantic scope. Integrating Anglo-American grammatical tradition with Russian functional-semantic theory and Uzbek valency-based approaches, the study argues that catenative verbs occupy a central position at the interface of lexical subcategorization, clause architecture, and cognitive event structuring.