Mental Process

The Mental Process involves phenomena known as states of mind or psychological events rather than material actions. This is the process of sensing. The verbs associated with this process are verbs of cognition, affection, perception, and volition, such as:

think, know, feel, smell, hear, see, want, like, hate, please, disgust, admire, enjoy, fear, frighten.

Note: most mental verbs are not used in progressive tenses, and the ones that are used in this tense (usually see, hear, smell) may change their meaning in the progressive form. You also can recognize them because you can NOT use them with WOULD TO when talking about past habits, instead, use USED TO.

Participant--------> SENSER

The thing that is being sensed-----------> PHENOMENON

examples: 

The Functional Analysis of English,

 Bloor and Bloor.2004. p134

We can also use the Passive Voice to avoid certain participants

(in most of the cases, even the senser is omitted)

 The Functional Analysis of English, Bloor and Bloor.2004. p134

The Senser:  

 Only animate beings can think therefore the senser has to be an animate being, a sentient being (people or animals). The exception can be found when speaking metaphorically or in fantastic uses.

The Phenomenon:

Phenomena can be animate or inanimate. In Passive Clauses the phenomena may appear as subject.

Example:     

                        (1)  I dislike your manner                           (2)  Your manner displeases me

"Both clauses express a mental process, and in both, we have two participants: a Senser and a Phenomenon. One difference is that in (1) the role of Senser is realized as Subject (I) and the role of Phenomenon as Complement (your manner), whereas in (2) the roles are reversed. Similarly, the clause I like it has the potential alternative It pleases me" (Bloor & Bloor, 2004)

Sometimes The Phenomenon is realized by a whole clause. This is very common in mental processes that include Knowing and its variants such as guessing, suspecting, deducing, calculating...)

The Functional Analysis of English,  Bloor and Bloor.2004. p137

 

"Since the Phenomenon that Thaler came here is a clause in its own right, it too expresses a process, this time a material process with Thaler as Actor. Of course, all clauses realizing Phenomenon have their internal process and participant functions, as do all other clauses." (Bloor & Bloor, 2004)

Practice Time 

Answer the following questions to check your comprehension

1. This process is associated with material actions or states of mind?

2. Which of the following verbs are NOT part of the Mental Process? enjoy, look, think, drink

3. Complete these sentences and say if the verb has to do with Affection, Cognition, Perception, or Volition:

example:    I           love          my pet 

              senser    mental     phenomenon    [Affection]

a. I hate red hair

b.  Your red hair amazed me 

c. I saw her red hair 

ANSWERS:

1. states of mind

2. drink

3.  

a. senser, mental, phenomenon [afection]

b. Phenomenon, mental, senser [Cognition]

c. senser, mental, phenomenon [Perception]