Syntactic analysis - Lexical verbs and auxiliary verbs

 Lexical verbs and auxiliary verbs

Lexical verbs and auxiliary verbs

 

 

Verbs

As with Nouns, verbs can be identified through certain formal characteristics. The main inflectional criterion is their ability to take a tense inflection. Any word that can take a tense inflection is identified as a verb. Verbs, in addition to their uninflected base form, typically have up to four inflected forms, formed by adding one of four inflections to the appropriate stem form. This is shown in the following table.

 

The above table clearly shows the irregularity of English morphology. Many verbs have irregular past or perfective forms. Some of these forms may not be distinct from the base form. The verb he, has eight distinct forms. The most regular verb suffix in English is +ING, which can be attached to the base form of almost any verb.

 

Distinctions between main verbs and auxiliary verbs

Auxiliary verbs are used with main verbs to form different tenses and aspects. In English, auxiliary verbs can be subdivided into four groups:

Modal auxiliaries: may, might, can, could, must, have (got) to, will, would, shall, should, ought (to) and, in some cases, need and dare.

Aspectual auxiliaries: be and have

The passive auxiliary: be

The dummy auxiliary: do

 

Modal auxiliaries are used to express various kinds of modality. They typically express speakers’ and writers’ attitudes towards the factual content of an utterance, such as uncertainty, possibility, necessity, ability, permission, obligation, intention, prediction. Modal auxiliaries are always finite (i.e., they express tense): most modals have past tense forms, as the pair of modals show but crucially do not take typical tense inflections, which are taken by main verbs, as shown by these ill-formed forms *will+s, *would+ed, *can+s, *could+ ed, *can+ing.

Aspectual auxiliaries encode grammatical aspect, a grammatical category which relates to the way in which an action, event or state is viewed in respect of its distribution in time. The main categories of aspect in English are progressive aspect and perfective aspect. In progressive aspect, the action is presented as an ongoing process, as taking place over a stretch of time, i.e., it has a certain duration. 

For example, the following two sentences have the same tense (present) but differ in aspect. In (1), the activity of running is viewed as a habit, whereas in (2), it is viewed as an ongoing process.

 

(1)   I run every Sunday.

(2)   I am running right now.

In the present perfect aspect, the action described by the verb took place in the past quite recently and has current relevance at the time of utterance.

 

(3)   Ann has just left.

 

In the past perfect, the action took place prior to a reference point in the past, and that this event was still relevant at the reference point:

(4)   When I arrived, Jone had just left.

One important issue that comes up in the study of the English auxiliary system is that of which words function as auxiliary verbs, and how we can differentiate auxiliary verbs and main verbs. One major difference between the two is that main verbs can stand on their own in a sentence, without another verb preceding or following, whereas auxiliary verbs cannot occur independently, but instead function as ‘helping verbs’.

(5)   John ran in the marathon.

(6)   John could not run in the marathon.

(7)   *John could not in the marathon.

(8)    *John could in the marathon.

The ‘NICE’ properties

The ‘NICE’ properties are syntactic criteria which are used to distinguish between main verbs and auxiliary verbs. They are thought to be the most reliable criteria for ‘auxiliary hood.’

The word NICE is an acronym in which each letter stands for a property: N for Negation, I for Inversion, C for Code, E for Emphasis. Auxiliary verbs are said to have these four properties, whereas main verbs appear not to have them. Let us consider each of these properties.

Negation: Only auxiliary verbs can be followed by the negative particle not marking sentential negation. To form the negative counterparts of affirmative sentences containing either a modal auxiliary, an aspectual auxiliary or a passive auxiliary, the negative particle is not added after the auxiliary verb. Main verbs cannot be followed by the negative particle.

 

(9)   You will not leave.

(10)                       You must not leave.

(11)                       You cannot leave.

(12)                        You could not leave.

(13)                        *You leave not.

Notice, significantly, in contracted forms, the negative particle is not suffixed to the preceding auxiliary verbs (not to the main verbs).

 

(14)                       You won’t leave.

(15)                       You mustn’t leave.

(16)                       You can’t leave.

(17)                       You couldn’t leave.

(18)                       You leaven't.

 

Do-support is the process of inserting the dummy auxiliary do. In forming negative sentences, Do-support is required if there is no auxiliary verb in the sentence. For example, in the following sentence, there is no auxiliary verb.

(19)                       John reads a book every month.

To form the negative counterpart, we need to insert the dummy auxiliary do; the negative particle is inserted after this auxiliary, and it is contracted to it. This is shown by the following sentences.

 

(20)                       John does not read a book every month.

(21)                       John doesn’t read a book every month.

 

Thus, Do-support is the syntactic process by which do is used as a dummy auxiliary. Thus, do would be seen as ‘supporting’ the negative particle.

 

 

Inversion: Only auxiliary verbs undergo subject-auxiliary inversion to form ‘yes-no’ questions. Auxiliary-inversion is the movement of an auxiliary verb crossing over and positioning in front of the subject (forming an Auxiliary-Subject order). This is illustrated by the following sentences.

 

(22)                       a. Tom will leave the party.

                  b. Will Tom leave the party?

(32)           a. Tom could leave the party.

b. Could Tom leave the party?

     (33)             a. Tom left the party.

b.*Left Tom the party?

c. Did Tom leave the party?

 

As shown by the example in (33 c), dummy do is also used to form the interrogative versions of sentences that do not contain an auxiliary verb. First, do is inserted before the main verb and then it is inverted with the subject.

 

Code: Auxiliary verbs can occur without their main verbs, i.e., they can get ‘stranded’. This shown by the following examples.

 

(34) Does John read a book every month? He does.

(35) John reads a book every month, and so does Mary.

(36) Can John lift this box? He can.

(37) John can lift this box and so can Mary.

(38) Will he go to school? He will.

 

In the above sentences, all the underlined auxiliary verbs occur without their main verbs.

 

 

Emphasis: Auxiliary verbs can be used in emphatic contexts. This is illustrated by the following examples.

 

(39) John WILL read a book every month.

(40) John MUST read a book every month.

(41) John DOES read a book every month.

 

To recapitulate, what distinguishes auxiliary verbs from main verbs is that they can:

Carry the negative particle not

Invert with the subject

Manifest code

Carry emphatic stress.

 

These four characteristics are referred to as the ‘NICE’ properties.

‘Do’ is constantly referred to as a dummy element. This is because it does not carry any meaning but is inserted simply to help main verbs in forming negative or interrogative sentences, and to allow code and emphasis.

 

More examples:

Consider the following sentences and see what NICE property is expressed in each one.

(42) Can you open the window please? (Inversion)

(43) Of course, I can. (Code)

(44) I can’t open the window. (Negation)

(45) I CAN open the window. (Emphasis)

(46) No, I can’t. (Negation and Code)

(47) No, I CANNOT. (Negation, Code, and Emphasis)

(48) Do you want some tea? (Inversion)

(49) I do. (Code)

(50) I don’t. (Negation and Code)

(51) I don’t want any tea. (Negation)

(52) I DO want some tea. (Emphasis)

Verb phrase (VP) is a phrase that head is a verb. It has been conceived of differently in different syntactic accounts. It has been thought of as the equivalent of a Predicate, as in (53), as consisting of a verb and its complement(s), as in (54), including the auxiliary, as in (55), or a verb alone with accompanying auxiliaries, as in (55). In all cases, the verb is seen as the head of the unit.

 

(53)    I will see him tomorrow.

(54)    I will see him tomorrow.

(55)    I will see him tomorrow.

(56)    I will see him tomorrow.