Syntactic Structure of Predication: Verb Classifications
- 4. PERSON • All English verbs except the modal auxiliaries (can, may, shall, will, must, dare, need) have two persons which can be called common and third singular. Third-singular person • Base form + {-s} inflection
- 5. PERSON Common Person • All other verbs except certain forms of be. • The distribution of these two forms is governed by the type of correlation with the subject.
- 6. PERSON • Concord is the complementary distribution of linguistic forms having the same syntactic function in systematic correlation with other formally distinct forms with which they are syntactically linked.
- 7. PERSON • The third-singular person is used whenever a simple verb is the head- verb in a predicate whose subject is one of the following:
- 8. PERSON 1. A noun for which he, she, or it may be substituted. • Examples: The man walks; the sun sets; snow falls. 2. One of the pronouns he, she, or it. • Examples: he feels; she speaks; it comes (but note exception in watch it come)
- 9. PERSON 3. The function-nouns this or that. • Examples: this looks good; that goes here. 4. A structure of modification of which one of the above is head. • Examples: the tall man in the car drives; that in the dish tastes good.
- 10. PERSON 5. Any other part of speech beside a noun, or a structure of modification or complementation which such part of speech as head or verbal element. • Examples: here seems like a good place; eating candy causes tooth decay.
- 11. PERSON 6. One of certain special structures of predication: the included clause and the infinitive clause. • Examples: what I want costs money; how I got here remains a mystery.
- 12. PERSON 7. A structure of coordination in which the coordinator is or, nor, either…or, neither...nor, or not (only)…but (also) and in which the last coordinate element belongs to 1–6 above; also one of the certain other special structures of coordination. • Examples: either his mistakes or his bad luck keeps him poor.
- 13. PERSON • All kinds of subjects correlate with the common form of the verb. • Nouns for which they can be substituted Examples: dogs bark; children play.
- 14. PERSON • Pronouns I, you, we, they, me, him, her, us, them Examples: walk Me Him Her Us Them I You We They walk(watch)
- 15. PERSON • Structures of coordination with coordinators and, both…and, and the like; a few special included clauses. Examples: • (both) the knife and the fork shine brightly • Either his bad luck or his mistakes keep him poor • Whatever jobs are available suit me
- 16. PERSON • One verb, be, whether as full verb or as auxiliary, has an additional form, the first-singular am, which correlates with the subject I. • Common person form are which is different from the base, be.
- 18. TENSE • All English verbs except a few auxiliaries (ought, must) have two tenses, which are distinguished by inflections: 1. Common tense usually called present tense or non-past. Form: base + third-singular {-s} inflection
- 19. TENSE 2. Past (or preterit) tense. Form: base + inflectional suffix {-ed1} inflection • Each verb has a single past-tense form which correlates with all subjects, except for the verb be.
- 20. TENSE • Two past-tense forms of the verb be: 1. was –correlates with singular subjects (nouns in base form, the substitutes I, he, she, it, other parts of speech and special structures) 2. were –correlates with plural subjects including pronoun you regardless of the referent
- 22. PHASE • All English verbs except a few auxiliaries have two phases, the simple and perfect. • Perfect Phase Form: have + past-participle form of the verb Examples: he has spoken, we may have been, I should have worked, he has gone.
- 23. PHASE • Intransitive Verbs have resultative phase Form: be + past-participle form of the verb Examples: he is gone, they are finished with the work, I am done with you. • Verbs not formally marked as in perfect or resultative phase are in the simple phase.
- 25. ASPECT • English verbs have three aspects: 1. Simple aspect–unmarked 2. Durative aspect–expresses duration Form: be + present-participle (base + {-ing1}) form of the verb 3. Inchoative aspect–expresses beginning of the action Form: get + present-participle form of the verb
- 26. DURATIVE • he is talking • he was swimming • we ought to be working INCHOATIVE • We got talking • Let’s get going • We ought to get working ASPECT
- 28. MODE • Classified on the basis of form into two groups: 1. Modal auxiliaries (can, may, shall, will, must, dare, need, do) + base form of the verb. • All of these modal auxiliaries except must and need have past-tense forms. • does third-singular form of do
- 29. MODE 2. Other auxiliaries (have, be, be going, be about, used, ought, get, have got) + the infinitive (to + base) form of the verb. • These mode forms can be clumsily designated as “the shall-mode”, “the ought to-mode,” and so on.
- 30. Modal Auxiliaries • He can go • We might see • They should have spoken • You will come • Everybody must die • Nobody dared to do it • You need not to worry • He does study Other Auxiliaries • They have to go • We are to see • He was going to speak • People were about to leave • She used to sing • That man ought to have quit • I never got to see Paris • He has got to study MODE
- 31. MODE • A verb-phrase my belong to two modes at the same time. • Only one may be from the modal- auxiliary group, and its auxiliary comes first in the phrase.
- 32. • he would have to work • he could be about to work • he may be going to tell us • he used to have to work But not • he has to can work • he is going to must work • he will can do it MODE Examples:
- 34. VOICE • English verbs have two voices: 1. normal or active voice 2. Passive voice Form: auxiliary be + past-participle form of the verb • Another passive is formed by (as auxiliary) get + past-participle
- 35. VOICE ACTIVE he kills they built a house we have done the work be–PASSIVE he is killed the house was built the work has been done get–PASSIVE he gets killed the house got built the work has got done Examples:
- 36. VOICE • Analyze these sentences based on the pause made either after or before built: a.) the house was built by experts be–passive voice b.) the house was built of wood be verb with a past participle as subject complement
- 37. VOICE the house was built by expertsP the house was C built of woodP by
- 39. STATUS English verbs have four statuses: 1. the affirmative 2. the interrogative 3. the negative 4. the negative–interrogative
- 40. STATUS • Interrogative is marked by a change in word order involving the inversion of the subject and the auxiliary or by the first auxiliary if more than one is present. • Use the auxiliary do/does/did to form the interrogative of verbs which have no auxiliary in the affirmative status.
- 41. STATUS Examples: Inverted Forms is he working has he worked should he have worked is he going to work do-Forms does he work did he work did get killed does he have to work did he use to work
- 42. • Note that this inversion produces a structure in which one immediate constituent is split into two parts. does workPhe • The auxiliaries get, used (to), and have (to) also use the forms of do. Split verb-phrase
- 43. STATUS • Affirmative is marked by an affirmation. Examples: he is working he works
- 44. STATUS • Negative Status is marked by the insertion of the special function word not, which has various allomorphs such as /nat, nt, Әn, n/ immediately after the first auxiliary. • Use the forms of do if no auxiliary is present although do is not used with be and not always with have.
- 45. STATUS • The forms of do are used when the auxiliary is used (to), have (to), or a simple form of get. Examples he is not (/ìz nât, îzӘnt, z + nât, îzӘn/) working he has not worked he should not have worked he is not going to work he does not work he is not here has not have does nothe any money he did not use to work
- 46. STATUS • The negative–interrogative status is a combination of the two former. • Auxiliary do follows the same pattern in the interrogative forms. • This structure brings the subject and the function word not together. • The form with the subject before not is somewhat more formal.
- 47. not–FIRST FORM • isn’t he working • hasn’t he worked • shouldn’t he have worked • doesn’t he work • hasn’t he any money • doesn’t he have any money • is he not working • has he not worked • should he not have worked • does he not work • has he not any money • does he not have any money STATUS SUBJECT-FIRST FORM
- 48. • A tabular analysis of four typical verb- phrases: (a) he is to be told (b) they should not have been working (c) ought we get going (d) mightn’t have been getting run over Structures of Predication
- 49. (a) (b) (c) (d) Person third- singular common common common Tense common past common past Phase simple perfect simple perfect Aspect simple durative inchoative durative Mode be to shall ought to may Voice be-passive active active get-passive Status affirmative negative interrogative negative- interrogative