Lecture 5
English 3318: Studies in English Grammar
Form-class Words – Verbs
Structure-class Words – Auxiliaries
Dr. Svetlana Nuernberg
Form-Class Words – StructureClass Words
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Objectives
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Verbs
Verb Derivational Affixes
Verb Inflectional Affixes
Verb Sub-classes
Auxiliaries
Structure-Class Versus Form-Class Word
Verbs
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Verbs have been defined traditionally as words that
“express action”
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true for almost all prototypical verb: sit, speak, write, read
doesn't help to distinguish between verbs and words that
are or can be nouns naming actions: attack, storm, delivery,
departure
nouns can behave as verbs: He will head home at 5pm
as a result we are also looking for an agent (someone who
does) performing an action: The baby ate
we recognize that verbs name states and conditions: The
cat lay before the fire; The house remained unlocked over
the weekend
Verbs Recognition
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Because it is impossible to identify all verbs as
actions and all actions as verbs, speakers use clues
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some verbs are recognizable by
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without a context it is impossible to tell whether words
like head/heads or dog/dogs are verbs or nouns
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form – created from other parts of speech using verb-making
derivational morphemes: falsify, enrage
their ability to change form through inflection: 3rd person
singular – eats; past tense – ate; past participle - eating
function can help: verbs can be negated (The baby didn't
eat), can be put into commands (Eat!) and can follow a
modal auxiliary (You must eat)
Verbs fit into this Frame Sentence: They must ____(it).
or the alternative: They must_____good.
Verbs Derivational Affixes
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Many of the root words, or bases, that take nounforming suffixes are verbs to begin with: most nouns
with {-ion} are formed from verbs
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deriving verbs from other form classes is less common
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most likely is to turn a noun into a verb without changing its
form – functional shift: to chair a meeting, to roof the house, to
cook dishes, to coat a wall with paint, to seed the lawn
Verb-forming affixes can turn nouns and adjectives into
verbs: -ify – typify; -en – darken; -ate – activate; -ize legalize
Prefixes en-, be-, de-, dis- : enable, enchant, encourage,
bedevil, bewitched, derail, disable
Verb Inflectional Suffixes
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The verb-expansion rule describes the system of
adding auxiliaries and inflectional suffixes to verbs.
As a clue in identifying a verb, the inflectional
suffixes are extremely reliable
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all verbs with one or two exceptions – even those with
irregular -en and -ed forms – have both -s and -ing forms
every verb has the other three forms as well – base, the -d
and -en
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may not be as recognizable: hit, put, cast, hurt, shut, split and
spread
the -s and the -ing are exactly like those of every other verb:
hitting, putting, casting, hits, casts, puts
A word that doesn't have an -s or an -ing is not a verb
Rules of Thumb
Tests for Verbs
Formal Proof
1. Has verb-making morpheme
2. Can occur with
present-tense morpheme
3. Can occur with past-tense
morpheme
4. Can occur with
present-participle morpheme
5. Can occur with past-participle
morpheme
criticize
criticizes
criticized
criticizing
criticized
Functional Proof
6. Can be made into a command
7. Can be made negative
8. Can fit in one of the frame
sentences
Criticize this novel!
They didn't criticize the novel
They must_______(it).
They must_______good.
Exercise 1
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Decide whether each of the following words is a
noun, a verb, or neither, or both, using the test for
membership in those classes.
Example: globe – noun only.
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occurs with plural (globes); occurs with possessive (the
globe's axis); can follow an article (a globe); fits in
frame sentence (The globe seems all right) Cannot be a
verb: *They globbed it.
frighten, costume, treat, princess, tot, fantasize,
candy, bewitch
Verb Subclasses
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Regular
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Irregular
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Intransitive Verbs
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Transitive Verbs
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Linking Verbs
Intransitive Verbs
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Intransitive Verbs – are identified by what they
don't have that other verbs must have
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other verbs must be followed immediately by either
noun phrases or adjective phrases
intransitive verbs can end sentences, or they can be
followed by adverbs
For example:
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The mayor spoke. Garfield slept. Birds fly. The yeast rose.
The baby panda cried softly. Toni Morrison writes
exclusively.
The Titanic sank in 1912. The volcano erupted with the
destructive force of an atomic bomb
The formula for them is NP VI (Adverb)
Linking Verbs
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Linking Verbs
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cannot end sentences or be followed by adverbs
must be followed by nouns or adjectives (single or
multiple words)
comprise a small class of probably no more than a few
dozen or so, including: seem, become, remain and the
verbs of senses: taste, smell, sound, look and feel
For example:
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The president looked weary
The lasagna tasted scrumptious
Silas remained an honest man
Clark Kent becomes Superman
Transitive Verbs
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Must be followed by noun phrases
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unlike the nouns that follow the linking verbs, the nouns
that follow the transitive verbs do not rename their
subjects: they are not predicate nouns, they are direct
objects
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The secretary typed the letter
President Clinton supported the health care bill
Can usually be turned into passive sentences, where
subjects and objects are inverted
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Coyotes destroyed the carcass – The carcass was destroyed by
coyotes
The victory of the women's soccer team captivated the nation The nation was captivated by the victory of the women's soccer
team
Auxiliaries
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Like the determiners and the other structure
classes, the auxiliary class is limited in
membership and closed to new members.
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counting the forms of have and be, the modals, and the
forms of do, the list of auxiliaries is around 2 dozen
have
has
had
having
be
is
are
am
was
were
been
being
can
could
will
would
shall
should
may
might
must
ought to
do
does
did
Marginal Modals
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The following modal-like verbs also function as
auxiliaries
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semi-auxiliaries or marginal modals:
have to
be going to
used to
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be to
We have to leave soon.
We're going to take the bus to Iowa City today.
We used to live there.
The bus is to leave at noon.
other phrasal modals are often listed with marginal
modals, they are:
be able to
be due to be meant to be obliged to
be supposed
had better dare
need
Contrasts Between Form and
Structure Classes
Structure Classes
Form Classes
1. They are mostly closed,
1. They are open-ended,
relatively small groups
not limited in the
number of their members
2. Their members
generally do not change
2. Their members usually
form
undergo changes in form
3. Their members usually
have lexical meaning
3. Their members have
mostly grammatical
meaning