Verbs and Verb Phrases
Ed McCorduck
English 402--Grammar
SUNY Cortland
http://mccorduck.cortland.edu
slide 2: five forms of verbs
Recall from slides 6 and 7 of my chapter 2 “Form
Classes” lecture that English verbs are described
as having five distinct forms (also known as
principal parts). However, there are some verbs
that are so irregular that they either don’t have all
five forms or have more than five.
English 402: Grammar
slide 3: irregularity of be’s present-tense forms
The verb be, for one, is the only verb that has three “present
tense” forms:
• am – first person singular (i.e., when the subject is I)
• are – first person plural (i.e., when the subject is we),
second person singular and plural (i.e., when the subject is
you), and third person plural (i.e., when the subject is they
or a plural noun phrase)
• is – third person singular (i.e., when the subject is he, she or
it or a singular noun phrase; in other words, this is an
irregular “-s form”)
English 402: Grammar
slide 4: irregularity of be’s past-tense forms
The verb be also is the only verb that has two past or –ed forms:
• was – first person singular and third person singular
• were – all other persons and numbers
English 402: Grammar
slide 5: irregularity of have’s present-tense forms
In addition, have is the only verb (besides be) that does
not always form its “present tense” by simply adding –s
to the base form:
• has – third person singular
• have – for all other persons and numbers
English 402: Grammar
slide 6: overarching structure of the verb phrase
As for the verb phrase in English, we’re going to say it
has the following structure (or in other words this is
how we’d define the structure of the “predicating verb”
in every sentence):
predicating verb (pred vb)
auxiliary
main verb (MV)
English 402: Grammar
slide 7: the verb-expansion rule
Furthermore, we will employ a verb-expansion rule
phrase which we will say underlies the structure of the
predicating verb for all English sentences:
T (M) (have + -en) (be + -ing) MV
The list of elements that make up this rule—or the actual
words that replace the elements in real language—is
called a string.
English 402: Grammar
slide 8: indication of required and optional elements in the verb-expansion rule
In this rule, we are following the standard practice in
linguistics of using parentheses to set off elements
that are optional, i.e., that may or may not actually
occur in a string, which has the corollary that elements
that don’t have parentheses are required, that is, they
must appear for the string to be grammatical. As an
illustration, if we have a string rule X (Y) (Z) this
indicates that the following and only the following
combinations of the elements in the string are possible:
English 402: Grammar
slide 9: indication of required and optional elements in the verb-expansion rule illustrated
In this rule, we are following the standard practice in
linguistics of using parentheses to set off elements that are
optional, i.e., that may or may not actually occur in a string,
which has the corollary that elements that don’t have
parentheses are required, that is, they must appear for the
string to be grammatical. As an illustration if we have a string
rule X (Y) (Z) this indicates that the following and only the
following combinations of the elements in the string are
possible:
•
•
•
•
X
XY
XZ
XYZ
English 402: Grammar
slide 10: the T and M elements in the verb-expansion rule
Here is an explanation of the elements in the verb-expansion
rule:
•
•
T – tense, which is always one of these two:
o
pres (for present)
o
past
M – modal auxiliary (a.k.a. “modal verb” or “modal”)
can could
shall should
may might
will would
English 402: Grammar
must
slide 11: the (have + -en) element in the verb-expansion rule
•
(have + -en) – the auxiliary have with the –en inflection (this
ending is attached to the verb that follows this auxiliary)
Do not confuse the auxiliary have with the main verb have,
whose most common meanings are ‘possess’ and ‘own’.
Compare the following examples of the use of forms of have
as both an auxiliary and a MV:
English 402: Grammar
slide 12: have as a main verb and as an auxiliary
main verb
auxiliary
I have a headache.
They had come too late.
We had a good time.
I have stayed too long.
(I’ve stayed too long.)
She has had three DWIs at one time. She has had three DWIs at one time.
English 402: Grammar
slide 13: the (be + -ing) element in the verb-expansion rule
•
(be + -ing) – the auxiliary be with the –ing inflection (this
ending is attached to the verb that follows this auxiliary)
Do not confuse the auxiliary be with the main verb be.
Compare the following examples of the use of forms of be as
both an auxiliary and a MV:
English 402: Grammar
slide 14: be as a main verb and as an auxiliary
main verb
auxiliary
I am king.
I am washing the dishes.
(I’m king.)
(I’m washing the dishes.)
They were mad as hell.
They were breaking up the place.
The boss is being a hard-ass.
The boss is being a hard-ass.
English 402: Grammar
slide 15: combination of the T and MV elements to get a tensed verb
As mentioned above in slide 7, the verb-expansion rule indicates
that at minimum a verb phrase has two elements: T (tense) and MV
(main verb). In these cases, the T and MV elements combine, i.e., the
main verb appears in either a “present tense” form (i.e., the –s form
if the subject is a singular noun or third person singular pronoun or
otherwise the base form) if T is “pres” or the main verb appears its
past (-ed) form if T is “past”:
T – pres
+
MV – cry (base form)
T - past
+
MV – walk (base form)
I cry. /He cries.
He walked.
T – past
+
MV – fly (base form)
He flew.
English 402: Grammar
slide 16: combination of the T element with auxiliary be and have
If the auxiliaries be or have are present in the verb phrase
string, T combines with the first auxiliary, not the main verb.
The inflection accompanying be or have, namely –ing or –en,
respectively, is combined with the main verb:
T – pres
T - past
+
+
have
have
-en
-en
+
+
MV – die
MV – die
He has died./They have died.
He/They had died.
English 402: Grammar
slide 17: present-tense and past-tense forms of modal auxiliaries
If a modal auxiliary is included in the verb phrase string, it
combines with T even if have and/or be is present. For the
purposes of combination with T, we say that the modal auxiliaries
(except for must which is always considered a present-tense form)
fall into present/past pairs so if T is “pres” the present-tense form
will be used and if T is “past” the past-tense form will be used. Here
is how the modal auxiliaries are grouped in terms of their tense
forms:
present
past
can
may
must
shall
will
could
might
should
would
English 402: Grammar
slide 18: derivation of a verb phrase with a modal auxiliary
So, for example, here is the derivation of He may cry and We
would sing:
T – pres
T - past
+
+
may
will
MV – cry
MV – sing
He may cry.
We would sing.
English 402: Grammar
slide 19: conflict between form and meaning with modal auxiliaries
It should be emphasized that this analysis of modal
auxiliaries is based on forms and not meaning. In fact,
there is very often a disconnect between the use of
present and past tense forms and their actual reference
to time:
It will rain tomorrow. (pres + will + rain)
future meaning
I would appreciate a hug. (past + will + appreciate)
present meaning (i.e., I want a hug now)
English 402: Grammar
slide 20: conflict between form and meaning with modal auxiliaries (continued)
He may have stolen it. (pres + may + have + -en + steal)
past meaning
She might cry. (past + may + cry)
future meaning
They might be nuts. (past + may + be)
present meaning
English 402: Grammar