Some thoughts on auxiliary and linking verbs

Damkerng T.

Jul 17, 2015 03:20

> Analytical or compound verb forms consist of at least two verbal elements, an auxiliary verb and a notional verb; the latter is presented by participle I, participle II, or the infinitive.

> An auxiliary verb is devoid of its lexical meaning, its role is purely grammatical. It may be finite or non-finite, thus showing whether the whole verb form is finite or non-finite as in:

> Jane is singing.

> Someone seems to be singing in the next room.

> The auxiliary verbs in English are not numerous, they are seven: to do, to be, to have, shall, will, should, would.

> The notional verb of a compound verb form is always non-finite, it carries the lexical meaning of the whole verb form.

> The analytical verb forms are the forms of the continuous aspect, the perfect forms, the passive forms, the future forms, the future in the past forms, some forms of the subjunctive mood, the interrogative, negative and emphatic forms of the present and past indefinite.

> The meaning of the analytical form as a whole is the result of the complete fusion of the auxiliary and the non-finite form.

> doclecture.net/1-19294.html

40 secs ago, by Damkerng T.

> The auxiliary verbs in English are not numerous, they are seven: to do, to be, to have, shall, will, should, would.

Hmm...

(It's from the same book mentioned in Сoncept of an attribute used by Russian grammarians by user11312, another deleted user.)

> user11312 == Study.English.Well

Hmm... that doesn't work. It's not easy enough to search for them.

User Lookup: user2492 == birdman

Anonymous

Was this written a very long time ago?

Damkerng T.

User Lookup: user6951 == pazzo

@snailboat An hour ago.

Anonymous

Um. The book, I mean.

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Oh, yes!

Anonymous

The one at doclecture that you're quoting.

Damkerng T.

Jul 17, 2015 03:29

The question was from March this year.

User Lookup: user11312 == Study.English.Well

Anonymous

But I wonder when the book was written.

Damkerng T.

Let's see...

Anonymous

Or is it just someone's website?

Damkerng T.

Yes. I think they copied the book and made it online.

Anonymous

Oh! The book is Английская грамматика: базовый теоретический курс

Anonymous

Jul 17, 2015 03:32

Copyright date is 2013

Damkerng T.

That's very new!

Anonymous

Well, that book would not be my first choice of grammars

Anonymous

What happened to auxiliaries like may and might?

Damkerng T.

That's what I thought!

Also can/could/must/etc.

Anonymous

@Tab When be is an auxiliary, it's a non-modal auxiliary. The English modal auxiliaries are can, may, will, shall, must, ought, need, and dare, and the non-modal auxiliaries are be, have, do, and for some speakers, use. See The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, pages 92 and 108. — snailboat Jul 2 at 15:58

Anonymous

Jul 17, 2015 03:35

That's CGEL's list.

Anonymous

It might also be worth discussing a semi-modal category.

Anonymous

If we were to discuss it at length, we could discuss what properties auxiliaries have. Why does it make sense to include certain verbs in the category, but not others?

Anonymous

If they form a coherent category, they should share a lot of properties that they don't share with non-auxiliary verbs.

Damkerng T.

How does CGEL think of seem?

Anonymous

What about it?

Damkerng T.

Jul 17, 2015 03:38

As an auxiliary too?

Anonymous

I'm not aware of seem having any auxiliary properties

Anonymous

What properties would suggest to you that it might be an auxiliary?

Anonymous

> Does it seem like an auxiliary verb?
> *Seems it like an auxiliary verb?

Damkerng T.

I thought it might be something special because some dictionaries classify it as a linking verb.

Anonymous

"Linking verb" here means "verb that takes a predicative complement" in CGEL's terms

Anonymous

Jul 17, 2015 03:39

That's not an auxiliary property, though.

Damkerng T.

nods

Anonymous

Predicative complements typically have the form of a noun phrase or an adjective phrase, and the noun phrase can potentially be a bare role noun phrase:

Damkerng T.

Oh, so be can be both an auxiliary and a linking verb.

Anonymous

> She became a senator. (regular NP)
> She became senator. (bare role NP)
> She became quite upset. (AdjP)

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. I suppose you could say that.

Anonymous

Jul 17, 2015 03:41

Usually, if it's a "linking verb", it's also an auxiliary.

Anonymous

Since it's almost always an auxiliary.

Damkerng T.

My cat is snoring!

Anonymous

> That is a snail.
> Is that a snail?
> That is cute.
> Is that cute?

Anonymous

Here, be is an auxiliary, demonstrated with one of the auxiliary properties (inversion)

Anonymous

It takes a predicative complement, and our main hint here is that it can take both NP and AdjP complements, as in the examples

Anonymous

Jul 17, 2015 03:44

Whereas:

Anonymous

> She punched me!
> *Punched she me?
> *She punched green!
> *Punched she green?

Anonymous

The third example can be interpreted grammatically with green as a secondary predicate (a predicative adjunct), but it's ungrammatical in the relevant interpretation (attempting to use green as a complement), so I've marked it with a star.

Anonymous

Punch takes an object, and objects are different from predicative complements. They don't take the form of AdjPs.

Anonymous

NPs are okay for objects.

Damkerng T.

nods

Anonymous

Jul 17, 2015 03:46

Only a fairly limited set of verbs take predicative complements.

Anonymous

These are the verbs you find in your list of linking verbs, generally speaking.

Anonymous

They are sometimes referred to as copula verbs.

Anonymous

Or copular verbs, or copulae, or what have you.

Damkerng T.

A-ha! That's where the confusion comes from.

Anonymous

Linking verb is a less Latin-y term for copula.

Anonymous

Jul 17, 2015 03:48

Copulation is linking two things together.

Anonymous

A copula links two things together.

Anonymous

> This is a snail.

Anonymous

Links: this ⇒ a snail

Anonymous

Seem fits into this category:

Anonymous

> She seems nice.

Anonymous

Jul 17, 2015 03:51

Nice is a property of she (taking into account the semantics of seem, anyway)

Anonymous

Seem can take an AdjP as a complement.

Anonymous

But it doesn't have the auxiliary properties.

Damkerng T.

> *Seems she nice? -- That doesn't work.

Anonymous

Right! Subject-auxiliary inversion doesn't work with seem.

Anonymous

Auxiliaries can also be directly negated:

Anonymous

Jul 17, 2015 03:54

> She can fly a plane.
> She can't fly a plane.

Anonymous

But lexical verbs cannot, outside of fossilized constructions:

Anonymous

> She likes eating spinach.
> She doesn't like eating spinach.

Anonymous

Here, we have to insert the dummy auxiliary does because we can only negate an auxiliary, not a lexical verb.

Anonymous

If we stick not after like, we get non-verbal negation (of the following non-finite clause):

Anonymous

> She likes [ not eating spinach ] .　← not negates eating spinach, not likes

Anonymous

Jul 17, 2015 03:55

For the same reason:

Anonymous

> *She walks not.
> She doesn't walk.

Anonymous

Negation and inversion are two of the auxiliary properties.

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