1. Expanding verb phrases
Class 6
Chapter 3

2. Tense, modality and aspect are separate concepts
The components of the MAIN VERB MV.
The three categories tense, aspect and mood indicate the status of the verb.
Grammar books usually lump the three concepts into one category that they call ‘tense’.
We look at these categories as separate but closely related grammatical concepts that overlap with real-world time but aren’t always the same thing.

3. How do we indicate tense?
What are the constituents that make up modality and aspect?

4. Tense, modality, and aspect define the status of the main verb
Why is it more productive to think of tense, modality and aspect as three separate categories indicating the status of the verb?
Tense, modality and aspect occur as distinct forms.
They are marked in three different ways.
Examples
Play
Played tense
Might play modality
Has played aspect

5. Continued…
Underlying these changes from tense to mood to aspect is a system that works in a regular manner for all but a small set of verbs in the language.
The verb, along with the forms that show its tense, mood and aspect is called the MAIN VERB.
The forms that show tense, modality and aspect constitute the auxiliary elements of the main verb.

6. Tense determines the physical form of a verb
English verbs exhibit two tense forms-which are called PAST and PRESENT- Form 1 and Form 2.
The English language can still show future time and other real-time concepts.
The past tense form clearly relates to past time than the present tense form relates to present time.
Examples
My neighbor walked her dog
My neighbor walks her dog

7. Look at these examples Superman defeats Lex Luther again and again
In early comic books, superman defeats villain after villain.
My plane leaves in three hours S
VP: pred
NP: Subj MV: Past NP: Dobj
PosPro N VT PosPron N
my neighbor walked her dog

8. MV: pres s VP: Pred NP: Subj MV: pres NP: Dobj N VT N Adv: Adv-frequ
Superman defeats L.L again and again

9. A sentence is a noun phrase plus a finite verb phrase
Tense is the only one of the three main verb concepts that must occur in the verb phrase predicate of the sentence..
Without tense a verb can not be a predicate.
A sentence is noun phrase subject plus a verb phrase that contains tense.
A verb that exhibits tense is called FINITE.
A verb that is not in a tense form is called an INFINITE, NONFINITE OR BASE FORM.

10. Mood denotes the purpose of a sentence
When a sentence makes a statement, it is in the indicative mood.
When it asks a question, it is in the interrogative mood.
When it gives a command, it is in the imperative mood.
When it indicates possibility, it is in the conditional mood.

11. Modal auxiliaries indicate conditional mood
The most common modal auxiliaries are:
Base/present form past form
Can could
Shall should
Will would
May might
must
Phrases like ought to, need to are sometimes called SEMIMODALS.

12. Continued…..
When they occur in a sentence, modal auxiliaries always occur at the beginning of the main verb constituents and they carry tense. S
VP: Pred
MV: Past Cond
NP: Subj Aux NP: Dobj
N M VT Adj N
photography might promote visual awareness

13. Conditional mood indicates possibility
Conditional mood indicates possibility ad the related notions of certainty, obligation, desire, necessity, promise, permission and even threat.
Conditional concepts are concerned with events in the future.
modals are sometimes said to express futurity
Examples,
I will visit my grandpa
I will visit my grandpa tomorrow
The verb following a modal auxiliary is always in its nonfinite form.

14. English speakers indicate future time with adverbs and the conditional mood
Examples,
They will talk to him on Friday
Speakers of English can indicate future time easily enough. Generally we indicate future time by making the main verb conditional and by adding an adverb of time to the sentence.

15. Aspect indicates that the action of the verb is completed or continuing
AXILIAY HAVE PLUS A PAST PARTICIPLE MAKES PERFECT ASPECT.
Both past and present perfect indicate that the action of the verb is completed.
Examples,
have left
had left.

16. Continued…
Perfect aspect is shown by the auxiliary HAVE followed by a PAST PARTICIPLE
Have/has predicted present participle.
Had predicted past participle.
The ‘past’ and ‘present’ designations refer to the tense form of the auxiliary HAVE.

17. A past participle is the form of a verb that can follow HAVE
The past participle of a regular verb is the same as the past tense form of the verb.
Past participle forms of irregular verbs vary with the verb. Some add –n or –en to the basic form:
Drive driven
Write written
Some change a vowel:
Drink drunk
Others do not change pronunciation from their base form:
Become become

18. Auxiliary BE plus a present participle makes progressive aspect
Progressive aspect is composed of a form of BE used as a n auxiliary, followed by a PRESENT PARTICIPLE, as in,
Amy was doing her homework.
The web is connecting families.

19. Conditional, perfective, and progressive can occur together
For example,
He did ( past tense)
He can do ( present conditional)
He might have done ( past perfect conditional)
He has been doing ( present perfect progressive)
He should have been doing ( past perfect progressive conditional)

20. Only the first word in the main verb is a tense form.
Verbs have five forms, called principal parts
Here is an example of a verb and its principal parts:
Base/infinitive write
Present tense write(s)
Past tense wrote
Present participle writing
Past participle written

21. A main verb may contain tense, modality, perfective aspect, and progressive aspect
Here is a schematic of the possible combination of tense, modality and aspect within the main verb.
Tense + (Modal)+ (Perfect) + (Progressive)+ Verb

22. A main verb may be expanded in eight ways
The following schematics indicate that a main verb may be expanded in eight ways:
Tense + Verb
Tense + Modal + Verb
Tense + Perfect + Verb
Tense + progressive + Verb
Tense + Modal + Perfect +Verb
Tense + Modal + Progressive +Verb
Tense + Perfect +Progressive + Verb
Tense + Modal + Perfect +Progressive +Verb

23. Most English verbs are regular verbs
The main verb marks TENSE, MOOD, and ASPECT

24. Agreement
Traditional grammatical analysis has also given us a number of other categories, including ‘number’, ‘person’, ‘voice’ and ‘gender’. These categories can be discussed in isolation, but their role in describing language structure becomes clearer when we consider them in terms of agreement.
For example, we say that the verb loves ‘agrees with’ the noun Cathy in the sentence Cathy loves her dog.

25. Continued…
This agreement is partially based on the category of number, that is, whether the noun is singular or plural. It is also based on the category of person, which covers the distinctions of first person, second person and third person (involving any others). The different forms of English pronouns can be described in terms of person and number.

26. Continued…..
The sentence is also in the active voice. An alternative would be the passive voice.
Our final category is gender.
In English, we have to describe this relationship in terms of natural gender, mainly derived from a biological distinction between male and female.

27. Traditional analysis
In traditional grammar books, tables such as the following were often presented for English verbs, constructed by analogy with similar tables of forms in Latin grammars. The forms for the Latin verb amare (‘to love’) are listed on the right.

28. Analysis First person singular (I) love amo
Second person singular (you) love amas
Third person singular (she) loves amat
First person plural (we) love amamus
Second person plural (you) love amatis
Third person plural (they) love amant

29. Do you consider the categories person and number useful in describing English verb forms?
What about Arabic?