1. Lecture 4b: Verb Processes

2. Relationship between sentence types
AFFIRMATIVE
NEGATIVE
Declarative
John hugged a tree.
John didn't hug a tree.
Polar Interrogative
(yes/no question)
Did John hug a tree?
Didn't John hug a tree?
Content interrogative
What did John hug?
What didn't John hug?
Passive
A tree was hugged by John.
A tree wasn't hugged by John.

3. The relationship between one sentence type and another can be represented as a series of processes:
add something
change the form of something
change the position of something
It can also be represented in terms of contrasting features or properties.
We will present a 'derivational' model.

4. Many of these processes involve verbs.
These processes distinguish Auxiliary Verbs from Lexical Verbs.
AUXILIARY VERB RAISING
AUXILIARY do INSERTION/SUPPORT

5. Auxiliary raising S
NP AUX VP
PRESENT V NP
Fred can play the violin
can Fred ___ play the violin

6. Tensed Auxiliary raising
NP AUX VP
PRESENT V NP
Fred can be playing the violin
can Fred ___ be playing the violin
*Can be Fred playing the violin?

7. S
NP AUX VP
PAST V
John sang
* Sang John?
No auxiliary verb
Lexical verb cannot raise

8. S
NP AUX VP
PAST V X
John sang
John did sing
Do-support

9. Auxiliary did raises S
NP AUX VP
PAST V
John did sing
did John ____ sing

10. What position does
tense-marking auxiliary raise into?

11. CP
C = complementiser S C
NP AUX VP
John did sing
PAST V
did John ____ sing

12. Auxiliary raising and 'wh-words' in content interrogatives
What can Fred play?
Who can play the violin?
Where does Fred play the violin?
Why did John sing?
How could John have been arrested?
Which man was arrested?

13. Additional Processes:
wh- insertion
wh- movement
And...
auxiliary verb raising
do-support

14. CP S
NP C
NP AUX VP
PRESENT V NP
John has seen someone
John has seen who
has John ___ seen who
who has John ____ seen ___

15. CP S
NP C
NP AUX VP
PAST V NP
Mary saw someone
Mary saw who
Mary did see who
did Mary ___ see who
who did Mary ___ see ___

16. Negating a simple sentence requires addition of not following the tensed auxiliary
Glen must finish the work.
Glen must not finish the work.
Roberta may have fed the bear.
Roberta may not have fed the bear.

17. If there is no auxiliary verb? Then Do-support
John finished the work.
*John not finished the work.
*John finished not the work.
John did not finish the work.

18. Negative Sentences S
NP AUX VP
PAST V NP
John finished the work
*John not finished the work
*John finished not the work

19. Negative Sentences S
NP AUX VP
PAST V NP
John finished the work
John did finish the work
John did not finish the work

20. Negative Sentences S
NP AUX VP
PAST V NP
John did not finish the work
Contracted
didn't
Didn't John __________ finish the work?

21. Tag questions: substitute pronoun for subject NP change polarity
if S is affirmative then tag is negative
if no auxiliary then do-support
if S is negative then tag is affirmative
auxiliary raising
if contracted AUX+NOT then both raise
omit predicate

22. Creating 'tags'. John must go. He must go.
He must not go. He mustn't go.
Must he not go? Mustn't he go?
Must he not___? Mustn't he ___?
Pronoun substitution
Change polarity
Auxiliary raising
Omit Predicate
John must go, must he not? / mustn't he?
You won't go.
You will go.
Will you go?
Will you?
You won't go, will you?

23. Active voice to Passive voice
John ate the cake. The cake was eaten (by John) S
NP AUX VP
PAST V NP
John ate the cake.
NP AUX VP
PAST V PP S
The cake was eaten by John.

24. ACTIVE
no passive be AUX
lexical verb need not be in past participle form
DO in VP (transitive)
Subject NP and DO NP have distinct referents
PASSIVE
passive be AUX
lexical verb must be in past participle form
no DO in VP (intransitive)
Subject NP has same referent as DO NP of active
PP headed by 'by' has NP complement with same referent as Subject NP of active

25. Summary
Many sentence types derived from affirmative declarative by application of a range of processes:
substitution of one form for another
addition of a word ( did, not) or phrase (wh-)
movement (tensed auxiliary; wh-movement)
Auxiliary verbs and Lexical verbs participate in different processes
Tense-marking on lexical verbs is restricted to a single environment: affirmative declarative S with no auxiliary verb
All other simple sentences require an auxiliary verb.