1. Verbs, tense, aspect, and mood
Chapter 3
Verbs, tense, aspect, and mood

2. Verbs
Verbs are variable lexemes – they have a number of inflectional forms that are required or permitted in various grammatical contexts. Kim has flown home. required Kim flew home. permitted

3. The verb paradigm Primary forms Paradigm Example Sentence preterite
3rd singular present
Plain present
walked
walks
walk
She walked home.
She walks home.
They walk home.
Secondary forms
Plain form
Gerund-participle
Past participle
walking
She should walk home.
She is walking home.
She has walked home.

4. Inflectional form vs shape
Walked and walk appear twice in the paradigm?
In order to explain this we need differentiate between inflectional form and shape.
Shape means spelling and pronunciation
Inflectional form – the variation in the form of a lexeme. Sing/plural, present/preterite…etc.
The preterite (walked) and the past participle (walked) are different inflectional forms but they have the same shape. The same can be said about the plain present and plain form.

5. What is the preterite form of the verb fly
What is the preterite form of the verb fly? What is the past participle of the verb fly? The verb fly has different shapes for these inflectional forms.

6. What is the difference between primary forms and plain forms?
Primary forms show inflectional distinctions of tense (preterite vs present). Secondary forms have no tense inflection.
Primary forms can occur as the only verb in a canonical clause. Secondary forms cannot occur as the head of the canonical clause.

7. Preterite- is used for an inflectionally marked past tense.
I took them to school. Took indicates past time
It would be better if I took them to school next week. Took indicates future time.

8. Present tense
The door opens inwards. Indicates present time
The exhibition opens next week. Indicates future
3rd singular present vs plain present
Subject verb agreement
She walks home. 3rd singular present
They walk home. Plain present

9. Plain form
The plain form is identical with the lexical base of the verb. It is not in the present tense, so we call it “plain form” in contrast to “plain present.”
The plain form is used in three syntactic clause constructions
Imperative
Subjunctive
Infinitival

10. PLAIN FORM
EXAMPLE
I. Imperative
Keep us informed.
Give me the book.
II. Subjunctive
It’s essential (that he keep us informed.)
III. Infinitival
a. To-infinitival
It’s essential (for him) to keep us informed.
b. Bare infinitival
He should keep us informed.
Imperatives are directives. They usually have the subject you understood rather than overtly expressed.
II. Subjunctives are subordinate clauses and they differ in the inflection of the primary verb. They are slightly more formal. Some fixed expressions are also considered subjunctive clauses such as God bless you, Long live the Queen, etc.
III. A. To infinitivals are marked by to. The subject is optional and usually omitted.
III. B. Bare infinitivals lack the marker to and occur after various modal auxiliary verbs such as should, can, may, will.

11. The gerund-participle A gerund is a verb form that is functionally similar to a noun, whereas a participle is functionally similar to an adjective. She argued against [buying a car.] Gerund People [earning $50,000 a year] don’t qualify for the rebate. Participle

12. The past participle – Occurs in two major constructions, perfect and passive.
She has flown from Jeddah. Perfect
The perfect is usually marked by the auxiliary have.
The Jeddah-Riyadh route is flown by only two airlines. Passive
The construction is called participle because it sometimes functions like an adjective. It is called past because of the perfect construction, which is a kind of past tense.

13. Finite and non-finite clauses
This distinction is related to main and subordinate clauses.
Finite clauses may be either main or subordinate
Non-finite clauses are always subordinate.
1.2 from page 33 – 35 is not included

14. We can determine whether a clause is finite or non-finite as follows:
1. If the verb is a primary form, the clause is finite.
What are primary form verbs? Preterite, 3rd singular present, plain present
2. If the verb is a gerund participle (flying) or a past participle (flown), the clause is non-finite.
3. If the verb is a plain form, the clause may be finite or non-finite specifically:
Imperative and subjunctive clauses are finite.
Infinitival clauses are non-finite.

15. Page 36

16. Lexical (run, sing, dance)
Auxiliary Verbs
Verbs
Auxiliary
Modal (can, may, must)
Non-modal (be, have, do)
Lexical (run, sing, dance)
Lexical (main verb)
Auxiliary are usually followed by another verb

17. SUBJECT-AUXILIARY INVERSION
Auxiliary verbs differ from lexical verbs and have several distinctive properties. The two most important properties are as follows:
SUBJECT-AUXILIARY INVERSION
AUXILIARY VERB
TYPE OF CLAUSE
She has taken the money.
declarative
Has she taken the money?
interrogative
LEXICAL VERB
TYPE OF CLAUSE
1. She takes the money.
declarative
2. *Takes she the money.
interrogative
Inversion from invert meaning a change in the position

18. Subject-auxiliary inversion refers to the placement of the subject after (instead of before) the auxiliary. Has she taken the money? Is she happy? How do we form the interrogative of “She takes the money”
Dummy do+ lexical verb
Dummy do+ auxiliary verb
Does she take the money?
*Does she have taken the money.

19. 2. Negation
Auxiliaries differ from lexical verbs with respect to negation in two ways.
2.1
AUXILIARY
LEXICAL VERB
She has taken the money
She takes the money
Positive
She has not taken the money
* She takes not the money.
Negative
The simplest type of negative clause construction (i.e. not) is permitted with auxiliary verbs but not with lexical verbs.

20. To form the negative of She takes the money, we added dummy do, just as we did in interrogatives. Dummy do cannot combine with another auxiliary verb.
Dummy do + lexical verb
Dummy do +auxiliary verb
She does not take the money.
* She does not have taken the money.

21. Note: The term inflectional form vs contractions
2.2
Preterite
He couldn’t swim
She wouldn’t help us
They hadn’t finished.
Present
He can’t swim
She won’t help us.
They haven’t finished.
Auxiliaries have negative inflectional forms. They all end in n’t. No lexical verb ends in n’t *tookn’t.
Note: The term inflectional form vs contractions

22. Properties of Modal Auxiliaries Lack of secondary inflectional forms
Modals have only primary forms and hence simply cannot occur in constructions requiring a secondary form- a plain form, a gerund-participle, or past participle.
Page 39

23. B. No 3rd singular agreement form in the present tense Modals show no agreement with the subject. There are no special 3rd singular forms (*cans, *mays, *musts). C. Bare infinitival complement Prototypical modal auxiliaries take a single complement with the form of a bare infinitival clause. Example: They should walk

24. Dually classified verbs A few verbs belong to both auxiliary and lexical verb classes, showing auxiliary behavior under certain circumstances and lexical behavior under other circumstances. The main ones are do, have, need and dare. We will take a closer look at do and have for now.

25. Do Dummy do is an auxiliary , but in other uses do is a lexical verb
Do Dummy do is an auxiliary , but in other uses do is a lexical verb. She did her best. Auxiliary or lexical? Negation: She didn’t do her best. Interrogative: Did she do her best? Lexical

26. Have
Have is always an auxiliary when it marks perfect tense (have + past participle).
When it occurs in clauses describing states, expressing meanings such as possession He has a lot of money. Most speakers treat it as a lexical verb.
Dynamic have occurs in clauses describing events. He had an argument. Dynamic have is always lexical.

27. Examples from page 40

28. Uses of Modal Auxiliaries
Modal auxiliaries have three main meanings: epistemic, deontic, and dynamic. The first two are the most central ones. Epistemic vs deontic 1. Epistemic modality expresses meanings relating to what is necessary or possible given what we know (or believe). In other words, it refers to logical probability. The term is derived from the Greek word for “knowledge.”

29. 2. Deontic probability is related to what is required or permitted
2. Deontic probability is related to what is required or permitted. It is derived from the Greek word for “obligation.”
Epistemic or deontic usage?
He must have overslept Epistemic
He must apologize Deontic
She may be ill Epistemic
You may leave the room Deontic
We should call the police. Deontic
The storm should be over soon. Epistemic

30. Some expressions are ambiguous
You must be very organized.
I have evidence that leads me to believe you are organized. Epistemic
There is an obligation or need for you to be organized. Deontic

31. 3. Dynamic usage refers to the properties or dispositions (attitudes) of persons or other entities involved in the situation.
She can speak five languages.
I’ve asked him to help but he won’t.
I daren’t tell you anymore.
Some expressions are ambiguous
You can’t be serious. Epistemic/dynamic
She can drive Deontic/dynamic

32. Quiz next week – Chapters 1-3