Lesson 3 - Verbs and Verb Phrases

Verbs and Verb Elements

According to Lesson 1, there are two types of verbs: A. Main Verbs and B. Auxiliary Verbs.

The verb element is the only sentence element that is required by all sentences. The function of verb element of a sentence is performed by a verb or a verb phrase, which consists of one or more auxiliary verbs and a main verb. Indeed, verb and verb element are closely related, but they are not synonymous. Yet, the verb element is often referred to as “verb” for brevity.

It has been pointed out that a main verb has five forms: (1) base form, (2) s-form, (3) past tense, (4) present participle and (5) past participle. In terms of their usages, these five forms of a main verb can be combined into two groups: (a) Finite verbs V_f and (b) Nonfinite verbs V_nf.

(a) Finite verbs V_f - The first three forms, (1) base form, (2) s-form, (3) past tense, are

referred to as “finite verbs” for which the subscript f is used. They are referred to as

finite verbs because their use is “limited” to functioning as the verb elements for

the three simple tenses. These three forms of finite verbs are also referred to as

“predicate verbs” because the verb element is the first element of the predicate,

(b) Nonfinite verbs V_nf - The remaining two forms, (4) present participle and (5) past

participle, of a main verb are nonfinite verbs as indicated by the subscripts nf. These

two forms of the main verb are also referred to as non-predicate verbs because they

cannot function as verb element in predicates.

The present participle and past participle are referred to as verbals, which is also known as “quasi verb”, which means “resembling but not really” a verb.

Three Important Verbs: Be, Have, Do (Auxiliary Verbs)

There are two types of auxiliary verbs.

The three primary auxiliary verbs be, have, and do which can also function as main verbs.

The modal auxiliary verbs have only finite forms, though the three primary auxiliary verbs, being also main verbs, have finite as well as nonfinite forms.

The finite-form verbs are predicate verbs. The following is a summary of all forms of the three primary auxiliary verbs be, have, and do:

As main verbs, they contribute to lexical meanings of sentences. As auxiliary verbs, they perform grammatical functions to express tense, aspect, modality, or voice. The two different usages are summarized as follows:

Finite Verbs (Vf) as Verb Elements

The verb element for (A)1 simple present tense is realized by a finite main verb (predicate verb), (1) base form or (2) s-form, and the verb element for (A)2 simple past tense is realized by the finite main verb (predicate verb)（3）past tense without the need of any auxiliary verb as shown below:

Uses of Verbals (Vnf)

The two nonfinite main verbs V_nf : (4) present participles and (5) past participles, are denoted as verbals. Though they are two forms of verbs, they cannot be used as verbs. However, they can be used as adjectives or nouns.

The following are illustrative sentences in which the noun phrases above are embedded:

1. I am bothered by a barking dog.

2. A barking dog kept me awake last night.

3. His willingness to come is an encouraging sign.

4. The drop of unemployment figure was an encouraging sign.

5. That sleeping baby just woke up.

6. That sleeping baby is as lovely as an angel.

7. Our president has given an inspiring speech.

8. The nation was moved by his inspiring speech.

9. A falling body will sooner or later hit the earth.

10. Students are studying the motion of a falling body.

As can be seen from the examples above, the use of present participle is not restricted to the present tense.

The use of present participles for continuous tenses is well-known to English learners. However, its use does not always indicate the continuous tense as shown in the above examples. When used to indicate continuous tense, it must rely on the help of a finite continuous tense auxiliary verb “be”. It is the continuous auxiliary verb “be” in the verb phrase that expresses tense, but not the present participle. Besides, as a verbal (nonfinite verb), the present participle can never be used as a verb to function as a verb element. It should be emphasized that the adjective “present” in “present participle” has nothing to do with the present time either.

(c). Use of past participle

A past participle, like present participle is not being a bona fide verb, It cannot be used to function as a verb element. Not being a verb, it also has nothing to do with the past time. But it can be used to modifiers in noun phrases.

The noun phrases above are embedded in the following examples:

1. The ground is/was covered with fallen leaves (leaves that have/had fallen).

2. The floor is covered with pieces of the broken glass (the glass that was broken).

3. They have/had found the lost key (the key that was lost).

4. The police recovered the stolen goods (the goods that had been stolen).

5. Her English teacher is a retired physics professor (a professor who has retired).

In addition to present participles and past participles, we must also include the infinitives. An infinitive is defined as “to+base form of main verb”. It should be noted that the word “to” that precedes the main verb is not a preposition. The infinitives also cannot be used to function as the verb element but can be used as follows:

Verb Phrases

In English grammar, there are the following 12 tenses.

Among the 12 tenses above, the 3 finite verbs V_f, namely, (1) base form, (2) s-form, and (3) past tense, can function as the verb element of (A)1 simple present tense and (A)2 simple past tense. The verb elements of the remaining 10 tenses have to be realized by verb phrases VP consisting of an appropriate auxiliary verb and a non-finite verb, present participle or past participle.

We define the verb phrase as follows:

· VP = AV_1f + RVP = AV_1f AV_2f AV_3f AV_4f + Main Verb

(1) Auxiliary verb part

AV₁ denotes the only finite auxiliary verb, or the first auxiliary verb among all auxiliary verbs in the verb phrase. The two subscripts1and f at the lower right corner of AV_1f denote “first finite form of the auxiliary verb”.

· AV_1f, the first or only auxiliary in VP, can be AV_conf, AV_perf or AV_mod. The subscripts

(i) the subscript conf denotes continuous tense and finite.

(ii) the subscript perf denotes perfect tense and finite.

The reason why the auxiliary verb AV_1f is singled out is that AV_1f is the only member in the verb phrase that must agree with the subject in person and number (subject-verb agreement) and conform to tense. Because the first term AV_1f is a finite auxiliary verb, the verb phrase VP is finite. All the relevant auxiliary verbs are shown below:

When all the four listed auxiliary verbs are needed, they are arranged in the order shown in the table above as AV_mod, AV_per, AV_con and V_pas. If any of them is not needed, it can simply be skipped over without changing the order of the remaining auxiliary verbs.

The form of any auxiliary verb in the chain depends on the auxiliary verb immediately ahead

(2) Main verb part

The main verb is the head of all verb phrases. It provides the lexical and grammatical meanings to verb phrases. It can be a linking verb, a transitive verb, or an intransitive verb. No matter how many auxiliary verbs there are in the verb phrase, the main verb is always the last member of the verb phrase.

Regarding verb phrases, the following three points should be noted:

In accordance with tense and voice, a verb phrase can have one or more auxiliary verbs in it. The following table shows the number and forms of auxiliary verb or verbs that can possibly be present in the RVP for the twelve tenses:

Summary of Verb Elements for Twelve Tenses

The following illustrates the make-up of various verb phrases for various tenses by using the verb “give” as an example.

Modal Auxiliary Verbs

Modal auxiliary verbs do not vary with person or number as main verbs do and have only two finite forms: base form and past tense. For instance:

However, the past tense of modal verbs does not necessarily denote past time as other auxiliary verbs do. They are used to express mood, such as politeness, necessity, suggestion and possibility. For instance:

(1) May I have a cup of tea?

(2) Could I borrow your pen?

(3) Could we invite him to the party?

(4) Would you please let me through?

(5) Would you mind if I did not go?

(c) 2019 Augustine C. Chen