THE VERB PHRASE

Budi Jayadi
Srihidayanti

THE VERB PHRASE

The constituency of verb strings
Time and tense
Lexical verbs and auxiliary verbs
Auxiliary verbs
Lexical have, be and do
Classes of lexical verbs
Trees
Points to remember

THE CONSTITUENCY OF VERB STRINGS

Look at the following sentences:
Their inventor has created a new bunch of
cartoon losers with Futurama.
The Y3K bug is threatening to bring down society.
Parents cant accuse me of providing a bad role
model for kids, because he is only a robot.
They have been eaten by owls.
The show might meander.

AUXILIARY
FINITE
VERB
LEXICAL
VERBS
STRINGS
VERB

THE CONSTITUENCY OF VERB STRINGS

Look at the following sentences:
Their inventor has created a new bunch of
cartoon losers with Futurama.
VERB STRING = A unit (in which the meanings of
the auxiliaries modify the meaning of the lexical
verb)

Does has form a constituent just with the verb

created or with the whole verb phrase created
a new bunch of cartoon losers with
Futurama?

THE CONSTITUENCY OF VERB STRINGS

THE CONSTITUENCY OF VERB STRINGS

CONSTITUENCY
TEST

THE CONSTITUENCY OF VERB STRINGS

Verb string

One, two, three

or four
auxiliaries

No status
structurally

Lexical verb

THE CONSTITUENCY OF VERB STRINGS

has, is, cant, have

and might = special
verbs
The complement to
these verbs are VP

THE CONSTITUENCY OF VERB STRINGS

One word modifiers in between the verbs in a verb
string
Look at the following sentences:
Parents can not accuse me of providing a bad role
model for kids, because he is only robot.
People should first take their pants down before they
One-word
start fighting.
I will probably dream up a few songs.

adverbials

I might just break the rules to go to the loo.

TIME AND TENSE

TIME AND TENSE

Time

A matter of
when events
take place

TIME AND TENSE

Reasons to make the distinction:

NON-PAST

TIME AND TENSE

Examples:

TIME AND TENSE

No future tense in English, but many different ways
to talk about the future.

TIME AND TENSE

LEXICAL VERBS AND AUXILIARY VERBS

LEXICAL VERBS AND AUXILIARY VERBS

LEXICAL VERBS AND AUXILIARY VERBS

Important
condition:
the verb
preceding the
subject must
be of special
kind an
operator

LEXICAL VERBS AND AUXILIARY VERBS

Important
condition:
Negation
requires
special kind of
verbs an
operator

LEXICAL VERBS AND AUXILIARY VERBS

To be an
operator:
- Finite
- Only the
first can be
finite in a
verb string

AUXILIARY VERBS

AUXILIARY VERBS

AUXILIARY VERBS

AUXILIARY VERBS

Plausibilit
y

AUXILIARY VERBS

AUXILIARY VERBS

AUXILIARY VERBS

AUXILIARY VERBS

AUXILIARY VERBS

AUXILIARY VERBS

The
modal
will
Present
AUXILIARY VERBS
+ the tense
adverbial
Examples of the auxiliary of the perfect by
have:
this
times
The
auxiliary
Therenext
are
definite
year
=
of
the
perfect
The Simpson has delivered hip irreverence and
difference
future
have in
is
clever satire for more than ten years
now.
Past
tense
tense.
Have
is inby
bare
followed
its
The
three
infinitive
= part
It was puerile, silly and immature and
everyone
PPART
form
sentences
have
of
the
delivered,
who saw it thought it was a work of side-splitting
something
in
complement
been
and
wonder. The cult of South Park had been
born.
common
will
become
By this time next year they will have become a
ratings goldmine.

AUXILIARY VERBS

AUXILIARY VERBS

Speech
time and
reference
time =
now
(coincide)

Event
time =
ten years
ago up to
now

AUXILIARY VERBS

The time at which the statement is made (S) now

The time on which the statement focuses (R) some time
prior to now, some people saw South Park and liked it
The event the statement talks (E) some time prior to some
people saw and liked it, the cult of South Park was born.

AUXILIARY VERBS

Between S (now) and R, there is a year, and some time

between those two points the event of becoming a ratings
gold mine happens.

AUXILIARY VERBS
What can we learn from the three examples?
The sentence have something in common, E precedes R, i.e.
that the event happened (or started happening) before the
time we are focusing on.
Past tense refers to an event that happened in the past, i.e.
before now.
The confusion is between before the time we are focusing on
and before now.
The event can be in the future as long as it is before the focus
point.

AUXILIARY VERBS
What can we learn from the three examples?
Perfect aspect is a way of indicating the relation between the focus
point and the time at which the event took place.
Tense is a way indicating the relation between focus time and speech
time.
In the first sentence, focus time and speech time coincide and we get
present tense.
In the second one, focus time precedes the speech time and we get
past tense.
When the focus time is in the future, after S, we get future indication.

AUXILIARY VERBS

First sentence: the focus time is now,

and the event time also now.
Second sentence: we are focusing on
a time in the past (that is, past from
the time of the utterance), a time at
which the event tool place.

AUXILIARY VERBS

THE AUXILIARY OF THE PROGRESSIVE BE

The progressive be is followed by a verb in its ing. It follows modals
and perfect have if they co-occur, but precedes the auxiliary of the
passive.
The progressive aspect is used to indicate that something is in
progress, that it hasnt been completed or that it is temporary.
In present tense, the progressive is used when an activity is temporary
rather than a more or less permanent characteristic of the subject.
The examples we compared then were:
He smokes, drinks, betrays people and has no guilt whatsoever.
He is smoking and drinking

the interpretation of limited duration also means

that the progressive goes better with some
adverbials than the simple present.
Example:
Terry is sleeping rough at the moment
In the past, the progressive is often use to
emphasize the fact that some thing is in progress.
Example:
Just as parker and Stone were running out of cash

It is difficult to decide why the progressive is used.

Compare the following two sentences:
One episode, Big Gay Als Big Gay Boat Ride, makes a
strong and touching stand against homophobia.
One episode, Big Gay Als Big Gay Boat Ride, is making a
strong and touching stand against homophobia.

The progressive interacts with tense and perfect

aspect, so that we can get the following:
Parker and Stone are running out of cash
(present progressive)
Parker and Stone were running out of cash (past
progressive)
Parker and Stone have been running out of cash
(present perfect progressive)
Parker and Stone had been running out of cash
(past perfect progressive)
Parker and Stone will be running out of cash
(modal perfect progressive)

THE AUXILIARY OF THE PASSIVE BE

The passive be takes a complement headed by a verb in its
PPART form. If the passive be co-occurs with other auxiliary
verbs it follows them.
A passive sentence is formed by promoting an object to a
subject and simultaneously demoting the subject to a byphrase or leaving it out all together.
This can only be done if the auxiliary of the passive is
inserted and the verb following it is changed into its ppart
form.

Passives can be used both when one wants to highlight the object,
and when one wants to put less emphasis on the subject or omit it
altogether
Example:
Manhattan has been destroyed and rebuilt.
Not all passive clauses have the be auxiliary, some contain get
instead.
Example:
I get called lots of things as a politician, so being named after a
breakfast cereal is pretty mild, really.

THE DUMMY AUXILIARY

There is one auxiliary which doesnt seem to have much in the line of
semantics. All it seems to do is to function as the operator when
there is no other auxiliary present. This is the dummy auxiliary do.
Example:
The sloth-like Homer Simpson and his knuckel-headed mishaps
became essential viewing.
In order to turn these into interrogatives or in order to negate them
we need to insert a for of do:
Example:
Did the simpsons revolutionise cartoons?

SUMMING UP AUXILIARIES
AUXILIARY VERB

Auxiliary

Form of
complement

Contracted
form

Contracted
negated form

Core modals:
can, could,
may, might,
shall, should,
will, would,
must

V (BARE)

ll for will
d for would

cant, couldnt,
mightnt,
shant,
shouldnt,
wont,
wouldnt,
mustnt

Perfect aspect:
have

V (PPART)

Pres ve, s,
past d

havent,
hasnt, hadnt

Progressive
aspect:: be

V (ING)

Pres m, re, s

Arent, isnt,
wasnt, werent

Passive voice:
be

V (PPART)

m, re, s

Arent, isnt
wasnt werent

Dummy
auxiliary: do

V (BARE)

Dont, doesnt,
didnt

COMBINATION OF AUXILIARY VERB

Auxiliary Verb
Modal

perfect

Main verb
progressi passive
ve

We

Must

We

Must

Have

We

Must

Have

Been

south must
park

have

been

Watch

south
park

Watche
d

south
park

Watchin south
g
park
being

watche
d

LEXICAL HAVE, BE AND DO

Have, be and do are auxiliary verbs; they can functions as
operators and they are followed by a verbal complement.
Example:
Hey Spock, do the thing!
The reply from Spock to the question posed above is:
I dont do that anymore
We couldnt say I dont that anymore because we need to
introduce dummy do to negate the sentence or to make an
interrogative
Do I do that anymore?
Conclusion: lexical do is just like any other lexical verb.

 Lexical be doesnt need dummy do in order to negate

or to make an interrogative .
Example:
Scented bras arent on their way.
Lexical do cant function as an operator, lexical be can
function as an operator
I dont have as much money as you think
John Lennon clearly though of lexical have as a proper
lexical verb; the operator required to use negation is
dummy do in this example

 Sometimes when dummy do is used in the sentence, the tag

question still may have lexical have as an operator:
Example:
I dont have as much money as you think, have I ?
Do as a lexical verb behaves exactly as you would expect a
lexical verb to behave
Lexical be can function as an operator and doesnt permit
dummy do
Lexical have can function as an operator in some environments,
but not in others, and there is also variation between speakers.

CLASSES OF LEXICAL VERB

Intransitive Verbs
Intransitive verbs do not require any objects or complements, they
dont permit any to be present.
Example:
The Empire State Building still stands.
Some intransitive verbs take something called a cognitive object, i.e.
an object very closely related in meaning to the verb itself. This is a
noun phrase that is lexically related to the verb.
She was laughing a sort of triumphant laugh.
These cognate objects are typically used for expressive purposes and
must be accompanied by modifiers, otherwise the sentence becomes
unacceptable

MONO-TRANSITIVE VERBS
Mono transitive verbs take one object, which will always be a
direct object.
Example:
The Simpsons revolutionized cartoons.
There are other verbs which seem to be followed by a
preposition phrase.
Example:
Ono generally looked at Lennon lovingly.

There is another sub-type of mono-transitive verbs which look

similar to prepositional verbs
Example:
I picked up a strange young passenger the other day
The object can occur between the verb and the preposition; this is
not possible with prepositional verbs.
Example:
I picked a strange young passenger up the other day
This kind of mono-transitive verb where the object can occur
between the verb and the particle is then called a PHRASAL VERB.

Sometimes when the object is left out, the verb may

acquire a slightly different or more specific meaning.
Example:
Bender, the neurotic and corrupt robot, drinks.
Bender, the neurotic and corrupt robot, drinks only
mineral water.

DI-TRANSITIVE VERBS
A di-transitive verb takes two objects, a direct object and an indirect
one. The indirect object always precedes the direct one.
Example:
Baker gives the novel a real sense of chaos.
The indirect object is really an object by creating the corresponding
passive sentences.
Example:
The novel is given a real sense of chaos by Baker.

It can only become the subject of a corresponding passive if the

indirect object occurs in its PP form.
Example:
A real sense of chaos is given to the novel by Baker
Vs
A real sense of chaos is given the novel by Baker
Indirect objects can normally be replaced by a preposition phrase
(PP) involving prepositions such as to or for, but then they move to
the other side of the direct object.
Example:
Baker gives a real sense of chaos to the novel.

As with mono-transitive verbs, the object are usually

NPs, but can also be PPs. The direct object can also be
clausal.
Example:
I ask him if he believes everybody should be middle
class
There are mono-transitive verbs where the object is
optional. This is also true of many di-transitive verbs.
Example:
I ask if believes everybody should be middle class

Some verbs allow either object to be deleted.

Example:
She taught young students linguistics.
She taught young students.
She taught linguistics.
There are also di-transitive verb where neither object can be
deleted.
Example:
Baker gives the novel.
Baker gives a real sense of chaos.

INTENSIVE VERBS
Intensive verbs take one predicative complement and are sometimes
also referred to as copular verbs or complex intransitive.
Example:
You can get complacent.
The predicative complement of an intensive verb is a subject
complement.
The main characteristic of a predicative complement is that it refers to
the same entity as something else in the sentence, in this case the
subject.

The predicative complement is normally either a noun phrase or

an adjective phrase. However they can also be clausal.
Example:
The fact is that its the numbers with nine on the end that are
really spooky.
There is a further type of sentence which different linguists look
at in different ways, and many introductory syntax books avoid
altogether.
Example:
I was in a deep purple haze.
Its in a majestic location.

COMPLEX TRANSITIVE VERBS

Verb which require one object and predicative complement are called
complex transitive verbs. The object is a direct object and the
predicate complement is an object complement.
Example:
Dont call comedian Alex Boardman a bit of a lad.
Just as with the subject complement of some verbs, we will claim that
the object complement can also be a PP.
Example:
Thatcherism drove many radical young English people into exile.

The first element following the verb is clearly an object since we can make it a
passive sentence in which it is the subject.
Example:
Many radical young English people were driven into exile by Thatcherism.
This sentence may be grammatical, but with a very different meaning.
Thatcherism drove many radical young English people
Compare it with one that clearly contains an optional adjunct.
Margaret drove the car into town.
There is example of what look like clausal object complements:
I found myself asking many of questions.

TREES
The auxiliaries can be said to put the following restrictions on
their VP complements:
Modals

will, may, etc. + V (BARE)

Auxiliary of the perfect: have + V (PPART)

Auxiliary of progressive:
Auxiliary of passive:

be + V (ING)

be + V (PPART)

POINTS TO REMEMBER
Auxiliary verbs are verbs with functional rather than lexical content.
They take a VP complement and each auxiliary verb requires that
complement to have a particular form. Auxiliary verbs can function
as operators in the formation of yesno-interrogatives (by inverting
with the subject) and sentence negation.
Modal verbs combine with BARE infinitive VPs and have quite
complex semantics.
There are two aspects in English: perfect and progressive. The
auxiliary of the perfect have requires its VP complement to occur in
its PPART form and the auxiliary of the progressive be combines with
a VP in its -ing form.

POINTS TO REMEMBER
The passive auxiliary be takes a PPART VP complement and
indicates passive voice.
When an operator is required and no other auxiliary is
available, the dummy auxiliary do is used. It combines with a
VP in its BARE form.
Many auxiliary verbs have abbreviated forms which can attach
to certain subjects. They also have special negative forms, with
nt attached. In some cases the auxiliary with the contracted
negation has a different interpretation from the one with the
independent negation.

POINTS TO REMEMBER
It is important to keep time and tense separate. Time is
something in the real world that we think of as having a past, a
present and a future. Tense, on the other hand, is a verb form.
In English, there are two tenses, present (or non-past) and
past. Present tense can be marked to refer to both past and
future time. In fact, the use of the simple present tense to refer
to present time is relatively rare in English. Past tense can also
be used to refer to the future. There is no future tense in
English but many different ways of referring to future time.
Lexical verbs can be subdivided according to the complements
they require: intransitive, mono-transitive, di-transitive,
intensive and complex transitive. Cutting across these

POINTS TO REMEMBER
Apart from the auxiliary verbs have, be and do, there are also
three lexical verbs have, be and do. Lexical have, and even
more so the lexical be, retain auxiliary-like properties even
when functioning as lexical verbs.