Lecture 5. Form-class Words Verbs Structure-class Words Auxiliaries. English 3318: Studies in English Grammar. Dr. Svetlana Nuernberg

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1 Lecture 5 English 3318: Studies in English Grammar Form-class Words Verbs Structure-class Words Auxiliaries Dr. Svetlana Nuernberg

2 Form-Class Words Structure- Class Words Objectives Verbs Verb Derivational Affixes Verb Inflectional Affixes Verb Sub-classes Auxiliaries Structure-Class Versus Form-Class Word

3 Verbs Verbs have been defined traditionally as words that express action true for almost all prototypical verb: sit, speak, write, read doesn't help to distinguish between verbs and words that are or can be nouns naming actions: attack, storm, delivery, departure nouns can behave as verbs: He will head home at 5pm as a result we are also looking for an agent (someone who does) performing an action: The baby ate we recognize that verbs name states and conditions: The cat lay before the fire; The house remained unlocked over the weekend

4 Verbs Recognition Because it is impossible to identify all verbs as actions and all actions as verbs, speakers use clues some verbs are recognizable by form created from other parts of speech using verb-making derivational morphemes: falsify, enrage their ability to change form through inflection: 3 rd person singular eats; past tense ate; past participle - eating without a context it is impossible to tell whether words like head/heads or dog/dogs are verbs or nouns function can help: verbs can be negated (The baby didn't eat), can be put into commands (Eat!) and can follow a modal auxiliary (You must eat) Verbs fit into this Frame Sentence: They must (it). or the alternative: They must good.

5 Verbs Derivational Affixes Many of the root words, or bases, that take nounforming suffixes are verbs to begin with: most nouns with {-ion} are formed from verbs deriving verbs from other form classes is less common most likely is to turn a noun into a verb without changing its form functional shift: to chair a meeting, to roof the house, to cook dishes, to coat a wall with paint, to seed the lawn Verb-forming affixes can turn nouns and adjectives into verbs: -ify typify; -en darken; -ate activate; -ize - legalize Prefixes en-, be-, de-, dis- : enable, enchant, encourage, bedevil, bewitched, derail, disable

6 Verb Inflectional Suffixes The verb-expansion rule describes the system of adding auxiliaries and inflectional suffixes to verbs. As a clue in identifying a verb, the inflectional suffixes are extremely reliable all verbs with one or two exceptions even those with irregular -en and -ed forms have both -s and -ing forms every verb has the other three forms as well base, the -d and -en may not be as recognizable: hit, put, cast, hurt, shut, split and spread the -s and the -ing are exactly like those of every other verb: hitting, putting, casting, hits, casts, puts A word that doesn't have an -s or an -ing is not a verb

7 Rules of Thumb Tests for Verbs Formal Proof 1. Has verb-making morpheme 2. Can occur with present-tense morpheme 3. Can occur with past-tense morpheme 4. Can occur with present-participle morpheme 5. Can occur with past-participle morpheme criticize criticizes criticized criticizing criticized Functional Proof 6. Can be made into a command Criticize this novel! 7. Can be made negative They didn't criticize the novel 8. Can fit in one of the frame They must (it). sentences They must good.

8 Exercise 1 Decide whether each of the following words is a noun, a verb, or neither, or both, using the test for membership in those classes. Example: globe noun only. occurs with plural (globes); occurs with possessive (the globe's axis); can follow an article (a globe); fits in frame sentence (The globe seems all right) Cannot be a verb: *They globbed it. frighten, costume, treat, princess, tot, fantasize, candy, bewitch

9 Verb Subclasses Regular Irregular Intransitive Verbs Transitive Verbs Linking Verbs

10 Intransitive Verbs Intransitive Verbs are identified by what they don't have that other verbs must have other verbs must be followed immediately by either noun phrases or adjective phrases intransitive verbs can end sentences, or they can be followed by adverbs For example: The mayor spoke. Garfield slept. Birds fly. The yeast rose. The baby panda cried softly. Toni Morrison writes exclusively. The Titanic sank in The volcano erupted with the destructive force of an atomic bomb The formula for them is NP VI (Adverb)

11 Linking Verbs Linking Verbs cannot end sentences or be followed by adverbs must be followed by nouns or adjectives (single or multiple words) comprise a small class of probably no more than a few dozen or so, including: seem, become, remain and the verbs of senses: taste, smell, sound, look and feel For example: The president looked weary The lasagna tasted scrumptious Silas remained an honest man Clark Kent becomes Superman

12 Transitive Verbs Must be followed by noun phrases unlike the nouns that follow the linking verbs, the nouns that follow the transitive verbs do not rename their subjects: they are not predicate nouns, they are direct objects The secretary typed the letter President Clinton supported the health care bill Can usually be turned into passive sentences, where subjects and objects are inverted Coyotes destroyed the carcass The carcass was destroyed by coyotes The victory of the women's soccer team captivated the nation - The nation was captivated by the victory of the women's soccer team

13 Auxiliaries Like the determiners and the other structure classes, the auxiliary class is limited in membership and closed to new members. counting the forms of have and be, the modals, and the forms of do, the list of auxiliaries is around 2 dozen have be can do has is could does had are will did having am would was shall were should been may being might must ought to

14 Marginal Modals The following modal-like verbs also function as auxiliaries semi-auxiliaries or marginal modals: have to be going to used to be to We have to leave soon. We're going to take the bus to Iowa City today. We used to live there. The bus is to leave at noon. other phrasal modals are often listed with marginal modals, they are: be able to be due to be meant to be obliged to be supposed had better dare need

15 Contrasts Between Form and Structure Classes Form Classes 1. They are open-ended, not limited in the number of their members 2. Their members usually undergo changes in form 3. Their members usually have lexical meaning Structure Classes 1. They are mostly closed, relatively small groups 2. Their members generally do not change form 3. Their members have mostly grammatical meaning