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Verb Subclasses in English

The first subdivision is drawn between auxillary and lexical, verbs.Wrote is a lexical verb.The distinction between lexical and auxiliary verbs is drawn on the basis of three grammatical processes: Interrogation, negation and proform.The lexical verb is the head element and comes last in the complex noun phrase; the elements preceding the head are auxiliaries.(A) Interrogation

In Interrogative sentences the auxiliary verb to placed before the subject.(B) Negation

In negative sentencs, 'not' is placed after the auxiliary.'will is an auxiliary verb because it can be placed before the subject 'she'.In (4) the verb 'wrote' cannot be placed before the subject; it is therefore not an auxiliary.In such sentences the form 'Do' is used as auxiliary.In (7) It is not possible to place 'not' after the verb and turn the sentence Into negative; the verb is not auxiliary.In (3)

3.She will read this story.Will she read this story?When will she read this story?4.She wrote a letter.*Wrote she a letter?5.Did she write a letter?What did she write?6.She will read this book.She will not read this book.7.She wrote a letter.

Verb Subclasses in English

The first subdivision is drawn between auxillary and lexical, verbs. The lexical verb is the head element and comes last in the complex noun phrase; the elements preceding the head are auxiliaries. The distinction between lexical and auxiliary verbs is drawn on the basis of three grammatical processes: Interrogation, negation and proform.

(A) Interrogation

In Interrogative sentences the auxiliary verb to placed before the sübject.

In (3)

3. She will read this story. Will she read this story?

When will she read this story?

'will is an auxiliary verb because it can be placed before the subject 'she'. In (4) the verb 'wrote' cannot be placed before the subject; it is therefore not an auxiliary.

4. 
   

   She wrote a letter. *Wrote she a letter? Wrote is a lexical verb. In such sentences the form 'Do' is used as auxiliary.

   
   


5. 
   

   Did she write a letter? What did she write?

   
   

(B) Negation

In negative sentencs, 'not' is placed after the auxiliary.

6. She will read this book. She will not read this book.

In (7) It is not possible to place 'not' after the verb and turn the sentence Into negative; the verb is not auxiliary.

7. 
   

   She wrote a letter. "She wrote not a letter.Here too the auxillary 'Do' is needed to carry 'not'.

   
   


8. 
   

   She did not write a letter.

   
   

(C) Proform

The word 'proform' means a word which stands for another word or words. In the sentence

9. 
   

   She likes oranges and so does her brother 'does' stands for 'likes', it functions as proform and is therefore an auxiliary. In (10), on the other hand, It is not possible to use the verb. 'wrote' as proform; It is not an auxiliary.

   
   


10. 
    

    She wrote a letter and so wrote All.

    
    

Again the verb 'Do' is used asan auxiliary proform.

11. She wrote a letter and so did All.

It is clear from the above discussion that dividing the verb class into auxiliary and lexical is grammatically Important because the auxiliary verb performs certain grammatical function, whereas the lexical verb carries the meaning.

The auxiliary verbs in English belong to a closed system and they can be listed. They are: Be, Have, Do, Shall (Should), Will (Would). Can (Could), May(Might), Must, Ought to, Need and Dare.

It is not necessary that only one member of the auxiliary group should occur in a sentence at a time. It is possible to find up to four auxiliaries in one sentence. In each of these sentences more than one auxlitary is found.

12. 
    

    She will be reading the book.

    
    


13. 
    

    She may have been reading the book.

    
    

A four-element auxillary, though rare, is also found in, for example:

"He may have been being examined. In sentences where more than two auxiliaries are found it is useful to distinguish between the first auxiliary and the others because it is the first auxiliary which is used in Interrogation, negation and as proform