Download Chapter 3: Expanding Verb Phrases

Chapter 3:
Expanding Verb Phrases
Instructor: Lubna Bahammma
Badriyyah AL-Shareef
The Main Verb
Is the verb phrase constituent
that contains the verb along with the
elements that mark the categories
“tense”, “modality”, and “aspect”
that indicate the STATUS of the
verb.
Tense, Modality, and Aspect
Are joined together under one category called
“tense” in some books.
 Are separate but closely related grammatical
concepts.
 They differ from each other in both form and
meaning.
 They may overlap with real-world time but aren’t
always the same thing.
 It is easier to view the status of the main verb as
composed of three concepts rather than one.

Tense, Modality, and Aspect occur
as distinct forms
They are marked in three different ways.
 For Example:
 The past tense of PLAY is showed by the –ed
ending in played.
 The condition or modality (or mood) of it is
shown by the word MIGHT in might play or by
WILL in will play.
 The perfective aspect is expressed by the word
HAS in the phrase has played.
 The progressive aspect is indicated by the word IS
and the –ing ending in the phrase is playing.

Again: The Main Verb
Is the verb along with the forms that show
its tense, modality, and aspect (the might or
will, has, and is in the example above) which
are called its AUXILIARY ELEMENTS.
1. Tense
 Tense
determines the physical form of a verb.
 Tense is the only one of the three main verb
concepts that must occur in the verb phrase
predicate of a sentence.
 English verbs exhibit only two tense forms:
PAST and PRESENT (in terms of grammatical
concept tense that changes the form of the verb,
not of real-world time).
 They can easily be referred to as Form 1 and
Form 2 to eliminate confusion.
How related is Tense to real time?

The past tense form clearly relates to past time,
but the present tense form does not necessarily
mean the action of the verb is taking place at the
present time, perhaps it is a common practice, or
something that is habitually done.
Examples of how the present tense does
not have to relate to present time:
What did your neighbor do last night?
My neighbor walked her dog.
What does your neighbor do for exercise?
My neighbor walks her dog.
She is not walking her dog at the present time;
nonetheless, she walks her dog habitually, it is a
routine.
In early comic books, Superman defeats villain after
villain. But in a recent book-length comic, a villain
kills Superman.
 Here, the present tense form is used to mean a past
time idea.

When does your plane leave?
My plane leaves in three hours.

In this case, it is used to indicate future time.
How do we indicate tense on a tree
diagram?
The status of the main verb (MV), Past/present,
is noted after the colon,
MV: Past
MV: Pres.
This status will be expanded as we go on this
lesson.
Example 1:
S
VP: Pred
NP: Subj
MV: Past
PosPron
My
N
neighbor
VT
Walked
NP: DObj
PosPron
N
her
dog
Example 2
S
VP: Pred
NP: Subj
MV: Pres.
NP: DObj
Adv: Adv-frequ
N
Superman
VT
defeats
N
Lex Luther
again and again
Definition of a Sentence
Because tense is necessary for a verb phrase to be a
predicate, we can expand our previous definition of a
sentence.
 It is not simply a noun phrase subject plus a verb
phrase; it is a noun phrase subject plus a verb
phrase that contains tense.
 If there is no tense, there is no predicate, and
therefore there is no sentence.
 A verb that has tense is said to be FINITE
 A verb that is not in a tense form is called an
INFINITIVE, also BASE FORM.

2. Modality/Mood
Mood denotes the purpose of a sentence.
 The mood of a sentence is related to its form.
 Notions about purpose –






To make statements: Huda was born in 1996. (Indicative-the
normal unmarked mood- you don’t have to mention it)
To ask questions: When was Huda born? (Interrogative
mood)
To issue commands/orders: Close the door behind you.
(Imperative mood)
To indicate possibility or eventuality: Saudi women can hold
high positions in the government. (Conditional mood)
These are called MOOD, or MODALITY.
How to Construct the Conditional
Mood:
We make sentences conditional by the use of MODAL
AUXILIARIES or MODALS, also called HELPING
VERBS.
 The most common modal auxiliaries are:
Base/Present Form
Past Form

Can
Shall
Will
May
Could
Should
Would
Might
Must
[Notice that they exhibit tense]
 Phrases
like ought to, used to, dare to, seem to,
need to, happen to, want to, and have to can
also act as modals, they are sometimes called
SEMIMODALS.
 Modals
and Semimodals always occur at
the beginning of the main verb constituent
and they show tense (past/present).
Nada might come to the party tonight.
This sentence is in the past conditional
mood.
(use “has to” in a sentence- present
conditional)
Example 1:
S
VP: Pred
NP: Subj
N
MV: Past Cond.
Aux
NP: DObj
VT
M
Photography
might
Adj
promote
visual
N
awareness
Example 2:
S
NP: Subj
VP: Pred
NP
Art
PossPron
MV: Pres Cond
NP: DObj
N
M
The president’s speech
has to
VT
reassure
Art
the
N
people
The Conditional Mood indicates
Possibility:



The meaning of the conditional mood is always concerned
with possibility (and related notions of certainty, obligation,
desire, necessity, promise, permission, and even threat).
Because they are related to possibility, these conditional
concepts are concerned with events in the future.
Since the concepts expressed by the conditional mood
overlap with real-world concept of futurity, modals are
sometimes said to express futurity.
Mohammed Abdu will perform in Riyadh. (vague promise)
Mohammed Abdu will perform in Riyadh during AlJanadriah next year. (expresses future time together with
an adverb of time)
The verb following a modal auxiliary is always in its
infinite/infinitive form.
 Tense changes the form of only one word in a main
verb: the first word.
 The idea that there are only two tense forms in
English is not new.
 The key word is form; tense in English is a form as
well as an idea.
 Speakers of English can indicate future time easily by
making the main verb conditional and by adding
an adverb of time to the sentence.
The Cooking magazine will publish chocolate
cake recipes next month.

3. Aspect
 Aspect
indicates that the action of the
verb is either completed or continuing.
 It occurs in two varieties: Perfect or
progressive.
A. Perfect Aspect
It indicates that the action of the verb is completed.
 It is shown by the auxiliary HAVE followed by a
PAST PARTICIPLE (had/have + PP).
 Had + PP is past perfect
 Have + PP is present perfect
 While both version of perfect aspect related to
completed action, the “past” and “present”
designations refer only to the tense form of the aux.
HAVE.

The Past Participle
The word past in past participle does not refer to
time.
 It refers only to a verb’s form, as past does in past
tense.
 A past participle is the form of a verb that can
follow HAVE.
 It is the word that fills the blank after have/has/had.
 The past participle of a regular verb is the same as the
past tense form, e.g. traveled, predicted.
 The past participle of an irregular verb varies with the
verb, e.g. driven, written, drunk, sung, become.

Example 1:
S
VP: Pred
NP: Subj
MV: PastPerf
Art
Aux
VT
HAVE
PP
had
done
N
The student
NP: DObj
PossPron
her
NP
N
homework
Example 2:
S
VP: Pred
NP: Subj
MV: PresePerf
Art
Aux
VI
HAVE
PP
have
studied
N
The students
Adv: Adv-manner
hard
B. Progressive Aspect
 It
refers to continuing action.
 It is composed of a form of BE used as an
auxiliary, followed by a PRESENT
PARTICIPLE (is/are/was/were + –ing).
 Is/are + –ing is present progressive.
 Was/were + –ing is past progressive.
 The “past” and “present” designations refer
only to the tense form of the aux. BE.
The Present Participle:
The present participle is always the –ing form of the
verb; no exceptions.
 Not every word ending in –ing is a present participle.
 Which if the following in the past participle?

Julia Roberts was charming to the reporters.
Julia Roberts was charming her audience.
 Which one means it is a characteristic of Julia
Roberts? What does that tell you about the ing form?
 Which one means that she was entertaining them?
Example 1:
S
NP: Subj
N
Huda
VP: Pred
MV: Past Prog
PrepPh: Adv-place
BE
Prep
NP
at
N
was
VI
working
Aramco
Example 2:
S
NP: Subj
N
Mariam
VP: Pred
MV: PresProg
BE
is
NP: DObj
VT
Art
N
writing
an
Essay
The PRINCIPAL PARTS of Verbs

These are the five forms of every verb:
(elicit examples)
1. infinitive (or base): used after modals, no tense is
shown; it is the same as present tense for a plural
subject: Rats like cheese.
2. Present tense: every verb (regular/irregular) takes a
singular third person subject (he/she/it/Fahad) ends in
–s or –es.
3. Past tense: Regular verbs take –d/ –ed.
4. Present participle: – ing form for all verbs
(regular/irregular).
5. Past participle: the same as the past tense for regular
verbs, and the form that fills the blank after HAVE.
Irregular Verbs
A verb that either does not form its past tense with –d
or –ed or that has a past participle that is not the same
as its past tense is called IRREGULAR.
 There only about one hundred irregular verbs in
English, e.g.
Choose
chose
chosen
Drive
drove
driven
Fight
fought
fought
Swim
swam
swum
Sit
sat
sat

Tense, Mood, and Aspect Together
Tense is shown by the verb itself or by either the modal
(conditional mood), Have (perfect aspect), or BE
(progressive aspect).
 Tense must occur only once for a sentence to be a
sentence, remember?
 Remember that tense changes the form of the first
word of the main verb.
 Other words in the main verb will take one or another
non-finite form: infinitive, past participle, or present
participle.
 Conditional mood, perfect aspect, and progressive aspect
can occur separately or in various combinations with one
another.

Status of a Verb
When you analyze the main verb constituent, you’re
always looking for:
 The forms (the principal parts) of the individual
words.
 How the words combine with one another to create
the status of the main verb (tense/mood/aspect).
 Only the first word in the main verb is in past or
present tense form.

The Main Verb Constituents:
These constituents occur in the order:
Tense + modality + perfective aspect + progressive
aspect
 You begin describing the status of a verb by tense
first (based on the tense form of the first word of the
main verb), then perfect aspect (if any) + the
progressive (if any) + modality (if there is a modal, or
the mood is imperative/interrogative- indicative is
unmarked).
 Tense becomes part of the verb or the modal/aux.
 The Schematic of the possible combinations:
Tense + (Modal) + (Perfect) + (Progressive) + Verb

What is the status of the verb?
The candidate’s staff should have been planning more
than one campaign strategy.
Past perfect progressive conditional status
 Princess Diana has become a tragic figure.
Present perfect status
 Mick Jagger has been dabbling in real estate for years.
Present perfect progressive status

Can you try drawing the tree diagrams for these
sentences?
MV: PresPerfProg
Aux
Have
BE
VI
Pres
PP
PresPart
has
been
dabbling
The Main Verb May be Expanded

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
The following schematics indicate how the main
verb may be expanded in eight ways:
Tense + Verb
Tense + Modal + Verb
Tense + Perfect + Verb
Tense + Progressive + Verb
Tense + Modal + Perfect + Verb
Tense + Modal + Progressive + Verb
Tense + Perfect + Progressive + Verb
Tense + Modal + Perfect + Progressive + Verb
Exercises 1 + 2
Pp 73-76
Possible Questions:
 Identify the main verbs in the sentences (underline).
 Make the main verbs of the following sentences into
the forms indicated in parenthesis.
 Identify the status of the main verbs and analyze
sentences in tree diagrams; label the other
constituents in the sentences (Structure: Function).
e.g.
Thomas Alan has become a music icon since the
nineties.