Download Phrases

Lecture 10
English 3318: Studies in English Grammar
Phrases: Main Verb Phrase
Dr. Svetlana Nuernberg
Objectives
●
●
●
Identify and diagram the main verb phrase
Understand the use the main verb formula
Identify the order of auxiliaries
The Main Verb Phrase
●
Is the most important constituent of the predicate
–
●
The main verb of a sentence is finite verb
–
●
headword tells what the subject does or is like
can be inflected for tense, either in itself (eat/ate;
work/worked) or with the help of an auxiliary verb (is
eating/had eaten)
Verb expansion rule – a combination of a main
verb and an auxiliary in a systematic inflectional
pattern
–
–
–
can eat, will eat, should eat, must eat
have eaten, has eaten, had eaten
am eating, is eating, were eating, been eaten
Principal Parts of English Verbs
●
The base form – is uninflected
–
–
●
Simple Present Tense – ends in allomorphs of {-s}
rd
if the subject is a 3 person singular
–
●
You____{-d} (something/good)
Past-Participle Form – ends in allomorphs of {-en}
–
●
He___{-s}(something/good) sometimes.
Simple Past Tense – ends in allomorphs of {-d}
–
●
It must____(something/good).
She wants to____(something/good).
We have____{-en} (something/good) always.
Present Participle Form – is always formed with
{-ing}
–
They are_____{-ing} (something/good)
Order of Auxiliaries
●
The three kinds of auxiliaries always precede the
main verb
–
●
●
modals, “have” and “be” groups
They may be absent entirely, or may appear in any
combination
They will always occur in the same order:
–
–
–
–
first comes the modal, if there is one
next comes a form of have, if it occurs
then comes a form of be, if there is any
finally, following any or all of the above, comes the
headword – the main verb
Example 3
S
VP
NP
MVP
AUX
Charlie
had been
COMPL
MOD
MV
driving
the car
for hours
Main Verb and Complements
●
VP = MVP + (Complements)
–
●
MVP = AUX + MV
–
●
●
●
the noun phrases, adjective phrases, or adverb phrases
that complete the meaning of the verb and that are part
of predicate
AUX = (MODAL) + (HAVE) + (BE)
The unmarked base form of the verb appears after
modals: may, will, should, must
The past-participle morpheme occurs on the verb
immediately following the helping verb Have
The present-participle morpheme occurs on the
verb immediately following the helping verb BE
Verb Tense
●
A formula showing the constituents of the
auxiliary is AUX = TENSE + (MODAL) +
(HAVE + {-EN}) + (BE + {-ING}
–
the only required constituent is TENSE – is not
enclosed in parenthesis
●
●
This formula underscores
–
●
●
decision about whether the verb is in the present or past
tense must be made
the relationship between the auxiliaries HAVE and BE
and the participle forms that must follow them
TENSE = [PRESENT or PAST]
MODAL = can, could, shall, should, will, would,
may, might, must
Structure of Main Verb Phrase
MVP
AUX
TENSE
(MODAL)
(HAVE + {-EN})
MV
(BE+{-ING})
present
or past
Main Verb Phrase Formula
1. MVP = AUX+MV
2. AUX = TENSE+(MODAL)+(HAVE+{-en})+(BE+{-ing)
3. TENSE = [PRESENT OR PAST]
4. MODAL = can, could, shall, should, will, would, may, might, must
Creating Verb Phrase
●
Select three constituents:
–
●
past tense (tense must always be included), HAVE +
{-en} and the verb write
had written
Abstract representation of this structure becomes
–
–
an actual verb phrase by incorporating inflections into
the verb forms that follow them
the horizontal arrow means “becomes” or “is
transformed into” whatever follows
MVP
AUX
TENSE
past
MV
HAVE + (-en)
write
Example 4
●
First you might select the following constituents
for the underlying main verb phrase structure
MVP
AUX
TENSE
MV
BE + {-ing}
present
–
–
–
present + BE + {-ing} + sneeze
present + BE
{-ing} + sneeze
sneeze
am/is/are sneezing
is/are
sneezing
Exercise 5
●
Convert each of the following into a sentence by
converting the abstract representation of its verb
phrase into an actual verb phrase
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Our plane + present + be + at the gate.
The crew + past + arrive + some time ago.
They + present + should + HAVE + {-en} + load + the
luggage by now.
They + present + HAVE + {-en} + have + time enough
to be ready to go.
Nothing + present + BE + {-ing} + happen + right now.
The passengers + present + Have + {-en} + BE + {-ing}
+ wait + for a long time.
Something unusual + present + must + Have + {-en} +
BE + {-ing} + keep + the plane here.