Download THE VERB: (2) Verbs can have two main forms, depending on their

THE VERB: (2)
Verbs can have two main forms, depending on their function in the verbal phrase:
FINITE and NON-FINITE
In a finite phrase only the first element is finite.
The Verb as a word class: They can function as Operators or as Main Verbs.
OPERATORS can hold the structure of the finite verbal phrase in any kind of sentence.
Common features:
- They occur in negative verbal phr. before the negation (Op.+not)
- They come before the subject -inversion- in interrogative sentences.
- They can have emphatic stress
- They can form an elliptical clause, omitting the main verb.
MAIN VERBS hold the central meaning of the verbal phrase. They cannot hold the structure of
the sentence when it is interrogative or negative or provide the aspect, the voice or the modality.
They are the basis of the verbal phr. structure to provide the tense in Simple Present and Simple
Past affirmative sentences. (except for to BE when it is a main verb, a copular verb, it keeps the
features of an operator.)
Depending on the function they can have we can distinguish different categories:
Primary Verbs, Auxiliary Verbs and Full Verbs
-PRIMARY VERBS: They can function as operators, but also as main verbs (Be, Have,
Do)
BE
when it is the main verb, it is a copula verb and function as an operator
when it is an aux., it is an operator for the progressive aspect and the passive
voice
HAVE when it is the main verb, it can be stative (meaning possession) or dinamic
(transitive)
when it is an auxiliary, it is an operator for the perfect aspect
DO
when it is the main verb it is a transitive verb
when it is an auxiliary, it is an operator for the interrogative and negative mood.
- AUXILIARY VERBS: They always function as operators, and never as main verbs. They
provide the structure for the future (will, shall) and conditional (would, should) tenses or the
modality (the modal verbs can, may, must, could, should, might and in functional sentences shall,
will and would). Common features of auxiliaries:
- They are followed by bare infinitives.
- They do not have non-finitive functions nor forms for them.
- They do not take the -s en the third person singular for the present
tense.
-The past forms are also used for the present and for the future.
*There are other kinds of modals which do not have these features as auxiliaries, but
which function in a similar way:
MARGINAL AUXILIARIES:used to, ought to, dare;
MODAL IDIOMS:had better, would rather, have got to be to;
SEMI-AUXILIARIES: be able to, have to, be about to, be due to.
- FULL VERBS: They are always the main verb in a finite verbal phrase and they can
also function as a non-finite phrase. Depending on the kind of verb complementation they take,
they can be:
INTRANSITIVE
COPULAR OR LINKING VERBS
MONOTRANSITIVE
COMPLEX TRANSITIVE
DITRANSITIVE
Depending on the load of meaning they provide for the sentence complete idea they can be :
LEXICAL VERBS
DELEXICAL VERBS (do, make, have, take, get, keep, go, ...)