Lecture 5. Verbs and Verb Phrases I

Lecture 5. Verbs and Verb Phrases I 1 Finite and Nonfinite Verb Forms Finite verb forms: o Finite verb forms express tense and/or mood (see Lecture 6 for details on mood). They may also express number and person. o Tense in English (and Swedish) English verbs have two tenses: The present tense (e.g. They pay my bills; He pays my bills). The past tense (e.g. They/He paid my bills). NOTE. Only the present and the past are considered tenses in English because other time distinctions require verb phrases with several verb forms (e.g. the present perfect: She has paid my bills). o Mood in English (see Lecture 6): The indicative (the normal mood, e.g. She pays my bills). The subjunctive (e.g. I demand that she pay my bills). The imperative (e.g. Pay my bills!). o NOTE. English modal auxiliaries have only finite (present and past indicative) forms (e.g. She can/could play tennis) see also below. o Nonfinite verb forms: o Nonfinite verb forms do not express tense or mood (or number or person). o The infinitive (e.g. I can play the violin; I started to read when the light came on). o The present participle/-ing form (e.g. He is going to the lecture; Reading a good book is my favourite pastime). o The past participle (e.g. She has played the violin for two years; This book has been read by millions of people). Many finite and nonfinite forms are identical, so it is necessary to see what their role is in the verb phrase to know whether they are finite or nonfinite: Past tenses and past participles of all regular verbs (e.g. I played tennis; I have played tennis) and some irregular verbs (e.g. Sheila sent me an e-mail yesterday; Sheila has sent me three e-mails today). Many infinitives, present-tense indicatives, mandative and formulaic subjunctives, and imperatives (e.g. We would play tennis if we could; They often play tennis [but He/she often plays tennis]; I demanded that she play better; Play better!). 1

Even more forms for some irregular verbs (e.g. put: I put food on the table yesterday [finite: past indicative]; I have put food on the table every day [nonfinite: past participle]; I still put food on the table every day [finite: present indicative but He/she still puts food on the table every day]; I demand that he/she put food on the table [finite: mandative subjunctive]; Put food on the table! [finite: imperative]; I will put food on the table tomorrow [nonfinite: infinitive]). Finite verb phrases: o Only the first verb form in a finite verb phrase (the only verb form, if there is only one) is finite. o Any other verb forms in a finite verb phrase are nonfinite. Many finite verb forms show agreement with the head of a subject noun phrase by changing their form in the 3rd person singular indicative, present tense: o Most verbs add -(e)s /s/, /z/, /Iz/ (e.g. She hates /heits/ Coca-Cola; He plays /pleiz/ tennis; She misses /"misiz/ her sister). o The verbs to be, to go, to do, and to have have special forms (is, goes, does /dvz/, has). The verb to be also has other special forms in the indicative (presenttense am, are; past-tense was, were). o Modal auxiliaries do not add -(e)s (e.g. She will see her sister next week). o See Chapter 4 in UGE and Lecture 4 for some difficult cases regarding whether nouns take singular or plural finite verb forms. 2 Auxiliaries and Main Verbs The main verb carries most of the meaning of the verb phrase. o Main verbs are intransitive (take no O or P), transitive (take at least one O but no P), or linking verbs (take either a Ps or an Od and a Po), but the same verb may belong to several categories (see the slideshow from Lecture 2 for details and examples). o There is only one main verb per verb phrase: A main verb can be the only verb form in a verb phrase (e.g. I play tennis every week). If there are several verb forms in a verb phrase, the main verb is the last verb form in the verb phrase (e.g. I should have been driving through Uppland now). NOTE. Play is both the finite verb form and the main verb of the finite verb phrase play in I play tennis every week; this is possible because it is both the first and the last verb form in the verb phrase. 2

Verb phrases always have main verbs unless a main verb has been omitted because it is obvious from the context (e.g. Will you tell him the bad news, or shall I Ø? [omitted: tell him the bad news]). Modal and primary auxiliaries form complex verb phrases together with a main verb. o There may be up to four auxiliaries in the same verb phrase (e.g. We could have been playing tennis now with three auxiliaries). o If several auxiliaries are used, the order of auxiliaries is always modal perfect progressive passive. Auxiliary do is not used together with other auxiliaries. Primary auxiliaries (be, have, do): o Primary auxiliaries can also be main verbs (e.g. I am here; I have a book; I did the dishes yesterday). o Auxiliary be: Helps to form the progressive (a form of be + present participle, e.g. The thief was playing tennis). Helps to form the passive (a form of be + past participle, e.g. The thief was caught). NOTE. See Lecture 6 for more information on the progressive. o Auxiliary have: Helps to form the present perfect and the past perfect (a form of have + past participle, e.g. The police have caught the thief; The police had caught the thief before we arrived). NOTE. See Lecture 6 for more information on the present perfect and the past perfect. o Auxiliary do: Do-support: auxiliary do + the infinitive of the main verb is used to turn an ordinary statement with no auxiliary in the verb phrase (e.g. The police caught the thief) into: Many types of questions (e.g. Did the police catch the thief?). Many negated sentences (e.g. The police did not catch the thief). An emphatic statement (e.g. The police "did catch the thief!). Can replace a main verb (e.g. He said he would win the match, and so he did). 3

Modal auxiliaries (can could, may might, must, shall should, will would): o Express such meanings as ability, future, obligation, permission, probability, and volition. o Cannot be main verbs in English (e.g. De kan vägen = They know the way). o Past and present forms of modal auxiliaries can sometimes refer to the same event (e.g. Can/could I use your phone?); the past form is often more polite. Past forms are used in indirect speech (e.g. He said, I may stop by later vs. He said that he might stop by later) and may also express the past-time meanings of the present forms. o Can could: ability; probability (could often = less likely); permission; offers (e.g. Can I help you?). NOTE 1. Special uses: cannot/could not help + -ing (e.g. I can t help looking at it); could would be able to (e.g. You could become a doctor if you tried harder). NOTE 2. The usual negated form of can is cannot, written as one word (there is of course also the contracted variant can t). o May might: permission (politeness scale can [least polite] could may might [most polite]); probability kanske, eventuellt (might = less probable) (e.g. I may get a new job next year). NOTE. This cannot be true kan inte vara vs. This may not be true är kanske inte. o Must (chiefly in the present tense except in indirect speech): obligation; probability. NOTE. You must not break the law får inte vs. You do not have to break the law måste inte. o Will would: volition (would sometimes = more polite), chiefly used in questions, negative statements, and if-clauses (otherwise /want/be willing/ to); future; conditional constructions (see Lecture 6); probability; habitual/typical behaviour (e.g. Boys will be boys). NOTE 1. Do not leave out would in would like to (e.g. We should discuss what we would like to do in the future; cf. vad vi vill göra ). NOTE 2. In most cases, Swedish skulle corresponds to would, not to should (see the slideshow to Lecture 5 for more information). o Shall should: do not overuse shall and should because they look similar to ska(ll) and skulle! Especially in BrE, shall and should can replace will and would, respectively, in the 1st person to express the future (e.g. I shall do the dishes tonight). Other uses of shall: Affirmative questions in the 1st person (e.g. Shall I open a window?). 4

o o Obligations and threats in the 2nd and 3rd persons (rare and formal, e.g. The customer shall be responsible for returning the product; You shall pay for this!). Other uses of should: Mild obligation and mild probability this should means both bör and borde, so do not use shall here (e.g. You should read Austen s novels; He should reach the office around 7). This is the most frequent function of should. To signal that something is possible, but unlikely, in if-clauses (If any problems should arise, give me a ring). As an alternative to the mandative subjunctive in that-clauses after triggering expressions involving suggestions, demands, importance, etc. (e.g. She demanded that he should leave the room). (See Lecture 6 for the subjunctive; see section 5.2.2.5 in UGE for triggering expressions.) This should means both ska(ll) and skulle, so do not use shall here. Because modal auxiliaries only have finite forms, other forms must be used where nonfinite forms are required, e.g. perfect and future verb phrases: be able to (ability), have to or be obliged to (obligation), be possible /to/that/ (probability), and be /allowed/permitted/ to (permission) (e.g. Jag har kunnat köra bil sedan jag fyllde 17 vs. I have been able to drive a car since I turned 17). Marginal modals (dare, need, used to, ought to) can be used either as modals or as main verbs (except ought to). See section 5.2.2.6 in UGE for details. NOTE 1. used to read brukade läsa, usually read(s) brukar läsa (not *use to). NOTE 2. The camera is used to take pictures används för att ta kort ; He is used to taking pictures är van vid att ta kort ; He used to take pictures brukade ta kort. NOTE 3. In some editions, UGE (p. 173) claims that ought to expresses obligation and probability in the same way as must does. This is an error: ought to expresses mild obligation and probability in the same way as should does. 3 Regular and Irregular Verbs Regular verbs add -(e)d /t/, /d/, /Id/ in both the past tense and the past participle (see Appendix 5 in UGE for some spelling complications): help (infinitive) helped (past tense) helped (past participle). Irregular verbs have other forms in the past tense and/or the past participle, e.g. drive drove driven (see Appendix 6 in UGE). 5

4 Voice The active voice: the normal voice, where the S is typically the doer (e.g. The board members accepted the proposal). The passive voice, e.g. The proposal was accepted (by the board members): o May have a by-agent that would be the S of the corresponding active clause. o Has a passive S that would be the Od or Oi of the corresponding active clause. o Has a V that contains a form of to be and a past participle. The passive V will also contain all other elements that are found in the corresponding active clause (e.g. Someone should have found the keys by now vs. The keys should have been found by now). o Avoid Swenglish patterns: With an -s on the main verb instead of be + past participle (e.g. *The decision makes by the board for The decision is made by the board; cf. Beslutet tas av styrelsen). With become as a passive auxiliary (e.g. *Djurgården almost became relegated last year for Djurgården was almost relegated last year; cf. Djurgården blev nästan nedflyttat förra året). 6