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2 Auxiliary verb be
As an auxiliary verb, be has two distinct grammatical functions:
• progressive aspect (be + ing-participle):
The last light was fading by the time he entered the town.
• passive voice (be + ed-participle):
This system of intergovernmental transfers is called fiscal federalism.
These two auxiliary uses of be can occur together in the same clause (the
progressive passive:
A mutual investment fund for Eastern Europe is being launched today with
the backing of Continental Grain.
Have
1 Main verb have
As a transitive main verb, have is as common as the most common lexical
verbs in English. Have is most common in conversation and least common in
academic prose. Within academic prose, though, have is more common than any
lexical verb.
Similar to get, the main verb have can be used with many different meanings. For
example:
• showing physical possession:
One in three of these families has two cars.
• telling family connections:
Her story was this: she had a husband and child.
• describing eating or drinking:
The kids had 'superhero sundaes' which turned out to be merely ice cream.
• showing where something exists (similar to an existential there construction):
But it really would be nice to have a young person about the house again.
<compare existential there: It would be nice if there was a young person about
the house.>
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• linking a person to an abstract quality:
I hope she has fun.
Her visitor had a strong pungent odor of a winter's day.
• linking an inanimate subject to an abstract quality:
Stylistics can have other goals than this.
In these extensions soil science will always have a major role.
• showing that someone causes something to be done:
Maybe you should have it dyed black as well.
In addition, the verb have occurs as part of the semi-modal have to (meaning
must):
I’ll have to blank it out.
Finally, have occurs in a number of idiomatic multi-word phrases, such as
have a look:
I'll have a look.
Do
1 Main verb do
As a main verb in transitive constructions, do has an activity meaning. It can
take a direct object:
In that moment Franklin Field did a wonderful thing.
or an indirect object + direct object:
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A Main verb do as a transitive pro-verb
Do also commonly functions as a pro-verb, substituting for a lexical verb. Pro-
verb do is especially common in conversation. It often combines with it, this/that, or so,
to form a transitive pro-verb construction:
I didn't do it.
Well that's why he did it.
That really hurts my ears when you do that.
The Englishman, half asleep, had broken Lazzaro's right arm and knocked him
unconscious. The Englishman who had done this was helping to carry Lazzaro
in now. <done this = broken his right arm and knocked him unconscious>
'The Chancellor has had to face very difficult economic circumstances both
abroad, which affects us, and at home,' he said. 'He has done so with great
courage.' <done so = faced very difficult economic circumstances>
Notice that expressions like do this and do so can substitute for a large number
of words.
2 Auxiliary verb do
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B Emphatic do
Emphatic do occurs as an auxiliary verb in a clause that is not negated and is
not a question. It is used to emphasize that the meaning of the main verb (or the rest
of the clause) is positive, in contrast with what one might expect. In speech,
emphatic do is usually stressed. It most commonly occurs in conversation and fiction.
1 I did have a protractor, but it broke.
2 I really did go to see him.
3 But in the final hour he did deliver the goods.
4 Gascoigne, though, does have a problem - his Lazio team is not a good side.
Emphatic do cannot be combined with another auxiliary. For example, it is
ungrammatical to say *It does might help.
Emphatic do usually marks a state of affairs that contrasts with an expected state
of affairs. The contrast is sometimes explicitly marked by connectives such as but,
however, nevertheless, though, and although, as in 3 and 4 above and the following:
Nevertheless, great changes do occur and have been well documented.
A special use of emphatic do is in commands (or suggestions/invitations that
use the imperative form). Although this use sounds conversational, it occurs more
commonly in fictional dialogue than in actual conversation:
Oh do shut up!
Do come and see me some time.
Do get on with your work, Beth.
I do beg you to consider seriously the points I've put to you.
Normally the copula be behaves like an auxiliary, and therefore does not take
emphatic do in declarative clauses: *They do be. . . With imperative clauses,
however, do + be is possible:
'Do be sensible, Charles,' whispered Fiona.
C Auxiliary do as a pro-verb
Like main verb do, auxiliary do can act as a pro-verb, standing in for the whole
verb phrase + complement. It is used in both positive and negative clauses:
A: He doesn't even know you.
B: He does! <does = does know me>
I think his mom wants him to come back but his dad doesn't. <doesn't = doesn't
want him to come back>
In these examples, do can be considered a stranded operator. That is, do, as
the empty auxiliary, is left 'stranded' without the main verb which normally follows
an auxiliary. The rest of the clause, as with other auxiliaries, is missing through ellipsis.
D Auxiliary do in question tags
Do functions as an auxiliary in question tags:
But Fanny looked after you, didn't she?
This delay solves nothing, does it?
This construction is obviously related to do-support (as in A above): it occurs
where the preceding main verb (underlined above) has no auxiliary.
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Conclusions
• The three primary verbs—be, have, and do—can serve as both main verbs and
auxiliary verbs. They differ, however, in their specific main and auxiliary functions.
• Be:
o As copula (a main verb), be is the most common copular verb in English.
o As an auxiliary verb, be marks progressive aspect and passive voice.
• Have:
o As a main verb, have is one of the most common lexical verbs in English.
o It has a particularly wide range of meanings.
o As an auxiliary, have marks perfect aspect.
• Do:
o As a main verb, do is a general transitive verb of action (e.g. do some work)
o It often combines with a noun phrase to form idiomatic expressions (e.g. do
the dishes).
o As a main verb, do can also function as a transitive pro-verb (do it, do that)
or an intransitive pro-verb (e.g. I must have done.)
o As an auxiliary verb, do is used in the do-support construction for forming
negation and questions (e.g. Didn't you know?).
o Auxiliary do is also used for emphatic meaning (e.g. Oh do shut up!).
Copular verbs
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• intransitive verb:
It was when Jack and I went to Mexico.
He came from the far north.
There are many verbs that can function as copular verbs. They fall into two
main categories: current copular verbs and result copular verbs.
A Be
The copula be is by far the most common verb in English. Surprisingly, the
copula be differs from most lexical verbs because it is much more frequent in academic
prose than in conversation, newspapers, or fiction. Be also occurs with a wide range of
complements.
Unlike most copular verbs, be occurs most commonly with a noun phrase as
subject predicative. In these structures, the noun phrase following be has two common
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functions: to characterize the subject noun phrase in some way, or to identify the
subject noun phrase:
• characterizing:
Oh, my dad was a great guy, too.
Tomorrow could be a sunny day.
• identifying:
That's our back yard.
The kernel is the part of the plant of greatest value.
Adjective phrases are also very common as subject predicatives of be. The most
common of these predicative adjectives express stance. In conversation, these are mostly
general evaluative terms, such as right, good, sure, nice, and funny. In most cases, these
adjectives occur without complements after them:
That wasn't very nice.
It was funny though.
In contrast, academic prose uses a larger range of predicative adjectives that
express more specific evaluations, such as important, possible, necessary, difficult, and
useful. In most cases, these adjectives occur with a complement clause or
prepositional phrase. The predicative adjective expresses an evaluation that
applies to the following clause or phrase:
It is also important to gain the cooperation of workshop participants.
It is possible to have more than one major hypothesis.
Prepositional phrases are much less common as complements of be. They are
used for two functions:
• as a subject predicative describing a characteristic of the subject:
The town was in a festival mood.
The resistive voltage drop is in phase with the current.
• as an adverbial expressing position or direction:
I wish you were at the shack with me last night.
The houses are in a conservation area.
Finally, be sometimes occurs with a complement clause as subject
predicative:
The capital is to be provided by the French government.
But the danger was that the pound would fall further than planned.
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State-of-existence copular verbs (in addition to be)
verb frequency most common examples
complements
seem most common to-complement clause This seemed to work.
copular verb other
than be
adjectives, especially Sometimes it seemed
conveying attitudes, impossible that he should fail.
surprise and possibility in He seemed surprised by that.
fiction
adjectives of likelihood in It seems likely that practical
academic prose, with work has helped to develop
extraposed that-clauses these skills in some students.
It seems clear that more
meals will be cooked over
charcoal in the future.
noun phrase as subject Fijisankei, itself privately
predicative, especially with owned and independent,
perceptions that are not seems the ideal partner.
necessarily accurate Now he seemed in control.
prepositional phrase Most of the time he seems
expressing an attribute of like such a normal guy.
the subject
appear less common than to-complement clause The inheritance of leaf angle
seem adjectives of likelihood in appears to be polygenic.
academic prose and news There was never a moment
when it appeared likely that
we could get them.
The courts have appeared
willing to go beyond the
rules of neutral justice.
remain most common of adjectives, often reporting Next Friday's date for the
the three absence of change final remains unchanged.
continuation typical adjectives:
verbs; particularly unchanged, constant, The opening of the oviduct
common in intact, motionless, remains intact.
academic prose immobile, low, high,
and news open, closed,
controversial, uncertain,
unknown, obscure
keep less common than typical adjectives: alive, It's funny how he manages to
remain awake, quiet, silent, keep awake.
secret, busy, fit, close,
warm
He was just trying to keep
subject of keep is usually warm.
an animate being
stay least common of typical adjectives: awake, I mean, if you stay sober.
the three dry, sober, alive, clear,
continuation verbs loyal, healthy
Meanwhile, Millie's mistress
subject of stay is usually stayed loyal to her husband's
human ambitions.
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2 Current copular verbs: sensory perceptions
The patterns of use for sensory copular verbs are summarized in the table
below.
Sensory copular verbs—look, feel, sound, smell, taste—occur with adjectival
complements to report positive or negative evaluations. For example:
Do I look nice?
The food smelt good to her.
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Here, the copular verb identifies the sense (e.g. sight, hearing), while the
predicative adjective reports the evaluation. The general evaluating adjectives nice,
good, and bad occur commonly as subject predicative with all five sensory copular
3 Result copular verbs
The verbs become, get, go, grow, prove, come, turn, turn out, end up, and wind up
are all used to describe a process of change. However, despite this general similarity,
these verbs differ greatly in their specific meanings, collocational preferences, and
register distributions.
A Become
The result copular verb become is especially common in academic prose and
fiction. It is used to describe the process involved in changing from one state to another.
In academic prose, it often refers to an impersonal process of moving from a state of
ignorance or disbelief to one of knowledge or belief (i.e. without mentioning individual
people who experience the change). The adjectives clear and apparent are most
common with this function, but there are a number of other adjectives that occur with
become, including difficult, evident, important, possible.
In the joint-stock company, the social character of production has become
apparent.
It soon becomes clear that there is much more to comprehension than
vocabulary.
Performance and functionality only become important with Release 3.
In fiction, become usually refers to a specific person. It describes a change in that
person's state of awareness or state of being:
Raymond soon became aware that his strategy and hard work was paying
dividends.
It all became clear to me when I reached street level.
I became silent, overwhelmed suddenly by the great gulf between us.
B Get
The result copular verb get is usually used to describe a person changing to a
new state. Get is very common, especially in conversation and fiction, and it has many
uses, describing both physical and mental changes. The adjectives ready and
worse are the most common subject predicatives with get, but a number of other
adjectives recur: angry, bigger, better, bored, cold, dressed (up), drunk, lost, mad, mixed
(up), old, older, pissed (off), sick, tired, upset, wet. Many of these mark some affective or
attitudinal stance. For example:
Well he's only gonna get worse.
And if she doesn't win, she either gets upset and cries or gets angry.
And people get pissed off, don't they? <note: pissed off is slang and may be
offensive to some people>
C Go
The copular verb go is usually used to describe a change towards an
undesirable state, especially in conversation and fiction. Go describes changes
experienced by humans and other natural processes. The adjectives crazy, mad,
and wrong are the most common complements of go, but several other adjectives
recur: bad, cold, deaf, funny, limp, quiet, red, wild.
You can't go wrong with that, can you?
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Yeah I know. I would go mad.
Mama will go crazy.
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And the young bucks who
tore the place apart
invariably wound up dead.
Conclusions
• Copular verbs are used to express a relationship between the subject of the
clause and an attribute.
• Copular verbs usually take an obligatory subject predicative.
• Some copular verbs can also occur with an obligatory adverbial.
• Many different verbs can function as copulas. These verbs can be grouped into
two major categories: current copular verbs and result copular verbs.
o Current copular verbs express states of existence or sensory perceptions (e.g. be,
feel).
o Result copular verbs express the result of a process of change (e.g. become, turn
out).
• The copular verbs differ in their meanings and in the complements that they can
take.
• There are highly systematic patterns of use associated with copular verbs +
complements.
Bibliography:
Biber D., Conrad S., Leech G. (2002) Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and Written English,
Longman
Downing A (2006) English Grammar. A University Course, Routledge
Greenbaum S., Quirk R. (1990) A Student’s Grammar of the English Language, Longman
Huddleston R., Pullum G., et al. (2002) The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, CUP
Leech G. (1989) An A – Z of English Grammar and Usage, Nelson
Quirk, R., Greenbaum S., Leech G., Svartvik J. (1972) A Grammar of Contemporary English, Longman
Celce-Murcia M., Larsen-Freeman D. (1999) The Grammar Book, Heinle and Heinle
Vereş G., Cehan A., Andriescu I. (1998) A Dictionary of English Grammar, Polirom
Exam questions:
1. What can the copula be link? Exemplify each structure with a sentence of your
own.
2. What are the functions of the auxiliary verb be? Exemplify each structure with a
sentence of your own.
3. Can the verb be have two auxiliary uses in the same clause? If so, give an
example of your own.
4. Exemplify the use of the main verb have with the meaning of physical
possession.
5. Exemplify the use of the main verb have showing family connections.
6. Exemplify the use of the main verb have describing eating and drinking.
7. Exemplify the use of the main verb have in an existential construction.
8. Exemplify the use of the main verb have linking a person to an abstract quality.
9. Exemplify the use of the main verb have linking an inanimate subject to an
abstract quality.
10. Exemplify the use of the main verb have with a causative meaning.
11. Exemplify the use of the main verb have in an idiom.
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12. What does the auxiliary verb have mark? Give your own examples.
13. What meaning does the verb do have as a main verb? Is it transitive or
intransitive? Give examples of your own.
14. Give an example sentence in which the main verb do is used in an idiomatic
expression.
15. Give an example sentence in which the main verb do functions as a pro-
verb.
16. When does the verb do function as an auxiliary? Explain and give four
examples.
17. In four sentences of your own, illustrate the use of the auxiliary verb do as
“do-support”.
18. Can the auxiliary verb do occur in statements (sentences are neither
negative or interrogative)? If so, give two example sentences.
19. Explain why this sentence is incorrect: “*It does could happen.”
20. Can emphatic do be used in commands? If so, give an example of your
own.
21. Is the sequence do + be possible? If so, give an example sentence of your
own.
22. Can the auxiliary vebr do function as a pro-verb? If so give two examples of
your own.
23. Give two example sentences in which the verb do substitutes for a) a lexical
verb, and b) for a verb phrase + complement construction.
24. In a sentence of your own, illustrate the use of the auxiliary verb do in a
question tag.
25. In a sentence of your own, use a current copular verb which denotes a
state-of-existence (except be).
26. In a sentence of your own, use a current copular verb which denotes
sensory perception.
27. In a sentence of your own, use a result copular verb.
28. In a sentence of your own, use the verb be as a current copular verb
followed by a characterizing noun phrase as subject predicative.
29. In a sentence of your own, use the verb be as a current copular verb
followed by an identifying noun phrase as subject predicative.
30. In a sentence of your own, use the verb be as a current copular verb
followed by a predicative adjective expressing stance.
31. In a sentence of your own, use the verb be as a current copular verb
followed by a complement clause as subject predicative.
32. In a sentence of your own, use the verb be as a current copular verb
followed by a prepositional phrase as subject predicative.
33. In a sentence of your own, use the verb be as a current copular verb
followed by a prepositional phrase as an adverbial.
34. In a sentence of your own, use the verb seem as a state-of-existence
copular verb followed by a complement clause.
35. In a sentence of your own, use the verb seem as a state-of-existence
copular verb followed by an adjective as subject predicative.
36. In a sentence of your own, use the verb seem as a state-of-existence
copular verb followed by a noun phrase as subject predicative.
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37. In a sentence of your own, use the verb seem as a state-of-existence
copular verb followed by a prepositional phrase as subject predicative.
38. In a sentence of your own, use the appear se as a state-of-existence
copular verb followed by a complement clause.
39. In a sentence of your own, use the verb appear as a state-of-existence
copular verb followed by an adjective as subject predicative.
40. In a sentence of your own, use the sensory copular verb look followed by an
adjective as subject predicative.
41. In a sentence of your own, use the sensory copular verb feel followed by an
adjective as subject predicative.
42. In a sentence of your own, use the sensory copular verb sound followed by
an adjective as subject predicative.
43. In a sentence of your own, use the sensory copular verb taste followed by
an adjective as subject predicative.
44. In a sentence of your own, use the sensory copular verb smell followed by
an adjective as subject predicative.
45. In a sentence of your own, use the result copular verb become followed by
an adjective as subject predicative.
46. What does the copular verb become refer to? Explain and give examples.
47. In a sentence of your own, use the result copular verb get followed by an
adjective as subject predicative.
48. What does the copular verb get refer to?
49. In a sentence of your own, use the result copular verb go followed by an
adjective as subject predicative.
50. What does the copular verb go refer to?
51. In a sentence of your own, use the result copular verb come.
52. In a sentence of your own, use the result copular verb grow.
53. In a sentence of your own, use the result copular verb prove.
54. In a sentence of your own, use the result copular verb turn.
55. In a sentence of your own, use the result copular verb turn out.
56. In a sentence of your own, use the result copular verb end up.
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