Verbs: Auxiliary verbs

Verbs:

  • Auxiliary verbs: modal, non-modal

  • Lexical verbs

Lexical verbs

Auxiliary verbs

Non-modal

Modal

allow, bring, come, drink, eat, find, go, hold, invite, join, know, learn, meet, navigate, own, persuade, quell, rip, stand, televise, undertake, vilify

be, have, do

can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would

Important

The forms could, might, would, should are the preterite forms of the modal auxiliaries can, may, will , and shall , respectively. They differ very considerably in their uses from ordinary preterites, though.

Distinctive properties of English auxiliary verbs

Subject-auxiliary inversion

Only auxiliary verbs can invert with the subject in interrogative clauses.

She has taken the money

Has she taken the money?

She takes the money

Takes she the money? (lexical verb, ungrammatical)

Does the take the money? (add dummy auxiliary “do” )

The dummy auxiliary permits compliance with the grammatical requirements.

Note

Dummy auxiliary has no meaning of it’s own (it’s non-modal). It just permits the correct grammar.

The dummy auxiliary “do” cannot be used in combination with another auxiliary verb:

Does she take the money? (dummy do + lexical verb)

Does she have taken the money? (dummy do + auxiliary verb)

Negation

Simple negation with simple clause construction is permitted with auxiliary verbs but not with lexical verbs:

She has taken the money

She has not taken the money

She takes the money

She takes not the money

Again, we need the dummy “do”:

She does not take the money

She does not have taken the money (dummy not allowed with another auxiliary verb)

Note

Some verbs with clausal complements can be followed by not as a modi er in the following clause

I try not to be late

Primary inflectional negation forms

Tense

Modal auxiliary

Non-modal auxiliary

Preterite

He couldn’t swim.
She wouldn’t help us.

They hadn’t finished.

Present

He can’t swim.
She won’t help us.

They haven’t finished.

Absolutely no lexical verbs have forms of this kind: *tookn’t, *taken’t, etc. These are not contractions:

  • No general rule of pronunciation would yield won’t from contracting will + not, can’t from can + not, shan’t from shall + not

  • Every auxiliary has a negative form, not every form has a corresponding negative. “amn’t” doesn’t occur, “mayn’t” dropped out of use, etc. If it is a contraction, then these and other would be possible

  • In subject–auxiliary inversion constructions, the n’t forms occur where auxiliary not is impossible:

Isn’t it ready?

Is not it ready?

Won’t I need the ticket?

Will not I need the ticket?

  • There are semantic differences. Can’t does not always have the same meaning as can with not following it:

The roof rack can not be attached (expresses an option, leave the roof rack if you want)

The roof rack can’t/cannot be attached (a complain, fitting is impossible)