The Morpho-Syntactic Features of Have, Be and Do
The Morpho-Syntactic Features of Have, Be and Do
The Morpho-Syntactic Features of Have, Be and Do
The Morpho-syntactic Features of have, be and do as Lexical Verbs and Auxiliary Verbs
Introduction
Language learning and language teaching are the critical components of a language
teacher’s job as they signify that teacher’s competency in both capacities. It is imperative,
therefore, that the training of teachers – specifically English language teachers – ought to be
as thorough and grounded in the rules of how the language works. Indeed, as Halliday (1975)
posits, “we learn about a language, we learn language and we learn through language”, and
this is true for the language learner-teacher. Understanding the premises by which the
language operates requires a thorough understanding and analysis of its main branches:
phonology, semantics, morphology, and syntax. The latter two concern this paper.
Research Problem
Verbs can pose an area of concern for learners and teachers of the language, given that,
just as with every other word; morpho-syntactic features guide their use. Many English
language student-teachers express trepidation when called upon to teach the rules of the verb,
its types and its possible structures in the corpus. This paper aims to address the difficulty in
Definition of Terms
The focus of this paper, therefore, is on distinguishing the features of two types of verbs:
auxiliary verb and the lexical verb. According to the Glossary of Linguistic Terms, (2017) an
auxiliary verb is “a verb which: accompanies the lexical verb of a verb phrase, and expresses
grammatical distinctions not carried by the lexical verb, such as person, number, tense,
aspect, and voice”. On the other hand, a lexical verb is “a member of the open class of verbs
which form the primary verb vocabulary of a language” (Glossary of Linguistic Terms, 2017)
Running head: MORPHO-SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF HAVE, BE, AND DO 3
Research Question
It is against these distinctions that the research problem arises, with the primary question
being, “What are the morpho-syntactic features that distinguish lexical verbs and auxiliary
verbs in English?” A secondary research question therefore, is, “What are the morpho-
syntactic features of the auxiliary uses of ‘have,’ ‘be’ and ‘do’ in the data and how do these
features differ in their lexical uses?” To accomplish this research, corpus collected from
university students will be carefully analysed with the aim of identifying the morpho-
syntactic features of the auxiliary uses of ‘have’, ’be’, and ‘do’, as well as how these features
This research paper is organised in the following way: the introduction, giving the focus of
the paper, the research problem, and the aim thereof; a review of the existing literature on the
auxiliary and lexical uses of the verbs, ‘have’, ’be’, and ‘do’, in addition to the differences in
their features; a summary of functionalism, the theoretical framework guiding this paper; the
discussion of the qualitative research methodology by which the findings are analysed; a
presentation on the findings of the research; the analysis and discussion of these findings and
how they answer the research question; the conclusion of the findings and a restatement of
Literature Review
The literature is replete with studies detailing the distinction between lexical and auxiliary
verbs, evidence that this aspect of the English grammar is a problematic area in the teaching-
learning arena. In a study investigating the written errors of usage in the present tense
auxiliary, ‘be’, Jishvethaa, Tabitha, and Kalahi (2013), reveal that the errors students made
were classified under Tense shift, Agreement, and Misuse – areas which have implications
Falk (1984), in a comprehensive study of the English auxiliary argues that, like ‘have’,
‘do’ is a helping verb. He assigns several properties to helping verbs: they inflect like verbs;
they appear in verbal positions when non-finite, they appear in modal positions when finite,
and they have a value for the feature auxiliary. Falk posits that both modals and verbs inflect
and that this inflection is because of lexical rules. Sledd (1959), adds that ‘have’, ‘be’ and do
are three English primary non-modal auxiliaries that have different forms which can be
Muir (1972), also agrees that the English primary auxiliary verbs are ‘be’, ‘have’ and
‘do. He describes these verbs as elements of structure, which may precede the lexical
element in any construction. According to him, the morphology of auxiliary verbs differs
from that of lexical verbs as the auxiliary verbs either have more or less forms than the
lexical verbs. He also classifies these auxiliary verbs (‘be’, ‘have’, ‘do’) into four main
criteria: Negation, Inversion, Substitution and Marked positive. In the case of negation, the
auxiliary ‘do’ is frequently contracted with the adverb ‘not’ and there is also a similar
Reid (1991), discusses the auxiliary verb ‘do’ as a verb that is used to show emphasis, to
ask questions and to make denials. Biber, Conrad & Leech (2002), also agree that ‘do’ is
Although there are marked differences between the lexical and auxiliary verbs,
Adejare & Adejare (1996), among other grammarians, are of the opinion that the auxiliary
verbs ‘have’, ‘be’ and ‘do’ can function both as auxiliary and lexical verbs.
The auxiliary and lexical verbs, ‘have’, ’be’, and ‘do’, have attracted scholarly
investigation into their morphological and syntactic properties from early linguists and the
Theoretical Framework
which individuals are able to express their thoughts with each other within a speech
community. Berns (1990), postulates that various aspects of language are purposeful and
useful among members within a system. Furthermore, proponents of this theory are of the
strong view that the function of a language is highly hinged on the form that the language
maintains.
In the sphere of linguistics, the major tenets of functionalism are function, meaning
and sociocultural influences which affect the interpretation of contextual language. Hence,
the knowledge of phonology, morphology, syntax and semantics are the overarching
principles on which these tenets are founded. As a result, this theory will be used in this
the functional aspects of the verbs ‘have’ ‘be’ and ‘do’ as lexical verbs and auxiliary verbs as
presented in the corpus provided. The basis for this research is to assist English Language
teachers in comprehending the form and function of these verbs in varying situations.
In the final analysis the core group of teachers will be able to use the information
gleaned from the research to enhance the teaching and learning of language and by extension
the role of the verbs ‘have’ ‘be’ and ‘do’ in both written and oral communication. Butler
(2003), claims that the knowledge of the organisation of language will allow for competency
in the language.
Running head: MORPHO-SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF HAVE, BE, AND DO 7
Research Methodology
The approach employed in this research paper was the qualitative technique. The
The descriptive research design, which finds out and reports the way things are, was used
to analyse the data. Gay (1981), describes descriptive research as a process of collecting data
in order to test hypotheses or to answer questions concerning the status of the subjects in the
study.
university students as they waited for class.The data obtained will enable the researchers to
better plan and structure the grammatical content to teach the group of English teachers. The
findings of the data obtained will be used to teach the morpho syntactic features of the verbs,
The qualitative approach was more suitable for this corpus as it allowed the researchers to
conduct thematic analysis. The first approach to this task will be to examine the corpus given
and categorise the sentences into declarative, interrogative, negative and contractive
statements. Following that, an in-depth analysis of the usage of each verb will be examined
to demonstrate the contextual use of the verbs as well as the distinguishing features among
them. Thereafter, examples will then be used to fully explain the features inherent in the
verbs as they were utilized in various sentence types. Finally, an evaluation of the entire body
of corpus will be completed with the aim of arriving at a conclusion that will indicate the
Presentation of Findings
The corpus of twenty-eight questions was tagged based on the uses and identification of
the morpho-syntactic features of the auxiliaries ‘have’, ‘be’ and ‘do. This is submitted in
tabular form using descriptive narrative, and references to the cardinal numbering of each
Table 1
Have as an auxiliary verb in declarative We have received the final assignment. (25)
sentences
Yes and no interrogative sentences using Have some of the world’s languages been
subject-auxiliary inversion classified as ergative/obsolutive languages?
(11)
Have the children gone to bed? (14)
Have we received the final assignment?
(24)
Auxiliary verb have in negative The children haven’t gone to bed. (16)
contractions We haven’t received the final assignment.
(17)
Table 2
Lexical verb with positive contractions We’re in the same office. (2)
Lexical subject- inversion with negative We aren’t in the same office. (9)
contractions
Closed questions using subject-auxiliary Is he on the committee? (8)
inversion
Are we in the same office? (15)
Running head: MORPHO-SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF HAVE, BE, AND DO 9
Table 3
The verbs ‘have’, ‘be’, and ‘do’, with each functioning either as a lexical or an
auxiliary verb, can be identified by certain morpho-syntactic features. The discussion will
distinguish the two, provide examples from the corpus, and identify the morpho-syntactic
Auxiliary, or helping verbs, are function words, a type of word class which is
constituted of words that have a grammatical function as opposed to content word, which are
an open class of lexical words. An auxiliary verb adds functional or grammatical content to
the information expressed by another verb, considered the main verb. It gives more meaning
The auxiliary verb helps the main verb to complete the sentence. The auxiliary verb and the
principal verb accomplish the task of sentence formation by joint action making the sentence
shows that the primary auxiliary “have” is used as a helping verb; have is an auxiliary or
helping verb because it aids the principal verb "received" making the sentence grammatically
the verb “have” exists on its own as lexical apart from it auxiliary function as a helping verb.
Running head: MORPHO-SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF HAVE, BE, AND DO 11
Oluwole and Rose (1996), Quirk, et al (1972, 1985), Young (1980) and Bamgbose (1990)
among others, all have similar opinions on the English primary auxiliary verbs. They opine
that this type of auxiliary verb is such that contains words that are used along with the main
verbs to make up a verbal group in a given clause. According to them, the fact that they co-
occur in a verbal group in a sentence is what earns them the name “helping verbs” Each of
these grammarians identified ‘Be’ ‘Have’ and ‘Do’ as the English primary auxiliary verbs
As taken from the corpus “have” acts as a lexical verb in some sentences. ‘Have’ as
an auxiliary verb, is a short verb prefixed to one of the principal part of another verb to
There must be a relationship between the auxiliary verb and the main verb; the
auxiliary verb must match the main verb. The main auxiliary verbs are 'have', 'do', and 'be'.
The relationship that exists among the auxiliary verbs : ‘have’ , ‘be’ and ‘do’ is that "do"
exists in the simple tense, ‘have’ in the perfect tense and ‘be’ in the continuous tense.
The morpho-syntactic feature of the verb ‘be’ as used in the corpus indicates that the
verb is functioning as a lexical verb. The distinguishing feature that provides this evidence is
1. He is on the committee.
8. Is he on the committee?
Both declarative and interrogative sentences respectively, demonstrate that the verb ‘be’
functions independently in both situations. In addition, the syntactic frame allows for the
mobility of the verb ‘be’ regardless of the sentence type. In this regard, it is seen that both
subject and verb can trade places to facilitate the intended function of the verb ‘be’.
In the area of negative statements, the syntactical approach to utilising the verb ‘be’
requires that the adverb ‘not’ be positioned after the verb in question. More so, negation of
the verb can result in a contraction whereby the subject in the declarative statement becomes
affixed to the verb. This approach facilitates our understanding that the verb ‘be’ in the
Based on the given corpus provided for this research, both lexical and auxiliary verbs
are different in various ways. As posited by Burton-Roberts (2011), lexical and auxiliary
verbs differ in questions and negative aspects. In following this syntactic rule, the sentence
will be grammatically correct. In addition, the negated form of the verb can be contracted in
the auxiliary form thereby changing the morphological aspect of the word. It can therefore be
stated that lexical verbs are supported in the negative form, and the negative form must be
A feature that is different in the lexical use of the verb “to be” is the construction of
questions. When interrogative sentences are formed from statements that contain the verb
Running head: MORPHO-SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF HAVE, BE, AND DO 13
‘be’, the subject is placed after the verb ‘be’. This syntactic approach ensures that the
sentence is grammatical in its construction. The corpus highlighted that with questions the
subject is placed after the verb when the verb is in its lexical form. Conversely, when the
verb ‘be’ is in the auxiliary form, formation of questions from statement is totally different.
To ensure that the syntax of the interrogative sentence is correct, the auxiliary verb is placed
In summary it can be stated that the lexical and auxiliary format of the verb ‘be’
function differently based on the types of statements used and the intended meaning the
speaker wishes to convey. The positioning of the verb with regards to negative sentences is
fixed syntactic structure also accommodates contractions. In the final analysis it can be stated
that the morphological structure of the verb ‘be’ determines its communicative function.
The verb ‘do’ functions as both a lexical and auxiliary verb in English. Lexical verbs
are characterised by certain properties that allow the verb to give meaning or express an
action. The first morpho-syntactic feature, the verb ‘do’ in the lexical form is that it takes a
direct object or an indirect object followed by a direct object (Biber, Conrad, & Leech, 2002).
Examples from the corpus shows ‘do’ followed by a direct object can be seen in:
In this sentence, ‘it’ is the direct object. An example from the corpus of the verb followed by
Here, ‘their’ is an indirect object and ‘mental preparations’ is the direct object.
Another feature of the lexical verb ‘do’ is that it functions as pro-verb which replaces a
In the example, ‘do it’ refers to whatever action is being performed as it replaces a VP that
could have been in the sentence. To illustrate this the following pair of sentence can be used:
The easiest way to identify the verb ‘do’ in the auxiliary form is in negation and
negation morphology. Negation occurs with the negator ‘not’ preceding or following ‘do’.
From the corpus for analysis, this trait can be seen in:
In addition, the verb ‘do’ undergoes negation morphology with the suffix –n’t, which is a
In discussing, the use of the verb ‘do’ as an auxiliary verb, the concepts of affix hopping
and tense stranding must be understood. Affix hopping is described by Brinton (2000), as a
rule, which stipulates, “each affix attaches to the verbal element immediately following it and
forms the relevant word” (p. 200). This becomes pertinent when forming interrogative and
negative sentences with no auxiliary other than tense. The affix to show tense needs to attach
to a verbal element, but this cannot happen in the case of the interrogative as the Noun Phrase
Running head: MORPHO-SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF HAVE, BE, AND DO 15
(NP) follows and in the negative, ‘not’ follows. When this happens, ‘do’ is inserted to
provide an auxiliary or verbal element for the affix of the tense to attach to, this is termed do-
support.
The second morpho-syntactic feature of the auxiliary verb ‘do’ is the ability to move
to the initial position in a question or interrogative. Examples from the corpus can be seen in:
The auxiliary verb makes declarative sentences interrogative. These are sentences with
either a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response, in other words the sentences are close ended. Therefore, a
simple test can be applied to determine whether the verb ‘do’ is lexical or auxiliary. If the
Another way to differentiate the lexical verb from the auxiliary verb is that the lexical
verb is the head of the verb phrase. In the case of a sentence that contains to verbs ‘do’ twice,
the verb in the VP would be lexical and the other one that is used to form the question would
The VP is ‘do their mental preparation’; the verb ‘do’ here is lexical and indicates action. The
‘do’ at the beginning of the sentence makes it a question and is hence an auxiliary.
Biber, Conrad, & Leech (2002), also mention the auxiliary ‘do’ being used in the
emphatic case to emphasise the meaning of a lexical verb, or in the imperative, as a pro-verb
Running head: MORPHO-SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF HAVE, BE, AND DO 16
that stands in place of a VP and complement, and as a question tag. However, the corpus
The verbs ‘have’, ‘be’, and ‘do’ in both the lexical and auxiliary forms occur in
declarative form. The common morpho-syntactic features of the verbs in the auxiliary form
can be summarized as occurring in positive and negative contractions and at the head of
the lexical subject- inversion with negative contractions of the verb ‘be’, a pro-verb ‘do’
Conclusion
The findings suggest that there are distinguishing morpho-syntactic features of the
lexical and auxiliary verbs and also that there are differences in the auxiliary uses of the verbs
‘have’, ‘do, and ‘be’. These differences are evident in the use of these verbs in the areas of
tense, negation, word class, contractions, question forms, inflections and declarative and
these verb forms provides greater clarity for the student-teachers thereby assisting them in
becoming better teachers of the English language. This would have a rippling effect, as their
students would be better English students with a good command of English Language usage.
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References
Adejare, O. & Adejare, R. (1996). Tertiary English Grammar. Lagos: D. Faw Books.
Biber, D., Conrad, S., & Leech, G. (2002). Longman Student Grammar of Spoken and
Written English. Essex, Pearson Education Limited.
Reid, W. (1991). Verb and Noun Number: A functional explanation. London: Longman.
Sledd, J. (1959). A Short Introduction to English Grammar. Chicago: Scott,
Foresman Company.
Young, D.J. (1980) The Structure of English Clauses London: Hutchinson & Co. Ltd.
Running head: MORPHO-SYNTACTIC FEATURES OF HAVE, BE, AND DO 20
Appendix
DATA
The sentences in the data were taken from a tape recorded conversation between college
students while they were waiting for their class to begin. The recording was transcribed and
the sentences that contain ‘have,’ ‘be’ and ‘do’ were isolated. Sentences that contain other
1. He is on the committee.
8. Is he on the committee?
11. Have some of the world’s languages been classified as ergative/absolutive languages?