AULA 3

ESTUDOS AVANÇADOS DE
LÍNGUA INGLESA – ESTUDOS
GRAMATICAIS

Prof. Leonardo Felipe Salmoria

INTRODUCTION

The verb part one: full verbs and verbs in auxiliary function

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to identify the different functions
of Auxiliary and Modal verbs, Primary verbs when compared to main verbs. You
will also understand the purpose of Stative verbs, and the structure of Regular
and irregular verbs, and you will also get familiar with usual Phrasal verbs.

THEME 1 – PRIMARY VERBS

Also known as ‘helping’ verbs, the Auxiliary verbs are a verbal class which
purpose is to assist a main verb. According to Quirk (et.al., 2005), even though
they have different functions in the verb phrase, auxiliaries share the important
function of behaving as operators when they occur as first verbs in yes-no
questions. For example, the classic Culture Club’s hit “Do you really want to hurt
me”:

[1] “Do you really want to make me cry?”

In [1] ‘do’ changes its original meaning to behave as an auxiliary to the main
verb ‘want’. In the following sections you will observe the usage of the three primary
verbs: Be, Have and Do. These verbs are also used in the Perfect aspect, and you
will learn more about it in the upcoming lessons.

1.1 Be

Note that all the Primary verbs also behave as Main verbs. ‘Be’ as a main
verb refers to the very existence of something or someone, as in the enigmatic
utterance of Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”:

[2] “To be or not to be: that is the question…”

The question that stirs around philosophy since forever is not relevant to
this lesson, so let’s move to the auxiliary functions of ‘be’, for it has two
distinguished functions: As an aspect auxiliary, and as a passive auxiliary.
As an aspect auxiliary, the verb ‘be’ precedes a progressive form, like in the
chapter XII of Charlotte Brontë’s “Jane Eyre”, in which Miss Eyre finally meets the
mysterious Mr. Rochester:

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 [3] “The din was in the causeway: a horse was coming;”

As a passive auxiliary, the verb ‘be’ precedes a past participle, in the same
chapter of Brontë’s gothic novel, we can find an example:

[4] “to let my heart be heaved by the exultant movement which, (…)”

The verb ‘be’ is a rare case in which it possesses eight different forms, all
used in auxiliary: ‘be’, ‘am’, ‘is’, ‘are’, ‘was’, ‘were’, ‘being’, and ‘been’.

1.2 Have

As a main verb, and stative by nature, ‘have’ expresses three possibilities:

• Possession: I haven’t (got) any butter.

• Relationship: I have (got) three sisters.
• Health: I have (got) a big headache.

‘Have’ is also known as a ‘delexical’ verb, for it is used in different contexts

to express other things, such as food and drink, or talking, washing, etc., and in
such cases, its original meaning as a main verb is removed and replaced into the
noun. Let’s take the timeless song “Something stupid”, originally performed by
Frank Sinatra, as an example:

[5] “Then afterwards we drop into a quiet little place and have a drink or
two.”

It is not, though, a case of possession, nor relationship, but simply the act
of drinking a beverage at some bar.
As an auxiliary, it works for the Perfect aspect. As in the classic song by
Creedence Clearwater Revival:

[6] “Have you ever seen the rain coming down on a sunny day?”

The 1971 single presents a full example of the Present Perfect, with ‘have’
as an auxiliary of the main verb ‘see’ in the past participle form.

1.3 Do

As a main verb, ‘do’ refers to the action of performing something in order to

get it finished or complete. It is also used as a pro-predication with a pronoun object
to refer to some unspecified action, especially in the participle form:

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 [7] “What have I done? It’s too late for that.”

In the stretch [7] of the song “Chocolate”, by the Irish band Snow Patrol, the
lead singer, Gary Lightbody, means to reflect about his life achievements, or the
lack of it, at some breaking point in his life, being thus immensely subjective, and
therefore hard to specify.
As an auxiliary, ‘do’, as mentioned previously, is used in interrogative
sentences, as you can see in [1], and also in negative sentences, like in John
Grant’s song “You don’t have to”:

[8] “You don’t have to say things that you don’t mean.”

The contracted form of the negative ‘do’ + ‘not’ is usual in spoken language,
and here it means the singer is setting his ex-lover’s duties as a boyfriend free.

THEME 2 – THE MODAL AUXILIARY VERBS

The modal auxiliaries are so called, according to Quirk et.al (2005),

“because of their contribution of meaning in the area known as modality.” It
includes concepts such as permission, obligation, volition, possibility, and
necessity.

2.1 Modals of ability and possibility

The modal ‘can/could’, meaning Ability, is restricted only to present and

past, or imaginary past situations, and are generally paraphrased by the
construction ‘be able to’, which can be flexed and used in different tenses and more
complex sentences.

[9] “I can’t play the piano, but I can play the flute.”

[10] “By the age of ten, he could speak only two languages.”

[11] “As soon as I finish my course, I’ll be able to speak three languages.”

The example [11] refers to a future ability, which is impossible to be used

with the modal ‘can’, for it is only used in present tense.
When it comes to Possibility, ‘can/could’ are also used in interrogative and
negative sentences:

[12] “It can’t be true!”

[13] “The event couldn’t be carried on due to weather conditions.”

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 [14] “How could you know it was an error?”

Still in the realm of Possibility, we have the modals ‘may/might’, which

usage differs from ‘can/could’ in a particular aspect: They can be paraphrased by
the adverbs perhaps or possibly:

[15] “If you go now, you may never come back.”

In spoken language, ‘can/could’ and ‘may/might’ are exchangeable in

meaning, however the latter tends to be used in a more formal context. Which
leads to their other usage: Permission. In these cases, politeness takes over:

[16] “Visitors may leave as they please.”

[17] “May I take a picture?”

Due to its high range of formality, ‘may/might’ as permission, is less usual,

and restricted to specific contexts.

2.2 Modals of obligation and necessity

‘Must’ meaning necessity refers to a logical thought, or assumption:

[18] “They must be rich; look at their new car.”

The conclusion in [18] was drawn by the speaker’s thorough observation.

‘Must’ as necessity cannot be used in negative or interrogative sentences, in these
cases, you should use ‘can’:

[19] “It must be a practical joke.”

[19a] “It can’t be serious.”

Both [19] and [19a] share the same meaning, though negation and
affirmation differ in rules. When it comes to Obligation, ‘must’ is then used to
express the authority of the speaker over the subject:

[20] “You all must return before lunchtime.”

When the sentence is in first person, the authority is thus self-imposed, as

a sharp sense of duty:

[21] “I must recover all the lost items.”

As an expression of authority, ‘must’ as obligation is commonly used by

governments and local authorities for law and regulations, or simply no-signs.

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 ‘Have (got) to’ is not a modal, it is known as a quasi-modal, and share the
same sense of obligation, though with some differences:

[20a] “You all have got to return before lunchtime.”

In [20a], the authority is less severe, here the speaker is more empathetic
than in [20].

[21a] “I have got to recover all the lost items.”

In [21] the self-imposed obligation, the sense of duty, is internal,

nevertheless [21a] the obligation is, in fact, external.
Different from ‘must’, ‘should’ meaning obligation, the speaker is less certain
that the demand will be carried out:

[20b] “You should all return before lunchtime.”

The modals mentioned in this section have peculiar meanings and deserve
closer attention when used, especially in formal circumstances.

THEME 3 – PHRASAL VERBS

Basically, a phrasal verb is a conjunction of a verb and a particle, most

commonly a preposition or an adverb, and together, this particle changes the
original meaning of the verb. According to Swan (2005), phrasal verbs are
grammatical structures which are informally used, and therefore widely spread, like
‘get up’ instead of ‘rise’.
Rita Heyworth’s biggest success film “Gilda”, 1946, features one of the most
famous songs concerning American so-called history, in this case the 1871 Great
Chicago Fire:

[21] “But here's the real low-down: put the blame on Mame, boys.”

Rumours has it that the blame for the fire was allegedly placed over a cow’s
shoulder, that’s why the verb ‘put’ remains in its original meaning. However, John
Grant’s song “Geraldine” builds up a phrasal verb with ‘put’ + two particles:

[22] “Geraldine, please tell me that you didn't have to put up with this…”

The phrasal verb ‘put up with’ means to suffer something unpleasant without
complaining. Note that ‘put up’ is another phrasal verb, which meaning depends
on a large range of different contexts, and that is why it can be challenging to
decipher when it means to provide food to someone, or to build up a camping tent.

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 As you could verify, Phrasal verbs do not maintain their verb meaning when
combined with other particles. For that reason, it is necessary to spot the difference
between Phrasal verbs and Transitive adjectives (FRODESEN; EYRING,
2000). Patrick Wolf’s hit “Bermondsey Street” is more than just the name of a
famous London boulevard, it addresses homophobia, and it is also a good example
of Transitive adjectives:

[23] “And I'm so proud of you, but now you must too.”

In the song, love inspires pride, and unlike phrasal verbs, the transitive
adjective ‘proud of’ does not change the original meaning of ‘pride’. The following
sections will provide you with different types of Phrasal verbs: Separable, non-
separable, and with two particles.

3.1 Separable

Some phrasal verbs can be separated, the verb and their preposition,
according to the sentence order, to emphasise a specific information, or to make it
clearer. Let’s take ‘call off’ as an example:

[24] “He called off the meeting after the discussion heated on.”

[24a] “He called the meeting off as the discussion heated on.”

When something is ‘called off’, it means that it was cancelled, or ordered to

be stopped. In [24a] the phrasal verb was separated because of the personal
pronoun ‘it’, referring to ‘the meeting’, in order to emphasise the meeting, not the
cancelling.

3.2 Non-separable

Even with personal pronouns, some phrasal verbs cannot be separated

because they do not have any object. Let’s take the phrasal verb ‘get over’ from
The Villager’s song “Courage”:

[25] “I took a little time to get over this.”

In [25], to ‘get over’ something or someone means to recover from a bad

experience. However, if we deliberately change Conor O’Brien’s lyrics, we change
its meaning as well:

[25a] “I took a little time to get this over.”

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 When you ‘get’ something ‘over’, it means you have to do something that is
usually necessary but unpleasant all the way to the end. ‘Get over’, differently from
‘call off’, does not need an object, once you can just get over, you do not need the
information of what situation was got over.

3.3 With two particles

As it was verified in [22], some phrasal verbs may have two particles, and
they are non-separable for they are also intransitive.

[26] “After a while, our brains get rid of unnecessary information.”

To ‘get rid of’ something means to remove or become free of something you
do not want or wish anymore.
To help you identify the semantic possibilities of Phrasal Verbs, either
separable or non-separable, observe the following chart:

Chart 1 – Common phrasal verbs and their meaning

PHRASAL VERB MEANING

back [x] up to support or defend someone
come around to change one’s opinion or see a new point of view
dive into to eagerly begin a pursuit or activity
fill [x] up to put into a container as much as it can contain
get along with to be on harmonious terms with someone
get by to survive or manage at a minimum level
keep [x] up to continue doing something
let [x] down to disappoint someone
look after to take care of someone or something
look up to to admire or idolize someone
take after to resemble someone, especially kids and their parents
turn [x] down to reject or say no to someone
Source: Leonardo Felipe Salmoria.

The phrasal verbs with the mark [x] mean they can be separated, according
to their transitivity. Of course, there are several other examples, and you can look

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up for their meaning in reliable dictionaries. You will learn more about the
transitivity of verbs in upcoming lessons.

THEME 4 – STATIVE VERBS

In the realm of verbs, many aspects deserve consideration, however, we

are going to focus on a specific aspect, the statives, due to its usage in more
complex inflexions, like the continuous aspect. You can learn more about it in the
upcoming lessons.

4.1 The different states

As you might already know, verbs refer to actions. Stative verbs are a
select group of verbs which refers to states instead of actions, and they are often
related to thoughts and opinions, feelings and emotions, senses and perceptions,
and possession and measurement.
Since they refer to a state, they cannot be used alongside a continuous
form. In the 2006 Arctic Monkey’s hit “I bet you look good on a dance floor” we can
make a grammar experiment:

[27] “I don't know if you're looking for romance or…”

The verb ‘know’ is stative, not an action, so it cannot happen along a specific
period of time, so if we try the continuous here, it will not make sense:

[27a] “I’m not knowing if you're looking for romance or…”

The experiment in [27a] is considered agrammatical because the

knowledge they refer to is a state, a thought, not an action. Of course, the form
‘knowing’ does exist according to morphology rules, but the context changes its
meaning, becoming then an action, as you can see in the following section.

4.2 The exception of the rule

Some stative verbs can also be used to describe an action, depending on

the context. Let’s take a closer look at how the stative verb ‘see’ behaves:

[28] “No, I’m no longer single, I'm seeing someone.”

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 As one of the five senses, ‘see’ is not a dynamic verb, because it happens
in an instant only, so, according to semantics, [28] gives the idea of a relationship,
happening for a period of time, that maybe will end up in marriage, or not.
Considering the lesson about mistakes, errors, and misconceptions, the
stative verb ‘understand’ deserves more attention. As in Portuguese it is
considered an epistemic verb, it is therefore a stative. However, the rules for the
continuous do not apply in Portuguese:

[29] “Eu não estou entendendo”.

The same construction, even considering a context of usage that would be

a rule breaker, it is not usual, due to its meaning:

[29a] “I’m not understanding.”

Considering the meaning in [29]: when something is spoken and makes no

sense, such utterance occurs naturally, and it refers to a momentary action, not a
state, or opinion. However, in English it is a momentary state, which needs to be
cleared:

[29b] “I don’t understand.”

In order to use the continuous, we use the verb ‘get’, when it is necessary:

[29c] “I’m not getting.”

So, once more, the comparative grammar was brought up to cease any
misconceptions towards grammar rules.

THEME 5 – REGULAR AND IRREGULAR VERBS

As we have already seen, Verbs are divided into three classes, being
Primary and Auxiliary, and now more closely the Full verbs. Apart from
classifications such as dynamic or stative verbs, or transitivity, its regularity is the
focus of the following sections.
Concerning the morphology of full verbs, just like the regular ones, the
irregular verbs maintain the -s and -ing forms in the present and the continuous,
however, when it comes to past inflection, it changes the pattern -ed to a big range
of different forms, or even none at all (Quirk et.al., 2005).

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5.1 Regular verbs

Some verbs known as regular have about five different forms, and when
they are inflected, they keep their base form. Let`s take the verbs ‘Paint’ and ‘Love’:

Chart 2 – Regular verbs

INFLECTION REGULAR VERBS

BASE FORM Paint Love
-S FORM Paints Loves
-ING PARTICIPLE Painting Loving
PAST FORM Painted Loved
-ED PARTICIPLE Painted Loved
Source: Leonardo Felipe Salmoria.

The pattern is easy to follow, once you have a base form it is predictable
how the inflection will occur. The same process happens to foreign or borrowed
words, like ‘xerox’: xeroxes, xeroxing, xeroxed, etc.

5.2 Irregular verbs

The irregular verbs rules change a little bit, like the pattern -ed keeps in
some verbs, but the voicing changes, like ‘burn’ becoming ‘burnt’ - some dialects
allow the form ‘burned’ -, or even more complex situations like ‘build’ becoming
‘built’, the pronunciation changes a little from ‘d’ to ‘t’, a slightest difference, but it
does matter.
The most peculiar difference is the way it is pronounced, like the nasalised
‘mown’ becoming ‘mowed’ from the base form ‘mow’, or some other variants, like
‘mean’ becoming ‘meant’, and ‘read’ becoming 'read’, the latter no difference in
spelling, only pronunciation.

[30] “You're a little late, I'm already torn.”

The irregular verb ‘tear’ in the past participle form in the song “Torn” by
Natalie Imbruglia, in the stretch [30] behaves as an adjective and presents the
nasalisation in sound as it is flexed.
There is also the peculiar case of the irregular verbs in which no change in
spelling or pronunciation ever occur, like ‘bet’, ‘cut’ and ‘split’. However, there’s a

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group of irregular verbs in which a change in the base vowel occur, like ‘bleed’
becoming ‘bled’, or ‘sting’ becoming 'stung’.
And of course, there is the group in which there are changes of the base
vowel in the past tense and the past participle, like ‘begin’ becoming past ‘began’
to past participle ‘begun’.

[31] “From this moment life has begun.”

In Shania Twain’s classic hit “From this moment on” in [31], the past
participle form of ‘begin’ is an element of the Present perfect construction with the
auxiliary verb ‘have’, and it expresses the beginning of something that will be
lasting and enduring.
The following chart will illustrate the processes described so far:

Chart 3 – Irregular verbs

BASE VERB PAST TENSE PAST PARTICIPLE

Burn Burnt (also ‘burned’) Burnt (also ‘burned’)
Build Built Built
Mow Mowed Mown, mowed
Mean Meant Meant
Read Read Read
Bet Bet Bet
Cut Cut Cut
Split Split Split
Bleed Bled Bled
Sting Stung Stung
Begin Began Begun
Sing Sang Sung
Swim Swam Swum
Run Ran Run
Come Came Come
Source: Leonardo Felipe Salmoria.

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REFERENCES

BRITISH COUNCIL. Learning English: Grammar reference, 2023. Retrieved

from: <https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar>, on 30 Aug 2023.

COLLINS COBUILD. English Grammar. 1st edition. Suffolk, Great Britain: William
Collins Sons & Co Ltd, 1990.

FRODESEN, J.; EYRING, J. Grammar dimensions: Form, meaning, and use. 4th
edition. Thomson Heinle: Boston, MA, 2000.

LONGMAN. Longman dictionary of contemporary English. Essex, England:

Longman Group UK limited, 1990.

QUIRK, R. et al. A comprehensive grammar of the English language. 20th

edition. Essex, England: Longman Group Limited, 2005.

SCHENDL, H. Historical linguistics. 1st edition. Oxford, Great Britain: Oxford

University Press, 2001.

SWAN, M. Grammar. 1th edition. Oxford, Great Britain: Oxford University Press,
2005.

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