sem.

I, 2014
I. O. Macari, Lecture 10

5.3. The noun

5.3.1. Definition and characteristics

According to Kolln and Funk, a noun is a word that can be made plural and/or possessive; it
occupies the headword position in the noun phrase; it is usually signalled by a determiner. (2012,
p. 19)
Leech (2006, p. 72) describes nouns as a very large class of words which refer to entities
(persons, things, substances, places and abstractions of various kinds). As we have seen in
previous chapters, a noun can be the head of a noun phrase and can primarily have the functions
of subject or object of a verbal of a clause.
Nouns have the following characteristics1:
A Morphological
 Nouns have inflectional suffixes for plural number: one book, two books;
 Nouns have inflectional suffixes for genitive case: Sarah's book.
 Many nouns are uncountable, and cannot have a plural form: gold, information, etc.
 Nouns quite often contain more than one morpheme:
 compound nouns: bomb + shell, bridge + head, clothes + line
 nouns with derivational suffixes: sing + er, bright + ness, friend + ship
B. Syntactic
 Nouns can occur as the head of a noun phrase: [a new book about the cold war], [the
ugliest person you've ever seen].
 Common nouns such as book and person can be modified by many kinds of words both
before and after them.
 Proper nouns like Sarah rarely have any modifiers.
C. Semantic
 Nouns commonly refer to concrete, physical entities (people, objects, substances, etc.):
e.g. book, friend, iron.
 They can also denote abstract entities, such as qualities and states: e.g. freedom, wish,
friendship.
5.3.2. Noun classes2
Most common nouns have both a singular and a plural form, with either regular or irregular
forms. Nouns are subdivided into the following major categories: common nouns contrast with
proper nouns; count nouns contrast with non-count nouns (including mass nouns); concrete
nouns contrast with abstract nouns; collective nouns contrast with noncollective nouns.
1
As identified by Biber, Conrad and Leech in The Longman student grammar of spoken and written English.
London: Longman, 2002.
2
This section mainly draws on Greenbaum & Quirk‟s A Student’s Grammar of the English Language, 1990, and
Bejan & Bejan‟s Morphology of contemporary English, 2005.
 sem. I, 2014
I. O. Macari, Lecture 10
Many abstract nouns are derived from verbs (explanation, actor, receiver, etc.) or from
adjectives (wisdom, length, happiness, etc.).
Many words can be recognized as nouns by their suffixes, for example -ion (in action), -er (in
reader), -or (in actor), -ness (in business), -ity (in authority), -ment (in department) and -ship (in
friendship).
Nouns are common (cat, nature, wood, etc.) or proper (Britain, London, Mary, etc.). Proper
nouns are normally uncountable, but if they are turned into common nouns they borrow some
of the features of the latter. Thus, in The Nadia I know would not say that, the proper noun
Nadia is preceded by the determinative the, and in The Browns are on vacation, the proper
noun takes both the determiner and the plural –s.
According to the type of referent, common nouns can be concrete (nouns refer to people, places,
or things) or abstract (nouns refer to qualities, states, or actions).
In reference to their grammatical form, common nouns can be count/countable or non-
count/uncountable.
Count nouns have both a singular and a plural form and they can be accompanied by determiners that
refer to distinctions in number, such as a, one, every, etc. for singular nouns and ten, many, those for
plural nouns.
Non-count nouns refer to an indivisible mass and are treated as singular. They accept only
determiners that do not mark distinctions in number, such as some, much, your, that, etc. Most
abstract nouns are non-count. The definite article the can accompany both count and non-count
nouns, while the indefinite article a/ an can only precede singular count nouns. Some nouns may
be either count or non-count, depending on their meaning; compare He is good at statistics [non-
count] and He produced several good statistics [count].
In order to illustrate the conversion of non-count into count nouns, Greenbaum and Quirk (1990)
propose the following cases:
1. When the count noun refers to different kinds:
The shop has a large selection of cheeses.
2. When the count noun refers to units that are obvious in the situation.
I’ll have two coffees, please. (= two cups of coffee)
Since the two observations are true for the Romanian language as well, natives have few
problems to transfer L1 knowledge to English. However, for the Romanian speaker of English, it
can be difficult to recognize certain nouns as non-count (for instance, money, information, bread,
chocolate, etc.) and use them accordingly. This happens because their correspondents in
Romanian are either countable - even if some of them are mass nouns – such as informație -
informații, pâine – pâini, săpun – săpunuri, ciocolată – ciocolate, etc., or plural, for instance
bani meaning „a current medium of exchange in the form of coins and banknotes; coins and
banknotes collectively‟, or cunoștințe as information and skills acquired through experience or
education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.). Other types of mass nouns
(flour, milk, meat, beer, wine, etc.) pose fewer problems because their behaviour regarding
number is similar in the two languages.
 sem. I, 2014
I. O. Macari, Lecture 10

.4. The verb

5.4.1. Definition and characteristics3

A verb is the word class/part of speech which describes an action or occurrence or indicates a
state of being. The verb is the central element of a sentence (that is to say, as a rule, every
sentence has a verb), and its identification is often the most important step in analysing and
understanding the meaning of a sentence. (see 4.4.)
It is important to always distinguish between verb (word class) and verb phrase (clause
constituent). The possibility of confusion is generated by the fact that a verb phrase often
consists of a single verb (be it a one-word or a multi-word verb), which is the unitary
constituent4 of that particular verb phrase.
The characteristics of lexical verbs are described in 2.4.2.1.
5.4.2. Verb classes
There are two main classes of verbs:
1. The open class of lexical verbs (also known as main/full verbs - verbs that are not dependent
on other verbs);
2. The closed class of auxiliary verbs (also known as helping verbs). Auxiliaries fall into two
subtypes:
- primary auxiliaries (be, have, and do) function both as lexical verbs and as auxiliaries.
When used as auxiliaries, they are function words and have no lexical meaning. They
have the same syntactic forms that full verbs have both when used as auxiliaries and
when used as full verbs.
- modal auxiliaries (can, could, may, might, must, ought, shall, should, will, and would),
although auxiliaries, have lexical meaning (that is to say, they indicate degrees of
obligation, necessity, probability, etc.).
3. Another class includes semi-modals and catenative verbs5.

5.4.2.1. Lexical verbs

As the unitary constituent of the verb phrase, the lexical/main verb is the central element that
determines the functional and meaning relations in a clause. Its valency selects the rest of the elements
in the clause.

3
As identified by Biber, Conrad and Leech in The Longman student grammar of spoken and written English.
London: Longman, 2002.
4
A constituent is unitary if it has only one part. For example, if a sentence has just one main clause (as is the case
with simple and complex sentences) then that one clause is the unitary constituent of the sentence; similarly if a
phrase has just one word, then that single word is the unitary constituent of the phrase. (Lunn)
5
catenative verb = a verb--such as keep, promise, want, seem, and many others--that can link with other verbs to
form a chain or series. A catenative verb (also called a chain verb) takes a nonfinite clause as its complement.
(Nordquist)
 sem. I, 2014
I. O. Macari, Lecture 10
Main verbs must occur in any normal clause or sentence (with the exception of verbless clauses
and ellipsis). Lexical verbs have the following characteristics:
A Morphological
 Lexical verbs have different forms signalling tense (present and past), aspect (perfect,
progressive), and voice (active and passive). (see 5.2.)
 Like nouns, several verbs have no suffixes: call, walk, etc.
 Many of the verbs that do have suffixes are of Latin, Greek or French origin; some of
verbs were already suffixed when they were borrowed: magnify, agonize, realize.
 By the addition of certain suffixes, nouns or adjectives can be turned into main verbs:
prefix noun base derived verb with suffix
-ate assassin, different assassinate, differentiate
-(i)fy beauty, class beautify, classify
-ize/-ise alphabet, apology alphabetize, apologise
-en Height Heighten
prefix adjective base derived verb with suffix
-ate active activate
-(i)fy simple simplify
-ize/-ise Actual actualize
-en black, deep blacken, deepen
 Verb prefixes do not normally change the word class, yet they do change the meaning
prefix meaning of prefix Examples
re- again reabsorb, rebuild, redefine, refinance
dis- opposite, apart disarm, disconnect, discontinue, dislike
over- too much, across, beyond overbook, overcome, overeat, overhear
un- opposite, in reverse unbend, uncouple, unfold, unload, unpack
mis- wrong, poorly misbehave, mishandle, misinform,
out- beyond, further outdo, outgrow, outperform, outweigh
 Regular verbs have only four morphological forms. These forms involve three suffixes
added to a base:
form Example Use
base Walk infinitive, present tense except 3rd person sg, and subjunctive
base +suffix -(e)s Walks 3rd person sg present tense
base + suffix -ing Walking ing-participles (as in progressive aspect)
base +suffix –ed Walked simple past tense and ed-participles/past participle, as in perfect and passive
constructions)
 For most irregular verbs (their number approaches 200 in normal use and exceeds 250 if
prefixed forms are counted), the -s form and the -ing participle can be predicted from the
base form. Only three forms, known as the principal parts of the verb, show
irregularities:
 sem. I, 2014
I. O. Macari, Lecture 10
 the base form: the verb be has eight forms throughout the present tense; the
verbs have, do and say have irregular -[e]s forms; defective verbs, such as the
modal auxiliaries lack most inflection.
 past form
 -ed participle form
 irregular verbs can be grouped into seven classes according to whether or not three
features apply to their principal parts:
 the past and -ed participles are identical;
 the base vowel is the same in the other two principal parts;
 the past and -ed participle have inflectional endings.
Class I Class II
base form past form -ed part. base form past form -ed part.
bend bent bent mow mowed mown
earn earnt earnt shear sheared shorn
build built built show showed shown
learn learnt learnt swell swelled swollen
have had had
smell smelt smelt
make made made
spoil spoilt spoilt
The verbs in bold in the 2nd column also have The past is regular, but the participle has an -n
regular variants: earn, earned, earned inflection. All the verbs have regular variants for the
participle: mow, mowed, mowed.

Class III Class IV

base form base form past form -ed part. past form -ed part.
buy Blow Blew blown bought bought
dream See Saw seen dreamt dreamt
hear Break Broke broken heard heard
kneel Take Took taken knelt knelt
lose Hide Hid hidden lost Lost
lean Tear Tore torn leant leant
say Lie Lay lain said Said
leap Write Wrote written leapt leapt
Those in the second column also have regular The participle has an inflection, but not the past. In some
variants: dream, dreamed, dreamed. verbs (e.g. blow) the participle has the same vowel as the
base; in some (e.g. break) the past and participle have the
same vowel; in some (e.g. write) all the vowels are different.

Class V Class VI Class VII

base past -ed base past -ed part. base form past form -ed part.
form form part. form form
burst burst burst bleed bled bled begin began begun
fit fit fit get got got come came come
hit hit hit dig dug dug sing sang sung
 sem. I, 2014
I. O. Macari, Lecture 10
hurt hurt hurt Hold held held run ran run
let let let Find found found
rid rid rid Strike struck struck
sweat sweat sweat Fight fought fought
wet Wet wet Win won won
All 3 forms are identical. The past and participle are The past forms have the same form for the
The past forms also have identical, but there is a change base and the participle. Some verbs also
regular variants: fit, fitted, from the base vowel and there have variants in which the past and
fitted. are no inflections. A few verbs participle are identical: sing, sung, sung, as
in this class have regular well as sing, sang, sung.
variants: light, lighted, lighted,
as well as light, lit, lit.
 The full set of five forms appears in the irregular verb speak.
1. base form: speak
2. -s form: speaks
3. -ing participle: speaking
4. past form: spoke
5. -ed participle: spoken
 Verb lexemes can have a complex form with more than one morpheme (i.e. multi-word
verbs and derived verbs).
B. Syntactic
Lexical verbs often occur on their own, as a single-word verb phrase, and function as the central
part of the clause. They can also be preceded by auxiliaries (see 4.4.):
C. Semantic
 Lexical verbs denote actions, processes, and states of affairs that happen or exist in time.
 Biber, Conrad and Leech (2002, pp. , 106-9) distinguish seven semantic categories:
 activity verbs usually refer to a volitional activity that is, an action performed
intentionally by an agent or 'doer'. Activity verbs can be transitive or intransitive,
occurring without any object. The most common, in conversation, fiction,
newspaper writing, and academic prose combined, are:
bring buy come follow get
give go leave make meet
move pay play put run
show take try use work
 communication verbs are a special subcategory of activity verbs that involve
communication activities, particularly verbs describing speech and writing. The most
common 'communication' verbs in conversation, fiction, newspaper writing, and
academic prose combined are:
ask call claim describe
offer say speak suggest
talk tell thank write
 sem. I, 2014
I. O. Macari, Lecture 10
 mental verbs refer to mental states and activities. They do not involve physical
action. Some of the verbs convey volition; others do not. Mental verbs express a
wide range of meanings:
mental states or processes think, know
emotions, attitudes, or desires love, want
perceptions see, taste
the receiving of communication read, hear
Many mental verbs are relatively dynamic in meaning, such as decide, discover, study,
etc.
Other mental verbs are more static in meaning, such as believe, remember, understand, enjoy,
fear, hate, prefer, etc.
The most common 'mental' verbs in conversation, fiction, newspaper writing, and academic
prose combined are:
believe consider expect feel find
hear know like listen love
mean need read remember see
suppose think understand want wonder
 causative verbs indicate that a person or thing helps to bring about a new state of
affairs and often occur with a derived noun as the direct object, which reports the
action that was facilitated. Ex.: Do you intend to allow its production?
The most common causative verbs are: allow, cause, enable, facilitate, help, let require etc.
 verbs of occurrence report events that occur without an actor. Ex.: The
phenomenon occurs especially at night.
The most common verbs of occurrence are especially common, in conversation, fiction,
newspaper writing, and academic prose combined: become, change, develop, die, grow,
happen, occur.
 verbs of existence or relationship report a state of existence or a logical relationship that
exists between entities.
Some of the most common existence verbs are copular verbs, such as seem and appear.
Ex.: He seemed worn out and sad.
Other verbs in this class report a state of existence (exist, stay, etc.) or a relationship
between entities (contain, include, etc.).
Some common existence/relationship verbs are:
appear contain exist include indicate involve
live look represent seem stand stay
 verbs of aspect characterize the stage of progress of an event or activity. Ex.: She started
telling him her story. The most common aspect verbs are begin, continue, keep, start and
stop.
 sem. I, 2014
I. O. Macari, Lecture 10
Multi-word verbs6
Inside the class of the lexical verb we should distinguish the group of multi-word verbs.
According to Hasselgård, Lysvåg, & Johansson (Glossary of grammatical terms used in English
Grammar: Theory and Use (2nd edition)), a multi-word verb consists of two or more words
which function together like a single verb in making up meaning. A multi-word verb is usually a
combination of a verb and an adverb or a preposition, but other word classes may also be
included.
Such combinations are also called verb idioms, as their meanings cannot normally be predicted
from the meaning of each individual component. For example, the meaning of the prepositional
verb to look after is different from the meanings of both to look and of after.
However, as with idioms in general, many multi-word verbs have a single-word verb with a
similar meaning.
multi-word verb one-word verb
call off cancel
catch up with reach the same stage as someone else
live through experience something and survive
look down on consider as inferior
look into examine or investigate
Not all the verbs followed by particles are multi-word verbs; often they are free combinations
consisting of a single-word lexical verb followed by an adverb or preposition with a separate
meaning (such as come down, go back). In fact, the same combination can be idiomatic in one
context and non-idiomatic in another.
He looked up the wall. (look and up form a free combination in which the two elements preserve
their own meanings)
He looked up the word. (look and up form a phrasal verb meaning „to seek information about
someone or something in a book or listing‟)
However, as Biber et all mark that “(i)n practice, it is hard to make an absolute distinction
between free combinations and multi-word verbs. It is better to think of a continuum where some
uses of verbs are relatively free and others relatively idiomatic” (2002, p. 124).
There are four classes of multi-word verbs:
1) phrasal verbs are verb idioms consisting of a verb followed by an adverbial particle (such as
cross out = remove by drawing a line through. pop in = make a brief visit, show up =
appear/arrive).
2) prepositional verbs7 are verb idioms consisting of a verb followed by a preposition, such as
look after = take care of, name after = give the same name as another person, take after =
resemble in appearance or character.

6
As identified by Biber, Conrad and Leech in The Longman student grammar of spoken and written English.
London: Longman, 2002.
7
Prepositional verbs are also known as „verbs with obligatory prepositions‟, and this name shows, in a simplified
way, that they are fixed expressions.
 sem. I, 2014
I. O. Macari, Lecture 10
3) phrasal-prepositional verbs contain both an adverbial particle and a preposition, as in get
along with = be on good terms/work well with, look back on = remember the past, look
forward to = await or anticipate with pleasure. Like prepositional verbs, phrasal-prepositional
verbs are followed by a prepositional object: According to new research, not getting along
with colleagues is the top reason for leaving a job (The Guardian).
4) other multi-word verb constructions:
a. verb + NP + preposition: e.g. have a finger in, have/take a look at, etc.
b. verb + NP + PpP: e.g. take sth to heart, take sth into account, etc.
c. verb + verb: e.g. , go get, make do, etc.
Biber et al (2002, pp. 124-6) identify three adequate criteria for distinguishing among the types
of multi-word combinations:
1) whether or not there is an idiomatic meaning
2) whether or not particle movement is possible
3) how the wh-question is formed.
The first distinction they make is based on the presence or absence of a following NP:
The nature of a multi-word expression is determined by whether or not there is a
following noun phrase. When there is no following noun phrase (e.g. shut up or go
away), there are only two possible interpretations. It must be either an intransitive
phrasal verb, or a free combination of verb + adverb. If there is a following noun
phrase (e.g. find out the meaning), there are three possible interpretations. Either it is a
transitive phrasal verb, a transitive prepositional verb, or a free combination of
verb + adverbial prepositional phrase (Biber, Conrad, & Leech, 2002, p. 124).
1) Checking for an idiomatic meaning is less reliable for the non-native speaker of English than
the other criteria, but it can still be useful for distinguishing between an intransitive phrasal verb
and a free combination when there is no following NP. Intransitive phrasal verbs usually have an
idiomatic meaning (as in Calm down! = become more relaxed or less angry/upset), while the
words in free combinations retain their own meanings (as in Don’t look back! = do not look
behind you).
2) When there is a NP after the multi-word combination, prepositional verbs can be confused
both with transitive phrasal verbs and with free combinations. The confusion arises because of
the similar appearance of the prepositional complement/object of the preposition following the
prepositional verb or the verb in the free combination, and the propositional adverb 8 following
the phrasal verb or the verb in the free combination.
prepositional verb He looked after his old mother.
(verb+obligatory preposition)

8
A prepositional adverb is an adverb which is identical (or similar) in form to a preposition to which it is also
related in meaning, for example on, by, off, over, about, past. (Words like out and away can be considered
prepositional adverbs because of their close relations to the complex prepositions out of and away from.)
Prepositional adverbs, unlike their matching prepositions, do not have a prepositional complement. For example, in
He jumped over the fence, over is a preposition, but in He jumped over it is a prepositional adverb. Similar examples
are: She fell down the stairs and She fell down. (Leech, A Glossary of English Grammar, 2006, pp. 89-90)
 sem. I, 2014
I. O. Macari, Lecture 10
free combination He looked behind the computer.
(verb + preposition)
transitive phrasal verb He looked up the word in a dictionary.
(verb+prepositional adverb)
free combination He looked behind and hurried his step.
(verb+prepositional adverb)
If the particle can be placed both before and after the NP 9, then it is an adverbial particle and the
multi-word combination is a phrasal verb 10 , if not, it is a preposition and the multi-word
combination is either a prepositional verb or a verb + preposition free combination.
prepositional verb He looked his old mother after.
(verb+obligatory preposition)
free combination He looked the computer behind.
(verb + preposition)
transitive phrasal verb He looked the word up in a dictionary.
(verb+prepositional adverb)
free combination -
(verb+prepositional adverb)
3) The wh-question formation is useful for distinguishing between a transitive prepositional verb
+ object (typically formed with what or who/whom) and a free combination of verb + adverbial
prepositional phrase (typically formed with where and when).
prepositional verb Who/whom did he look after?
(verb+obligatory preposition) He looked after his old mother.
free combination Where did he look?
(verb + preposition) He looked behind the computer.
If we try fronting the particle, we can additionally distinguish between transitive prepositional
verbs and phrasal verbs.
prepositional verb After who/whom did he look?
(verb+obligatory preposition) He looked after his old mother.
transitive phrasal verb Up what did he look?
(verb+prepositional adverb) He looked up the word in a dictionary.
However, such verb + particle combinations can belong to more than one class, depending on the
context.
phrasal verb He ran over the cat. = hit with a vehicle

9
This is true about the majority of the transitive phrasal verbs, with the exception of two classes of such verbs:
inseparable phrasal verbs and separated phrasal verbs. With inseparable phrasal verbs the object NP occurs after
the adverbial particle (come across [a rare book] = find by chance, go over [something] = review, run into
[someone] = meet unexpectedly). With separated phrasal verbs, the NP functioning as object always occurs
between the verb and the adverbial particle. Examples: fit [somebody/something] in = to provide a place or time for,
get [a plumber] in = to arrange for someone to do a job in your home, get [a message] through = convey; transmit,
see [this nightmare] through = survive, overcome.
10
When the object of a transitive phrasal verb (underlined in the example) is a pronoun, the adverbial particle is
always placed after the object: He felt too hot in the winter coat, so he took it off.
 sem. I, 2014
I. O. Macari, Lecture 10
free combination He ran over the bridge. = run across something

5.4.2.2. Auxiliary verbs

From the observation above it is easy to infer that main verbs can be contrasted with auxiliary
verbs, and the following characteristics of the auxiliary verbs can be identified:
 Unlike main verbs, auxiliaries do not have lexical meaning (think of the auxiliaries in
Romanian: if one says am mers, he/ she does not express any kind of possession, though
the verb a avea is used!)
 Auxiliary verbs always come before the main verb. Examples (the main verb is in bold):
has read, has been reading, are reading, may have been reading. The same is true about
Romanian (a citit, va citi, va fi citind)
 The primary verbs be, have and do can function as either auxiliary or main verbs.
Compare I don't like such things and I don't do such things. In the first example do is
used as an auxiliary (operator), and comes before the main verb like, while in the second
it is used as both an auxiliary preceding the main verb do, and as a main verb.
 Auxiliaries are irregular in form. Be, for example, has eight forms: am, is, are, was, were,
be, being, been. Have has four forms: has, have, had, having and do has five forms: does,
do, did, done, doing. Notice that done and doing cannot be used as auxiliary forms.
 In Romanian, all the auxiliary verbs (a fi, a avea, a voi, a vrea) are primary verbs,
although, when used as auxiliaries, they have reduced flexion, as in the forms of a fi in
conjuctiv perfect (fi for all persons – să fi mers), of a avea in perfect compus (a instead of
are for 3rd person sg, as in el a mers vs el are o carte, etc.), and so on.
 The primary auxiliaries are different from each other and from the other auxiliaries. They
are used for the following forms:
 be for a. the progressive : was walking
b. the passive : was walked
 have for the perfect : has walked
 do as the dummy operator : did walk
 Auxiliaries can only occur together with a main verb (except in cases of ellipsis). When
used as auxiliaries, the primary verbs be, have and do are exclusively followed by non-
finite forms of the verb, as in:
is working be + present participle progressive
is worked be + past participle passive
has worked have + past participle perfect
does not work do + not + bare infinitive dummy operator
An interesting definition (Hudson) contrasts auxiliaries, catenatives and operators:
An auxiliary verb is a catenative which is also an operator.
The author identifies the auxiliary verbs defined by this criterion as follows:
 be when followed by a non-finite verb (is working, was chosen, is to go)
 sem. I, 2014
I. O. Macari, Lecture 10
 have when followed by a past participle (have finished)
 do when followed by an infinitive (did know)
 will, shall, can, may, must, ought
 (for some speakers) used, dare and need.
Hudson concludes that an auxiliary verb is a verb that combines two characteristics:
 Support: It can support11 another verb.
 Other distinctions: It allows subject inversion, negation, contraction but it does not allow
do-support and may not show subject agreement.

5.4.2.3. Modal verbs

In English there are nine central modal verbs: can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would
and must.
Modal verbs add meanings relating to modality to the lexical verb. Ability (can, could),
possibility or permission (can, may), obligation, necessity or likelihood (must, should),
prediction, intention or hypothesis (will, would), etc. are examples of modal meanings.
One grammatical approach groups all the modal auxiliaries except for must in pairs: will – would, can -
could, may -might, shall -should. Two types of relations can be identified between the members of a
modal pair:
1. Since the second member is, historically, the past tense form of the former, it can express
a past time reference. Compare I can swim now. [present time reference] and I could swim
when I was a child. [past time reference].
2. In instances such as Can you help me? [present time reference] and Could you help me?
[present time reference], there is no difference in what regards the time reference. The
variation resides in the degree of politeness of the requests expressed in the two
examples. By generalizing this observation, we may say that there is a variation in the
degree of politeness, possibility, likelihood etc. as expressed by one or the other of the
members of a modal pair.
Modal auxiliaries have the following major characteristics:
 They always function as operators, as in Can you help me? or in I can’t, I’m sorry. As we
can see in the two examples, they are placed before the subject to form questions and
before not in negation. (see 2.4.2.)
 Except for may, modals occur in negative contractions: won’t, can’t, shan’t, mustn’t,
wouldn’t, couldn’t, mightn’t, shouldn’t.
 Like any other auxiliary, modals always come before the main verb: may be working,
could have gone.
 They are always followed by the bare infinitive (in one of its forms) of another verb, for
example can be, can have done, can be done, etc.

11
They are each followed by a non-finite verb (raining, been, overcharged) which they 'support' in various ways.
The term 'auxiliary verb' refers to this support role. (Hudson)
 sem. I, 2014
I. O. Macari, Lecture 10
 They are defective verbs, that is, they have no other forms, such as -s forms, -ing forms or
-ed forms.
 They can only appear in finite clauses, as in
I pray [that you may succeed].
I pray [for you to may succeed].
Need and dare are dual-function verbs, as they can behave either like modal auxiliaries (You
needn’t have brought flowers; How dare you?) or like main verbs (You do not need to get there
before 9; I didn't dare to say that aloud.). In the auxiliary use, these verbs function as the
operator for negation and interrogative.

5.4.2.4. Semi-modals12

Semi-modals (also called semi-auxiliaries/ lexical auxiliary/ periphrastic modals/ marginal

modals/quasi-modals) are multiword constructions based on auxiliary verbs that function like
modal verbs.
The subcategory of semi-modals includes the following structures: be about to, be able to, be
going to, be likely to, (had) better, have to, (have) got to, ought to, be supposed to, used to. Some
are followed by an infinitive, others by a bare infinitive.
Semi-modals can be regarded as equivalents of the modal auxiliaries, because they express
meanings that can usually be paraphrased with a modal verb.
semi-modal modal example comment
be able to can/ He is able to swim to the other bank of the river. ~
could He can swim to the other bank of the river.
be to will/ shall He is to return next year. ~ He will return next year. Be to indicates plans and arrangements,
like simple future, like will/shall, but with
a slight degree of uncertainty. He is to
return next year means that „he is likely
to return‟, but it is not quite certain
whether the action will actually happen
or not.
must You are to take the floor, whether you like it or not. Be to may also express orders that
~ You must take the floor, whether you like it or not convey the idea of obligation or
necessity, almost like must, but it is not as
strong or direct.
had better should/ You had better call her at once. ~ You should/ No idea of comparison is conveyed by
ought to ought to call her at once. the comparative better. Its meaning is „it
would be good/advisable to‟. Had better
expresses strong advice, we use it to tell
other people what to do.
She had better mind her own business. ~ She Had better may also express a threat; the
should/ ought to mind her own business. idea of „or else‟ is implied.
If we are to finish before noon, we had better hurry. Had better in the main clause can
~ If we must finish before noon, we should/ ought combine with be to in an if-clause, when
to hurry. the main clause expresses a pre-condition
have to and must I have to report for duty within a week. (= I must Have got to means the same as have to in

12
As identified by Biber, Conrad and Leech in The Longman student grammar of spoken and written English.
London: Longman, 2002.
 sem. I, 2014
I. O. Macari, Lecture 10
have got report for duty within a week.) most situations. It is more common in an
I have got to talk to her. (= I have to/must talk to informal style.
her.)
Did you have to do that? (was that necessary?)
Most semi-modals are fixed expressions, which cannot be inflected for tense or person.
However, some of them, like have to and be going to, are exceptions to this rule (past tense: She
had to get him out of there; third-person agreement: I don't think he is going to come.)
Some semi-modals can co-occur with a modal verb or another semi-modal (co-occurrence with a
modal: They may have to leave soon; co-occurrence with another semi-modal: I'm going to have
to charge you extra for that. Sorry!13
Together with dare and need, used to and ought to are on the boundary between the category of
the modal auxiliaries and that of lexical verbs, as they have characteristics from both. Thus, they
have negative contractions (usedn't and oughtn't) besides the do/did negative and interrogative,
but negation in general is quite uncommon with these verbs. Notice that used to and ought to are
followed by the to-infinitive:

5.4.2.5. Catenative verbs14

A catenative is a part of the verb phrase which is not among the auxiliaries, but it is followed by
another verb (which functions as the main verb in the VP) in the to-infinitive, bare infinitive or
present participle/gerund.
In He deserves to win the cup, deserve is a catenative verb followed directly by the to-infinitive
of win.
The verbs in this class are called catenative because of their ability to form chains, as in the
(quite extreme) example below.
He decided to agree to try practicing playing the guitar every day.
Most catenatives accept one form only; a few can take both infinitive and gerund forms, in which
case sometimes there is a difference in the meaning of the two structures. Compare
She stopped to look at the brochure. (= stopped with the purpose of looking at the brochure)
and
She stopped looking at the brochure. (= ceased the activity of looking at the brochure)
Catenatives form a class with fuzzy edges between auxiliary and lexical verb. They resemble
auxiliaries in having little meaning and in supporting a main verb in a verb-phrase, and lexical
verbs in not being an obligatory part of any grammatical construction (i.e. a catenative verb is
not obligatory in the formal marking of tense, aspect or voice.). They are like main verbs in
requiring the do operator in questions and negative statements (Compare Were they working? and
Did they keep working?)
13
According to www.phrasemix.com, this structure is used to talk about something that you need to do, but which
might annoy your listener. It is similar to going to need to, but friendlier-sounding. Going to have to is also used
to talk about things that you have to do in the future. Just a heads up - we're going to have to meet soon.
14
As described by Hasselgård, in Glossary of grammatical terms used in English Grammar: Theory and Use (2nd
edition) and Verbs and verb phrases.
 sem. I, 2014
I. O. Macari, Lecture 10

AUXILIARIES

CATENATIVES LEXICAL VERBS

As you can see in the tables below, catenative verbs may have aspectual meanings, denoting the
start, unfolding, or end of an action (e.g., stop running, get to like, continue to read), or modal
meanings such as „certainty‟ and „usuality‟ (seem to like, appear to be, tend to occur).
Aspectual catenatives (marking an activity as being in its initial, middle or final stage):
catenative aspectual meaning example
keep continuous activity They kept walking.
start initiated activity They started walking.
stop ended activity They stopped walking.
get initiated activity We should get moving.
tend habitual activity We tend to stay too long.
Modalizing catenatives (making reservations as to truth value; hedging expressions):
catenative modal meaning example
seem probability (judging These young women are not the angels they seem to be.
from appearances) The arguments seem to support a different conclusion.
appear probability They appear to have changed their minds.
suppose likelihood (according He was supposed to be in court that morning.
to expectation) Nothing on four legs was supposed to be faster than a lion
over a short distance.
suppose obligation They're not supposed to look at women.
assume possibility They're assumed to be dangerous.
The catenative get may be an alternative marker of the passive voice (get married, get paid), thus
serving the same function as the grammatical auxiliary be.
Danny and Sheila got married.
The car got wrecked in the crash.
Unlike auxiliaries, catenatives require do-insertion (or the support of another finite operator) in
negative and interrogative
Did Danny and Sheila get married? not Got Danny and Sheila married?
Be careful – don't get mugged! not Be careful – get not mugged!
A comprehensive list of catenative verbs and example sentences can be found in the Appendix:
English catenative verbs (http://en. wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix%3AEnglish_catenative_verbs
)

5.4.2.6. Verbs vs. verb phrases

 sem. I, 2014
I. O. Macari, Lecture 10
Hasselgård (verbs and verb phrases) contrasts verbs and verb phrases in the following sets of
examples, and consequently the relation between the two classes of constituents becomes
obvious:

lexical verb on its own Danny plays the guitar.

Sheila looked scruffy.
auxiliary + lexical verb Danny is playing the guitar.
Danny must have been playing the guitar.
Sheila was looking scruffy.
catenative + lexical verb Danny kept playing the guitar.
Danny began to play the guitar.
Sheila tends to look scruffy.
verb + adverbial particle He played down the fact that he had failed his exam.
(phrasal verb) He played it down.
He looked her address up in the personnel file.
verb + preposition Sheila only played at being a poet. (She never actually wrote
(prepositional verb) anything.)
Sheila can look after herself.
verb + particle + preposition They played around with the headline for a while, to make it
(phrasal-prepositional verb) more catchy.
They are looking forward to the week-end.
other multi-word combinations Sheila didn't take any notice of Danny.
He made a mess of his audition.

Exercises

de terminat The Noun din Limba Engleză, Exerciţii pentru admiterea în învăţământul
superior;

7.10 Present tense

For each verb listed in its base form, give the -s form (third person singular present), then make
up sentences with that form. For example, live has the 3rd person singular present form lives, as
in He lives in Sydney.
1. think 9. push 17. camouflage
2. taste 10. die 18. do
3. say 11. refuse 19. go
4. imply 12.fly 20. have
Exercise 7.11 Past and -ed participle
For each irregular verb listed in its base form, give the past form, then make up sentences with
that form. For example, live has the past form lived as in I lived in Sydney last year.
1. choose 9. lead 17. shake
2. have 10. hide 18. make
3. bring 11. write 19. see
4. cost 12. put 20. set
7.12 Past and -ed participle
 sem. I, 2014
I. O. Macari, Lecture 10
For each irregular verb listed in its base form, give the -ed participle. For example, draw has the
- ed participle form drawn, as in I have drawn a map.
1. hear 9. grow 17. drive
2. win 10. tell 18. think
3. fall 11. give 19. see
4. make 12. have 20. find

7.13 Past and -ed participle

Select the form given in brackets that would be appropriate in formal writing, and write it down
in the blank.
1. We __________ an accident on our way to work this morning. ( saw , seen )
2. Her husband __________ home late after spending the night with his friends. ( came , come )
3. The other workers and I __________ the job without even being asked to do so. ( did , done )
4. He was __________ for murder in 1951. ( hung , hanged )

Exercise 7.14 Past and past subjunctive

Select the verb form that would be appropriate in formal writing, and write it down in the blank.
1. If I __________ you, I would make an effort to come to work on time. ( was , were )
2. We did not know if she __________ the right person to ask. ( was , were )
3. The commander acts as though he __________ ready for combat at any time. ( was , were )
4. If he ______ to work a little harder, he would have no trouble getting into a very good
university. (was, were)

Exercise 7.15 Multiple negation

Rewrite the sentences containing non-standard double negatives. Some sentences may not need
any revision.
1. I can‟t hardly hear with the radio turned up so loud.
2. We are not displeased with the jury‟s verdict.
3. Nobody has no better ideas.
4. You can‟t not become involved in such an emotional issue as saving baby seals from being
murdered by hunters.

8. For each of the following sentences, decide if the word or phrase in bold is a participle, a
gerund, or an infinitive.
1. The wine urges me on, the bewitching wine, which sets even a wise man to singing and
to laughing gently and rouses him up to dance and brings forth words which were better
unspoken. (Homer)
2. The wine urges me on, the bewitching wine, which sets even a wise man to singing and
to laughing gently and rouses him up to dance and brings forth words which were better
unspoken. (Homer)
3. There are many ways of breaking a heart. Stories were full of hearts broken by love, but
what really broke a heart was taking away its dream--whatever that dream might be.
(Pearl Buck)
4. There are many ways of breaking a heart. Stories were full of hearts broken by love, but
what really broke a heart was taking away its dream--whatever that dream might be.
(Pearl Buck)
 sem. I, 2014
I. O. Macari, Lecture 10
5. Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city. (George
Burns)

Exercise 5.24 Meanings of the modals

Paraphrase the meanings of the underlined modals in the sentences below.
1. If you hit volleys like this you will have lots of success.
2. In addition to the basic volley, you may have to play half-volleys.
3. If played badly, a half-volley can have drastic consequences.
4. The grip must be firm on impact.
5. Although you can use a two-handed volley, the major disadvantage is one of reach.

*Exercise 5.25 Meanings of the modals

Explain the ambiguity of the underlined modals in the following sentences by paraphrasing the
different meanings.
1. They may not smoke during the meal.
2. Could you explain these figures to the tax inspector?

Further practice

http://www.englishpage.com/gerunds/index.htm
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbtenseintro.html