Auxiliary verb types
• Auxiliary verbs form a small subclass of verbs whose
members are characteristically used to mark tense,
aspect, mood or voice.
• In some languages tense, aspect, mood and voice are
marked by inflection rather. Eg., in the French sentence
Elle marchait (she was walking) the base
‘marcher/marche’(to walk/walks) is inflected with the
third person singular past perfective suffix –ait. So
auxiliary verbs in English tend to convey meanings
which elsewhere are expressed by inflection of the
verb.
• Modal eg. ought to,
must,
may
• Aspectual be have
• Passive be
• Dummy ‘do’/ do-auxiliary do
Finite and Non-finite Verbs
Finite verbs have tense distinction
Nonfinite verbs forms include the ff.:
1. Infinitive forms (Bare infinitive, to- infinitive)
2. Participial forms (-ing , -ed or present/past
participle)
1. I see the moon.
2. I am dancing in the moonlight.
3. We have finished work.
4. Have they been writing home?
TENSE and ASPECT
TIME
• In the time-line perspective, we can talk
about the past, present and future time.
• Time is a universal non-grammatical
notion that may be expressed not only by
tense, but also by deictic expressions like
today, tomorrow, now, then, currently.
• Tense is a grammatical notion which
refers to the way a verb is inflected
(morphologically marked) to encode the
non-grammatical notion of time.
• English verbs are inflected for two tenses:
present (walk(s)) and past (walked).
Tense inflections:
• zero or -s for present tense
• -ed for regular past tense.
• Tense is not necessarily directly related to
what TIME the event represented by the
verb takes place.
For example, the simple present tense
form of a verb can be used to refer to
various times as follows:
Habitual action: He smokes.
Timeless truths: The sun rises in the
east.
Present events: I declare the meeting
open.
Historic present, used in literary English
and oral narratives to recall the past as
vividly as if it were present: He walks into
the room and sits down in front of the TV.
(Expected) Future events: My flight
departs at 5pm.
• English does not have a separate verb form
for the future; However, there are many
different ways in which we can talk about
future time:
– The parcel will arrive tomorrow. (modal
auxiliary will + verb)
– The parcel is going to arrive tomorrow.
(be +going to + verb)
– The parcel is arriving tomorrow. (present
progressive)
– The parcel arrives tomorrow. (simple
present)
– The parcel will be arriving tomorrow.
(modal auxiliary will + progressive aspect)
Aspect
Aspect is a verbal category that expresses the
speaker’s view of the temporal structure of an
action or state.
The aspects of a verb represent the action or
state as ongoing or having a duration, or as
habitual or complete.
Aspect
• Aspect concerns the manner in which the event/action
is experienced.
• The two tenses represent the situation as complete,
fixed, or lasting for only a moment.
• The aspects of a verb (phrase) represent the situation
as ongoing, changing, or having a duration.
Compare the ff. pairs of sentences:
A
1. I raise my arm! (focus is on the event)
2. I am raising my arm. (duration)
B
3. My watch works perfectly. (permanent
state, more or
less)
4. My watch is working perfectly. (temporary
A
1. The man drowned. (completed action
in the past)
2. The man was drowning. (ongoing
action over time in the past)
B
3. We lived in London for two months in
1986. (complete; we no longer do)
4. We have lived in London since last
September (and still do.)
1. Grammatical Aspect
Basically, there are two grammatically
marked aspects in English:
• progressive aspect (be + -ing)
• perfective aspect (have + -ed participle).
– My watch is working perfectly.
– My watch was working perfectly.
– We have lived in Bawku since April.
– We had lived in Bawku since April.
2. Lexical Aspect
• The lexical meaning of the verb may convey
aspectual meaning. This is called lexical
aspect. English verbs can be categorized
according to their aspectual meaning as
follows :
(A) Stative Verbs
– Verbs of cognition and perception :
believe, hate, know, like, enjoy,
understand, want , see, smell, hear,
feel, tasting
– Verbs of relation : be, belong, contain,
have, own, resemble
(B) Dynamic Verbs
Punctual verbs (Acts):
hit, jump, eat, kick, stab, strike, throw, cough
Durative verbs (Activities):
eat, run, swim, walk, work, write
Processes: become, change, flow, grow,
harden, learn
NOTE:
Verbs denoting stative concepts tend not to be
used with progressive forms.
* Who is having a spare pencil?
* This room is smelling nice.
Where the progressive aspect is used with a
stative verb, it often signifies a temporary state
or a special use of the verb to express some
activity:
- I'm having a bad day. (temporary state)
- She was feeling the fabrics to help her decide
which ones to buy.
The progressive aspectual use of a stative
verb may also signify a special meaning:
- Frank is seeing Freda. (they are dating)
- The committee is having a final meeting. (means the
committee are deliberating, not “‘possessing’ a
meeting”)
In their –ing forms, verbs describing
momentary acts are interpreted as repeated
actions, not as single actions prolonged :
- He's kicking the box.
The perfective aspect used with stative verbs
typically signifies pre-existing states that still
exist/existed, at and that may continue/may
have continued.
- He has seen much in his life.
- He had seen much in his life.
On the other hand, the perfective aspect used
with dynamic verbs often indicates completed
action: We have baked the cake.
