The Verb Group

Afriani
Debby
Dwi Puspita

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Verb Group :
Verbs can consist of one or more than one
element as in , for example:
Kate hugged the baby.
Kate was hugging the baby.
Kate has been hugging the baby.

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Elements of verbs group

Verbs

2. auxiliary verbs
1. lexical verb (V) (AUX)

Kate has been hugging the baby.

Auxiliaries verb Lexical Verb

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- Carries the meaning
- Appears last in the group
- Forms the head of the verb
group
- Can appears alone

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- Means additional
- Giving help
- Auxiliary verbs can modify the
lexical verb by indicating Modality,
or Aspect , Voice , or Tense

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VP Verb group + dO
Vgp AUX + V
dO NP

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The verb group may signify Tense. Tense will also be
included under the category auxiliary.
There are two tenses in English :

1. Present (pres)
example : Kate hugs the baby.

2. Past (past)
example : Kate hugged the baby.
These tenses affect the form of the lexical verb.

Note: future des not exist as a tense but indicated in other

ways e.g. by use of auxiliaries.

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Tree diagram
S

NP VP

Vgp NP
[trans]

Aux

N Tense V Det N
Kate (pres) hugs the baby

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MODALITY allow us to express whether a state of affairs
is likely, possible, necessary and so on.

The MODAL auxiliary (MOD) is a feature of the language

which allow us such expression .

The modal auxiliaries are :

Will , would, can, could, may, might, shall, should, must,
ought to, and marginally : need, dare, used to .
Will and would signify volition or prediction
Can, could, may, and might indicate possibility or
probability
Shall, should, must, and ought indicate obligation
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A modal auxiliary does not carry tense and is indicated on the
tree diagram immediately dominated by the ( AUX ) node as
follows :

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The form of the verb which appears after a modal
is called the INFINITIVE. Infinitive form use V1.
For example :
The dog found a bone
The dog must find a bone

Rules to remember: Auxiliaries modals

1. Modal auxiliaries + infinitive
e.g. will hug

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Kate (pres) hugs the baby
S P dO
Kate will hug the baby
S P dO
The baby (past) cried hourly
S P A
The baby will cry hourly
S P A

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Auxiliary verbs which are not modals are called
PRIMARY auxiliaries.
These are: have, be, do

Aspect : is the relationship of actions or states to

periods of time or duration.

There are two kinds of aspect: PERFECT and

PROGRESSIVE

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Perfect aspect (PERF) is indicated by the
presence of the auxiliary verb have.
For example:
Sally has finished this book .
Sue had given the dog a bone

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 The tree diagram showing the verb group incorporating TENSE
and the perfect auxiliary (PERF) is:

s
NP VP
N VGP
NP NP
(ditrans)

AUX V DET N DET N

TENSE PERF

sue (Past) had given the dog a bone

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The form of the verb which always follows the perfect
auxiliary is called ((the past participle)). It is important to
remember that the past in past participle does not
refer to tense .

RULES TO REMEMBER:
Auxiliaries perfect aspect
2. Perfect aspect : have + -en form (past
participle)

e.g. Had given

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The modal auxiliary can also combine with the perfect.

NP VP
N VGP
(ditrans)
NP NP

AUX V
DET N DET N
MOD PERF

Sue may have given the dog a bone

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Progressive Aspect
The other kind of aspect is called progressive aspect (PROG) and this is
indicated by the presence of the auxiliary verb be. For example:

Sally is walking along the beach. ( present tense )

Sue was giving the dog a bone. ( past tense )

The form of the verb which follows the progressive auxiliary is called the
PRESENT PARTICIPLE . It is the ing form of the verb.

RULE TO REMEMBER :
Auxiliaries _ progressive aspect
3. Progressive aspect: be + -ing
form ( present participle)
e.g . Was giving

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Sue was giving the dog a bone.

NP VP

N Vgp NP NP
[ditrans]
Aux DET N DET N
V
PROG
Tense

Sue (Past) was giving the dog a bone

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The progressive can also combine with modal and/or perfect
auxiliaries. Again, each type of auxiliary may appear only once in
the verb group and if modal appears, then tense cannot. For
example:

Modal + progressive + V
Sue may be giving the dog a bone.

Present tense + perfect + progressive + V

Sue has been giving the dog a bone.

Modal + perfect + progressive + V

Sue may have been giving the dog a bone.

Vgp AUX + LEXICAL VERB

AUX Tense/modal (+ perfect ) (+ progressive )

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Voice refers to whether a sentence or utterance is
in the ACTIVE or the PASSIVE .

Active :
A dog chased that girl .
Passive :
That girl was chased by a dog .

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tree diagram

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 Rules to remember : Auxiliaries passive
voice

4 . Passive voice : be + en form ( past participle )

e.g. was chased

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 *Passives can also appear with other
auxiliaries.

For example we could have:

Modal + passive + V
The dog may be given a bone (by Sue).

Present tense + perfect + passive + V

The dog has been given a bone (by Sue).

Present tense + progressive + passive + V

The dog is being given a bone (by Sue).

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All combination are possible but it is important
to remember that:

The order is still fixed with passive now coming after

tense/modal.
Perfect and progressive be it another auxiliary or the lexical
verb.

Vgp Aux + LEXICAL VERB

AUX tense/modal(+perfect)(+progressive)(+passive)

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 Rules to remember: order of
Auxiliaries:
1. Tense or modal+ infinitive
2. Perfect: have+ -en
3. Progressive: be+ -ing
4. Passive: be + -en + LEXICAL VERB

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Do
Do constructions turns up to lend support to the lexical verb only in
certain and where there is no other auxiliary verb already present
e.g :
I like bananas

But to make the negative of the same statement the verb requires
do support as in :

I do not like banana

RULE TO REMEMBER :
Auxiliary do
Do + infinitive

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Tree diagram

VP

Vgp NP
NP [trans]

AUX

Pro TENSE V N
She (pres) does like bananas

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