Basic English Syntax with Exercises

modal auxiliary verb

1.3.1 Categorial features

Before we start to look at the properties of individual categories, we will make the typology of categories described in (23) a little more systematic. One might wonder why there are these categories and why their division is so regular: four thematic categories and four functional ones. Moreover, we may have the feeling that the categories given in (23) are not completely unrelated to each other. For example, it is often felt that nouns and verbs are somehow opposites of each other or that adjectives have some things in common with nouns and other things in common with verbs. Even across the thematic/functional divide, we may see similarities. For example, words like the, these and some are determiners and these seem more related to nouns, which they usually accompany, than to verbs. Modal auxiliary verbs, such as may, can and must, which as we will see are classified as belonging to the inflections, are obviously more closely related to verbs than nouns.

1.3.1 Categorial features

How can we capture the sense that determiners have something in common with nouns and modal auxiliary verbs have something in common with verbs, even though one of these pairs of elements is function and the other is thematic? The answer is fairly easy. The pairs may differ in terms of the [±F] feature, but they are similar in terms of the [±N] and [±V] features:

1.3.3 Grammatical aspects of meaning

The predicate here is the verb marry and the arguments are Mary and Martin. Let us call the part of meaning expressed by a predicate and its arguments the basic proposition. But what role do the other words, may and that, have in the sentence? Clearly, they have no role in the basic proposition, being neither predicates nor arguments. But they do carry some meaning. May is a modal auxiliary verb and in this sentence it either expresses that the event described by the predicate and its arguments (Mary marrying Martin) is a possibility or that permission has been given for it to take place:

1.3.3 Grammatical aspects of meaning

Functional categories, such as modal auxiliaries and complementisers are specified for the [+F] value and a distinguishing property of these categories is that they are not involved with the assignment of Θ-roles. They therefore lack Θ-grids in their lexical entries.

1.3.5.1 Inflections

We need to distinguish between two groups of auxiliary verb, however. (133a) and (133b) involve aspectual auxiliaries (perfective and progressive respectively). (133c) concerns a modal auxiliary. These two types of auxiliaries differ not only in their semantic content, but also in their syntactic behaviour. For example, while modal auxiliaries are in complementary distribution with one another (there can only ever be one per clause), they are not in complementary distribution with the aspectuals. The aspectual auxiliaries are also not in complementary distribution with each other:

1.3.5.1 Inflections

Returning to the modal auxiliaries, note that these can only appear in finite clauses:

1.3.5.1 Inflections

It could be argued that the same thing is true of finite inflections: they enter a sentence as an independent word, but are joined with the verb by some syntactic process. If this is true, then there would be nothing wrong with treating finite inflections as the same kind of thing as modal auxiliaries as they could occupy the same underlying position:

1.3.5.1 Inflections

We, therefore, have a functional category with three main members: modal auxiliaries, the non-finite to and finite inflections. This category has been called inflection, sometimes abbreviated to INFL or more usually these days I.

1.3.5.4 Complementisers

We saw above how inflectional elements determine the finiteness of the clause, with modal auxiliaries and tense appearing in finite clauses and the non-finite to appearing in non-finite clauses. Complementisers are also sensitive to finiteness. That and if always introduce finite clauses, while for always introduces non-finite clauses:

3.2.3 Traces

In (102b) it might be claimed that the negative element moves to the position occupied by the modal auxiliary and the two somehow join together to become a single word. Again there is something like an adjunction formed in this case with a word being created from two independent words, like a compound noun (in this case the ‘compound’ is a verb).

5.3 Aspectual Auxiliary Verbs

In chapter 1, we established that the aspectual auxiliaries are non-thematic, non-functional verbal elements, which are therefore categorially distinct from modal auxiliaries which are functional verbs. We might assume that they are associated with a phrase which they head and this phrase contains the thematic VP complex. A first attempt to represent the structure is as in (154):

5.4.1 Adverbs

The adverb in (168a) modifies the meaning of the whole clause: what is certain is that he will find out. In contrast, the adverb in (168b) modifies the verb, stating that it will be done in a certain manner (i.e. quickly). Note the different positions of these two adverbs: the sentential adverb precedes the modal auxiliary while the VP adverb follows it and is therefore closer to the VP. Indeed, placing the VP adverb further from the VP often produces an ungrammaticality:

Chapter6 Inflectional Phrases

In chapter 1 we introduced the category of inflection, consisting of modal auxiliaries, the marker of the infinitival clause to and tense morphemes. It is with this category that we will be concerned in the present chapter. We will show that providing a standard X-bar treatment of this element solves a number of problems that we have noted in previous chapters.

6.1 The structure of IP

However, the traditional assumption is challenged by the analysis in (4), where it is claimed that clauses most definitely do have heads. There is much evidence to support this. Firstly consider the relationship between the inflection and the clause. The inflections come in two basic types: finite and non-finite. The finite inflections consist of the modal auxiliaries and tense morphemes. The infinitival marker to is non-finite, but we also get clauses, traditionally called participles, in which the inflection on the highest verbal element is either ing or en (or one of its irregular versions):

6.2 The syntax of inflection

When the inflection is represented by a free morpheme, such as a modal auxiliary or the infinitival to, nothing much happens to it. As a free morpheme it can stand by itself and hence we see it sitting in the head position:

6.2.3 Tense and Agreement

These observations show that this zero morpheme is in complementary distribution with tense and thus the straightforward conclusion is that it IS tense. But how can this be if tense is an inflectional element and the zero morpheme is not in complementary distribution with modal auxiliaries, which are also inflectional elements? What the data show is that it is not modals that tense is in complementary distribution with, but the zero tense morpheme that accompanies the modal and hence the conclusion is that if modals are of the category ‘inflection’, then tense is not of this category. Given that tense is situated in front of the VP, we can assume that it is a head that selects a verbal complement and given that it follows the inflectional elements (i.e. modals) it must project a verbal phrase. In other words, tense is yet another light verb:

6.2.3 Tense and Agreement

This analysis raises the question of what category ‘inflection’ is if it excludes the tense morpheme, and specifically what occupies this position when there is no modal? To answer this, consider the properties of modal auxiliaries. It is a traditional idea that they are not actually in complementary distribution with tense, as in some sense they display a kind of tense inflection:

6.3 Movement to Spec IP

Presumably the agreement element is different in both these cases. For one thing, modal auxiliaries can appear in the agreement position of finite clauses, but not of non-finite clauses. Moreover, finite inflection selects for a finite tense headed phrase as its complement while the one in (63b) clearly selects for a non-finite complement. I will not have anything to say about the accusative Case of the subject of the non-finite clause at present, leaving this for future discussion. Instead, we will concentrate on the finite inflection, which assigns nominative to the subject.

Chapter7 Complementiser Phrases

In this chapter we continue to present the parts of the English clause, extending it further upwards. So far we have seen that the clause has a number of layers to it, relating to certain syntactic and semantic properties. The lower layer consists of the thematic part of the VP, including the Θ-assigning light verbs, which concern argument and event structure. Above this we have the non-thematic part of the verb phrase where the morphemes of aspect and tense are introduced. Finally above this we have the IP in which agreement and modal auxiliaries are situated. The IP also provides the surface Case position for the grammatical subject.