Verbs and Verb Phrases

Aspect and Auxiliary Verbs

The verb has been identified as the center of the English sentence, and this has been confirmed by brain research.  The main verb, then, can be viewed as the semantic center since it carries the meaning, and the auxiliary can be viewed as the syntactic center since it is essential in sentence formation.  Although there is grammatical information in the main verb forms, there is much more grammatical information tied up into the auxiliary.  In fact, although we have associated main verb forms with aspect, auxiliary verbs also have an association with aspect.

Auxiliaries reflect aspect through the selection of the auxiliary itself.  The auxiliary do is used with simple aspect, as in I don’t like peaches.  The auxiliary be is used with progressive aspect, as in He is eating peaches.  And the auxiliary have is used with perfect aspect, as in I have eaten many peaches in my life.

There are still three major factors that have not yet been discussed.  One is the mood of the verb, and again the auxiliary plays the major role in providing this information, since again it is in the selection of the auxiliary itself that most often shows the mood; will, can, would, should are all examples of auxiliaries that manifest mood.  The issue of mood will be taken up in a later chapter in detail.

The desired focus of the sentence and the verb form have not been discussed yet, either, and this issue, given the term voice, will be discussed in the next chapter along with the third omission, the relationship of verb form to the time of the action.  In the final chapter on verbs, we will look at how all of these factors interrelate.

Activity 5.4: Auxiliary or Main?

Exercise 1 – Review the difference between auxiliary and main verbs.  Then find the complete verbs in these sentences and identify which verbs are the auxiliary verbs and which are the main verbs.

Type or copy-paste the auxiliary verbs and the main verbs from each sentence onto the appropriate line. Click on the Check button to assess your answer. (Note: If you copy-paste any extra spaces, the answer will show as incorrect.)

Reference Material

Verb Tenses