The syntax of events

• Homework


  • Forms of the verb
  • Marking Tense
  • Marking aspect
  • Combining tense and aspect
  • The role of auxiliary verbs
  • Relevance to SLT
  • Further reading
• Finite forms


  Express tense
• Non-finite forms


  Do not have tense
• Non-finite forms


  • Progressive form
  • Perfective form
  • Infinitive
• The progressive form is often called the 'present participle'
• The perfective form is often called the 'past participle'
• There is nothing 'past' about the 'past participle'
• There is nothing 'present' about the 'present participle'
• Non-finite forms


  • Infinitive
  • Regular/irregular
  • Progressive form
  • Past simple
  • Perfective form
• Infinitive


  Bare form or base form, identical to present tense (not third person singular)
• Be is the only irregular infinitive form
• To-infinitive


  I want to go home
• Bare infinitive


  You can't go home
• The 3rd person test shows whether a verb is the (bare) infinitive or present simple
• Finite forms


  Verb forms that are marked for tense
• Non-finite forms


  Verb forms that are not marked for tense
• With a few exceptions, sentences in English must have tense
• In English, tense is marked by the third person singular present tense ending (he go-es) or a variety of regular and irregular past forms (dropped, gave, left)
• *I going home
• *He go home
• Marking Tense


  Mark tense on the leftmost verb
• Importance of Tense


  • Tense-marking is essential in English as sentences must have tense with few exceptions
• Progressive aspect


  Internal perspective on the event, expressed using the progressive form
• Perfective aspect


  External perspective on the event, expressed using the perfective form
• Marking aspect


  Use an appropriate auxiliary verb (be for progressive, have for perfective) that agrees with the participle
• Building up complex tenses


  Mark aspect on the rightmost verb and insert an appropriate auxiliary verb

  2. Repeat last rule if necessary

  3. Mark tense (plus "the future") on the leftmost verb
• Zachary eats
• *Zachary eating
• Auxiliary verbs


  Verbs that combine with other verbs to form complex tense and aspect combinations
• Auxiliary verbs


  • They have tense-marking duties
  • They have negation-marking duties
  • They have question-marking duties
• Tense-marking duties


  Auxiliary verbs mark the tense of the overall verb phrase
• Negation-marking duties


  Auxiliary verbs mark negation in the overall verb phrase
• Question-marking duties


  Auxiliary verbs mark questions in the overall verb phrase
• Do-support


  Auxiliary verb 'do' used to mark tense, negation and questions when the main verb is not an auxiliary
• Auxiliary verbs combine with other verbs to form complex tense and aspect combinations
• Auxiliary verbs have tense-marking duties, negation-marking duties, and question-marking duties
• The auxiliary verb 'do' is used for tense, negation and question marking when the main verb is not an auxiliary
• Auxiliary verbs play a key role in building up complex tense and aspect combinations in verb phrases
• Auxiliary verbs


  Chosen to support the main verb (an auxiliary = a helper), they are servants of the main verb
• Main (non-modal) auxiliary verbs

  • have
  • be
  • do