Chapter 5
Grammatical Categories and Word Classes
Exercise 5.4Distributional and Inflectional Tests for the Category Auxiliary
The following words are generally considered to constitute the category of auxiliary verbs:
the modal auxiliaries will, shall, can, may, must
the “dummy” auxiliary do
the primary auxiliaries have, be
The auxiliary verbs (or “helping verbs”) cannot stand alone in a sentence, but must always be accompanied by a main verb. Given the (incomplete) data below, determine whether auxiliaries actually belong to the category Verb, or whether they should be put into a separate category Auxiliary (Aux). Part 1 below applies the inflectional tests for verbs to the auxiliaries. Do they work? Part 2 shows the syntactic distribution of auxiliaries. First, determine what the distribution is in each case and then decide whether auxiliaries have the same distribution as verbs.
Not all auxiliaries will meet every test. Make note of any exceptions. You should be aware that be, have, and do may also function as main verbs, as in the following sentences:
Mary is happy about her promotion.
John has enough money to buy a car.
Bill does the dishes every evening.
Decide when main verb be, have, and do behave like auxiliaries and when they do not.
Inflection of auxiliaries
He said that he could/would/should/might/must help.
He had gone. He was going. He did go.
He *cans/*wills/*shalls/*mays/*musts leave.
He has gone. He is going. He does go.
*maying/*willing/*shalling/*musting/*canning/being/having/doing
been/had/done
*to may/*to will/*to shall/*to must/*to can/to be/to have/to do
Distribution of auxiliaries
She is not taking the exam.
John had not seen the stop sign.
She can/will/should/might not leave.
I have too paid.
I can so see the ocean.
She is so talking too much.
He did so turn in his paper.
She isn't taking the exam.
John hadn't seen the stop sign.
She can't/won't/shouldn't/?mightn't leave.
She's not taking the exam.
She'll leave tomorrow.
He'd better leave tomorrow.
Can/will/must he help?
Is she working?
Has she worked for long?
Hasn't he answered your letter?
Can't she see me now?
*Has not he answered your letter?
*Can not she see me now?
He dóes know the answer. (contrastive emphasis)
She wíll help, if she can.
You might also consider the following:
She will know the answer and so will he.
She will know the answer and he will too.
John can go, but you can't.
Burt won't attend, but I will.
She will help, won't she?
He left, didn't he?
The data in (1a) show that the modals, be, have, and do are all inflected for the past tense, though the forms are quite irregular. The data in (1b) show that be, have, and do, but not the modals, take the -s 3rd p sg pres ending. The data in (1c) show that be, have, and dobe, but not the modals take the -ing present participle, and the same forms have past participle forms, as shown in (1d). (1e) shows that be, have, and do, but not the modals may follow the infinitive marker to. Thus, the inflectional evidence is somewhat ambivalent. The forms that can function as main verbs as well as auxiliaries are inflected like verbs, but the forms that cannot function as main verbs (the modals) take the past tense inflection but no others.
The data in (2) show the following distribution for auxiliaries:
| a. | ___ not V | (i.e., preceding not) |
| b. | ___ Emp (so, too) V | (i.e., emphatic) |
| c. | ___ -n't V | (i.e., contracted with not) |
| d. | Su-___ V | (i.e., contracted with subject) |
| e. | ___ Su V | (i.e., preceding subject) |
| f. | ___-n't Su V | (i.e., contracted with not preceding subject) |
| g. | ___ V | (i.e., carrying contrastive stress) |
| h. |
and so ___ Su and Su ___ too but Su ___ (-n't) ___ (-n't) Su? |
(i.e., in tags) |
She isn't happy about her promotion.
She is so happy about her promotion.
Is she happy about her promotion?
Isn't she happy about her promotion?
He hasn't enough money to buy a car.
(OR He doesn't have enough money to buy a car.)
Has he enough money to buy a car?
(OR Does he have enough money to buy a car?)
Hasn't he enough money to buy a car?
(OR Doesn't he have enough money to buy a car?)
Main verb do always behaves as a main verb:
*He doesn't the dishes every night.
*Does he the dishes every night?
Note that these tests also work in reverse for verbs:
Aux not/-n't ___
Aux Emp ___
Aux (-n't) Subject ___