The Formal Characteristics of Auxiliary Verbs

Abstract

This paper tries to pin down the formal characteristics of auxiliaries. It introduces important grammarians who try to talk about this important grammatical issue.

            The paper interestingly tries to show how these auxiliaries work in sentences, perceptively dividing them into primary and modal auxiliaries where in the first kind BE contributes to aspect and voice and have to aspect only. Disengagingly, it is shown that the modal auxiliaries contribute to volition, probability and obligation. Modal Auxiliaries are referred to as signalling that a verb is about to follow. Certain verbs are isolated as being auxiliaries in “some of their uses.” Non-conjugational items are singled out as modals and the rest as non-modal operators.

            Insightfully, Systemic Grammar also tries to show an inviting interest in auxiliaries. Relevantly, it is maintained that the auxiliary verb stands first in a discontinuous verbal group [V]. Accordingly, Auxiliary Verbs are morphologically classified into two categories: “Non-Modal” and “Modal” and insightfully four criteria are mentioned by which auxiliaries are classified, namely (1) negation (2) inversion (3) substitution and (4) marked positive element.

            The paper ends by insightfully ushering us to very important understanding of auxiliaries where eleven auxiliaries are isolated as having twenty eight forms whose occurrence is cleverly realised in four syntactic structures, namely ‘negation’, ‘inversion’, ‘code’ and ‘emphatic affirmation’. The neutral ‘empty’ auxiliary do is suggested to pass all the tests.

            In an inviting and subtle sense, the paper also looks at these auxiliaries from the point of view of Systemic Grammar as well as of Transformational Grammar where the latter cleverly speaks of deep and surface structures.

            An insightful conclusion ends this work, synthesising things through bringing together the main thematic strands.