English Grammar

Marta Alda

Unit 3
Table of contents

► The verbal group

► Auxiliaries
► Time
► Aspect
► Active & passive verbs
► Phrasal verbs
► Practice

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Nouns. The verbal group.

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The verbal group. Definition.

The verbal group consists of a group of verbs usually with the

lexical verb as the headword. The structure of the verbal group is
a dynamic one. A verbal group can consist of a lexical verb or a
lexical preceded by an auxiliary verb. There are other types of
verbs that can function in the verbal group but of all these, the
lexical verb is the obligatory element while other forms could be
optional. The verbal group is one that occurs under the predicator.
The structure is auxiliary (x) and lexical (v). It is not possible to
have more than one lexical verb in a sentence.

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The verbal group.

*In grammar, an operator is an auxiliary verb that gets moved around to

form questions and do a few other special jobs. It's part of a broader
group called auxiliary verbs that work as helpers with other verbs.
Next month you willo havex beenx workingv with us for three years.

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The verbal group. Some examples.

• She adopted a sick dog. (adopted is the VG)

• My friend was studying really hard. (was studying VG OV)

• They had been reading the whole morning. (had been reading

VG OXV)

• We will have checked all the tests by the end of the week. (will

have checked VG OXV)

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Structures of the verbal group.

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The elements of the verbal group.

• Lexical verbs: the main verb in a sentence. Jump, read, feed,

breath…
• Primary verbs: they can function both as auxiliary and lexical
elements of the VG. They carry grammatical meaning (tense,
aspect, person and number.) Be, have & do.
• Modal auxiliaries: they express modal meaning (probability,
obligation, possibility, etc) rather than lexical or grammatical
meaning. Will, would, shall, should, can, could, may, might,
must, ought to.

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The elements of the verbal group.

• Quasi-modal verbs: they are a subcategory of modal verbs.

In some cases they behave grammatically as lexical verbs, it
will depend on the context, if it is formal or informal. Dare,
need, used to.
• My cat didn’t use to behave like that. (informal, lexical)
• I used not to be a rebel at school. (formal, modal)

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The operator (O)
Four main characteristics: NICE

• Negation: She didn’t care at all. (VG didn’t care, didn’t O, care V)

• Inversion: Have they read The Iliad? (VG have read, have O, read
V) Used for questions or situations that require the aux.placed
before the subject.

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The operator (O)

• Code: Eve must take her entrance exam but Helen musn’t.
(VG must take, must O, take V) Musn’t substitutes mustn’t take
it.
• Emphasis: James did win the chess game. (VG did win, O did,
win V)

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Finite & non-finite verbs.
• Finite forms: they have past or present form and act as main
verb. They have a tense and indicate person, number and,
obviously, tense.
• My mum has some trouble to sleep.
• I love reading.

• Non-finite forms: they don’t have any tense (infinitive, present

participle –ing and past participle –ed.)
• My mum has some trouble to sleep.
• I love reading.

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Auxiliary verbs
Auxiliaries are helping elements that add meaning to the basic
meaning of the main verb in a clause. They can convey
information about tense, mood, person, and number. An auxiliary
verb occurs with a main verb that is in the form of an infinitive or a
participle.

• The puppy is whining.

The verb TO BE has been “added” to the main verb in order to

construct the verb phrase.

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Auxiliary verbs. Primary aux.
Primary aux. verbs: Be, have and do. Like lexical verbs, they
can be inflected.

Source:sltinfo

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Auxiliary verbs. Modals.
Modal aux. verbs: they characteristically denote the attitude or mood
of the speaker, expressing stance meanings related to obligation,
necessity, possibility, and similar.

There are nine central modal verbs in English:

Can Could Shall

Should Will Would
May Might must

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Auxiliary verbs. Modals.
There are a number of distinguishing characteristics (Biber,
Conrad, Leech, 2002:174):
• act only as auxiliary verbs in verb phrases (e.g. you might cry)
• their form does not vary (e.g. it may happen, not
*it mays happen)
• precede the negative particle in ‘not negation’
(e.g. they could not go)
• precede the subject in ‘yes-no questions’ (e.g. will he write?)
• take the bare infinitive in verb phrases (e.g. she can call, not
*she can to call)
• They are placed before a main verb (e.g. She should call
you.)

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Auxiliary verbs. Semi-modals.
For the most part, semi-modals are multi-word combinations that
function in the same way as modals. Examples include:

• be going to (e.g. They are going to visit me.)

• be about to (e.g. She was about to read that.)
• have (got) to (e.g. Eve has got to come; Eve has to come)
• (had) better (e.g. we had better leave quickly; we better leave quickly)
• be supposed to (e.g. the experiment was supposed to work)
• used to (e.g. My friend used to travel a lot.)
• ought to (e.g. you really ought to study harder.)

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Time
In English, there are two tenses: present and past. Future is not a
tense since it does not have inflected forms. We use auxiliary
verbs to express it.
• I will call you later.
We mark morphologically the third sg. person in the present
tense:
• She loves helping animals.
Time and tense do not always coincide since present and past
tenses do not always refer to present and past times respectively:
• The train arrives at 5 p.m.

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Aspect
In English grammar, aspect is a verb category that indicates
time-related features. There are two aspects:
• Perfect: it describes events occurring in the past but
linked to a later time, usually present.
• Progressive: it describes an event that takes place during
a limited time period.

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Stative and dynamic verbs
• Dynamic verbs: they are used to indicate an action, process
as opposed to a state.

Go Read Become Run

Read Grow Learn talk

• Stative verbs: they describe a state of being (I am) or

situation (I have). These verbs don’t show physical action but
how something is or seems or a mental process.

Taste Love Forget Think Belong

Contain Need Suspect Include want

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Active & passive voice

There are two grammatical voices in English:

• Active voice: the subject performs the verb’s action.
Mary waters her plants every week.

• Passive voice: The subject is the recipient of the verb’s

action.
Mary’s plants are watered every week (by herself)

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The passive voice

When should we use the passive voice?

1. When we want to change the focus of the sentence:
Othello was written by Shakespeare. (we are more interested
in the play than in the author)
2. When who or what causes the action is unknown or unimportant:
He was arrested (obvious agent, the police).
My bike has been stolen (unknown agent).
The road is being repaired (unimportant agent).
3. In factual or scientific writing:
The chemical is placed in a test tube.

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The passive voice

4. In formal writing instead of using someone / people/ they:

The research will be checked next week.
5. In order to put the new info at the end of the sentence to improve
style:
Two recordings will be used in the exam. The audios were
recorded at the hospital when the quarentine finished.
6. When the subject is very long:
I was surprised by how well the students did in the test. (More
natural than: 'how well the students did in the test surprised me')

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Phrasal verbs

A phrasal verb is a combination of a verb and a preposition or an

adverb or both. Since phr. verbs are idiomatic (unpredictable), it’s
difficult to guess the meaning.

• She was brought up by her grandma. (raised)

• They set off for London (started a journey)
• Lewis finally gave up smoking. (quit)
• Her tendency to look down on other colleagues brought her
trouble.

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Phrasal verbs

There are four classes of phrasal verbs:

1. Transitive phrasal verbs: they require an object for their
meaning to be complete.
• I called off the meeting.
• He will look after their children.
2. Intransitive phrasal verbs: they don’t require an object.
• She woke up early.
• The tiger run away from the cage.
• Would you shut up?
• That was my chance to turn around.

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Phrasal verbs

3. Separable phrasal verbs: the verb and the particle can be

separated. They need an object, so they are transitive.
• He was trying to cut down his expenses.
• He was trying to cut his expenses down.
• I will pick you up from the airport.
• I will pick up you from the airport.
• Please, turn off the lights.
• Please, turn the lights off.

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Phrasal verbs

4. Non-separable phrasal verbs: the verb and the particle

cannot be separated. They can be transitive or intransitive:
• I will look into those possibilities. (trans)
• We weren’t sure she would get over it. (trans)
• They checked out of the hotel. (intrans)
• James should stay away from those bad friends.(intrans)

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Practice. Finite & non-finite verbs.
Identify the finite and non-finite verbs.
1. I like to play with my puppy.
2. She works hard to pass the test.
3. Smoking is prohibited in the kitchen.
4. He went to the city to find work.
5. The boy saved the cat from the dogs.
6. The teacher asked the students to submit their assignments before they go
home.
7. I have finished my dinner.
8. The nurse is dressing the wounds of the patient.
9. My mother bakes tasty cookies.
10. He wants to launch a business.

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Practice. Passive voice.
Write these sentences in passive voice.

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Practice. Phrasal verbs.

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Thanks a lot!!!

Little stint (Calidris minuta)

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Thanks a lot!!!

California quail (Callipepla californica)

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