Categories of verbs

 

Lexical (main) verb	regular	live-lived-lived play-played-played	Carries meaning, and can be the only verb in a verb phrase. Requires do-periphrasis in negative and interrogative sentences if there is no other auxiliary.
	irregular	write-wrote-written go-went-gone
Catenative	aspectual	keep, get, start, stop	Is followed by a main verb, and can be preceded or followed by auxiliaries. Requires do-periphrasis in negative and interrogative sentences if there is no other auxiliary.
	modalizing	seem, appear + the marginal modals (need, dare, have to, used to)
	grammatical	get (passive)
Auxiliary	grammatical	be, do, have	Precedes main verb. Precedes or follows catenatives. Part of grammatical construction, or creates modal meaning. Can be used as operator in negative and interrogative sentences.
	modal	can/could, may/might, will/would, must, shall/should, ought to (have to, need, dare)

1. He wrote a letter.
2. He has written a letter.
3. He keeps writing letters to me.
4. He started writing a letter.
5. The letter will have been written by tomorrow noon.
6. She seems to be on her way out.
7. She seems quite happy.
8. She got married.
9. She got a present.

Finite: present tense and past tense verb forms + all combinations which involve a present or past tense verb form, or a modal. All modals are finite.

has/have/had                        I have enough money. I had no money.
has/have been / had been     She has/had been to India.
has/had been doing            She has been working hard.
will/would have been doing She will/would have been working hard.

Non-finite: infinitive (with or without to), -ing participle, past participle.
(to) write You must remember to write home.
writing     She has some odd talents, and writing obituaries is one of them.
written     The page contained only two words, written in green ink.
having written / to be writing / being done / having been done
        Having written two whole papers I felt like a saint.
        Having been praised by the teacher, I became king of the hill.

Structure of the verb phrase

 

She	has	been	working
	finite, grammatical aux.  (à perfective aspect)	grammatical aux.  (à progressive aspect)	main verb
	present tense	past participle	-ing participle

 

He	will	have	been	being	eaten
	modal (+infinitive)	perfective (have + past participle)	progressive (be + ing participle)	passive  (be + past participle)	main verb
	finite (unmarked modal)	infinitive	past participle	-ing participle	past participle

 

He	didn't	seem	to get	started
	finite aux. neg. (operator)	catenative (modalizing)	catenative (aspectual)	main verb
	past tense	bare infinitive	to-infinitive	past participle

Root modality: obligation (must, should, ought to), permission (can, may), possibility (may, might), ability (can, could), willingness (will/would)

1. You must pay your bills.
2. You may/can come in.

1. I must be dreaming. = I think I'm dreaming. = I'm probably dreaming.
2. He can't have been serious. = He probably wasn't serious. = I don't think he was serious.

1. You needn't buy that book. You don't need to buy that book.
2. You've got to be kidding.
3. You won't need to go there.

1. He was unwilling to tell the truth. (He wouldn't tell the truth)
2. She won't be able to pay all her bills.

1. She lived in England for two years.
2. She has lived in England for two years.

1. The lion hunts for food.
2. The lion is hunting for food.

1. You are very clever.
2. You are being very clever.

1. He must rehearse his speech.
2. He must be rehearsing his speech.

1. I could repair the car for you.
2. I was able to repair the car for you.

1. The meeting should take place in Oslo.
2. The meeting was to take place in Oslo.

1. He was sent away to school. (finite main clause)
2. Above all, there were the clothes sent from all four corners of the earth. (non-finite)
3. Sent to mind stores in Wiltshire, he learnt to check deliveries. (non-finite)
4. Michael Armstrong was a journalist writing art reviews. (non-finite)
5. Michael Armstrong was writing an art review. (finite)
6. They covered the windows with blankets. (finite, verb in main clause)
7. The windows were covered by blankets, leaving the room dark. (passive verb phrase, verb in main clause)
8. The windows, covered by blankets, left the room dark. (postmodifier)
9. Covered by blankets, the windows left the room dark. (free predicative)
10. The schoolgirl, Bridget, found Harriet lying down, her hands pressed into her stomach, tears running down her face, moaning from some pain she would not specify.

    S    V   iO |---dO-------| they told us the time of their departure
1. They told us when they left.
    S    V   dO |-----A------| when they left, they told us something

   S|----- V-------| |-- dO--||----------- A ---------------|
2. I was reminded of the time when I smoked my last cigarette.

   S|----- V-------| |-------------- dO --------------------|

   |--------- S ------------| V |------sP--------|
3. To speak the truth frankly is an unsafe policy.
   |------ S -------|   A     V |----- sP -------|

   |-----S----||--V--| |--dO-||---A---|
4. Enraged cow injures farmer with axe.
   |-----S----||--V--| |-----dO-------|
 

Give a complete syntactic analysis of …

English Grammar: Theory and Use.	Understanding English Grammar  (+ Rediscover Grammar)
subject predicative	subject complement
object predicative	object complement
free predicative	not used (sometimes 'verbless clause')
verb (syntactic function)	predicator
modal disjunct	truth-evaluating disjunct
catenative	not used à lexical verb with the following verb analysed as object
indirect question	nominal interrogative subclause

See also Glossary of grammatical terms used in English Grammar: Theory and Use at http://www.hf.uio.no/~hhasselg/terms.html

GOOD LUCK IN THE EXAM!