DARE as normal and modal verb

[cleopenelope]

hi,

I have studied that this verb, when is used in affirmative sentences, it is a normal verb.
eg She dared to do it again.

But, when it occurs in interrogative and negative sentences, it may be conjugated either like a normal verb:

1 Does he dare to come here?
2 Did you dare to contradict her?
3 He does not dare to show himself in front of us.
4 I did not dare to answer back.

UNTIL NOW I HAVE UNDERSTOOD CLEARLY BUT:

or like model verbs:

A Dare he come here?
B Dared you contradict her?
C He dare not show himself in front of us
D I dare not answer back.

I simply do not understand the meaning of dare as model verb.
And what is the difference between 1 and A; 2 and B, 3 and C; 4 and D

[Tdol]

In meaning, I don't see much difference to be honest.

[Riyadh]

As far as I know, there's no difference between them. Not only "dare" can be used either as a modal or as an ordinary verb, but "need" as well.

[PINKGREAT]

If there is no diffirence between them, why is the one called 'normal' and the other one is 'a modal'?

[Mad-ox]

Has anybody an answer for Cleo? As this is an interesting debate.

[Casiopea]

Marginal modal dare means to have the courage to do something. It's marginal because it's privy to both auxiliary verb and main verb classes.

Main verbs inflect for number and carry tense; dare does that; e.g., she dares; He dared me. Main verbs subcategories for (i.e., take) objects; e.g., I dare you; Dare to sleep. Moreover, main verbs have helping verbs. DO-insertion is an example of a helping verb; e.g., He doesn't dare; emphatic, I do dare! The verb DO (do, does, did) is an auxiliary verb. If you see it and dare together, you know that dare is functioning as a main verb. Here's an example of that:

1 Does he dare to come here? <main verb>

Now, given that 'marginal' dare is privy to both auxiliary and main verb classes, it can do both jobs on its own. That is, it doesn't need a helping hand, sort to speak. DO isn't needed. Example A, below, is an example of that. Subject-verb inversion, better known as question formation, results in:

A Dare he come here? <auxiliary>

In A, auxiliary dare and the subject he switched places. The same process occurs here:

2 Did you dare to contradict her? <main verb>
B Dared you contradict her? <auxiliary verb>

In B, dared carries the past tense marker -d. Auxiliaries do that; e.g., Do I? Did I? Auxiliaries also occur before (precede) the negative adverb not, as in these final examples:

3 He does not dare to show himself in front of us. <auxiliary>
C He dare not show himself in front of us. <auxiliary>

4 I did not dare to answer back. <auxiliary>
D I dared not answer back. <auxiliary>





As for semantics,

"Modal need and dare convey modal overtones, viz. volitional force, advice or warning. Contrast needn't (and obsolescent daren't) with doesn't need to and doesn't dare to, and note the advisory vs. neutral thrust of the respective variants. Contrast negated modal needn't with doesn't before non-modal need. Another syntactic difference is that the modal takes a short infinitive (i.e. without to).

Source C J Bailey: Grammar Series I, l992, Appendix cited in Latin. Why Study it at all?.

With regard to modal need,

...dare is "very much like auxiliary need": both are modals occurring only in non-affirmative contexts and taking a bare infinitival complement. But there are some differences between dare and need, which we decided we didn't have room to mention. Here are the two main ones:

• Auxiliary dare, unlike auxiliary need, has a preterite form: we see it in I dared not tell anyone. The placement of not after the verb here shows this is auxiliary dare. Notice, however, that there is no negative preterite form *daredn't.
• Lexical dare, unlike lexical need, is found with a bare infinitival complement as well as the to-infinitival. In the following examples, illustrates the bare infinitival construction, [ii] the to-infinitival:

ia. I wouldn't dare jump out.

b. *I wouldn't need ask for help. [ungrammatical]

iia. I wouldn't dare to jump out.

b. I wouldn't need to ask for help.

Source Chapter 3, page 41: more on the strange modal verb dare

Hope that helps.

[BobK]

...
And what is the difference between 1 and A; 2 and B, 3 and C; 4 and D

I see very little semantic difference. There is a difference in register; the modal forms are more often used in rhetoric or in literary contexts. I get the impression that these modal usages are becoming less common. One sign of this is that 'dare+say' is commonly conflated into one word - daresay [still two syllables, although the analogy of 'heresy' might make you want to give it three].

[Maybe more later - when I've digested Casi's. ]

b

[Casiopea]

I see very little semantic difference.

Between the sets 1 and A, 2 and B, and so on, I agree. Auxiliary DO is a syntactic requirement, not a semantic one; dare replaces it well. (I'm off to look up fused daresay, how dare got its dual status in the grammar.)

By the way, BobK, dare has a known history. If you're curious, check out "modal dare" or "auxiliary dare" in your search engine(s). <Ooh, gotta go and jump around on things. Listening to JXL remix of Elvis' A Little Less Conversation>