If auxiliary verbs are helping verbs, copula BE must be both a lexical verb and an auxiliary: it helps itself.
Copula BE is lexical in that it functions as the main verb of a clause: The tree is green. Lexical verbs function as main verbs. Progressive auxiliary BE and passive auxiliary BE cannot function as the main verb of a clause. They must be complemented by verbs in the -ing and past-participle forms, respectively, whether as main verbs (The tree is shedding leaves; The tree is blown by the wind throughout the day) or as additional "helping verbs" (The tree is being chopped down).But in what sense is it lexical?
In Chomskyan generative grammar, a verb (V) with the [+AUX] feature undergoes movement to T in a finite clause when it is the uppermost (or first) verb in a sequence of verbs. Its presence at the T node is what allows it to undergo T-to-C movement (NICE property I) and Neg contraction (NICE property N), as well as to receive clausal emphasis (NICE property E) and license verb phrase ellipsis (NICE property C). Copula BE moves to T, just as progressive BE and passive auxiliary BE do.What does that actually mean in syntactic terms?
Lexical BE does have the nice properties (see Post #22). For those of us who lack British HAVE, copula BE is the only verb in the English language that is simultaneously a lexical/main verb and an auxiliary verb in certain circumstances. Those circumstances are as follows.Doesn't it just mean it doesn't have NICE properties? It's lexical in virtue of the fact that it's not auxiliary?
Copula BE is lexical in that it functions as the main verb of a clause: The tree is green. Lexical verbs function as main verbs.
Progressive auxiliary BE and passive auxiliary BE cannot function as the main verb of a clause.
In Chomskyan generative grammar, a verb (V) with the [+AUX] feature undergoes movement to T in a finite clause when it is the uppermost (or first) verb in a sequence of verbs. Its presence at the T node is what allows it to undergo T-to-C movement (NICE property I) and Neg contraction (NICE property N), as well as to receive clausal emphasis (NICE property E) and license verb phrase ellipsis (NICE property C). Copula BE moves to T, just as progressive BE and passive auxiliary BE do.
Okay, so you share with Piscean the idea that an auxiliary must be 'auxiliary to' another verb. Is that right?
I don't think progressive BE or passive BE have the capacity to be main verbs.It isn't that they cannot function as the main verb of a clause, but just that they are not called 'main verbs' when they function as auxiliaries. If they did function as the main verb of a clause, they obviously wouldn't be auxiliaries. Right?
It's the Tense node of TP (Tense Phrase), a.k.a. the I (Inflection) node of IP (Inflectional Phrase). You wanted syntax, so I mentioned it.I don't understand that very well. What's T?
Below is a link to a paper that clearly articulates the account of auxiliary-verb-ness that I follow. It was written by a former syntax professor of mine and the best grammarian I know (a longtime close colleague of Geoffrey Pullum's, incidentally; their offices were right nextdoor to each other for at least two decades). You'll also see the contemporary TP machinery at work. Enjoy!It seems that people are using different criteria for determining what does and what doesn't count as an auxiliary. What I'd like to know is what these criteria are.
PaulMatthews, do you consider copula BE an auxiliary verb?
For me, the prime characteristic of auxiliary verbs is the traditional function of 'helping' non-finite forms other verbs in the formation of verb phrases showing:
aspect: We are eating, We have eaten.
'code':
...ellipsis: I eat, and so does he,
...tag questions: He eats, doesn't he?
emphasis: We do eat.
interrogative inversion: Do we eat?
'mood': We can/could/may/might/must/shall/should/will/would eat.
negation: We don't eat.
voice: It is eaten.
Within those verb phrases, auxiliary verbs can also show:
person/number: He is eating, they are eating.
tense: He doesn't eat, he didn't eat.
Auxiliary verbs have the NICE properties, but these properties are not an exclusive marker of auxiliary verbs. If they were, every verb in earlier forms of English would be classified as an auxiliary, as would the verb in such idiomatic utterances as How goes it?, Ask not what your country can do for you.
The lexical verbs BE and HAVE [. . .] also conform to the NICE properties, but we will not regard them as auxiliary verbs. The reason is that they can occur on their own in clauses, whereas auxiliaries can't. Aarts, Bas (2011.69, Oxford Modern English Grammar.
We were discussing primary verb-forms, not secondary (non-finite) ones like the plain form found in imperatives. The lexical "be" that I was referring to is the one found in examples like "Why don't you be more caring".
The point about the term "auxiliary" is that it should be used to identify auxiliaries according as they have the NICE properties, not as they function in individual instances, as the examples I gave illustrate.
Other meanings as in "have a bath", "have fun", "have a shower" "have dinner" , "have a meal". Right? These should have "do".
"Have" doesn't mean "possess" in that sentence, so DO is required. But the question is odd unless you're asking about the person's habits. If you wanted to ask whether the person is currently eating, you'd say "Is she having breakfast?"As in, "Does she have breakfast?" and not "Has she breakfast?"
As you explained:
"When HAVE means, in the broadest possible sense, possess, some of us older Brits do not use auxiliary DO. With HAVE in its other meanings, we always use auxiliary DO."
The distinctions between lexical and auxiliary "have", and between dynamic and static "have" have all been dealt with in great detail in earlier answers.I was rereading this thread. You answered my question, but I didn't ask if "do/does/" are required in questions as well. Are they?
As in, "Does she have breakfast?" and not "Has she breakfast?"
As you explained:
"When HAVE means, in the broadest possible sense, possess, some of us older Brits do not use auxiliary DO. With HAVE in its other meanings, we always use auxiliary DO."