Linguistics 55							Spring 2009

		   Problem 7: English Auxiliary Verbs
		 	 Due Monday, April 20

A.  We have seen that English has some "Auxiliary" Verbs that can cooccur with
other verbs:

	be[1]:		The drought is ruining our crops.

	have[1]:	The drought has ruined our crops.

	both together:	The drought has been ruining our crops.

If we haven't seen this yet, see it, and modify the VP rule accordingly.  As
always, discuss and explain any modification you propose, and tell why you
did it that way and not some other way.

B.  We have the following Verb Form Rules:

	V -> ingform  / be[1] _

	V -> enform   / have[1] _

	V -> pastform / T[past] _

	V -> sform    / NP[3sg] T[present] _	(present tense and 3sg subject)

	V -> base     / elsewhere

Show that these rules get all the verbs in the right forms in

  (0)	The childrens' fear of mice has been making us nervous.

C.  There is another class of Auxiliaries, called Modal Auxiliaries,
or just "Modals".  There are nine of them:

	may	might
	can	could
	will	would
	shall	should
	must

Make up a lot of examples containing Modals.  Notice where they occur:

  (1)  The drought might ruin our crops.

  (2)  The drought might be ruining our crops.

  (3)  The drought might have ruined our crops.

  (4)  The drought might have been ruining our crops.

Show, with examples and discussion, that the Modals constitute a single
category.

Make sure the PS rules include include Modals in the appropriate place.

Write a Form Rule determining the form of a Verb that immediately follows
a Modal.  [What is peculiar about the forms of Modals themselves?]

D.  Now show that your grammar accounts for all the following facts:

  (5)  These cookies have been tempting me for days.

  (6) *Harvey might could win that fight.

      [(6) is grammatical in some dialects, but not in the standard one]

  (7) *The monkey have eaten a banana.

  (8) *The monkey has eating a banana.

  (9) *The monkey is having eaten a banana.

 (10) *The monkey has should eat a banana.

NOTE: You do not necessarily have to draw trees for all of these; just tell
explicitly how the grammar accounts for the facts.  Draw trees if you think
it will be useful in the explanation.

E.  There is yet another Auxiliary, which we will call do[1].  It differs
from the main Verb do[0] in that it always occurs with another verb:

	do[0]:	We did our homework.

	do[1]:	We did mow the lawn.
		We did do our homework.

Make up a lot of examples with do[1].  NOTE: Do not make examples that are
negations or questions.  We are not quite ready for those yet.

You can readily see that do[1] is an AUX.  Unlike other AUXes, though, it is
incompatible with other AUXes.  Show that with examples (ungrammatical ones).

F.  Propose a way to include do[1] in the grammar.  Discuss and exemplify it.

G.  Write the Form Rule to determine the form of a verb that immediately follows
do[1].

H.  Show that your grammar accounts for all of the following facts:

 (11)  That monkey did like that banana.

 (12) *Our class does be studying syntax.

 (13) *These scores might do impress the committee.

 (14)  That monkey with a sharp mind must have studied syntax.

 (15) *That monkey with a sharp mind did have studied syntax.

 (16) *Students with aspirations for high status do must study syntax.