By Auxiliaries, Negations

I agree with your analysis regarding the character of the two dictionaries. If change equal degradation, English was ruined hundreds of years ago. There are countless examples of that: the use of the auxiliary do in questions and negations, the use of s as a nearly universal plural ending, the...

Do existed in Old English more than a thousand years ago as a regular verb and meant to cause. It is impossible to say who introduced it to English. It's use as an auxiliary in questions and negations was established in Shakespeare's day when it was correct to say bothI know not himandI...

Jackson6612 wrote:Need sometimes behaves like a modal, for example 'She need know', 'She needn't know', or, in more formal English, 'She need not know'. Examples: 1: You needn't worry 2: Buying budget-priced furniture needn't mean compromising on quality or style... 3: Loneliness can be...

Note the definition: Operators are the modals (can, could, will, would, etc.) and forms of be -- and also forms of do or have used as auxiliaries. The negative adverb not can only be carried by an operator, i.e., can only be used when accompanied by an operator. To negate a sentence...

MrPedantic wrote:It interests me that some modern languages have at least the appearance of greater simplicity (e.g. the loss of inflection) than their counterparts of 900 years ago. This seems counter-intuitive: you would expect a language to evolve towards (not from) complexity.Hello MrPAs far...

Hi redliddyI am not so sure what to say about your 'Others' group but the difference between 'Modals' and 'Semi-modals' is very clear. I have always called 'modals' defective auxiliaries, by the way, but I do know that your term is also used.With the modals you never use do in questions and...

Thank you to all those who have posted their suggestions to my little imagination game. Some have taken it very seriously thinking they would have to relearn English after the 'changes'. This was meant to be just a game, not for those wo take everything seriously, and of course in this game...

I think you all are missing one thing; it's the very basic question. The definition of operator. Up till now no one has defined what operators actually are. Operators are verbs with special properties as explained in the article I cited for you above. Some authors just call them...

How can I decide which the operator is in a sentence? The modal verbs (can, could, will, would, shall, should, may, might, must), be, and do and have in some circumstances are the operators. Their negated contracted forms are also operators (can't, doesn't, etc.) They are nearly...

American Heritage Book of English forbades the use of an infinitive in "forbids", not "forbades"! I think you misread that article. Watch out for what "it" means when reading that article. Also, be aware that the sentences given are examples of a particular usage. Nothing in the...