By Direct objects, Auxiliaries

John: subject (noun)tends to get hungry: predicatetends to get: head of the predicate (verb phrase)hungry: predicative, subjective complement or subject complement (adjective)Randolph Quirk considers "tend to" a semi-auxiliary verb. This would make "get" (a linking verb) the...

The list isn't meant to be exhaustive or carefully arranged. Any additions, corrections or further examples would be welcomed. 1 main verbs; lexical verbs (all verbs which are not auxiliaries or modals) 2 action verbs; event verbs; dynamic verbs (a verb which can be used in...

Anonymous wrote:1. He began closing the door. Is "began" an auxiliary verb in the sentence? And, what about "closing"? Is it a participle modifying "he," a gerund functioning as the direct object, or the main verb?Began is the finite verb or the main verb and closing is its object.CBEDIT:...

This sentence sounds a bit strange to me maybe it is because of the word "began". Anyway, y try: Is "began" an auxiliary verb in the sentence? No. It is called predicator. It is the verb of the sentence. And, what about "closing"? Is it a participle modifying "he," a gerund functioning as...

Began? Closing? 1. He began closing the door. Is "began" an auxiliary verb in the sentence? And, what about "closing"? Is it a participle modifying "he," a gerund functioning as the direct object, or the main verb? Thank you very much.

Suppose we have the following sentence "I think that a direct object would be the best choise in this case". Can i transfer it into the past with "would" remaining its modal meaning, not the past of "will". I mean, if i write " I thought that direct object would be the best choise in this...

This is off the internet too, Abmateen, but I could do no better:Personal Passive simply means that the object of the active sentence becomes the subject of the passive sentence. So every verb that needs an object (transitive verb) can form a personal passive. Example: They build houses. –...

In #1, the verb is in the passive voice, the past perfect tense. In the active voice, it would be The gas explosion had blown out all the shop's windows. Blown out is a phrasal verb; had been blown out is a verb with auxiliaries.In #2, had is the (whole) verb and blown out is a past participle...

What is the word sucks in "Homework sucks"? Is it a verb or an adjective? If it is a verb, what does homework suck?This brings up an excellent point, and a wonderful opportunity to discover the beautiful syntactic structure of the English language. The question at hand is "Does an English verb...