Chapter 5 - Verb Phrasesc vP
v'
v vP
en v'
v VP
ing DP V'
the door V
close
In all these cases, the main verb will move to support the lowest aspectual morpheme
at which point it cannot move any further as its morphological structure is complete
and cannot be added to. As the aspectual morphemes do not play a role in assigning -
roles, they also do not have the ability to assign Case as some light verbs do. Thus, the
theme will have to move to subject position to get Case.
Finally, presuming the clause to be finite, some element will have to bear the tense
morpheme. As the verb cannot do this, the relevant dummy auxiliary will be inserted
into the tense position: have in the presence of en and be in the presence of ing. In
(167c) there is the extra complication that there are two aspectual morphemes as well
as the tense morpheme. In this case the verb moves to the lowest aspectual morpheme,
ing, and an inserted auxiliary will bear the other morphemes, be for the perfective and
have for the tense:
(167) a - ed [en [the door close]]
= the door 1 had [closed 2 [t 1 t 2 ]]
have
b - ed [ing [the door close]]
= the door 1 was [closing 2 [t 1 t 2 ]]
be
c - ed [en [ing [the door close]]]
= the door 1 had [been [closing 2 [t 1 t 2 ]]
have be
With these assumptions then we can successfully account for the distribution of the
aspectual elements in the English clause. We will provide more detail of the upper part
of the clause structure including the tense and clausal subject position in the next
chapter.