40 Chapter 3 Verbs, tense, aspect, and mood
modal auxiliary by criteria (a)-(b) but takes (for most speakers) an infinitival with
to. This is ought, as in Yo u ought to be more careful.3.3 Dually-classified verbs
A few verbs belong to both auxiliary and lexical verb classes, exhibiting
auxiliary behaviour under certain circumstances and lexical verb behaviour else
where. The main ones are do, have, need and dare.
(a) Do
Dummy do is an auxiliary, but in other uses - e.g. in She did her best, etc. -do is a
lexical verb. This is evident from the fact that to form the interrogative or negative
in such cases we use dummy do, just as with other lexical verbs:[22] WITHOUT DUMMY do
a. * Does she her best?(b) Have
WITH DUMMY do
b. Does she do her best?Have is always an auxiliary when it marks perfect tense (where it normally
occurs with a following past participle).
When it occurs in clauses describing states, expressing such meanings as posses
sion (He has enough money) or obligation (You have to sign both fo rms), usage
is divided. Most speakers treat it as a lexical verb, but some treat it as an auxil
iary, especially in the present tense. Those speakers accept % Has he enough
money? and similar examples. We refer to this use as 'static have'. 1
'Dynamic have', by contrast, occurs in clauses describing events, like He had a
fit. Dynamic have is a lexical verb for all speakers.These facts are illustrated in [23]:[23] AUXILIARY USAGE
a. Have you told her?
11 a. % Has he enough money?
iii a. % Have I to sign both fo rms?
iv a. *Has he a fit when you do that?(c) Need
LEXICAL VERB USAGE
b. *Do you have told her?
b. Does he have enough money.
b. Do I have to sign both fo rms? }
b. Does he have a fit when
you do that?[perfect]
[static]
[dynamic]Need behaves as an auxiliary (a modal auxiliary) when it has a bare infinitival com
plement (overt or understood). Elsewhere, it is a lexical verb. Auxiliary need has
only present tense forms, and occurs only in non-affirmative contexts - i.e. in neg
atives, interrogatives and related constructions:
J Static have as an auxiliary is used more by older than by younger speakers, and is more characteris
tic of BrE than AmE.