Tuesday, November 5, 2019
Definition and Examples of Defective Verbs in English
Definition and Examples of Defective Verbs in English In English grammar, defective verb is a traditional term for aà verb that doesnt exhibit all the typical forms of a conventionalà verb.à English modal verbs (can, could, may, might, must, ought, shall, should, will, andà would)à are defective in that they lack distinctiveà third-person singular and nonfinite forms.à à As illustratedà below, discussions of defective verbs commonlyà appeared in 19th-century school grammars; however,à modern linguists and grammarians rarely use the term. David Crystals Take In grammar, [defective is] a traditional description of words which do not display all the rules of the class to which they belong. The English modal verbs, for example, are defective in that they do not permit the usual range of verb forms, such as an infinitive or participle forms (*to may,à *shalling, etc.). Because of its pejorative connotations in general usage, the term needs to be used cautiously. It tends to be avoidedà in modern linguistic analysis (which talks more in terms of irregular forms and exceptions to rules), but will be encountered in studies of linguistic historiography. The distinction between defective and irregular needs to be appreciated: a defective form is a missing form; an irregular form is present, but does not conform to the rule governing the class to which it belongs.(David Crystal, Aà Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics, 6th ed. Blackwell, 2008) Beware and Begone Some verbs are termedà defective;à they are such as want some of the parts ordinarily ascribed to verbs.à Bewareà is aà defective verb beingà usedà onlyà in the imperative or to give a caution. . . .à Begoneà may be accounted anotherà defective verbà likeà beware.à Begoneà is a compound, made up ofà beà andà gone,à that isà getà away; andà bewareà is composed ofà beà andà wareà found inà aware,à andà wary.(John R. Beard, Lessons in English, LXII. The Popular Educator, Vol. 3, 1860) The Defectiveà Copula Is A defective verbà is one which has not all the usual verbal forms.à Is, the copula, is irregular. It is also defective as it has no imperative or autonomous forms, no verbal noun or verbal adjective.(Irish-English/English-Irish Easy Reference Dictionary. Roberts Rinehart, 1998) George Campbell on the Defective Verb Ought [I]n order to express the past with theà defective verb ought, we must use the perfect of the infinitive, and say for example, he ought to have done it; this in that verb being the only possible way of distinguishing the past from the present.(George Campbell, The Philosophy of Rhetoric, Volume 1, 1776) Discussions of Defective Verbs in 19th-Century Schoolà Grammars What do you mean by aà Defective Verb?Aà Defective Verbà is a Verb that is imperfect; that is, that cannot be conjugated through all the Moods and Tenses; such as the Verb Ought, which hasà just been repeated.Which are the Defective Verbs?The Auxiliary Verbs are in general defective, because they have not any Participles; neither do they admit another helping Verb to be placed before them.Repeat the Defective Verbs.The Defective Verbs are, Do, Shall, Will, Can, May, Let, Must, Ought.How are the Defective Verbs used?They are always joined to the Infinitive Mood of some other Verb; as for example, I dare say, I ought to learn my lesson.Must implies necessity, as Ià must do well, i.e. it is necessary that I should, or I am obliged to do so: why? because I ought, i.e. it is my duty to do well.Are the Auxiliary Verbs Have, and Am, or Be, Defective Verbs?No; they areà perfect, and formed like other Verbs.(Ellin Devis,à The Accidence, or, First Rudiments of English Grammar, 17 th ed., 1825) A List of Defective Verbs Defective verbs are those that can be used only in some particular modes and tenses. They are few in number and are as follows: ambeencancouldmaymightshallshouldwaswillwould Various Discussions on Defective Verbs Loveà is not aà defectiveà verb;à you can use it in any mood and tense. You can say, I love, I loved, I have loved, I had loved, I shall or will love, I shall have loved, I may, can or must love: butà canà is aà defective verb.à You can sayà Ià can,à but you cannot say I have can, I had can, I shall can or will can,à Ià mayà can,à orà mustà can.(J.H. Hull,à Lectures on the English Language: Comprehending the Principles and Rules ofà Syntactical Parsing on aà New and Highly Improved System,à 8th ed., 1834) Aà defectiveà verbà is that which wants some of the modes and tenses; while anà irregularà verbà has all the modes and tenses, thoughà irregularlyà formed.(Rufus William Bailey,à English Grammar: A Simple, Concise, and Comprehensive Manual of the Englishà Language,à 10th ed., 1855) à Verbs which are not used in all the moods and tenses are called Defective. But the student must notà supposeà from this that Defective constitutes a separate or fourth classà of verb. This is not at all the case.à Quoth,à forà example,à is aà Defectiveà verb, but also Intransitive. Again wit is a Defective verb, but also Transitive. Again, may is a Defective verb, but also Auxiliary.(John Collinson Nesfield,à English Grammar Past and Present: With Appendices on Prosody, Synonyms, andà Other Outlying Subjects, 1898)
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