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Defective Verbs in English. In English grammar, defective verb is a traditional term for a verb that doesn't exhibit all the typical forms of a conventional verb. English modal verbs ( can, could, may, might, must, ought, shall, should, will, and would) are defective in that they lack distinctive third-person singular and nonfinite forms.
The verb coepī, coepisse, which means “to have begun” or “began”, is another verb that lacks a present tense system, but it does not have present meaning. Instead, the verb incipiō, incipere is used in the present tense. This is not a case of suppletion, however, because the verb incipere can also be used in the perfect.
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Aug 9, 2012 · C: Defective Verbs, Form I: Present Tense and Jussive. August 9, 2012. Arabic Instructor. American students generally consider defective verbs to be the most difficult verbs in the language to master. Furthermore, although defective Forms II-X are simpler than those for Form I, most students are not aware of any difference in difficulty.
This present volume brings together scholars from various theoretical schools for an overdue typological view of defectiveness. It concentrates on some samples of idiosyncratic gaps which are assumed as indicative of the phenomenon of defectiveness.
Defective verbs are verbs that cannot be conjugated in certain tenses or persons. Examples of defective verbs include “must,” “ought to,” and “dare.” Understanding which verbs are defective can help writers avoid errors in their writing.
Defective verb. In linguistics, a defective verb is a verb that either lacks a conjugated form or entails incomplete conjugation, and thus cannot be conjugated for certain grammatical tenses, aspects, persons, genders, or moods that the majority of verbs or a "normal" or regular verb in a particular language can be conjugated for [citation ...
The most commonly recognized defective verbs in English are auxiliary verbs — the class of preterite-present verbs — can/could, may/might, shall/should, must, ought to, and will/would (would being a later historical development).
