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- Again, 'may' is a Defective verb, but also Auxiliary."
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from English Grammar Today. May: forms. Affirmative (+) form. May comes first in the verb phrase (after the subject and before another verb): It may be possible for him to get home tonight. May can’t be used with another modal verb: This may hurt you. Not: This may could hurt you. or This could may hurt you. Negative (−) form.
- Polski
May - English Grammar Today-Cambridge Dictionary- punkt...
- English (US)
May - English Grammar Today - a reference to written and...
- Polski
- David Crystal's Take
- Beware and Begone
- The Defective Copula Is
- George Campbell on The Defective Verb 'Ought'
- Discussions of Defective Verbs in 19Th-Century School Grammars
- A List of Defective Verbs
- Various Discussions on Defective Verbs
"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, *shalling, etc.). Because of its pejorative connotation...
"Some verbs are termed defective; they are such as want some of the parts ordinarily ascribed to verbs. Beware is a defective verb being used only in the imperative or to give a caution. . . . Begone may be accounted another defective verb like beware. Begone is a compound, made up of be and gone, that is get away; and beware is composed of be and ...
"A defective verb is one which has not all the usual verbal forms. 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)
"[I]n order to express the past with the 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)
"What do you mean by a Defective Verb? "A Defective Verb is a Verb that is imperfect; that is, that cannot be conjugated through all the Moods and Tenses; such as the Verb Ought, which has 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 a...
Defective verbs are those that can be used only in some particular modes and tenses. They are few in number and are as follows: 1. am 2. been 3. can 4. could 5. may 6. might 7. shall 8. should 9. was 10. will 11. would
"Love is not a defective verb; 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: but can is a defective verb. You can say I can, but you cannot say I have can, I had can, I shall can or will can, I may can, or must can." (J.H. Hull, Lectu...
May 12, 2024 · May is now a defective verb. It has no infinitive, no past participle, and no future tense. Forms of to be allowed to are used to replace these missing tenses. The simple past (both indicative and subjunctive) of may is might.
Defective Verbs. A Defective Verb is one that is not used in all the Moods and Tenses as, must, ought and quoth. Auxiliary Verbs = Helping Verbs. An Auxiliary Verb is one which helps to form the Moods and Tenses of other verbs. The auxiliary verbs are - shall, may, can, must, be, do, have and will. Remarks on The Auxiliary Verbs. 1.
The contracted form of may is mayn't, pronounced ['meɪənt], and is now rarely used, while the contracted form of might not is mightn't, pronounced [ˈmʌɪt(ə)nt]. Please refer to the dictionary entries for more information on English usage: may / might .
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 needed]. That is to ...
Some verbs are becoming more defective as time goes on; for example, although might is etymologically the past tense (preterite) of may, it is no longer generally used as such (*he might not pass for "he was forbidden to pass").
