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- 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.
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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.
4 days ago · 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 ...
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.
may. 'may' is the model of its conjugation. This defective modal helping verb exists only in the present and preterit tenses. It is followed by a main verb in the bare infinitive, or by [ have + past participle]. Both the present and the preterit may be used in combination with [ have + past participle] to express a guess or a possibility about ...
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.
1. They have not all verb forms. 2 .Do not take s in the third person of the present tense singular. 3. They form their interrogative forms by inversion. 4. They form their negative forms by adding not: 5. All these verbs are followed by a bare infinitive except the verb ought which must be followed by an infinitive with to: I can go now.
A defective verb is a verb that cannot be used in all moods or tenses. Irregular verbs have all moods and tenses, but are irregularly formed. Regular verbs consist of three main parts (root/present, simple past, and past participle).
