Its not homework.Remember
2006-12-14 09:14:32 · 2 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Basically, a Catenative verb is a verb operating on another verb.
For example, "I saw John's car hitting the tree." In this "saw" is definitely past tense, but "hitting the tree" is or sounds like a present tense. In this "saw " is catenative. It "acts on" the other verb to make it come up in a present construction. Even though the action verbs cover someting that happened in the past, they are in a present construction because the controlling verb (catenative) forces them into that. The tense has to fit what was happening at the time described by the catenative verb, not the actual time.
See, hear, and feel are good examples of catenative verbs when used to describe past actions.
This is a pretty obsure point in English grammar.
2006-12-14 11:12:19 · answer #1 · answered by dollhaus 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
What? Do you mean cognitive verb?
2006-12-14 17:19:06 · answer #2 · answered by CindyLu 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋