I'm battling to find out about defective verbs.
I know they have incomplete cojugations.
For example, modal auxiliary verbs are defective verbs.
Can someone give me any more examples?
2007-07-28 03:03:21 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Higher Education (University +)
In the English language there are few defective verbs. One case is the class of modal auxiliary verbs: "can", "may", "will", "must", and so on. These verbs lack several forms. Most notably, despite all having present indicatives, in Standard English they do not have infinitives (*to can, *to shall), participles (*am canning, *am shalling, *have musted), imperatives (*Can!), or present subjunctives (*It be can done). Additionally, the third-person singular present lacks the -s common to other verbs ("he can", not "*he cans"; "he ought", not "*he oughts"). (The archaic pronoun "thou" takes an inflected verb: "thou canst", "thou wilt".) In place of the missing forms, speakers substitute a non-defective phrase with a similar meaning. *to must → "to have to", *to can → "to be able to", *to should → "to be supposed to". In the present tense "I must wash the window" and "I have to wash the window" are interchangeable, but in the future tense "I will have to wash the window" is the only choice.
2007-07-29 09:54:35 · answer #1 · answered by Menehune 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Defective Verb
2016-11-05 01:26:38 · answer #2 · answered by hafner 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It would have to be passive. The verb "to be" is passive. An imperative demands action (e.g. Stop! Go! Run!) The imperative is a command and thus requires action; therefore your verb must be passive.
2016-03-19 07:57:52 · answer #3 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋