The English Verb Phrase: FTFs
FTFs and matching corpus examples for ‘The changing verb phrase in present-day British English’.
If you have arrived at this page and are not sure what an FTF is and what it can be used for, you might find it useful to read more about them on our FTFs page before reading this page. For reasons of space, the trees are displayed with branching from left to right, rather than from top to bottom.
1. MUST, HAVE TO and HAVE GOT TO
MUST
Instances of MUST can be retrieved from the corpus using a simple text search or an FTF like the one in Figure 1. Note that a text search for MUST* (where * = 'wildcard') will find instances of MUST and MUSTN'T. To exclude cases of MUSTN'T from our study, the wildcard was not included in our search term. Matching examples retrieved from the corpus are given in Figures 2 and 3, and further examples are listed below.
Examples
<DCPSE:DL-D08 #0093:1:C> I 'm not suggesting that you should have helped him but I 'm quite certain that when you 'd heard he 'd died there must have been a bit of you that have said <,,> I killed him <,,> <,,>
<DCPSE:DL-E02 #0015:1:B> and I think at the right moment we must ask the country for <,> a new mandate <,,>
<DCPSE:DL-F08 #0314:1:A> <laugh> <,,> must be a nasty surprIse though for a motorist going along a moorland road <,> at the dead of night <,> to suddenly find a wallaby jumping out in front of him
<DCPSE:DL-B36 #0272:1:A> Jesus <,> that must have come as a surprise
<DCPSE:DL-B36 #0115:1:B> my impression is that if we can find a a good scheme now and time 's running out we really must get it concluded mustn't we
<DCPSE:DI-B16 #0169:1:A> God it must 've been awful in those days
<DCPSE:DI-B19 #0249:1:B> There must be bu buses going along Mansfield Road
<DCPSE:DI-B31 #0093:1:B> you must let me photograph your baby for my magazine
<DCPSE:DI-B36 #0068:1:A> Obviously when you 're singing your vowels must be a little more open than when you 're speaking <,> otherwise it 's Ooooo
<DCPSE:DI-J10 #0003:1:A> To reach it on foot you must navigate hundreds of miles across a perishing sub-zero landscape of blizzards open water crevasses and drifting ice
<,,>
HAVE TO
Instances of HAVE TO can be retrieved from the corpus using an FTF like the one in Figure 4. HAS TO and 'VE TO can be collected by replacing HAVE in Figure 4 with HAS and *'VE, respectively. Matching examples retrieved from the corpus are given in Figures 5 and 6, and further examples are listed below.
Examples
<DCPSE:DL-A01 #0463:2:C> you have to make the article agree with an adjective and the adjective agree with a noun
<DCPSE:DL-A07 #0148:1:B> they say nasty things like you have to have a good second-class degree
<DCPSE:DL-B09 #0106:1:A> no <,,> you have to stop <,> don't you
<DCPSE:DL-B22 #0905:1:A> darling you have to hold your head down
<DCPSE:DL-F02 #0344:1:A> I think John we have to get inside the penalty area to get most goals in football <,,>
<DCPSE:DI-A01 #0077:1:B> so it 's very often <,> the able-bodied people coming who have to <,> let go of certain notions <,>
<DCPSE:DI-A06 #0179:1:A> What you have to do is maybe check <,> say in if say you wanted to do a course in London at say the Institute of Education or at uh uh uh uh uh King 's or wherever
<DCPSE:DI-B26 #0041:1:B> And I mean you have to be a pretty efficient manager of time to do that and that 's not really Bernard 's strong point
<DCPSE:DI-B31 #0020:1:A> I have to say that I have done all mine<DCPSE:DI-D01 #0111:2:B> And retailers ' expectations point to some modest recovery in July but you have to bear that <,> in mind that their expectations have not fully been met since since March
HAVE GOT TO
Instances of HAVE GOT TO can be retrieved from the corpus using an FTF like the one in Figure 7. There is no need to specify that the first AUX is HAVE, because there is no other choice in the language. Matching examples retrieved from the corpus are given in Figures 8 and 9.
Examples
<DCPSE:DL-B14 #0343:1:B> and if he wants if he wants to take say this one he 's got to do everything in between
<DCPSE:DL-B22 #0818:1:B> you 've got to give me that darling
<DCPSE:DL-B26 #0228:1:A> we 've got to get a baby-sitter though <,>
<DCPSE:DL-B35 #0137:1:B> I think you 've got to be very honest with yourself and not <,> not many people are prepared to be because <,> it brings in their personal life
<DCPSE:DL-B36 #0411:1:A> it 's got to be a mortice lock <,> uh that is <,> uh a decent mortice lock for something secure
<DCPSE:DI-A02 #0131:2:B> in a lot of other contact-based dance work you can actually cheat and not <,> give your weight fully or uhm take weight fully <,> and it becomes a bit <,> sort of nothingy whereas with this you 've really got to <,> put your whole body <,> into it and you can't sort of just be thinking <,> sort of intellectually on the side thinking
<DCPSE:DI-A07 #0094:1:B> Pretty much yeah I 've got to admit
<DCPSE:DI-A08 #0123:1:A> Uh and then having got that at the end of the day it 's got to be your decision anyway <,> because I won't enter into a contract that says you ought to go and do that <,,>
<DCPSE:DI-A18 #0029:1:A> I 've got to actually find some phones to plug in<DCPSE:DI-B20 #0328:1:B> It 's her birthday so I 've got to try and find think about what to get her
See also Findings on modal MUST.
2. The Progressive
Progressive verb phrases in DCPSE are marked with the feature 'prog.' Examples can be retrieved from the corpus using the FTF in Figure 10. Matching examples are shown in Figures 11 to 13 and further examples are listed below.
Examples
<DCPSE:DI-A01/ICE-GB:S1A-001 #0031:1:B> Uhm <,> and I think one of the things that I felt when I was studying dance <,> was I very much enjoyed the work that I was involved in
<DCPSE:DI-A01/ICE-GB:S1A-001 #0096:1:B> and therefore people that were coming we would expect them to pay
<DCPSE:DI-A02/ICE-GB:S1A-002 #0061:1:C> there is becoming a greater awareness far more so <,> uhm than there has ever been
<DCPSE:DI-A02/ICE-GB:S1A-002 #0138:2:B> I 'm graduating in June uhm <,> so <,> it 's given me some direction already
<DCPSE:DI-A02/ICE-GB:S1A-002 #0165:2:B> Uhm <,> yeah I wasn't doing very much I remember I wasn't there
<DCPSE:DI-A03/ICE-GB:S1A-003 #0093:1:A> we 're all of us building on that now <,> and uh <,> taking away the the obstacles I think
<DCPSE:DI-A04/ICE-GB:S1A-004 #0045:1:A> This is making too much of a racket <,>
<DCPSE:DI-A04/ICE-GB:S1A-004 #0046:1:A> Tell him we are waiting for the order <,,>
<DCPSE:DI-A04/ICE-GB:S1A-004 #0053:1:B> I was working <,> in that role at the Mike Heafy Centre <,>
<DCPSE:DI-A05/ICE-GB:S1A-024 #0072:1:A> Are you using it in the technical sense of the text grammar
<DCPSE:DI-A07/ICE-GB:S1A-034 #0159:1:A> So what kind of jobs had you mainly been applying for
Advantages of using DCPSE for studying the progressive
Using a parsed corpus like DCPSE to investigate the frequency of use of the progressive has a number of benefits. The BE GOING TO future is automatically excluded from a search using the FTF in Figure 10, above, as the BE GOING TO future is not marked as 'progressive' in DCPSE. Also, it is straightforward to investigate the progressive as a proportion of non-progressive verb phrases, as non-progressive verb phrases can be retrieved using the FTF in Figure 14 where the feature node is specified for 'not progressive.'
3. The Subjunctive
Subjunctive clauses in DCPSE are marked with the feature 'subjun.' Examples can be retrieved from the corpus using the FTF in Figure 15. Matching examples are shown in Figures 16, 17 and 18, and further examples are listed below.
Examples
<DCPSE:DI-B35 #0106:1:A> So that you you stuff you can play in and y you can actually <,> you can teach him if need be
<DCPSE:DI-B55 #0271:2:B> Uhm so I think he may not have the confidence to go ahead as it were
<DCPSE:DI-B59 #0375:7:A>I wouldn't be surprised if he were found hanging on the end of that phone very shortly so I 'd dial quickly if I was you <,>
<DCPSE:DI-D01 #0016:1:C> If ladies were admitted then hot toilets bathrooms showers and certain other rooms would have to be <,> reorganised to meet feminine requirements
<DCPSE:DI-D09 #0167:1:D> And the truth is that if Neil Kinnock uh were to become Prime Minister he 'd be the first Prime Minister in British history who if they 'd been to a university has been to any university other than Oxford or Cambridge
<DCPSE:DI-D16 #0027:1:C> If they decide that it 's necessary then so be it
<DCPSE:DI-J03 #0118:1:K> and there is very clear indications that the consequence of that is that there is very little tax manoeuvre uh for the Chancellor come the budget
<DCPSE:DL-A08 #0357:1:A> I mean that <,> that 's just maybe a lIttle bit of a fine issue but it just seems to me sometimes that you do very much need one needs to kind of further the contact that parents have with members of staff whether it be teachers nurses or whatever <,>
<DCPSE:DL-B06 #0262:1:B> don't suppose he 'd mind if it were <,,>
<DCPSE:DL-B19 #0296:1:C> I mean even <,,> if it were a couple living together it would be <,> just ideal
The Mandative Subjunctive
Mandative clauses which contain a verb in the subjunctive form are not annotated in DCPSE. These were retrieved using text searches for trigger words such as suggest, demand, require etc. Some examples are given below.
Examples
<DCPSE:DL-A02 #0259:2:A> Peter came and begged <,> that he be allowed to accept a job at the bottom of the scale <,,> uh and I said well uh a I wouldn't ask for that because I think it's immoral <,,> uh and I don't think it 's fair to you or to anybody else <,,> uhm <,,>
<DCPSE:DL-I01/LLC:S-11-02 #0154:1:A> and <,> he wrote one sentence which said <,,> Elizabeth the First 's parliaments <,> demanded that she abolish <,> tonnage and poundage <,,> but the noble creature stood firm
<DCPSE:DL-J05/LLC:S-12-05 #0070:1:A> it is essential to the consistency <,> as well as the unity of this party <,> that it be reaffirmed today <,,>
4. The Perfect
The English perfect construction involves the perfect auxiliary HAVE followed by a verb in the past participle form. The present perfect is the most frequently occurring form of the construction, but the perfect also occurs in past and non-finite (infinitival and ing-participial) forms. Perfect auxiliaries in DCPSE are marked with the feature 'perf'. One of the tense features 'pres', 'past', 'infin' or 'ingp' can be added to make the search more specific.
The sections below give FTFs and matching corpus examples for the present perfect, past perfect and non-finite perfect. Simpler, single-node FTFs are shown first as ways to carry out more general searches. The final section then shows how more complex FTFs can be used to find examples which occur within specific structural contexts.
The Present Perfect
The single-node FTF shown in Figure 19 can be used to retrieve examples of the present perfect. Matching tree structures retrieved from the corpus are shown in Figures 20 and 21. The trees are displayed with branching from left to right, rather than from top to bottom. Further examples from the corpus are given in text form below the figures.
Examples
<DCPSE:DI-B60/ICE-GB:S1A-077 #0065:1:B> It 's changed to my address
<DCPSE:DI-E04/ICE-GB:S1B-044 #0067:2:B> I 've never written any fiction before
<DCPSE:DI-F13/ICE-GB:S2A-015 #0217:1:A> We 've seen some good tackling by them
<DCPSE:DI-G03/ICE-GB:S1B-055 #0070:1:B> Mr Speaker since June nineteen eighty-seven unemployment in the United Kingdom seasonally adjusted has fallen by about forty-four per cent and by just under one and a quarter million
<DCPSE:DI-J09/ICE-GB:S2B-023 #0037:1:A> Undoubtedly dance music has taken sampling on board far faster than any other musical genre
<DCPSE:DL-A01/LLC:S-03-01 #0168:1:A> I haven't written them <,> for so long now <,>
<DCPSE:DL-B09/LLC:S-01-09 #0125:1:D> what 's happened to your finger
<DCPSE:DL-B20/LLC:S-02-08 #0114:1:A> to put it <,> to put you in the pIcture there 's never been any conscription in Ireland <,> uh for the British Army <,>
<DCPSE:DL-F01/LLC:S-10-01 #0121:1:A> in <,> just under half an hour England have scored fIfteen runs <,> and lost one wIcket <,,> <unclear-syllables> <,,>
<DCPSE:DL-I01/LLC:S-11-02 #0011:1:A> it 's been a curious academic year up to date <,,>
The Past Perfect
Examples of the past perfect can be found by using the FTF shown in Figure 23. A matching tree structure retrieved from the corpus is shown in Figure 24, and further examples are given below in text form.
Examples
<DCPSE:DI-B48/ICE-GB:S1A-058 #0091:2:B> Well <,> I mean I think uh <,> if <,> I mean I think if there 'd been any problems they would they would have come up with that pretty quickly <,,>
<DCPSE:DI-C03/ICE-GB:S1A-093 #0084:1:A> And uh she hadn't seen him for nine months or something
<DCPSE:DL-B19/LLC:S-02-07 #0655:1:C> and <,> <,,> I was staying in this sort of bedsitter place that she 'd booked up for me <,>
<DCPSE:DL-D02/LLC:S-05-02 #0110:1:F> when <,> if we had been offered the choice of being killed or not that moment we would have got down as low as we could into the nearest shell hole
<DCPSE:DL-I02/LLC:S-11-03 #0208:4:A> <,,> and I realized the whole <,> lounge had fallen silent <,> and <,> I had to go on
The Non-Finite Perfect
In the non-finite perfect, HAVE occurs in infinitival or ing-participial form. These forms can be found by using an FTF like those in Figure 20 and Figure 23, but with the tense features 'infin' or 'ingp'. Some examples from DCPSE retrieved by these searches are given below.
Examples
Examples of the infinitival perfect:
<DCPSE:DI-A11/ICE-GB:S1A-059 #0279:1:B> You should have been a medic
<DCPSE:DI-J07/ICE-GB:S2B-021 #0027:1:A> Mr Sinunu was discovered to have been ordering up government aircraft to fly him to the dentist <,> or on skiing holidays or to political fund raising events for the Republican party <,>
<DCPSE:DL-A07/LLC:S-06-02 #0464:1:B> she seems to have been far less tired
<DCPSE:DL-B26/LLC:S-04-01 #0312:1:B> I thought it might have been in the car but I checked and it wasn't
Examples of the ing-participial perfect:
<DCPSE:DI-B90/ICE-GB:S1B-020 #0009:1:A> So having established that part of the <,> design then what are you going to do
<DCPSE:DI-D09/ICE-GB:S1B-029 #0140:1:B> They will be defined as having been the pointers
<DCPSE:DL-C01/LLC:S-07-01 #0545:2:A> and not having heard from anybody I thought I 'd better check up <,,>
<DCPSE:DL-J02/LLC:S-12-02 #0124:1:A> I have myself <,> lectured on the Black Death <,,> without ever having had the disease <,>
The Infinitival Perfect in Particular Structural Contexts
Using a parsed corpus like DCPSE makes it easier to search for examples which occur in particular grammatical contexts. For instance, the simple FTF search described above for the infinitival perfect found some examples which occurred after a modal auxiliary and some which occurred in other kinds of structure following the marker to. Several different FTFs can be constructed to find examples which occur within the different structures, and to compare frequency of occurrence in these structures.
Figure 25 shows an FTF used to retrieve examples of the infinitival perfect auxiliary occurring after a modal auxiliary within a VP, and Figure 26 shows a matching tree structure retrieved from the corpus.
The context shown in Figure 25 is by far the most frequent one for the infinitival perfect in DCPSE. However, further FTFs can be constructed for other contexts. An example of another FTF is given in Figure 27, and a matching tree structure in Figure 28.
See also Findings for the perfect.