Compound Verb - Structure

Structure

Thus, there are two classes of complex predicates:

  1. V+V compounds: The true compound verb, where the first verb (or the second...) is a Light verb (LV), followed by (or preceded by...) a primary or Heavy verb. With a few exceptions all compound verbs alternate with their simple counterparts. That is, removing the light verb / vector does not affect grammaticality at all nor the meaning very much: निकला nikalā '(He) went out.' In a few languages both components of the compound verb can be finite forms: Kurukh kecc-ar ker-ar lit. "died-3pl went-3pl" '(They) died.'
  2. N+V compounds: A compound with Noun+verb, converting the noun into a verbal structure; the arguments and the semantics are determined by the N and the tense markers / inflections are carried by the V. This would include English stretched verb examples like take a walk or commit suicide. Often the Verbs participating N+V compounding are also those that participate as LVs in V+V compounds. The N+V compound appears in almost all languages, especially with LVs such as "do," "make," etc., and are sometimes not considered to be a true compound verb.

Read more about this topic:  Compound Verb

Famous quotes containing the word structure:

    Vashtar: So it’s finished. A structure to house one man and the greatest treasure of all time.
    Senta: And a structure that will last for all time.
    Vashtar: Only history will tell that.
    Senta: Sire, will he not be remembered?
    Vashtar: Yes, he’ll be remembered. The pyramid’ll keep his memory alive. In that he built better than he knew.
    William Faulkner (1897–1962)

    The syntactic component of a grammar must specify, for each sentence, a deep structure that determines its semantic interpretation and a surface structure that determines its phonetic interpretation.
    Noam Chomsky (b. 1928)

    If rightly made, a boat would be a sort of amphibious animal, a creature of two elements, related by one half its structure to some swift and shapely fish, and by the other to some strong-winged and graceful bird.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)