In linguistics, a light verb is a verb that has little semantic content of its own and it therefore forms a predicate with some additional expression, which is usually a noun. Common verbs in English that can function as light verbs are do, give, have, make, take, etc. Other names for light verb include vector verb, explicator verb, thin verb or semantically weak verb (a semantically weak verb is not to be confused with a weak verb of the Germanic weak inflection, however). While light verbs are similar to auxiliary verbs regarding their meaning contribution to the clauses in which they appear, light verbs fail the diagnostics that identify auxiliary verbs and are therefore distinct from auxiliaries. Light verb constructions challenge theories of compositionality because the words that form such constructions do not together qualify as constituents although the word combinations do qualify as catenae.
Read more about Light Verb: Examples, Alternative Constructions With Full Verbs, Light Verbs Vs. Auxiliary Verbs and Full Verbs, Compositionality in Terms of Catenae, Light Verbs in Other Languages, Diachronic Considerations
Famous quotes containing the words light and/or verb:
“Ye say they all have passed away,
That noble race and brave;
That their light canoes have vanished
From off the crested wave;
That, mid the forests where they roamed,
There rings no hunters’ shout;
But their name is on your waters,
Ye may not wash it out.”
—Lydia Huntley Sigourney (1791–1865)
“The word is the Verb, and the Verb is God.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)