Arabic and English Sentence Patterns: A Comparative Guide

5 | P a g e ARABIC AND English sentence patterns 1 DEFINITIONs AND TYPES OF VERBS 1.1 ENGLISH Verbs are words that denote an action, event, process, or state of being, with reference to a subject. 1 Functionally, there are two types: Auxiliary (helping) and Lexical. Auxiliary verbs have grammatical meaning related to their function but, as their name implies, do not stand on their own. The primary (non-modal) auxiliaries are do , have , and be . Like lexical verbs, these inflect (change their form) to varying degrees for tense, person, number, and mood. The modal auxiliaries are words such as could , must , will , and used to . The inflection of such verbs is extremely limited. All other verbs are lexical 2 ; they have complete meaning and thus can stand on their own or be used with auxiliaries. The various forms of have , do , and be can be primary auxiliaries or lexical: As primary auxiliary verbs: “She has watched / She does watch / She is watching that film.” As lexical verbs: “She has that film; She does the acting; She is the star.”