According to Burton (2022:106), “Every VP includes a lexical verb (as head) and it may contain one

or more auxiliary verbs.”

a) Lexical, auxiliary and modal verbs are important to the structure and sense of a sentence,
they appear in the structure of VP. Now, the difference between them is that: lexical
verbs can demand a complement and be preceded by the parte “to”, and auxiliaries
cannot take a complement. Whereas modal verbs do not show subject verb agreement as
in [*she wills go…]f and they are always tensed.f

However, the lexical verb is the main verb of the VP, the verb that carry a real meaning by itself;
whereas auxiliary and modal verbs are closed set of dependent verbs.

b) Be & have are sometimes called primary auxiliaries, these verbs can either be lexical or
auxiliary verbs.

HAVE is the lexical verb when it takes na NP complement ( transitive) as in [I have a friend], and
BE is also a lexical verb when it takes, for instance, a AP/sP complement (Intensive verb) as in [she
is beautiful].

On the other hand, HAVE can be Auxiliary (PERFECT) always preceded by another verb as in [ She
had written six novels], and BE can be auxiliary (PROG) in the VP as in [she is writing tye novel].

However, HAVE is auxiliary when it demands that the following verb has the perfect participle
form, and BE is progressive when it demands the following verb has the (non- finite) -ING form.

C) Burton (2022:115) states that in the structure of VP, “auxiliary verbs are necessarily
followed by VPs. So, they they demand a following VP as complement.

From the above, we can state that auxiliary verbs as sister of the VP.

e.g. she has [ been there]

She will [cook rice]

d) In questions, auxiliary verbs preced the lexical verb. So, the can move in front of the subject.

E.g.

a) [You are mature enough]

[Are you mature enough].

b) [You have been in Quelimane]

[Have you been in Quelimane].

In negatives auxiliary verbs can be attached by the particles (not or n’t), and lexical verbs cannot.

a) [He can’t go home]

In passive sentences, the auxiliary verbs are made from active sentences, and they are said to be
in the passive voice.

E.g.

[I do the activity]

[The activity is done]

NB..(is) is the passive B

2.

a) The coat does not fit you.

-You are not fit by the coat.

b) They believe it to be easy to annoy Bem.

-it is believed by them to be easy to annoy Bem.

c) They believe there to be a dragon in the wood.

-it is believed there to be a dragon in the wood.

d) They widely believed that John was ill.

-that John was ill was widely believed by them.

e) John will have been driving the car.

-the car will have been being driven by John.

f) Madina resembles her mother in nearly every detail.

-Madina’s mother is reassembled by her in every detail.

g) My mother approved the plan.

-the plan was approved by my mother.

h) They flew near Boston

This sentence cannot be passivised because the verb is intransitive..