« "Seeing" | Main | Seeing Is a Free Gift »
October 05, 2005
Chapter 3 Question 2
The verb “to be” is different from verbs like “ask, tell, show, etc…” because it is a helping verb that connects a sentence together. The verb “to be” acts as a function word because it is used as an auxiliary verb to strengthen the use of a content verb.
It is definitely possible to invent new quantifiers; therefore they cannot be called closed class words. Words that can replace “very” and didn’t exist ten years ago are “mad” and “wicked.” Many quantifiers come and go and there is an unlikely chance that these slang quantifiers will continue to mean the same thing in the future.
Based on the difference between function verbs and content verbs it seems probable that they are stored differently in the brain. Function verbs are difficult to create, yet content verbs are constantly being added the open class.
Posted by lcisowens at October 5, 2005 10:57 PM