1. Do Support and Emphatic Sentences
Ed McCorduck
English 402--Grammar
SUNY Cortland

2. slide 2: do as an MV and aux like be and have
Recall from lectures 12 and 14 of the “Verbs and Verb Phrases” chapter 3 lecture that be and have can both function as either main verbs (MVs) or as auxiliaries (i.e., they can fill the “aux” role; see “The Inversion Transformation” lecture). Similarly, the verb do can also function as both an MV and in several types of sentences as an aux:
English 402: Grammar

3. Mr. Henpecked does windows.
slide 3 do as a main verb
do as a main verb
Mr. Henpecked does windows. MV
The bone-weary tourists did Europe in ten days.
English 402: Grammar

4. You do not (don’t) get rich cheating the mob. (negative sentence)
slide 4 do as an aux
do as an aux
You do not (don’t) get rich cheating the mob (negative sentence)
aux MV
Did the jackass leave a calling card? (yes/no question)
aux MV
Where does she think she’s going? (wh-question)
aux MV
Don’t you ever come ‘round here again (negative imperative)
aux MV
They do smell awful (emphatic sentence)
aux MV
English 402: Grammar

5. slide 5: the do-support transformation
Each of the sentence types mentioned in the previous slide will be discussed in this lecture and forthcoming comes, and each one is formed through a transformation (see slide whatever) that is based on a simpler transformation involving the auxiliary do. This transformation is called the do-support transformation since its main purpose is to “support” the operation of other transformations by introducing auxiliary do to a string where (1) there is not already an aux (a modal or the auxiliaries be or have) and (2) the main verb of the string is not be. The do-support transformation can formulated in this way:
subj + MV ⇒ subj + DO + MV
English 402: Grammar 5

6. slide 6: emphatic sentences
The following examples illustrate the basic application of the do-support transformation in the creation of emphatic sentences from declarative sentences:
English 402: Grammar 6

7. He knows judo. exx I know judo. ⇒ I do know judo. He does know judo.
slide 7: examples of the application of do-support to make emphatic sentences
exx
I know judo.
subj pres + MV (know) dir obj ⇒
I do know judo.
subj pres + DO + MV (know) dir obj
He knows judo.
He does know judo.
subj pres + DO + MV (know) dir obj
English 402: Grammar

8. They knew judo. ⇒ They did know judo.
slide 8: example of the application of do-support to make a past-tense emphatic sentence
They knew judo.
subj past + MV (know) dir obj ⇒
They did know judo.
subj past + DO + MV (know) dir obj
English 402: Grammar