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Catenative versus modal verbs

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■THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CATENATIVES AND MODALS      Confusions arise between catenatives and modals because both can introduce a chain of verb form,esp when followed by base forms or to-infinitive       Modals are different from catenatives in that modals lack the semantic content that catenatives have.The modals are used to help other head/main verbs to form moods modifying the meaning of the head/main verbs and have no meaning in themselves and the head/main verbs are changed into non-finite form (to-infinitive or a base form).Different from the modals,the catenatives are the head/main verb of the chain and has their own meaning.       ○ Visitors SHOULD INFORM the receptionist of their arrival .  (Here the main/head verb is a base form INFORM while SHOULD is a modal.)       ○These HELP REDUCE the pain.  (Here the main/head verb HELP is a catenative verb while the base form REDUCE acts as a complement of the verb HELP.)       Some modals have particles inserted in-between the modals a

CATENATIVE VERBS

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  CATENATIVE VERBS 1:     A catenative verb (aka a chain verb) is a verb that can link with other verbs to form a chain of verbs.When a catenative verb links with other verbs,the a catenative verb acts as a head/main verb and the other verbs have to change its form into non-finite froms, such as to-inf,bare-inf, or gerund. For examples:       🔹The birds BIGIN TO SING. (The catenative BEGIN is a head/main verb and the linked verb SING has to change its form into to-inf form TO SING)       🔹They LIKE READING books. (The catenative LIKE is a head/main verb and the linked verb READ has to change its form into gerund form READING.)       🔹The books HELP SHED light on the problems.  (The catenative HELP is a head/main verb and the linked verb SHED has to change its form into a non-finite SHED.)      The non-finite verb, which is linked with the main/head catenative verb,can take function as either an obj or complement of the main/head verb,as in....       🔹He HESITATED TO JUMP. (The main