Re: V2 (plus Géarthnuns serendipity)

From: "Nik Taylor"

I wrote:
> > But isn't "will" intimately tied to the notion of "want"
>
> Historically, yes.  But not today.  If you say "I will" you mean "I will
> do that", not "I want".  In Modern English it means only "future tense".
Perhaps "want" is a little too strong, and "be willing" more à propos. In
sentences like: "I won't go!" or "I won't do it.", are you talking solely
about futurity (which *is* inherently there), or also about the volition of
the speaker?

> > "Will
> > you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?" "I will." (a
little
> > more "wantness" than "futureness" here, but I hope you get my point)
>
> I've always heard it "DO you take ... I DO"
The latter version is certainly more common, but I believe I've heard both.
I don't think I'm pulling this out of a hat. Don't know if it's a difference
in liturgies.

> > Much as I'm tempted to call it an auxiliary and call it a day, when I
began
> > groping for terms to explain the shléts, I trudged through bazillions of
> > dictionaries in various languages and the term "auxiliary" seemed
> > inextricably tied to verb-ness (aren't they often called "helping
*verbs*"
> > in English?). The shléts is too weak to stand on its own, and doesn't
derive
> > from a verb which had a meaning at one point.
>
> Hmm, "bound auxilliary" or something?  Seems like it should be
> considered SOME kind of auxilliary.
I'd like to agree with you here. Maybe I'm just hung up on the term
"auxiliary *verb*". In the languages I'm familiar with, auxiliary verb
implies a verb which has/had a meaning on its own but which does double duty
in some sort of grammatical function. I'll be more than happy to revise that
definition with a compelling counterexample. Right now, it doesn't "feel"
right to call the shléts an auxiliary, though "verbal particle" seems
equally clumsy.

 > I've seen "better" in sentences
> like "You better go" called an auxilliary, so under at least some
> definitions, it doesn't have to be "verby".
Well, call me a purist, a prescriptivist, a traditionalist, an old fogey,
but I'm not into this interpretation at all.

Kou