This is a variant of an old analysis, going all the way back to Chomsky's Syntactic Structures.  I'm not particularly fond of the analysis, particularly not of the notion MVP.  That one belongs in baseball.  However, an important reason for keeping tense in the AUX and not in the V is that it associates with the AUX if there is one.  Tense always appears on the first AUX.  In questions, negatives, and emphatics, if there is no auxiliary verb, tense associates with the place-holder AUX "do".  It moves with the AUX in subject-verb inversion.  The only time it actually shows up on the V is if the sentence has no auxiliary verb and is affirmative active declarative non-emphatis.

 

Herb



	

	

	 



	Klammer, Schulz, and Volpe list TENSE as a part of AUX:

	

	AUX --> TENSE + (MODAL) + (HAVE) + (BE)

	

	My Advanced Grammar students want to know why TENSE can't be part of the

	MVP:

	

	MVP --> TENSE + (AUX) + MV

	

	I have no good answer, but I bet many of you out there do.  Help!

	

	John

	

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