The use of complex verb group in English and Arabic : a contrastive study

Abstract EN

The verb group is a grammatical category that does exist in one or another in all the texts under study, despite the fact that is, sometimes, subject to deletion or ellipses wherever it can be recovered from the text.

It is referred to as one of the most complex or areas in English grammar.

The verb group ranges from a singular group as "spoken" in which the finite element is fused with the event, without any auxiliary, to along verb group where one can find one or more auxiliaries as in : "it couldn't have been going to be being eaten.

The complex verb group in English is not similar as in Arabic.

Arabic language depends mainly on the internal change of the verb rather than on the combination of two or more verbs within the complex verb group.

Therefore, the present study is an attempt to study the form of complex verb group in English and Arabic with reference to some examples in both languages to see the similarities and differences between the two languages in using the complex verb group.

To fulfill the aims of the current study, it is hypothesized that the complex verb group in Arabic is very few in contrast with English uses more than one combination to form a complex verb group.

In order to test the hypothesis already started, certain examples are revealed to show that complex verb group in English is not similar to Arabic.

Finally, some essential conclusions are drawn in the light of the analysis made and some suggestions for further studies with available bibliography are put forward.