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classification 2 min read

is will be a verb

classification-field-guide-on-verb-phrase-status-of-will-be

A closer look

Test: does a helping verb pair with a main verb? If yes, the string is one verb phrase. In She will be late, will is the modal auxiliary and be is the main verb, even though it names a state, not an action.

Recognizing modal verb phrases

  • Modal + be as main verb: the modal comes first, and be names a state or condition rather than an action. In Will they be ready?, will is the modal auxiliary and be is the main verb, even in question order.

  • Modal + auxiliary chain: the modal stays first, but the next verb may be an auxiliary rather than the main verb. In will have been studying, the main verb is the last one, studying.

When the second verb is not the main verb

A classification trap: after a modal, the next verb is not always the main verb. In She will have been studying, three verbs follow the modal, but only studying carries the core meaning of the action; have and been are auxiliaries joining the chain.

How to decide when the chain is long: ask which verb carries the core meaning of the action or state, and treat that one as the main verb. Everything in front of it stays auxiliary, whether one helper or several. She will be late shows the short case: the modal is followed straight by the main verb, with nothing to skip over.

Keep reading

All articles

classification

what type of verb is will

Classification of the verb will with a category test, compact modal list, and the lexical-verb boundary

definition

is will verb

A short dictionary-style lookup confirming the word class of 'will'.

classification

is would a modal verb

Category test for modal verbs applied to would, with field-guide entries and the semi-modal boundary.

classification

is have to an auxiliary verb

Compact field guide answering whether 'have to' is an auxiliary verb, with the do-support recognition test, contrasted categories, and the ambiguous boundary with auxiliary have in perfect tenses.

definition

what is the tense of would

**Would** is a modal auxiliary verb with one fixed form. It never changes shape to show tense the way main verbs do: say *would*, and there is only *would*, no *woulds* or *woulded*. In reported speech it often appears as the shifted form of *will*, which grammar books sometimes call the past form of *will* or future-in-the-past. *I will call you tomorrow* becomes *She said she would call me the next day*. The word moves back one step because the reporting verb, *said*, sits in the past. That label can mislead, though. *Would* does not mark past time the way main verbs do. In *She said she would call*, the calling was still in the future at the moment of speaking. And in *I would travel more if I had time*, nothing is past at all; *would* is simply hypothetical. So the honest picture is this: *would* is one fixed modal form that stands in for *will* when speech is reported, and it can point to the future from a past viewpoint or to an imagined situation, but it is not a tense marker in the ordinary sense. Try it yourself: read *He promised he would help* and ask whether anything happened in the past. The promising did, but the helping was still ahead of him, which shows *would* doing its backshift work without becoming a past-tense verb in the usual sense.

definition

is well a word

definition lookup: 'we'll' (candidate)