The DuMMy Auxiliary

Introduction to Modern English Exercise

The auxiliary verbs ‘be’, ‘have’, and ‘do’ are used with a main verb to form tenses, negatives, and questions. Charles Barber points out four syntactical main functions, through which he considers that auxiliaries are used before ‘not’ when a sentence is made negative; used before the subject of a sentence to form questions; used in echo-repetitions; when stressed used to assert emphasis to the truth of sentences’ ideological feature as a whole. The auxiliary ‘do’, is considered the ‘dummy auxiliary’, because according to Barber, ‘it performs the four main functions of an auxiliary, but empty of meaning’. This means that in verbal phrases ‘do’ is used when no other auxiliary is present.

The use of the auxiliary ‘do’ remotes back to Old English, not used as a dummy auxiliary rather had a causative sense. Barber explains, the causative sense in the sentence:

‘He did them a castle.’ as meaning in PdE ‘He caused a castle to be built.’

‘Do’ in the later case expresses cause, and doesn’t function as an auxiliary verb. This was mainly found in translations from the Latin, whereas by Shakespeare’s time its usage died completely, considered uncommon in Middle English. Barber argues that if we say 'he built a castle there', the verb tense ‘built’ already shows cause. In spoken language, people started to equate 'did build' with 'built', contributing for the development of the non-causative use of ‘do’.

Moreover, since the thirteenth century South-Western dialects, initially through poetry spreading rapidly to prose, the modern usage of ‘do’ most commonly grew. During the sixteenth century, ‘do’ becomes semantically an empty auxiliary, merely being a stylistic variant and appropriate mainly for negation. By the seventeenth century Scots-English influenced the southern General dialect. Terttu Nevalainen suggests that such dialect contact was due to the arrival of the Scottish court in London at the succession of King James in 1603, as such contributed for its present use of the auxiliary ‘do’.

To conclude, we know that in Present-day English (PdE) it is used to make negative and question forms from sentences that have a verb in the present simple or past simple. We can also use ‘do’ as a main verb with the auxiliary ‘do’, just as we can use the auxiliary ‘do’ with ‘have’ as a main verb. We only use ‘do’ in affirmative sentences for emphasis or contrast. We never use the auxiliary ‘do’ with ‘be’ except in the imperative.

Bibliography and References:

Elizabeth Mosier Translation (in revision)

My father and I are in the habit now of speaking through others: first Mother, then Boo, now Beulah.
"Beulah told me I'd find you in here," Dad says, opening the door just wide enough to stick his head into Boo's old room. He finds me standing on a ladder, holding the book he authored in one hand and, with the other, painting stars on the ceiling.
"It's supposed to be a surprise," I complain to the dog, playfully throwing the brush at her.
"Beulah hates surprises," Dad says, as the dog opens the door and leads the way in.
She's only seven years old. Boo would have been seventeen.
"What do you think?" I ask.
"It sure makes the room seem bigger," Dad says.
"I hope so." I say.
We still live in the same house Boo and I grew up in, where we shared a room until I moved out to the couch in the living room. The house was always too small but now, with just the two of us living here, the walls seem to swell.
"Come down and let me see what you've done."
I'm home from college for the spring semester. The last thing I wanted was to come back to Phoenix and my father. If anyone asks I say it is a very brief visit, just to clear out Boo's room.

Elizabeth Mosier, Insomnia

Eu e o meu pai temos agora o hábito de falar por intermédio dos outros: primeiro a mãe, depois o Boo, agora o Beulah.
“Beulah disse me que te encontraria aqui dentro,” diz o pai, abrindo a porta o suficiente para espreitar dentro do velho quarto de Boo. Ele encontra-me em cima do escadote, segurando o livro que ele escreveu numa mão e, com a outra, pintando estrelas no tecto.
“É suposto ser uma surpresa,” Resmungo eu com a cadela, atirando-lhe com a escova na brincadeira.
“Beulah detesta surpresas,” diz o pai, enquanto a cadela abre a porta e conduz o caminho para dentro.
Ela tem apenas sete anos de idade. Boo teria dezassete.
“O que pensas?” Perguntei eu.
“De certeza que faz o quarto parecer maior,” diz o pai.
“Eu espero que sim,” disse eu.
Nós ainda vivemos na mesma casa onde eu e o Boo crescemos, onde partilhávamos um quarto até eu ter mudado para o sofá da sala de estar. A casa foi sempre muito pequena mas agora, só com nós os dois a viver aqui, as paredes parecem ter crescido.
“Desce para baixo e deixa-me ver o que fizeste.”
Estou em casa durante o segundo semestre do colégio. A última coisa que eu queria era voltar para Phoenix e para o meu pai. Se alguém perguntar, eu digo que é uma visita muito breve, só para tirar as coisas do quarto do Boo.

Jorge Correia Orfão

Oscar Wilde Translation

"I suppose you have heard the news, Basil?" said Lord Henry that evening, as Basil Hallward was shown into a little private room at the Bristol where dinner had been set for three.

"No, Harry", answered the artist, giving his hat and coat to the waiter. "What is it? Nothing about politics, I hope?" They don't intrest me. There is hardly a single person in the Government worth painting. (...).

"Dorian Gray is engaged to be married," said Lord Henry, watching him as he spoke.

Hallward started, and then frowned. "Dorian engaged to be married!" he cried. "Impossible!"

"It is perfectly true."

"To whom?"

"To some little actress or other."

"Dorian is far too wise not to do foolish things now and then, my dear Basil."

"Marriage is not really a thing that one can do now and then, Harry."

"Except in America", replied Lord Henry, calmly. "But I didn't say he was married. I said he was engaged to be married. There is a great difference. I have a distinct remembrance of being married but I have no recollection at all of being engaged. I am inclined to think I never was engaged."

"But think Dorian's birth, and position, and wealth. It would be absurd for him to marry so much beneath him."

"If you want to make him marry this girl tell him that, Basil. He is sure to do it, then. Whenever a man does a thoroughly stupid thing, it is always from the noblest motives."

"I hope the girl is good, Harry. I don't want to see Dorian tied to some vile creature, who might degrade his nature and ruin his intellect."

"Oh, she is better than good - she is beautiful," murmured Lord Henry, sipping a glass of Port. "Dorian says she is beautiful; and he is not often wrong about things of that kind. Your portrait of him has improved his appreciation of the personal appearance of other people. It has had that excellent effect, amongst others. We are going to see her tonight, if Dorian doesn't forget his appointment."

Adapted from Oscar Wilde, The Picture Of Dorian Gray

“Suponho que já ouviste a notícia, Basil?” disse Lord Henry naquele final de tarde, enquanto Basil Hallward era conduzido a uma salinha privada no Bristol, onde a mesa de jantar estava posta para três.
“Não, Harry”, respondeu o artista, dando o seu chapéu e casaco ao empregado de mesa. “O que é? Nada sobre políticas, espero?” Elas não me interessam. Não há sequer uma única pessoa no Governo que valha a pena pintar. (…).
“Dorian Gray está comprometido para casar,” disse Lord Henry, olhando para ele enquanto falava.
Hallward sobresaltou-se, e depois franziu. “Dorian Gray comprometido para casar!” suspirou ele. “Impossível!”
“É perfeitamente verdade.”
“Com quem?”
“Com uma actriz qualquer ou assim.”
“Dorian é demasiado esperto para não fazer tontices de vez em quando, meu querido Basil.”
“Casamento não é bem algo que se faça de vez em quando, Harry”
“Excepto na América”, respondeu Lord Henry, calmamente. “Mas eu não disse que ele estava casado. Eu disse que estava comprometido para casar. Há uma grande diferença. Eu tenho uma vaga ideia de estar casado, mas não tenho qualquer recordação em estar comprometido. Estou inclinado a pensar que eu nunca estive comprometido. “Mas pensa no nascimento, e na posição, e na saúde de Dorian. Seria um absurdo ele casar tão inferior a ele.”
“Se queres que ele case com esta rapariga diz-lhe isso, Basil. Ele fá-lo-á, então. Sempre que um homem faz algo completamente estúpido, advém sempre dos motivos mais nobres.”
“Eu espero que seja boa moça, Harry. Não quero ver o Dorian amarado a qualquer criatura baixa, quem poderá denegrir a natureza dele e arruinar a sua intelectualidade.”
“Oh, ela é a melhor das melhores – ela é linda,” murmurou Lord Henry, bebendo um pequeno gole do copo do Porto. “Dorian disse que ela é bonita; e ele normalmente não se engana acerca de assuntos desse género. O teu retrato dele tem melhorado a apreciação dele da aparência pessoal sobre as outras pessoas. Tem tido esse excelente efeito entre as pessoas. Nós vamos vê-la esta noite, caso o Dorian não se esqueça da sua marcação.”

Jorge Correia Orfão

Najat El Hachmi Review

La novela L'últim patriarca, con la que Najat El Hachmi (Nador, Marruecos, 1979) ganó el XXVIII Premi de les Lletres Catalanes Ramon Llull 2008 [...] narra los enfrentamientos entre un inmigrantemarroquí y su hija adolescente por sus diferentes maneras de concebir eintegrarse en la realidad que les rodea en Cataluña.Según explicó El Hachmi el día en que ganó el premio, la obra refleja los"contrastes" entre padre e hija que se ven "amplificados" por el cambio cultural que han sufrido al pasar de vivir en Marruecos a hacerlo en una capital comarcal catalana. La hija no sólo "se tiene que enfrentar" a su padre -que tiene "un peso específico" en su vida-, sino que intenta encontrar su "libertad personal" y su "lugar en el mundo".El protagonista, Mimoun Driouch, es un inmigrante marroquí que pasó de seralbañil a pequeño constructor en una capital de comarca y que, tras distanciarse durante años de su familia, pide el reagrupamiento familiar para vivir con su esposa e hijos en Cataluña. Su "doble moral" la sufre su hija -cuyo nombre no se cita en ningún momento- cuando llega a la adolescencia.

Stella Gibbons Translation

Flora felt extremely sleepy all of a sudden. She decided to go and sit by the fire in her room and read until mealtime. So she told Mr Mybug she hoped he would have a pleasant walk. She added that Rennet had had a fairly boring life, on the whole, and that she would probably appreciate a little fun.
Mr Mybug said he quite understood. He also attempted to take Flora's hand, but she did not let him.
"We're friends, aren't we?" he asked.
"Certainly," said Flora, pleasantly. She did not inform him that she was not in the habit of thinking of persons whom she had known for five weeks as her friends.
"We might dine together in London some time?"
"That would be delightful," agreed Flora, thinking how nasty and boring it would be.
"There's a quality in you..." said Mr Mybug. "I should like to write a novel about you and call it Virginal."
"Do, if it passes the time for you," said Flora; and now I must go and write some letters. Good-bye."
On her way to her room, Flora passed Rennet coming downstairs, dressed to go out. She wondered how Rennet had managed to obtain permission from Aunt Ada Doom to do so, but Rennet did not wait to be questioned.

Stella Gibbons

Flora sentiu-se extremamente cansada de um momento para outro. Decidiu ir sentar-se ao lume no quarto dela e ler até à hora de jantar. Por isso, disse ao Sr. Mybug que esperava que ele tivesse um bom passeio. Ela adiantou que a Rennet tem tido, em geral, uma vida bastante aborrecida, e que provavelmente apreciaria um pouco de diversão.
O Sr. Mybug disse que até entendia. Tentou também pegar na mão de Flora, mas ela não o deixou.
“Nós somos amigos, não somos?” ele perguntou.
“Com certeza,” disse Flora, com todo o gosto. Ela não informou que não era hábito dela pensar das pessoas que conhece apenas há cinco semanas como suas amigas.
“Podíamos jantar juntos qualquer dia em Londres?”
“Isso seria uma delícia,” concordou a Flora, pensando o quanto nojento e enfadonho seria.
“Isso é uma qualidade em ti…” disse Sr. Mybug. “Eu gostaria de escrever um romance acerca de ti e chamá-lo Virginal.”
“Fá-lo. Se isso lhe faz passar o tempo,” disse Flora; e agora terei que ir escrever umas cartas. Adeus.”
A caminho do quarto a Flora passou pela Rennet que descia, vestida para sair. Ela curiosamente pensava como teria ela conseguido obter a autorização da Tia Ada Doom para o fazer, mas a Rennet não esperou para ser questionada.

Jorge Orfão

El espíritu de la colmena, Víctor Erice (1973)

Spanish National Cinema

What do the setting and the mise-en-scène in El espíritu de la colmena/The Spirit of the Beehive (V. Erice, 1973) tell us about the political situation in the epoch in which the film was made?

Since early nineteenth century, studies on culture have been ambiguous across Europe. The notion of culture has relied a lot on world history and politics. Spain, because of Francoism, is a perfect example on how the development of its culture has been influenced by government power, being placed on a scale between reality and fiction. Spanish dictatorship kept the country closed up for many years because of censorship, that puts a stop to free expression of intellectuals such as filmmakers. The film El espíritu de la colmena, directed by Víctor Aras Erice with the collaboration of the producer Elías Querejera, is a remarkable portrait of that epoch of Spain: Franco after the Civil War, and the effects it had amongst the people of the country.

The film takes us back to the year 1940, the year right after the Spanish civil war. The director shows in a subtle artistic way his perspective of Spanish society during Franco’s dictatorship. The film was produced in 1973, when Franco was an old and weak man, about to hand over the government power to his allied, Almirante Carrero Blanco. Blanco was killed that same year by the ETA, which shocked the entire nation’s population. Political tensions were emerging around Spain, as well as the economy was on its lowest rates. Spain was definitely going through deep changes, while the people were starting to face the reality of their country. The film is built up in this context, Erice through the eyes of a child, Ana, played by Ana Torrent, shows what went on during the post-civil war years. The fact the film is introduced like a fairy tale, Erase una vez/ Once upon a time, and despite it can be seen as a way to mislead censorship, it invokes the idea of a story that should not be forgotten.

Slightly reporting back to a couple of the scenes from El espíritu de la colmena, we are likely to find symbolic features that characterize the post-civil war years in Spain. Such as the first scene of the mother, Teresa, who while the pueblo is enjoying the new and well announced film on screen in the village, she is writing a letter apparently addressed to a special loved man, which can lead us into doubt because during the whole of the film, the director tells us very little about the characters. What is interesting to point out is that she addresses this man in an uncomfortable nostalgic way, making us think that he had something to do with government matters, therefore, his distance is most probably due to the fact he went into exile to escape political imprisonment or even someone already held a prisoner in one of Franco’s concentration camps. She remits to the years of the civil war, talking about a great loss and about a morbid dark atmosphere spread around the country. Spain was going through years of economic repression and social exclusion, where the Regime ideology was to promote mass unification through issues on cultural nationalism. The idea of homogeneity was being encouraged in a country truly recognized by its rich cultural diversity. During this scene of the mother, we see the way she expresses herself while writing this letter. She has a melancholic attitude showing us her preoccupation on what was going on around at the moment, just as how the lack of information about what will happen provokes the sense of a quite fear. The authority had brought censorship to the country, enforcing silence in all communities using manipulative techniques. Another scene that tells us much about the people’s situation during these harsh years of indelicate violence is the first shot of the train, when the mother takes her letter to the mailbox. It is in my opinion, one of the most poetic moments of the film. The smoky environment of the railroad station, when the train stops, and the way Teresa stands watching the train leave, brings to our thoughts to true context during that epoch. As the train goes by, we see through Teresa’s eyes, the people who are travelling: these are Spanish representations of its natives. A better observation of this scene, can make us have a feeling, by the look of such representations that desperate, hopeless, restless, and tired emotions were being felt around the reality of Francoism.

Víctor Erice proves that he is part of a new generation in filmmaking, inspired by neo-realism, and the nouvelle vague movements to represent the authenticity of Spanishness through a firmly national cinema. This seems to be a possible explanation for the long-takes, and the fact that the majority of the scenes we encounter in the film are shot outdoors, just as the use of non-actors to play the narrative. It’s not accurate to consider that its not on purpose the director uses the real names of his characters. Moreover, the silent scenes, the sense of lost dialogues, in the same way, the faded and shadowed colours we see according to the set of lights used in all the mise-en-scene, clearly are metaphors of what was like living in Spain during the post-civil war years. Erice follows the politique des auteurs tradition, as a consequence of his studies at the Escuela Oficial de Cine, under the ideals of José María Garcia Escudero, who before had claimed that a new image of Spain should be produced in order to proceed with the country’s internationalization. It is notorious the urge to escape from the folkloric images of Spain transfigured in films like Berlanga’s Bienvenido, Mr. Marshall, in the same way, the urgent anxiety to construct a brighter perspective of Spanish identity. El espíritu de la colmena, which insights the representation of the nation to the nation, as its director once said, can well be identified with this new idea of Spanishness, when a closer look at its mise-en-scene is considered. The cinematographic technique used by the director proves to us that things are changing in respect of the construction of national identity.

Bibliography:

Graham, H. and Labanyi, J. (eds.) Spanish Cultural Studies: An Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Jordan, B. (2002) Spanish Culture and Society: The Essential Glossary, London: Arnold Press.

Kinder, M. (1993) Blood Cinema: The Reconstruction of National Identity in Spain, Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.

Ros, X de, (1999) “Innocence Lost: Sounds and Silence in El espíritu de la colmena’ Bulletin of Spanish Studies, 76, 1

Triana Toribio, N. (2003) Spanish National Cinema, London: Routledge.