Within affix movement ‘helps’ is still part of the VP, or verb phrase and in fact the I, here does, is lowered in to the V, help. This becomes significant when discussing v-raising.
V-raising
V-raising, otherwise known as the verb movement, is a transformational rule. The term v-raising is as a result of the merging of verb movement and have-be raising. As the term implies, the v, is raised out of the verb phrase and is then placed in I. However, v can only be raised if it is a finite and non-modal verb. In addition, I must be both empty and finite. For instance, in the case of the following phrase, the empty I is filled by helps, if however, I was occupied by does, then v movement could not take place.
V movement is supported by negation facts, adverb distribution and vocalic contraction.
‘do’-support
‘Do’-support is a mechanism required, in English, for negated sentences and for inverted yes-no questions without auxiliaries.
Do-support, as the term implies refers to the use of the verb to do in order to support a stranded tense. It is added to the pertinent phrase markers, but does not exist when the sentence includes an auxiliary verb. It is usually only used when the above described Affix hoping and V-raising derivational rules do not apply. A tense is stranded when Neg impedes the use of Affix-hopping. An example of when Do-support is necessary is:
1.a.) Matt ran for office.
2.a.) Matt likes Shayler.
1.b.) *Matt not run for office.
2.b.) *Matt not like Shayler.
1.c.) Matt did not run for office.
2.c.) Matt does not like Shayler.
As you can see it is necessary to include Do-support to maintain the grammaticality of the statement 1.a. and 2.a. when the tense is changed to the past, as seen in 1.c. and 2.c.. It is interesting to note that the ungrammaticality of 1.b. and 2.b. is an error commonly made by infants and foreign speakers of the language.
subject-auxiliary inversion
Subject-auxiliary inversion, otherwise known as Aux-raising, is a transformational rule that states that an Aux must move leftward to a position that is to the left of the subject. More technically the auxiliary is moved to the complementiser as long as said complementiser has a specification feature and it is situated in a root clause.
Subject-auxiliary inversion takes place in a phrase that demands an answer in the affirmative or the negative, i.e., a yes-no question. Within these yes-no questions an inversion affect results in the positions of the Aux and the subject, i.e.:
3.a.) I can win the election.
4.a.) George will do a good job at OUSU.
3.b.) Can I win the election?
4.b.) Will George do a good job at OUSU?
As you can see, in order for the b. phrases to be recognised as question we have to swap the Aux and the subject (and add a question mark, of course).
The students passed their exams.
DS: [S the students [Aux -ed] [VP pass their exams]]
The first derivation is accomplished thanks to the rule of affix-hoping. It is not possible to maintain the grammaticality of the statement without a change in tense from the present to the past. (author’s note, other than the Aux tense, in the form of
-ed, there is no apparent aux in the sentence)
They did not fail their exams.
DS: [S’ [-Q] [Aux tense (did)] [S they [Neg not] [VP [V fail] [NP their exams]]]]
The second derivation is executed with the aid of the transformational rule known as ‘Do’-support. In the phrase above affix-hoping cannot take place because the negation (not) prevents the merging of the verb (to fail) and the tense (which would have been -ed). Instead did is introduced in order to maintain the grammaticality of the statement.
Did they enjoy their exams?
DS: [S’[+Q][S they][Aux did][VP enjoy their exams]]
The above derivation is a result of a Subject-Aux Inversion. This term is self explanatory. In order to create a simple yes or no question the places of the subject, e.g., they and the auxiliary, e.g., did exchange places.
Which exams did they enjoy?
DS: [S they [Aux tense] [VP enjoy [NP which exam]]]
The final derivation is a result of wh-movement. Similarly to Subject-Aux inversion, it is concerned with questions. In this derivation the Auxiliary, did, has been ignored as it is dealt with in Do-support. Otherwise wh-movement involves moving the noun phrase from the end to the beginning of the sentence.
