This paper presents a description of an interestingly rich subset of English in terms of Generalized Phrase-Structure Grammar, and compares this description with some other recent treatments. The domain covered includes the auxiliary-verb system together with a number of subsystems that crucially interact with the analysis of auxiliaries: Do so Ellipsis, VP Fronting, VP Negation, VP ‘Deletion’, Sentential Adverb Placement, and ‘Subject-Auxiliary Inversion’. The theoretical framework is strongly equivalent to one using only context-free phrase-structure rules. Featurally complex category symbols, finite rule schemata, and metarules are employed to capture generalizations; but these devices do not alter the expressive power of the system, which is considerably more restrictive than systems of generative grammar in use elsewhere. Nonetheless, the description fares well when compared with rivals; e.g., a fairly large number of difficulties found in ‘Affix-hopping’ analyses, and not found in the present treatment, are noted. The present description is also compared briefly with that of Pullum & Wilson 1977, and found superior. Finally, the analysis of Akmajian, Steele & Wasow 1979 is criticized in considerable detail, and shown to compare unfavorably with the one given here.
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