I am studying auxiliary verbs, and I saw that "to dare" is a modal auxiliary. However, this sentence is somehow confusing:
- He does not dare to interrupt.
My question is: Is "to dare" a modal auxiliary or a lexical verb?
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1@Araucaria-Nothereanymore. Oops! Thanks for pointing that out. I'll repost.– BillJCommented Apr 22, 2020 at 6:12
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3"Dare" can be either a lexical verb or an auxiliary one. In your example it can only be a lexical verb since it has the auxiliary "do" and a to-infinitival complement. Auxiliary "dare", by contrast, does not require "do" in non-affirmatives and takes a bare infinitival complement, as in "He dare not interrupt me".– BillJCommented Apr 22, 2020 at 6:15
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BillJ commented:
"Dare" can be either a lexical verb or an auxiliary one. In your example
- He does not dare to interrupt
it can only be a lexical verb since it has the auxiliary "do" and a to-infinitival complement. Auxiliary "dare", by contrast, does not require "do" in non-affirmatives and takes a bare infinitival complement, as in
- He dare not interrupt me.
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Also note that as an auxiliary it is "he dare" not "he dares".– Stuart FCommented Nov 19, 2023 at 20:14
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@StuartF Why do you claim that? In He has not finished, the verb has is an auxiliary verb. And arguably in He dares not interrupt me, the verb dare must be an auxiliary, as it uses not to negate it and doesn't require do-support. And examples like that are found all over the place! Commented Nov 19, 2023 at 23:46