Syntax: descriptive

(Note: use the BYU Corpus of American English to get data for the following questions)

In English, we can have sequences of several auxiliary verbs plus the main verb. Examples of one auxiliary verb + main verb are the following:

1.  perfect: Prof. Zulch has taught the class many times   has [VVN]
2.  passive: Bill was taught by Prof. Zulch   was [VVN]
3.  progressive: Bill is taking a class in Swahili   are/were [VVG]

Question 1: Find the register where each of these three constructions is most and least common (between Spoken, Fiction, Magazines, News, and Academic).  Any surprises?

Examples of two auxiliary verbs + main verb are the following:

4.  perfect + progressive: Bill has been studying a lot   [VH*] been [VVG]
5.  perfect + passive: Bill has been considered for the main prize   [VH*] been [VVN]
6.  progressive + passive: Bill was being considered for the new position   [VB*] being [VVN]

Question 2: : Find the frequency (per million -- all registers together) of #4-6, compared to that of #1-3. Which are more common. Any ideas why? (Note: set the number of hits to 1000, rather than the default 100)

It might even be possible to have three helping verbs:

7.  perfect + progressive + passive: It had been being used for a door-stop [VH*] been being [VVN]

Question 3: : Are there (m)any examples of type #7 in the BYU Corpus of American English? Does this surprise you?

Question 4: : Compare the frequency of Type #4-6 (three verbs) vs. Type 7 (four verbs) in Google -- using the same main verb(s), e.g. was being used or had been used vs. had been being used. Big difference?

Question 5: : Give sentences #1-7 to three native speakers, and have them rate each sentence 1-5 (5 being the most ("natural") in terms of acceptability. Do their intuitions agree with the corpus data?