ABSTRACT
Direct Object (DO) plays a central role in Present-day English (PDE) verbal structure. Its use as a periphrastic auxiliary is one of the most striking features of PDE syntax as compared with Standard Average European or with older stages of English itself. In PDE it is the auxiliary par excellence, or rather the operator. An operator is required in any finite clause showing negation, inversion, post-verbal ellipsis or emphatic polarity. In the absence of any other potential operator the empty operator DO is required. The problem to be tackled in this chapter is the origin of DO as an auxiliary verb, and specifically one of such neutral meaning that it could become the default auxiliary. Two uses of DO found throughout the recorded history of English must be kept in view. Full verb DO in early intransitive use meant something like, act, and was usually cataphoric or anaphoric for another verb. A typical transitive meaning is something like, perform, accomplish.
