BETWEEN AUXILIARY AND LEXICAL: UNDERSTANDING THE VERB 'NEED'

Like many other content verbs, the verb 'need' can assume the position of a lexical verb just as it can be used as an auxiliary verb (a modal auxiliary verb).

Its usage as a content or lexical verb signifies 'to be in want of' in which case the proposition suggests the interestst to be in possession of something. This, grammatically does not pose much problem to L2 English speakers as the rules of concord for other English content verbs--such as 'speak'-- subsume this sense of the verb 'need'. Hence, the following examples would seem automatic:

>> You LIKE to smile.

>> You NEED to smile.

 >> He LIKES to smile.

>> He NEEDS to smile.

>> He LIKED to smile.

>> He NEEDED to smile.

However, the second sense of 'need', which signifies 'it is necessary to', may very likely pose a problem of grammar. The reason for this is that most non-native speakers of English may want to apply the same grammatical respects given to its first sense to its second sense too. But, this second sense (auxiliary sense) must be treated the way one would treat a regular modal auxiliary verb such as 'must'. The following examples may further the discussion:

>> He MUST smile.

>> He NEED smile.

>> He NEED smile yesterday.

If it would be awkward to have:

** He MUSTs smile; and

** He MUST smileS;

then it would be awkward to have:

** He NEEDs smile (when it is used as modal auxiliary verb); and

** He NEED smileS.

In essence, the lexical or content sense of 'need' possesses the grammatical respects of tense and number; whereas, its auxiliary sense does not reflect number or tense.