5.2.2 Light verbs

The next class of verbs we will consider is rather small and seemingly insignificant, though we will see that they enable us to understand other VP structures in a more illuminating way. Jesperson (1965) first coined the term light verb to refer to verbs which, though they may have a fuller semantic usage in other contexts, can be used in combination with some other element, typically a noun or verb, where their contribution to the meaning of the whole construction is reduced in some way.