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On another post discussion has moved to what one can and cannot 'do'. We 'do our duty', we do our homework' and we 'do the washing-up'. But we cannot 'do dancing', 'do driving', or 'do charity'- or can we? What is it that determines what we can or cannot 'do'?

WS2
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1 Answers1

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Do is a very special verb that participates in innumerable idioms, fixed phrases, and constructions.

It's the default auxiliary verb, totally meaningless, inserted when an auxiliary is needed for a rule
like Negative-Placement, Negative-Contraction, Subject-Auxiliary Inversion, or Tag Formation:

  • Bill likes honey ~ Bill does not like honey ~ Bill doesn't like honey
  • Does Bill like honey? ~ Bill likes honey, doesn't he?

But that's not the do we're talking about here.

Then there's emphatic stressed do, as in

  • He does live in that building, I tell you!

But that's not the do we want, either.

This do actually has a meaning, though only a very general one.
It means the predicate ACT, in the sense of 'cause something to happen by performing an action'.
This do is a pro-verb that can be used to substitute for an active verb phrase; but it must be active.

  • What I told him to do was [to rent the house/to buy cookies/to be honest]
  • **What I told him to do was [to own the house/to want cookies/to be tall]*

Rent the house, buy cookies, and be honest are active verb phrases. They describe actions.
Own the house, want cookies, and be tall are stative verb phrases. They describe states.
That's why the second group of sentences above are ungrammatical. Action do requires active VPs.

The construction being asked about is a transitive action do: do something.
The question then is:

What can be "something"?

The answer is:

Any word or phrase that can be interpreted as an active verb phrase can be "something".

For example, a direct object may invoke a verb:

  • They do shrimp in lobster sauce very well here. do = 'prepare, cook'
  • On this tour, she will do Chopin only. do = 'perform, play'
  • She never does the cobwebs in the corners. do = 'perform, clean'

or a noun may refer to a related verb:

  • She does the skiing well, but not the shooting. do = 'perform, ski; perform, shoot'
  • I've never done accounting, only my taxes. do = 'perform, bureaucratize'
  • He's going to do the summation. do = 'perform, summarize'

The default indefinite object of transitive action do is a construction with thing.
Note, however, that these "things" are always actions, not material things.

  • He did something funny to the onions. ~ Did you do anything funny to the onions?
  • The things he's done would fill a book. ~ The things he was told to do would fill another.

and if it is obvious that some thing is intended, it may be deleted like any indefinite.

  • He always does good things. ~ He always does good.

but notice that this is not normally possible, except generically:

  • He does good = He always does good.
  • He did a good thing at 3:48 this morning. but * He did good at 3:48 this morning.

As to what "good" and "evil" mean, in these or any other contexts, consult your local philosopher.
It is certain, however, that in English one can grammatically, if only generically,
do good and do evil.

John Lawler
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  • Thanks, John, for going to such lengths with this. I have learned, but I am still unsure as to why I can 'do some walking', but cannot 'do walking'? – WS2 Mar 22 '14 at 08:22
  • Do some walking is quantified; it's the same as 'walk a bit/some'. No reason not to use a do construction to hang the quantification on. On the other hand, do walking only makes sense in a context where there's something to contrast with, like do shooting in a pedestrian biathlon. There's already a verb that does the job without adding an auxiliary verb and a suffix to it to mean the same thing. – John Lawler Mar 22 '14 at 14:39
  • I'd probably say 'Let's go walking/swimming', as an alternative to 'Let's do some walking'. So is 'go' an auxiliary verb? – WS2 Mar 22 '14 at 15:37
  • It's what's called a "small verb", meaning it forms serial constructions with verbs or verbal nouns like do. But it's not quite an auxiliary yet; it hasn't been totally bleached of meaning. – John Lawler Mar 22 '14 at 16:01