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In the sentence "She helped build the house." Is the verb "helped build" where "helped" is a helping verb?

Similarly, in the sentence "I helped discover tombs of pharaohs." is the verb "helped discover?" here "helped" is a helping verb?

AfterWorkGuinness
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    Which definition of "helping verb" are you using? – alphabet Mar 17 '24 at 00:17
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    While helpful, help is not an auxiliary “helping” verb; it’s a catenative verb – Tinfoil Hat Mar 17 '24 at 00:30
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    Helped build" is not a single verb but two lexical verbs. In your example "She helped build the house", "helped" is a catenative verb and the subordinate clause "build the house" is its catenative complement. Incidentally, I strongly advise you to drop the term "helping verb". It's a misnomer and quite inappropriate. – BillJ Mar 17 '24 at 08:03
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    The question isn't quite a duplicate, but this answer to an earlier question should settle the issue. – alphabet Mar 17 '24 at 19:55
  • Thanks. I never knew the term "catenative verb"; I learned the term "helping verb" back in grade school some 30 years ago. #TIL. This verb was used in a LSAT prep question and the author of the question said "helped" was the verb and didn't ascribe a part of speech to "build". – AfterWorkGuinness Mar 18 '24 at 17:36
  • Followup question: What about the sentence: The apprentice helped the master builder build the house. Would the verb of that sentence still be "helped build" ? – AfterWorkGuinness Mar 18 '24 at 17:47

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In a comment BillJ wrote:

"Helped build" is not a single verb but two lexical verbs. In your example "She helped build the house", "helped" is a catenative verb and the subordinate clause "build the house" is its catenative complement. Incidentally, I strongly advise you to drop the term "helping verb". It's a misnomer and quite inappropriate.

tchrist
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