Can an auxiliary verb have an object?

Question

* I want to goHere 'want to' is a phrasal modal. Do we agree? Now consider this:* I want him to goIs it possible that in this sentence the pronoun him is the object of the modal auxiliary 'want to'? Most grammars analyze this totally differently, with 'want' as the main verb and "him to go" as an infinitive functioning as the object of want. I've found in my field (natural language generation) that this causes lots of problems. If you make him the object of the auxiliary "want to", which is admittedly something I never heard of before, it makes the logic more consistent with fewer exceptions. In verb phrase ellipsis, the verb phrase is dropped leaving just the auxiliary behind (the CODE property). In this you can see strong evidence that "want to" and "want obj to" are auxiliaries. Examples:> Do you want to go home?> No, I don't **want to**Notice the "to" can not be dropped because it is part of the phrasal modal.> Do you want him to go home?> No, I don't **want him to**.> Can Paul come to my party? If you **want him to**Here you see that "him" is part of the auxiliary - the object of want to.

Answer 1

This is a really interesting (and complex) issue! Although I admit I don't know formal grammar to the extent that you have laid it out, I would say that "want" is the main verb and "to go" is actually a use of the subjunctive mood with "him" being the subject of that verb. I am basing this off my knowledge of the Spanish language, which more clearly lays out the parts of sentence.

In Spanish, this sentence would read, Quiero que él se vaya.

Here is the breakdown of its grammatical structure:

Quiero (I want) que (that) él (he) se vaya (goes).

I know it's a little different since it uses "he" instead of "him" and the relative "that", but I think historically in English it may have been a little different as well. We probably should be saying something like, "I wish (for) him to leave."

These are just my two cents. Like I said, my knowledge of the subject is not as deep, so take it with a grain of salt! Hope it helps, anyway.