"Or Muslim regions in Russia, such as Chechnya or Dagestan, might use the post-Putin political vacuum to seek greater autonomy, even outright independence, as they have in the past. Russia might move to crush what it sees as secessionism and precipitate a prolonged civil war in a country with nearly 6,000 nuclear warheads."
The Guardian.
Is the verb "have" a dummy auxiliary in the clause as they have in the past?
Why did the author use "have" but not "had" in as they have in the past?
The article was written by a pair of Americans, or at least they are in the US working for various US institutions. I looked that up because I am pretty sure that a Brit writing for the Guardian would have written "as they have done in the past". The American version uses the same grammar, but we drop the verb.
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
The article was written by a pair of Americans, or at least they are in the US working for various US institutions. I looked that up because I am pretty sure that a Brit writing for the Guardian would have written "as they have done in the past". The American version uses the same grammar, but we drop the verb.
fold navy 285Is the verb "have" a dummy auxiliary in the clause as they have in the past?
What is a dummy auxiliary? I'm not familiar with that term.
I'd say it's a real auxiliary. The lexical verb is understood to be 'done', which itself is a reference back to 'seek ...', but in past participle form ('sought ...').
... might use the post-P