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What’s the ‘main’ verb in this sentence and why?

I like to start my day with a cup of tea.

Is it like or is it start? Is to start really even a verb at all here?

If one of these two verbs is the ‘main’ verb, then what kind of verb is the other one?

How can one clause have two verbs like this?

Hari S
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    Yes, start is a verb, an infinitive (note the to); only verbs can be infinitives. However, it's not the main verb; infinitives are always in subordinate clauses. Main verbs have to be inflected, and lexical (present or past tense, and not an auxiliary). So it's like, present tense, with the infinitive clause to start ... as its direct object. – John Lawler Dec 04 '22 at 19:16
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    I'd prefer to think of "like" as being the matrix verb, the head of the matrix clause, which here is the entire sentence. Incidentally, under the catenative-auxiliary analysis, every verb is a so-called 'main' verb. – BillJ Dec 04 '22 at 19:44
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    Yes, but not everybody prefers to think of things the same way. – John Lawler Dec 04 '22 at 20:15

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In a comment John Lawler wrote:

Yes, start is a verb, an infinitive (note the to); only verbs can be infinitives. However, it's not the main verb; infinitives are always in subordinate clauses. Main verbs have to be inflected, and lexical (present or past tense, and not an auxiliary). So it's like, present tense, with the infinitive clause to start ... as its direct object.

tchrist
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