Every syntactical well-formed statement must contain just one finite verb. Finite verb forms are tied to the grammatical subject and the morphology is inflected to indicate person, number, tense, aspect, voice and mood.

It is possible to have more than one verb serving as the finite verb is such constructions as they come and go or you can walk but not run. These are really cases of elision, a short form of they come and they go and they can walk but they cannot run.

Similarly, although there is multiple verb form used in such statements as we must try and go, this is an idiomatic replacement for we must try to go rather than a syntactically correct form.

Non-finite verb forms can also be used as noun-terms to form subject, direct object, indirect object and adverbial components. As such they can also be strung together to create verb chains. This is probably one of the most, if not the most, complex structure in the syntax of the English language. The following table outlines the high-level possibilities.

The analysis begins some distance from where most investigations would start. It seems to me that the significance of the copula is not properly appreciated but without an understanding of the difference between a copula, a transitive verb and an intransitive verb, the syntax of the language cannot be understood. The basic semantic distinction between a state and an event is captured in the syntactic distinction between copulas, which describe a state or a change in state, and transitive and intransitive verbs, which describe events.