VERBS
VERB
DEFINITION: Verb shows an action or an ongoing condition. It is considered as the heart of a sentence.
Example: Alex is going home. He loves his home.
A verb is a word or more than one word that is used to express an action or a state of being. Every sentence cannot be complete without a verb, thus making the verb the most important word as far as sentence construction is concerned. In a sentence, a verb has a subject who does the action and an object who receives the action.
A verb shows what action has taken place whether the subject performs the action, called active voice (Example: Somebody stole my wallet) or receives the action called passive voice (Example: My wallet was stolen.).
Verbs express tense, that is the time the action happens, and also the continuance or completion of the action at the time of speaking. The verb tenses are past, present, and future. These tenses have continuous and perfect forms.
Let’s go step by step:
1. Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
2. Linking Verbs
3. Auxiliary Verbs
4. The Finite Verb and The Infinitive
5. Action Verb/State Verb
6. Regular and Irregular Verbs
1. Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
A transitive verb needs an object to complete the meaning of the sentence. An intransitive verb does not require an object to make its meaning clear.
The Transitive verb
A transitive verb must have an object. Without an object, it does not convey a clear meaning.
Example: He bought.
The question inevitably arises: "What did he buy?" No one knows the answer to this question as there is no direct object to receive the action of the verb 'bought'. The meaning becomes clear when an object is added as follows:
Example: He bought a cake.
The subject of the verb 'He' performs the action: bought. The object of the action verb 'bought' is a ' cake'
A transitive verb may take an indirect object. An indirect object is something or someone for whom the action is carried out.
Example: He bought her a cake.
The indirect object is 'her' as it's for her that the cake was bought. The indirect object usually precedes the direct object.
The Intransitive verb
An intransitive verb does not require an object. Without an object, its meaning is not affected.
Example: She swims.
The intransitive verb 'swims' does not need an object to make the meaning clear.
Example: The villagers caught a boar yesterday but it escaped this morning.
The verb 'caught' is transitive as it has the direct object: boar; the other verb 'escaped' is intransitive since it is not followed by an object.
2. Linking Verbs
Linking verbs link a subject to a word or phrase that describes or identifies the subject. They help to complete the expression about the subject. Linking verbs do not take on a direct object but are followed by an adjective. Any verb that expresses an action is not a linking verb.
The following are the characteristics of a linking verb:
• Linking verbs are not action words.
He looked at me. (It tells us what he did = action verb)
She looked as if she was going to cry. (It doesn't tell us what she did, only how she appeared to be = linking verb)
• Linking verbs tell us what state the subject is in, what the subject is, etc.
He looked tired.
She is a nurse.
• Linking verbs are followed by an adjective, but not a direct object.
He feels fine. (‘Feels' is not an action verb because it's followed by an adjective.)
He feels the fine sand of the beach. ('feels' is an action verb.)
• A pronoun following a linking verb should be in the subjective, not objective.
It was he they were looking for. (he = subjective pronoun)
NOT: It was him they were looking for. (him = objective pronoun)
• Linking verbs can be identified by replacing the verb with 'to be' and see if it makes sense. If it does, it is a linking verb. Otherwise, it isn't.
Let's use the following two sentences and replace the verb 'feels' with 'is'.
He feels fine. = He is fine. (It makes sense, so the verb is a linking verb.)
He feels the fine sand of the beach. = He is the fine sand of the beach. (Not a linking verb.)
Adverbs modify action words. Using adverbs instead of adjectives with linking verbs will result in incorrect sentences, as shown here:
Example: Some common linking verbs: appear, become, feel, grow, look, seem, smell, sound, taste.
• Andy appears calm. (NOT: Andy appears calmly.)
• He became anxious about working for the first time. (NOT: He became anxiously about working for the first time.)
• She feels sad. (NOT: He feels sadly.)
• Cindy grew impatient with his strange behavior. (NOT: Cindy grew impatiently with his strange behavior.)
• Diane looked beautiful in her new dress. (NOT: Diane looked beautifully in her new dress.)
• Eddy seemed angry to me. (NOT: Eddy seemed angrily to me.)
• The pizza smelled delicious. (NOT: The pizza smelled deliciously.)
• The idea sounds bad. (NOT: The idea sounds badly.)
• The drink tastes sweet. (NOT: The drink tastes sweetly.)
3. Auxiliary Verbs
Auxiliary verbs are used to combine with other verbs to form tenses, moods, questions, negative and passive forms. The most common auxiliary verbs are: be (I am reading), have (They have arrived.), and do (We don’t want to go.)
Singular Plural
I am/have/do We are/have/do
You are/have/do You are/have/do
He is/has/does They are/have/do
She is/has/does They are/have/do
It is/has/does They are/have/do
• In most sentences, you will have noticed that each one has two verbs.
EXAMPLE: Jill is riding an elephant.
EXAMPLE: Jack has gone with Jill to the zoo.
In the two examples, there are two verbs in each sentence – riding and gone are known as the MAIN VERBS, and they each has another verb before it. They are is and has, and these two verbs are known as AUXILIARY VERBS. Auxiliary verbs are also called helping verbs. The word auxiliary means providing help. They help the main verbs riding and gone by combining with them to show their tenses.
In the first example, is riding in “Jill is riding an elephant” tells us that the action is still going on, that is Jill is still riding the elephant.
• Auxiliary verbs do not normally exist alone in a sentence without the main verb.
CORRECT: I would like to be rich. / INCORRECT: I would to be rich. (Without main verb)
CORRECT: He should try to do it. / INCORRECT: He should to do it. (Without main verb)
CORRECT: You must be joking. / INCORRECT: You must joking. (Without main verb)
However, auxiliary verbs without the main verbs are commonly used when the meaning is understood. This is often found in replies or responses.
Will he help me? Yes, he will. / Can you do this? Yes, I can. / Does she know you? Yes, she does.
Here, the auxiliary verbs (will, can, does) are used without the main verbs (help, do, know)
• The following are types of auxiliary verbs:
Passive: This is used to show the passive form.
EXAMPLE: The elephant was given a quick bath.
Progressive: This shows the action is in progress.
EXAMPLE: The old lady is smiling at the elephant.
Perfective: This expresses an action completed in the past.
EXAMPLE: The monkey has eaten a banana.
Modal: Modals are used to express ability, permission or prediction.
EXAMPLE: You can use the car if you want.
EXAMPLE: She may feed the monkeys.
EXAMPLE: He will be a zoo-keeper some day.
EXAMPLE: We really should come here again.
Question: This is used to form questions.
EXAMPLE: Do you like those chimpanzees?
Negative statement: This is used to form negative statements.
EXAMPLE: I do not like those noisy monkeys.
• Auxiliary verbs are often used in contracted forms. For instance, have is shortened to ‘ve; is/has to ‘s; and had/would/should/could to ‘d. In the latter case, care must be exercised to distinguish them correctly.
I’m quite sure I’ve lost my way. (= I am / = I have)
It’s the biggest dog in the neighborhood. (=It is)
She’s naturally curly hair. (= She has)
They’d already gone home. (=They had)
We’d like to go now. (= We would)
He’d stop thinking every girl dislikes him. (= He should)
I’d speak seven languages. (= I could)
• We can use auxiliary verb for emphasis.
EXAMPLE: I do like you.
VERB
DEFINITION: Verb shows an action or an ongoing condition. It is considered as the heart of a sentence.
Example: Alex is going home. He loves his home.
A verb is a word or more than one word that is used to express an action or a state of being. Every sentence cannot be complete without a verb, thus making the verb the most important word as far as sentence construction is concerned. In a sentence, a verb has a subject who does the action and an object who receives the action.
A verb shows what action has taken place whether the subject performs the action, called active voice (Example: Somebody stole my wallet) or receives the action called passive voice (Example: My wallet was stolen.).
Verbs express tense, that is the time the action happens, and also the continuance or completion of the action at the time of speaking. The verb tenses are past, present, and future. These tenses have continuous and perfect forms.
Let’s go step by step:
1. Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
2. Linking Verbs
3. Auxiliary Verbs
4. The Finite Verb and The Infinitive
5. Action Verb/State Verb
6. Regular and Irregular Verbs
1. Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
A transitive verb needs an object to complete the meaning of the sentence. An intransitive verb does not require an object to make its meaning clear.
The Transitive verb
A transitive verb must have an object. Without an object, it does not convey a clear meaning.
Example: He bought.
The question inevitably arises: "What did he buy?" No one knows the answer to this question as there is no direct object to receive the action of the verb 'bought'. The meaning becomes clear when an object is added as follows:
Example: He bought a cake.
The subject of the verb 'He' performs the action: bought. The object of the action verb 'bought' is a ' cake'
A transitive verb may take an indirect object. An indirect object is something or someone for whom the action is carried out.
Example: He bought her a cake.
The indirect object is 'her' as it's for her that the cake was bought. The indirect object usually precedes the direct object.
The Intransitive verb
An intransitive verb does not require an object. Without an object, its meaning is not affected.
Example: She swims.
The intransitive verb 'swims' does not need an object to make the meaning clear.
Example: The villagers caught a boar yesterday but it escaped this morning.
The verb 'caught' is transitive as it has the direct object: boar; the other verb 'escaped' is intransitive since it is not followed by an object.
2. Linking Verbs
Linking verbs link a subject to a word or phrase that describes or identifies the subject. They help to complete the expression about the subject. Linking verbs do not take on a direct object but are followed by an adjective. Any verb that expresses an action is not a linking verb.
The following are the characteristics of a linking verb:
• Linking verbs are not action words.
He looked at me. (It tells us what he did = action verb)
She looked as if she was going to cry. (It doesn't tell us what she did, only how she appeared to be = linking verb)
• Linking verbs tell us what state the subject is in, what the subject is, etc.
He looked tired.
She is a nurse.
• Linking verbs are followed by an adjective, but not a direct object.
He feels fine. (‘Feels' is not an action verb because it's followed by an adjective.)
He feels the fine sand of the beach. ('feels' is an action verb.)
• A pronoun following a linking verb should be in the subjective, not objective.
It was he they were looking for. (he = subjective pronoun)
NOT: It was him they were looking for. (him = objective pronoun)
• Linking verbs can be identified by replacing the verb with 'to be' and see if it makes sense. If it does, it is a linking verb. Otherwise, it isn't.
Let's use the following two sentences and replace the verb 'feels' with 'is'.
He feels fine. = He is fine. (It makes sense, so the verb is a linking verb.)
He feels the fine sand of the beach. = He is the fine sand of the beach. (Not a linking verb.)
Adverbs modify action words. Using adverbs instead of adjectives with linking verbs will result in incorrect sentences, as shown here:
Example: Some common linking verbs: appear, become, feel, grow, look, seem, smell, sound, taste.
• Andy appears calm. (NOT: Andy appears calmly.)
• He became anxious about working for the first time. (NOT: He became anxiously about working for the first time.)
• She feels sad. (NOT: He feels sadly.)
• Cindy grew impatient with his strange behavior. (NOT: Cindy grew impatiently with his strange behavior.)
• Diane looked beautiful in her new dress. (NOT: Diane looked beautifully in her new dress.)
• Eddy seemed angry to me. (NOT: Eddy seemed angrily to me.)
• The pizza smelled delicious. (NOT: The pizza smelled deliciously.)
• The idea sounds bad. (NOT: The idea sounds badly.)
• The drink tastes sweet. (NOT: The drink tastes sweetly.)
3. Auxiliary Verbs
Auxiliary verbs are used to combine with other verbs to form tenses, moods, questions, negative and passive forms. The most common auxiliary verbs are: be (I am reading), have (They have arrived.), and do (We don’t want to go.)
Singular Plural
I am/have/do We are/have/do
You are/have/do You are/have/do
He is/has/does They are/have/do
She is/has/does They are/have/do
It is/has/does They are/have/do
• In most sentences, you will have noticed that each one has two verbs.
EXAMPLE: Jill is riding an elephant.
EXAMPLE: Jack has gone with Jill to the zoo.
In the two examples, there are two verbs in each sentence – riding and gone are known as the MAIN VERBS, and they each has another verb before it. They are is and has, and these two verbs are known as AUXILIARY VERBS. Auxiliary verbs are also called helping verbs. The word auxiliary means providing help. They help the main verbs riding and gone by combining with them to show their tenses.
In the first example, is riding in “Jill is riding an elephant” tells us that the action is still going on, that is Jill is still riding the elephant.
• Auxiliary verbs do not normally exist alone in a sentence without the main verb.
CORRECT: I would like to be rich. / INCORRECT: I would to be rich. (Without main verb)
CORRECT: He should try to do it. / INCORRECT: He should to do it. (Without main verb)
CORRECT: You must be joking. / INCORRECT: You must joking. (Without main verb)
However, auxiliary verbs without the main verbs are commonly used when the meaning is understood. This is often found in replies or responses.
Will he help me? Yes, he will. / Can you do this? Yes, I can. / Does she know you? Yes, she does.
Here, the auxiliary verbs (will, can, does) are used without the main verbs (help, do, know)
• The following are types of auxiliary verbs:
Passive: This is used to show the passive form.
EXAMPLE: The elephant was given a quick bath.
Progressive: This shows the action is in progress.
EXAMPLE: The old lady is smiling at the elephant.
Perfective: This expresses an action completed in the past.
EXAMPLE: The monkey has eaten a banana.
Modal: Modals are used to express ability, permission or prediction.
EXAMPLE: You can use the car if you want.
EXAMPLE: She may feed the monkeys.
EXAMPLE: He will be a zoo-keeper some day.
EXAMPLE: We really should come here again.
Question: This is used to form questions.
EXAMPLE: Do you like those chimpanzees?
Negative statement: This is used to form negative statements.
EXAMPLE: I do not like those noisy monkeys.
• Auxiliary verbs are often used in contracted forms. For instance, have is shortened to ‘ve; is/has to ‘s; and had/would/should/could to ‘d. In the latter case, care must be exercised to distinguish them correctly.
I’m quite sure I’ve lost my way. (= I am / = I have)
It’s the biggest dog in the neighborhood. (=It is)
She’s naturally curly hair. (= She has)
They’d already gone home. (=They had)
We’d like to go now. (= We would)
He’d stop thinking every girl dislikes him. (= He should)
I’d speak seven languages. (= I could)
• We can use auxiliary verb for emphasis.
EXAMPLE: I do like you.
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