VERB
Verbs are the most important component of any sentence. These words talk about the action or state of any noun or subject. This means that the verbs show what the subject is doing or what is the state or situation of subject.
For example:
- He ran to the store. Here the verb ran describes the action of ‘he’.
- She is a creative person. Here there is no action being done. Instead the auxiliary verb ‘is’ shows the state of the subject ‘she’ as being ‘creative’.
There are different types and classification of verbs. Some of the most important ones are listed below:
Verbs can be divided according to the job they do in a sentence. The grammar- expert’s way of saying this is that we can divide verbs syntactically.
These are the divisions and sub-divisions according to the syntax:
- Finite verbs
- Transitive verbs
- Intransitive verbs
- Linking verbs
- Non- finite verbs
- Infinitive
- Gerunds
- Participles
- Present participle
- Past participle
- Perfect participle
- Helping verbs (auxiliaries)
- Primary auxiliaries
- Modal auxiliaries
Formation of the Verb- Word
We know that verbs are words, just like any other parts of speech. The words that represent the verbs follow different patterns of spelling or sound.
Verbs can, therefore, be divided into various kinds depending upon how they are formed. Grammarians would call this a morphological division.
- Regular verbs
- Irregular verbs
- Compound verbs
- Phrasal verbs
Verbs according to Meaning:
I have earlier answered the question. What is a verb? There I used this division of verbs according to meaning to explain what a verb is.
Those who know grammar well call this division of verbs asemantic classification.
- Action words
- Being
- Having
We can classify them in three ways ….
1. According to their role in a sentence. (i.e. syntactically)
2. Or based on their formation (morphologically)
3. Or their meaning (semantically)
Action verbs
These verbs talk about what the subject is doing in the sentence. Action verbs are one of the most easily identifiable types of verbs. To recognize them, you simply must look for the word in the sentence that answers the question ‘What is the subject doing?’
e.g.
– Rose is painting the kitchen walls.
The subject here is Rose and What is Rose doing? Rose is painting. Hence Painting is our action verb.
- My dog is sleeping on the sofa.
The subject here is dog and what is the dog doing? The dog is sleeping. So Sleeping is our action verb.
There are two types of action verbs which describes the verb and the subject doing the action and the object on which the action is done, they are:
Transitive verbs
These action verbs have a definite object on which, or for which the action is being performed. That means the action has a definite recipient or object. To identify them you can ask the question What is the /did the subject – verb?
- Rose is painting the kitchen walls.
Here the verb is painting, and subject is Rose.
If we question here – what is Rose is painting?
The answer is – the kitchen walls.
Thus, we see that there was a specific object on which the action of painting was being done.
- Hannah gave him a big hug.
Here, we see the action ‘gave’ is being performed by the subject ‘Hannah’. So, the question is – What did Hannah give? And the answer is – a big hug.
Here, we also have an indirect object as ‘him’. This indirect object would be the answer to the question.
Who did the subject (Hannah) – verb – (give) the object (hug) to?
Intransitive verbs
These verbs also show an action but here there is no specific object on which the action is being done. To recognize these verbs, we ask the question what is the / did the subject – verb? If there is no answer present, then the verb in the sentence is an Intransitive verb.
- Rose is painting right now.
Here, if we ask the question what is Rose painting? There is no answer which means that in this sentence painting is an Intransitive verb.
It is telling us about the action of the subject but there is no specific object for the action.
- Hannah sneezed repeatedly.
Here, the verb is sneezed, if we ask the question what did Hannah sneeze? There is no answer present for it making sneezed an intransitive verb.
Auxiliary verbs
There are three auxiliary verbs in English, be, do and have. Auxiliary verbs come before the main verbs.
Auxiliary be:
Auxiliary be is used to indicate the continuous and the passive voice.
E.g.:
I’m waiting for sally to come home. (continuous)
Her car was stolen from outside her house. (passive)
Auxiliary do:
Auxiliary do is used in interrogative, negative and emphatic structures.
Does she live locally? (Interrogative)
They didn’t know which house it was. (Negative)
I do like your new laptop. (Emphatic, with spoken stress on ‘do’)
Auxiliary have:
Auxiliary have is used to indicate the perfect:
I’ve lost my memory stick. Have you seen it anywhere? (present perfect)
She had seen my car outside the shop. (past perfect)
Auxiliary verb with no man verb:
An auxiliary verb can only appear alone when a main verb (or a clause containing a main verb) is understood in the context:
- Does she play the clarinet?
- Yes, she does. (Yes, she plays the clarinet)
Dynamic and stative verbs:
This category of verbs deals with the verb words themselves, whether they indicate and action or a state of the subject. This category is not concerned with object in particular.
Dynamic verbs:
These verbs denote an actual action or expression, or process done by the subject. They mean an action which can be seen or physically felt or the result of which is seen or physically felt by the object or an indirect object.
- She buys new clothes every week.
Here the verb is buys which is an action done by subject ‘she’, hence it is a dynamic verb.
- He is swimming at the beach.
Here, again we have the definite action swimming done by the subject ‘he’ is making swimming a dynamic verb in the sentence.
Stative verbs:
These verbs refer to the state of the subject or the situation of the subject. Stative verbs tell us about the state of mind of the subject, or the relation between the subject and the object.
- She prefers strawberry jam.
Here the stative verb is ‘prefers’which shows the thinking of the subject ‘she’ towards the object which is ‘jam’.
- The cupboard requires a new coat of paint.
Here the subject is ‘cupboard’ and the stative verb is ‘requires’which is telling about the relation between the subject ‘cupboard’ and the object ’paint’.
Linking verbs:
These verbs are unlike other verbs as they do not tell anything about a subject themselves. Instead ‘linking verbs’ connect the subject to a noun or adjective that helps in describing or providing additional information about the subject. Those nouns or adjectives are called subject complements.
- Lisa is fussy about food.
Here we see the subject is Lisa and the linking verb is ‘is’ which is connecting Lisa to the subject complement ‘fussy about food’ which is giving additional information about Lisa’s preferences.
- The are stubborn children.
Here the linking verb is ‘’are” which is combining the subject ‘they’ to the subject complement ‘stubborn’ which is an adjective.
The best way to recognize linking words in a sentence is to see whether the verb can be replaced by ‘is, am or are’. If the sentence still sounds logical, you know you have a linking verb.
- The student felt relieved – The students are relieved.
Here ‘felt’ was a linking verb and not an action verb. As ‘felt’ here is simply connecting the subject to the adjective.
- Every student felt the relief – Every student is / am / are relief.
Hence in this sentence ‘felt’ is the action verb as it is the action of ‘feeling an emotion’.
Using verbs in sentences:
To use verbs correctly in the sentences you need to learn more about the construction and use of various verbs. And how they change form according to the tenses and to use in a sentence. For correct application verbs in written text you will need to know about.
Regular and Irregular verbs: There are two different ways in which verbs change to form different tenses. Whether to simply add ‘-ed’ at the end of a verb or does it take a different form altogether.
Irregular verbs are verbs that don’t follow the rules for changing tense. The best way to understand irregular verbs is to practice and memorize them.
Bite / bit / bitten
Choose / chose / chosen
Eat / ate / eaten
Fall / fell / fallen
Hurt / hurt / hurt
Go / went / gone
Lay / laid / laid
Ring / rang / rung
Send / sent / sent
Teach / taught / taught
Write/ wrote / written
A regular verb (also known as weak verb) forms It past tense and past participle by adding -d or -ed (or in some cases -t) to the base form:
- “We finished the project.”
Finite and non- finite verbs:
These are the verbs which can be either the main verb of a sentence or just one that is used as an adjective or noun as well.
A finite verb expresses tense and can occur on its own in a main clause:
“She walked to school.”
A non-finite verb (an infinitive or participle) doesn’t show a distinction in tense and can occur on its own only in a dependent phrase or clause.
“While walking to school, she spotted a blue jay.”
Modal verbs:
These verbs tell us whether something is probable or about the skills of a noun etc. There are 10 modal verbs in total, and each have an important part in sentence formation.
Modal verbs
The main modal verbs are:
Can may must should would
Could might shall will
Modal verbs have meanings connected with degrees of certainty and necessity.’
We’ll be around 7:30. (speaker is quite certain)
A new window could cost around $500. (speaker is less certain)
I must ring the tax office. (speaker considers this very necessary)
Semi- modal verbs have some meanings related to the main modal verbs. The semi-modal verbs. The semi- modal verbs are dare, need, ought to, used to.
This list has commonly used helping verbs:
May being is does would will
Might been was did have can
Must am were should had shall
