5.Verbs

SULIANA WAN WAN CHIK C HIK ENGLISH LANGUAGE UNIT LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT IPGMK PERLIS

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The base form of the verb is the infinitive 'to'. For For example, exampl e, to enjoy -> enjoy, to study -> study . The base form of the verb is often used with auxiliary verbs. For example, will play, did   you study  study . The base form is also used with certain verb form structures. For example, He let his son stay up late.

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When a verb is preceded by the word 'to', it is said to be in its infinitive form (i.e., most basic form). I have to smoke that! ("to smoke" - infinitive form of the verb)

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In grammar, the base form of a verb is the simplest form, without a special ending; it is the form listed in the dictionary. The base form of a verb functions as the present-tense form for all persons and numbers except the third-person singular (which uses the -s form).

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Main verbs are also called "lexical verbs". Main verbs have meaning on their own (unlike helping verbs). In a sentence, if there is only 1 verb form, it  is a main verb. Eg:- He went to school. They are students.

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Which are the main verbs in these sentences? 1. She is beautiful. 2. They left early. 3. The teacher stays in a flat. 4. The man has a stick with him. 5. She has a second chance. 6. You are going now. 7. They have gone home. 8. The boy is playing in the garden. 9. She does her work quietly. 10. He doesn’t go there often.

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If there are more than 1 verb form in a sentence, the first form/s is/are auxiliary verb/s. For ex:- I am staying with my son. He has gone to Singapore. I’ll be going there today. We should have been writing the exam. They must have been very tired.

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Modal auxiliary verbs Can, could, shall, should, will, would, may, might  and must. Always comes first in a verb phrase.

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Aspectual auxiliaries Have, be If present, come in that order and comes last.

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Passive auxiliary be

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The forms of ‘be’, ‘do’ and ‘have’. The specialty of these three verb forms are that they can be used both as main and auxiliary. So how to identify in which way they are used? It is simple from the description given about  the main and auxiliary verbs.

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Be’ forms am, is and are in the present  tense. Was and were in the past tense. Look at the sentences give below: They are children. They are playing football. I am a teacher. I am teaching English.

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‘do’ forms. Do, does – present tense Did – past tense. Look at the sentences now: They do a lot of reading. They don’t want to read. Do you want that?

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Identify how ‘do’ is used in these. Make sentences using ‘does’ and ‘did’ in the same way.

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have’ forms

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Has and have –present tense, Had – past tense.

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Now the sentences: She has a kid. She has studied well. The children had a nice time. They have gone home now.

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Make sentences with have and had, one as the main and one as auxiliary.

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Category 1: be, have, do These forms of to be, to have, and to do are used before the main verb. Their purpose is to change time or emphasis. Unlike other structure words, these auxiliary verbs 1. can have inflectional endings (-s, -ing, -ed, -en) 2. can also function as main verbs.

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The list below shows all of the modal auxiliaries: Present Can Past 

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may

will

shall

could might would should

must  ----

Unlike the auxiliaries be, have, and do, modal auxiliaries 1. do not use inflectional endings (-s, -ed, -ing, -en) 2. cannot function as main verbs.

verb phrase

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Verbs are doing words. A verb usually expresses an action. Examples: The doctor wrote the prescription. (In this example, the word "wrote" is a verb. It  expresses the action 'to write'.) Alison bought a ticket. (The word "bought" is a verb. It expresses the action 'to buy'.)

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Verbs do not necessarily express physical actions like the ones above. They can express mental actions too: Example: Peter guessed the right number. (The word "guessed" is a verb. It expresses the action 'to guess'.) I thought the same thing. (The word "thought" is a verb. It expresses the action 'to think'.)

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A small, but extremely important group of verbs do not express any action at all. The most important verb in this group - arguably of all - is the verb 'to be'. This is seen in forms like: is, are, were, was, will be, etc. Examples: Edwina is the largest elephant in this area. (The word "is" is a verb from the verb 'to be'.) It was me. (The word "was" is a verb from the verb 'to be'.) I am. (The word "am" is a verb from the verb 'to be'.)

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A linking verb does not have much meaning in itself. It "links" the subject to what is said about the subject. Usually, a linking verb shows equality (=) or a change to a different state or place (>). Linking verbs are always intransitive (but not all intransitive verbs are linking verbs). Mary is a teacher. (mary = teacher) Tara is beautiful. (tara = beautiful) That sounds interesting. (that = interesting) The sky became dark. (the sky > dark) The bread has gone bad. (bread > bad)

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Some verbs describe action. They are called "dynamic", and can be used with continuous tenses. Other verbs describe state (non-action, a situation). They are called "stative", and cannot normally be used with continuous tenses (though some of them can be used with continuous tenses with a change in meaning).

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Dynamic verbs (examples): 

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Stative verbs (examples):      

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hit, explode, fight, run, go be like, love, prefer, wish impress, please, surprise hear, see, sound belong to, consist of, contain, include, need appear, resemble, seem

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/p rogressive.htm

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A transitive verb takes a direct object. The direct object can be a noun, a pronoun or a clause. Action verb that has a direct object (receiver of the action); Example: The kids always eat a snack while they watch TV They bought the sweater. He watched them.

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Among transitive verbs there are three subtypes: monotransitive verbs have only a direct  object, ditransitive verbs have a direct object  and an indirect or benefactive object. Complex-transitive verbs have a direct object  and an object attribute. . . . 

monotransitive: He bought a book.

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ditransitive: He gave her the book.

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complex-transitive: She found the book interesting.

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A verb is intransitive when the action stays with the verb. It is not carried across to a receiver: Corn grows. Elvis sang.

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Adding a prepositional phrase to modify the verb does not change the fact that the action remains with the subject: Corn grows in the fields. Elvis sang all over the world.

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Some verbs cannot have a direct object. These verbs are said to be 'intransitive verbs'. The rain fell heavily. (The rain fell, but it did not perform an action on anything.

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In this example, the verb 'to fall' is an intransitive verb.) Jack protested in the street. (Jack protested, but he did not perform an action on anything.

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In this example, the verb 'to protest' is an intransitive verb.)

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A non-finite verb differs from a finite verb in that it  cannot (normally) be used as the main verb of a clause. Typically, the non-finite verb lacks agreeement for person, number, and gender with its first argument  or Subject, is unmarked or reduced with respect to distinctions of Tense, Aspect, and Mood, and has certain properties in common with adjectival or nominal predicates. The main types of non-finite verbs are infinitives, participles, and nominalized verbs [gerunds]. (Simon C. Dik and Kees Hengeveld, The Theory of Functional Grammar , Walter de Gruyter, 1997)

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does not have tense Non-finite walk - if sentence is converted to past time, walking remains unchanged(tenseless) 3 forms of verb that can act as a non-finite verb.