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The Verb

 

A verb gives the sentence action, essence, or condition.

 

Sarah sings. (action)

Mary Anne is a singer. (essence)

Hannah and Elizabeth waited at the store. (condition)

 

I. Principal parts of the verb (these terms are useful to know when forming different tenses of the verb) Here are the principal parts of start (a regular verb) and sing(an irregular verb).

 

 

II. Regular or Irregular Verbs

 

One way to classify verbs is by the way they form their principal parts.

Ones that add an –ed, -d, or –t to form the past or past participle forms are called Regular.

 

 

Verbs that change internal vowels (instead of adding endings) to form the past or past participle are called Irregular.

 

III. Auxiliary or Helping Verbs

 

Some verbs cannot stand alone. They join with other verbs to make a verb phrase.

Verbs like shall, will, have, has, had, having, do, did, does, the forms of be (is, am, are, was, were, been, being), should, would, could, can, must, might, may.

 

Stand alone verb: sing Example: She sings well.

 

Add auxiliary verbs to change tense or mood.

Examples: She will sing tomorrow. She will be singing next Tuesday. She is singing today. She was singing when we called. She has been singing since age six. She should have been singing for longer than that. She must sing next Thursday. She would sing if she could (sing). For all we know, she may be singing now.

 

IV. Another way to classify verbs is how they are used.

 

Transitive verbs need an object (direct and sometimes indirect) to make a complete thought.

 

•Example: He threw _______. Without an object, this sentence is incomplete. Add any noun (or personal pronoun) to this phrase, and the thought is complete. By the way, the bit you add is known as the direct object.

 

            He threw the ball. He threw a fit. He threw the hammer.

 

Intransitive Verbs do not have objects. They are complete in themselves.

 

•Example: He ran. He ran quickly. She swims. She swims well. These are complete thoughts ­– no need for objects.

 

Intransitive Linking Verbs (from here on, just called Linking Verbs) connect or link a subject to a complement (either an adjective, called a predicate adjective, or a noun/pronoun, called a predicate nominative).

 

•Examples: This food is great. Great is a predicate adjective because it describes the subject food.

            My brother is the captain. Captain is a predicate nominative because it renames the subject brother.

 

Some verbs can be transitive in one sentence and intransitive in another.

 

Examples:    She sings well. INTRANSITIVE

                        She sings the song well. TRANSITIVE Notice the direct object song.

                        He reads often. INTRANSITIVE

                        He reads the newspaper often. TRANSITIVE

 

V. Voice this designates whether the subject performs the action or is acted upon.

            Active voice the subject performs an action

                        The boy threw the javelin.

            Passive voice the subject is acted upon

                        The javelin was thrown by the boy.

            The passive voice is a less-direct form of discourse and should be used sparingly. One time you must use the passive voice is when the doer of the action is unknown.

            •Example: The carpet was damaged. The crime was committed.

 

 

VI. Number of the verb must agree with the subject. If the subject is plural, the verb must also be plural. Add an –s to the verb to make it singular (the opposite of the noun).

            •Example:    The farmer plants… (singular)

                                    The farmers plant… (plural)

            Remember, there will be only one –s between the subject and verb (if the subject ends in –s, the verb won’t; likewise, if the subject doesn’t end in –s, the verb will). The only exception to this is irregularly formed plural nouns like man-men, child-children, et al.

            •Example:    The boy runs… (singular)

                                    The boys run… (plural)

The tree bends… (singular)

                                    The trees bend… (plural)

 

 

VII. Person describes who is speaking. (see section on personal pronouns for more)

            1^st Person    I speak

         2^nd Person   you speak

         3^rd Person   he, she, it speaks

 

In English, person of the verb is not that important. In some languages, Spanish for one, person of the verb is imperative.

 

 

VIII. Mood describes the attitude of the speaker. There are three moods in English.

            Indicative mood ­– is used to make statements or to ask or answer questions.

                        •Example: He is angry. Why is he angry? I think he lost the game.

            Imperative mood ­– is used to make a command.

                        •Example: Give me the money. Shut that door. Go to your room.

            Subjunctive mood – is used to make doubtful assertion or a wish.

                        •Example: If I were a rich man, I would probably sing in the streets.

                                    I wish I were an Oscar Meyer wiener.

            Subjunctive also shows potential

                  •Example: He might win if he keeps trying. You should be careful.

 

IX. Tense – describes the time indicated by the verb. There are six tenses in English (twelve if you count each progressive form).

            Present Tense       I walk. (the action is presently occurring)

            Present Perfect      I have walked. (the action has happened before)

            Past Tense            I walked. (the action happened in the past)

            Past Perfect          I had walked. (the action had happened in the past before)

            Future tense          I shall walk. (the action will happen)

            Future Perfect       I shall have walked (the action will have happened before)

 

Remember: In writing, when you use the present tense for a story (called the "present tense narrative frame"), you talk about things in the past (called "antecedent action") using the present perfect tense.

Example: Fred walks to school. (present tense frame) Fred has walked to school before (present perfect tense for antecedent action).

When using the past tense narrative frame as the base for a story, you relate antecedent action using the past perfect.

Example: Fred walked to school. (past tense frame) Fred had walked to school before (past perfect tense for antecedent action).

Though highly uncommon, if you use the future tense as your base for a story, you talk about things in the past using the future perfect.

 

Conjugation of the Verb

A conjugation is simply a list of all the forms of the verb in each tense.