Verb

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What is Verb?

A verb is a word that expresses a state or an action of something. e.g. Go, Write, come, run, play, eat, weep, read, catch, clean, drink, walk, speak, cut, hold.

Example:

She is driving a car. In the above sentence, the word ‘drive’ is a verb because it tells about an action being done by the subject (she) of the sentence. It tells what is being done – the action.

Most of the verbs express the action of something but a few verbs also express a state of something.

The verbs which tell about the action of something are called dynamic verb. e.g. go, come, play, run, eat, drink etc.

Examples:

She is singing a song. (expresses an action)
He is laughing at a joker. (expresses an action)
The kids are making a noise. (expresses an action)

One the other hand, those verbs which tells about a state of something, are called stative verbs. e.g. seem, resemble, consist of, belong to, be, impress, surprise.

Examples:

He seems a nice man. (expresses a state)
She resembles her sister.  (expresses a state)
She belongs to a noble family. (expresses a state)

A few verbs can be used both as dynamic as well as a stative verb.

Example:

He looks very handsome. (‘look’ used as stative verb)
He looked at the door.   (‘look’ used as dynamic verb)

  Forms of Verbs

There are three forms of verbs depending upon its usage in sentence according to the tense.

1. Base Form (1st Form)
2. Past Simple  (2nd Form)
3. Past Particle   (3rd Form)

Examples:

Base Form	Past Simple	Past Participle
Write	Wrote	Written
Go	Went	Gone

Note. “-ing” attached to base form of a verb (i.e. laughing) is called present participle. e.g. run—running, drink—drinking, do—doing.

  Formation of Past Simple and Past Participle Form

Verbs are divided into following two types depending on formation of its 2nd and 3rd forms.

1. Regular Verbs
2. Irregular Verbs

  1. Regular Verbs

A verb whose past-simple and past-participle are formed simply by adding ‘-ed’ to it, is called a regular verb.

Verb	Base Form	Past Simple	Past Participle
To work	Work	Worked	Worked
To look	Look	Looked	Looked
To dry	Dry	Dried	Dried
To help	Help	Helped	Helped
To move	Move	Moved	Moved

  2. Irregular Verbs

A verb whose past-simple and past-participle are formed in different ways (not by adding ‘-ed’) is called an irregular verb.

Verb	Base Form	Past Simple	Past Participle
To Send	Send	Sent	Sent
To buy	Buy	Bought	Bought
To teach	Teach	Taught	Taught
To do	Do	Did	Did
To fly	Fly	Flew	Flown

A few verb remains the same in all three forms (base, past-simple and past-participle).

Verb	Base Form	Past Simple	Past Participle
To shut	shut	Shut	Shut
To cut	Cut	Cut	Cut
To spread	spread	spread	spread
To read	Read	Read	Read

Main Verb & Auxiliary Verb (Helping Verb)

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Main verb and auxiliary verb are important parts of sentence. Both of them contribute to make a correct sentence.

A main verb is a verb that expresses an action. It gives the major information in terms of nature of the action. e.g. write, eat, buy, help.

On the other hand, an auxiliary verb does not give major information in terms of an action. It tells more about the time of the action, not the nature of action. Auxiliary verbs are used in sentence according to the rules of English tenses in order to give information about the time of the main verb. e.g. is, was, am, have, had, will.

The main verb expresses nature of the action. The auxiliary verb helps the main verb in expressing the time the action.

Example:

She is sleeping. (action is being done in the present)
She was sleeping. (action was being done in the past)

In the above sentence, the verb ‘sleep’ is a main verb which tells about the nature of action (sleeping). In the same sentence, the auxiliary verbs ‘is’ and ‘was’ express time of the action in both sentence. The auxiliary verb ‘is’ in the first sentence reveal that the action is being done in present. In the second sentence, the auxiliary verb ‘was’ reveal that the action was being done in the past.

Main verbs have major meaning in terms of action. Main verb is also called Principal Verb.
Auxiliary verbs do not have meaning of their own. It complements the structure of sentence according to the rules of tenses to reveal the time of action. Auxiliary verb is also called Helping Verb as it helps the main verb in giving proper information to the reader.

There are two types of Auxiliary verbs:

1. Primary Auxiliaries
2. Modal Auxiliary

  1. Primary Auxiliaries

There three primary auxiliary verbs: be, do & have.

The primary verbs are used according to the rules of tenses to make a correct structure of sentence.

Be (is, am, are): These are used in sentences of continuous tenses.

Example:

He is running.     (Present Continuous tense)

Have (have, has, had): These are use in sentences of perfect tense.

Examples:

She has gone.     (Present prefect tense)
I had bought a camera.   (Past perfect tense)

Do (do, does, did). These are used in sentences of simple or indefinite tense.

Examples:

He does not eat an orange.   (Present simple tense)
She didn’t wait for him.        (Past simple)

  2. Modal auxiliaries

Modal auxiliaries are used to show ideas like “possibility, ability, necessity, or intention.

Examples.

Could, Can, (ability)
Might, May (possibility)
shall, will would (intention)
Should (necessity)
Ought to (necessity)
Must (necessity)

Modal auxiliary is used before a main verb as a helping verb

Examples
He can drive a bike.
He may come now.
A student must take his exams.
They might come today.
He must reach in time.

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

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  1. Transitive Verb

A verb that requires an object in the sentence to make a meaningful sentence is called a transitive verb.

A transitive verb must have an object in the sentence because without an object it cannot covey a complete meaning.

Example:

She bought ______.

In the above sentence, see the verb “buy” is transitive verb. The verb “buy” need some object for it in this sentence to give a complete and proper meaning. Let me add an object in this sentence to make it proper meaningful.

She bought a table
She bought a pen.
She bought a laptop.

A transitive verb must have an object with it in order to become meaningful otherwise it will not express full meaning. A transitive verb without an object makes a sentence incomplete.

Few examples:

I ate a piece of bread
I like music.
He wrote a letter.
He wants some money.
They completed their tasks
She made a beautiful painting.
He threw the ball.
The students raised their hands.
The players won the competition.
He cut the tree.
She plucked a flower.

  2. Intransitive Verb

A verb that does not require an object in the sentence, is called an intransitive verb. Such verbs (without having object for them in the sentence) can express proper complete meaning.

Examples:

He was laughing.
She slept.
They were running.
She smiled.
It is raining.
They had gone.
The guests have arrived
The girls were dancing.

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