VERB
A verb is a word
or a combination of words that indicates action or a state of being or
condition. A verb is the part of a sentence that tells us what the subject
performs.
Verb comes from
the LATIN verbum, means “a word”.
Verbs are
related to a lot of other factors like the subject, person, number, tense,
mood, voice, etc.
EG: Jagadesh walks in the morning. (A usual
action)
Mohan
is going to school. (A condition of action)
Ashwin
does not like to walk. (A negative action)
Aruna
is a good girl. (A state of being)
DIFFERENT
TYPES OF VERBS:
Auxiliary
Verbs, Modal Verbs, Linking Verb, Action Verbs, Finite Verbs, Non-finite Verbs and
phrasal verbs.
1 AUXILIARY
VERBS:
Auxiliary verbs
are also called helping verbs. An auxiliary verb extends the main verb by
helping to show time, tense, and possibility. The auxiliary verbs are – be
verbs, have, and do.
They are used in
the continuous (progressive) and perfect tenses.
There are just
three forms of common auxiliary verbs:
A)
Be form : Am, Is, Are, Was and Were
B)
Do form : Do, Does and Did
C)
Have form
: Have, Has and Had
2 MODAL
AUXILIARY VERBS:
A modal verb is
a kind of an auxiliary verb. It assists the main verb to indicate possibility,
potentiality, ability, permission, expectation, and obligation.
The modal verbs
are classified into two types:
Plane Modal : Can, Could, Will, Would, Shall, Should,
May, Might, and Must
Semi modal : Need to, Ought to, Dare to, Used to and
Have to
3 LINKING
VERBS:
A linking verb adds details about the subject of a
sentence. In its simplest form, it connects the subject and the complement
that is, the words that follow the linking verb. It
creates a link between them instead of showing action.
Often, what is on each side of a linking verb is
equivalent; the complement redefines or restates the subject.
Generally,
linking verbs are called ‘be’ verbs which are - am, is, are, was, were.
However, there are some other verbs which can work as linking verbs. Those
verbs are:
Act, feel,
remain, appear, become, seem, smell, sound, grow, look, prove, stay, taste,
turn.
4 ACTION
VERBS:
Action verbs
indicate what the subject of a sentence performs. Action verbs can make the
listener/reader feel emotions, see scenes more vividly and accurately.
Action verbs can
be transitive or intransitive.
TRANSITIVE VERBS - must have a direct object. A
transitive verb demands something/someone to be acted upon. An action which
passes over from the subject to an object.
EG: I painted
the car. (The verb ‘paint’ demands an object to be painted)
She is reading
the newspaper. (The verb ‘read’ asks the question “what is she reading?” – the
answer is the object)
INTRANSITIVE
VERBS - do not act upon anything. They may be followed by an adjective, adverb,
preposition, or another part of speech.
EG: She smiled.
(The verb ‘smile’ cannot have any object since the action of ‘smiling’ does not
fall upon
anything/anyone)
I wake up at 6 AM. (No object is needed
for this verb)
These action
verbs are also classified as regular and irregular verbs
·
REGULAR VERBS - form
their past and past participle forms by adding –ed.
If a Verb required -ed, -d, or -t to
be added to the Present Tense to form the Past, with or without any change of
the inside vowel, it is also known as a Weak Verbs.
EG: Walk – walked
– walked
Dance – danced – danced
Paint
– painted – painted
Work
– worked – worked
·
IRREGULAR VERBS -
form their past and past participle forms in different ways.
The Verbs form their Past Tense by
merely changing the inside vowel of the Present Tense, without having -ed, or
-d, or -t, added to the Present. Such Verbs are called Strong Verbs, because
they are able to make their Past Tense without having anything added.
There are mainly
three types of irregular verbs.
·
Verbs in which
all the three forms are the same
(e.g. put – put – put)
·
Verbs in which
two of the three forms are the same (e.g. sit – sat – sat)
·
Verbs in which
all three forms are different
(e.g. drink – drank – drunk)
5 Finite VERBS:
Finite verbs are
the actual verbs which are called the roots of sentences. It is a form of a
verb that is performed by or refers to a subject and uses one of the twelve
forms of tense and changes according to the number/person of the subject.
EG: Alex went to
school. (Subject – Alex – performed the action in the past. This information is
evident)
Robert plays hockey.
6 NON-FINITE
VERBS
Non-finite Verbs
are not actual verbs. They do not work as verbs in the sentence rather they
work as nouns, adjectives, adverbs, etc. Non-finite verbs do not change
according to the number/person of the subject because these verbs, also called
verbal, do not have any direct relation to the subject. Sometimes they become
the subject themselves.
The forms of
non-finite verbs are – infinitive, gerund, and participle (participles become
finite verbs when they take auxiliary verbs.)
EG: Alex went
abroad to play (Infinitives)
Playing cricket is his only job.
(Present participle)
I have a broken bat. (Past participle)
Walking is a good habit. (Gerund)
7 CAUSATIVE VERB
The English verbs let, make, have, get, and help are called causative
verbs because they cause something else to happen. These verbs can be used in
any tense. When you use a causative verb, however, there is a grammatically
correct way to structure (organize) your sentence.
1 LET = permit something to happen
2 MAKE = force or require someone to take an action
3 HAVE = give someone else the responsibility to do something
4 GET = convince/encourage someone to do something
5 HELP = assist someone in doing something
8 PHRASAL VERB
A phrasal verb
is a combination of words (a verb + a preposition or verb +adverb) that when
used together, usually take on a different meaning to that of the original
verb.
Phrasal verbs are phrases that
indicate actions.
Eg: Cut of, Call on, Break up, etc…
For detailed description of these type
of verbs visit the grammar page and click on the topic you want to know in
detail