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. Verbs are the hearts of English sentences.
Examples:
Jacob walks in
the morning. (A usual action)
Mike is going to
school. (A condition of action)
Albert does not like to
walk. (A negative action)
Anna is a
good girl. (A state of being)
Verbs are
related to a lot of other factors like the subject, person, number,
tense, mood, voice, etc.
Basic Forms of Verbs
There are six basic forms
of verbs. These forms are as follows:
Base form: Children play in
the field.
Infinitive: Tell them not to
play
Past tense: They played football
yesterday.
Past participle: I have eaten a
burger.
Present participle: I saw them playing with
him today.
Gerund: Swimming is the best exercise.
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.
Example:
Alex went to
school. (Subject – Alex – performed the action in the past. This information is
evident only by the verb ‘went’.)
Robert plays hockey.
He is playing for
Australia.
He is one
of the best players. (Here, the verb ‘is’ directly refers to the subject
itself.)
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 verbals,
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.)
Example:
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)
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.
Example:
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.
Example:
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)
Note: {Subject + Intransitive verb}
is sufficient to make a complete sentence but {Subject + Transitive verb} is
not sufficient because transitive verbs demand a direct object.
LINKING VERB:
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.
Some verbs in
this list can also be action verbs. To figure out if they are linking verbs,
you should try replacing them with forms of the be verbs. If the
changed sentence makes sense, that verb is a linking verb.
Example:
She appears ready
for the game. (She is ready
for the game.)
The food seemed delicious.
(The food was delicious.)
You look happy.
(You are happy.)
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.
Linking verbs work as main
verbs in the sentence, but auxiliary verbs help main verbs.
Do is an auxiliary verb that is
used to ask questions, to express negation, to provide emphasis, and more.
Example:
Alex is going
to school.
They are walking
in the park.
I have seen
a movie.
Do you drink
tea?
Don’t waste
your time.
Please, do submit
your assignments.
MODAL 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 can, could, must, may, might, ought to,
shall, should, will, would.
Example:
I may want
to talk to you again.
They must play
their best game to win.
She should call
him.
I will go
there.
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