Verbs They’re what you do!

Verbs A verb expresses an action, a condition or a state of being. There are two main types of verbs: action verbs, and linking verbs.

Action Verbs Action verbs express either a physical or mental action. Examples: The band marches onto the field. (physical) The audience expects a great performance. (mental)

Linking Verbs A linking verb connects the subject to a word or word group that identifies or describes the subject. The most commonly used linking verbs are forms of the verb to be. (be, being, am, is, are, was, were) Examples: The instruments are safe in the bus. The students seemed bored on the long trip.

Auxiliary Verbs Often referred to as helping verbs, auxiliary verbs help the main verb express action or a state of being. A verb phrase consists of at least one main verb and one or more auxiliary or helping verbs. Examples: The stadium is filled to capacity. We should save a seat for Jeff.

Practice All sounds are simply vibrations. Place your hand on your throat as you speak. Can you feel the vibrations? Vibrations travel through the air as invisible sound waves. Nerve endings in your inner ear sense the vibrations, which are sent to your brain as electrical signals.

Principal Parts of Verbs The four basic forms of a verb are called the principal parts of the verb. The four principal parts of a verb are the: Base form ask Present Participle asking Past asked Past Participle (have) asked

Forming the Principal Parts of Verbs Normally, you add –ing to the base form of a verb to make the present participle. Likewise, you add –ed to the base form of a verb to make the past form. (Note: If the verb ends with a vowel, you may have to drop it before adding –ing or --ed.) To form the past participle, usually, you simply add the word have in front of the past form of the verb.

Irregular Verbs An irregular verb forms its past and past participle in some other way than by adding –d or –ed. An irregular verbs forms its past and past participle in one of these ways: Changing consonants Changing vowels Changing vowels and consonants Making no change at all

Sample Irregular Verbs Base Form Present Participle Past Past Participle become (is) becoming became (have) become bring (is) bringing brought (have) brought know (is) knowing knew (have) known swim (is) swimming swam (have) swum

Tense The tense of a verb indicates the time of the action or state of being expressed by the verb. English verbs have six tenses: Past Perfect- an action or condition in the past preceded another past action or condition Past- an action or condition occurred in the past Present Perfect- was completed at one or more indefinite times in the past Present- shows that an action or condition occurs regularly and is generally true, or is occurring in the present Future Perfect- shows that a condition or action in the future will precede another future action or condition Future- shows that an action or condition will occur in the future

Simple Tenses Tense Singular Plural Present travel/ travels travel Past traveled Future will travel

Perfect Tenses Tense Singular Plural Present Perfect have/ has traveled have traveled Past Perfect had traveled Future Perfect will have traveled

Progressive Tense The progressive form of a verb expresses an event in progress. Each tense has a progressive form, made by using the corresponding tense of the verb be with the present participle. Examples: I am reading this horror story. A groups of friends were camping the woods. An escaped convict had been hiding in a nearby cabin.

Progressive Tense Tense Singular Plural Present Progressive is/am studying are studying Past Progressive was studying were studying Future Progressive will be studying

Perfect Progressive Tense Singular Plural Present perfect progressive has/have been hoping have been hoping Past perfect progressive had been hoping Future perfect progressive will have been hoping

Practice Name the tense of the underlined verb in each sentence. Mason is taking algebra this semester. ____________________ Sarah had already read the novel. _________________________ Jeremy has been studying for his exam all week. ______________ Janae was here yesterday. I was reading when you called. _________________

Subject-Verb Agreement A verb should agree in number with its subject. Singular subjects take singular verbs. He washes the dishes. Plural subjects take plural verbs. A girl in my neighborhood plays in the band. The number of the subject usually is not determined by a word in a phrase or clause following the subject. The apartments across the street do not have balconies.

Tip Unlike most nouns, the plural form of verbs does not end in –s. Singular verbs only end in –s when in the 3rd person form.

Verbs They’re what you do!