WHAT IS VERB??!

VERB Verbs are doing words. A verb can express: A physical action (e.g., to swim, to write, to climb). A mental action (e.g., to think, to guess, to consider). A state of being (e.g., to be, to exist, to appear).

LOTS OF VERBS EXPRESS PHYSICAL ACTIONS Here is some sentences with the verbs highlighted. (These verbs express physical actions.) She sells pegs and lucky heather. (In this example, the word sells  is a verb. It expresses the physical activity to sell.)

VERBS EXPRESS MENTAL ACTIONS TOO As we covered at the start, verbs do not necessarily express physical actions like the ones above. They can express mental actions too: She considers the job done. (The word considers is a verb. It expresses the mental activity to consider.)

VERBS EXPRESS A STATE OF BEING A small, but extremely important group of verbs do not express any activity at all. Some source call it Linking Verbs. on the other hand, they connect the subject of a verb to additional information about the subject. The most important verb in this group – arguably of all – is the verb to be. That's the one which goes: Some real examples: Edwina is the largest elephant in this area. (The word is is a verb from the verb to be.)

How do you tell when they are action verbs and when they are linking verbs? If you can substitute am, is, or are for the verb and the sentence still sounds logical, you have a linking verb on your hands. But if, after the substitution, the sentence makes no sense, you are dealing with an action verb. Here are some examples: Chris tasted the crunchy, honey-roasted grasshopper. Chris is the grasshopper? I don't think so! In this sentence then, tasted is an action verb. The students looked at the equation until their brains hurt. The students are the equation? Of course not! Here, looked is an action verb.

THE BASE FORM Here are some examples of verbs in sentences: She travels to work by train. David sings in the choir.  We walked five miles to a garage . I cooked  a meal for the family.  Notice that in [1] and [2], the verbs have an -s ending, while in [3] and [4], they have an -ed ending. These endings are known as INFLECTIONS, and they are added to the BASE FORM of the verb. In [1], for instance, the -s inflection is added to the base formtravel.  Certain endings are characteristic of the base forms of verbs:        

Regular and Irregular Verbs Verbs are subdivided into two groups, regular verbs and irregular verbs, on the basis of how their past tense and past participles are formed. See below for tips on how to distinguish between them. Regular Verbs Most verbs are regular verbs. Regular verbs are those whose past tense and past participles are formed by adding a -d or an -ed to the end of the verb. "To roll" is a good example of a regular verb: roll, rolled, rolled Sometimes the last consonant must be doubled before adding the -ed ending. For example: plan, planned, planned

Irregular Verbs break, broke, broken cut, cut, cut run, ran, run There is no formula to predict how an irregular verb will form its past-tense and past-participle forms. There are over 250 irregular verbs in English. Although they do not follow a formula, there are some fairly common irregular forms. Some of these forms are: break, broke, broken cut, cut, cut run, ran, run meet, met, met come, came, come swim, swam, swum be was/were been

Distinguishing Regular and Irregular Verbs Dictionaries are perhaps the most valuable tool one can use in distinguishing between regular and irregular verbs. If only one form of the verb is listed, the verb is regular. If the verb is irregular, the dictionary will list the principal parts of the other forms.

He talked with more claret than clarity. (Susan Ertz) VERB TERMINOLOGY There is a lot of grammatical terminology associated with verbs. Below are explanations of those used most frequently by grammarians. INFINITIVE FORM When a verb is preceded by the word to, it is said to be in its infinitive form (i.e., most basic form). I have to smoke that! (to smoke - infinitive form of the verb) PAST TENSE Verbs which express actions in the past are said to be in the past tense. He talked with more claret than clarity. (Susan Ertz) (talked - past tense of the verb to talk)

John jumps out the window. PRESENT TENSE Verbs which express present actions are said to be in the present tense. John jumps out the window. (jumps - present tense of the verb to jump) FUTURE TENSE Verbs which express actions in the future are said to be in the future tense. These are usually formed by preceding the verb with the word will. I will take the blame. (will take - future tense of the verb to take) SUBJECT OF A VERB The person or thing performing the action of the verb is said to be the subject of the verb or the subject of the sentence. Tony stole the boat. (Tony - subject of the verb to steal)

Barney copied the answer. DIRECT OBJECT OF A VERB Many verbs perform an action on something. This is called the direct object of the verb. Terry kissed her hand. (her hand - direct object of the verb to kiss) INTRANSITIVE VERBS Some verbs cannot have a direct object. These verbs are said to be intransitive verbs. The rain fell heavily. (The rain fell, but it did not perform an action on anything. In this example, the verb to fall is an intransitive verb.) Verbs that can have a direct object (most of them) are called transitive verbs. Barney copied the answer. (the answer - direct object of the transitive verb to copy)

Jamie read the children a story. Carl was arrested by PC Adams. INDIRECT OBJECT OF A VERB Some verbs have two objects, a direct object (see above) and an indirect object. The indirect object is the person or thing for whom the action was performed. Jamie read the children a story. (a story - direct object; the children - indirect object)  PASSIVE SENTENCE The subject of a sentence does not always do the action of the verb. Sometimes, the action is done to the subject. Such sentences are called passive sentence because the subjects are being passive, i.e., not doing anything.  Carl was arrested. (Carl is not doing anything, but he is the subject of the sentence.) (Note: Carl is the subject of the verb to be, i.e., was.) Passive verbs always comprise two parts (was arrested in this example). The person doing the action of the verb in a passive sentence is usually shown with the word by. Carl was arrested by PC Adams.

ACTIVE SENTENCES Active sentences are the opposite to passive sentences (see above). In an active sentence, the subject of the verb performs the action. We damaged the carpet. (This is an active sentence. We is the subject.  We damaged the carpet.)

CONJUGATION OF VERBS A verb will change its form a little depending on the subject. I write / He writes (< write and writes) The camel laughs / The jackals laugh (< laughs and laugh) When verbs change in this way, it is known as conjugation. A verb conjugates according to the subject. The subject of a verb can be in one of six forms: The first three are the singular forms (known as first person singular, second person singular, and third person singular). The second three are the plural forms (known as first person plural, second person plural and third person plural). All subjects fit in one of these categories. Camel is like he (i.e., third person singular) and jackals is like they (i.e., third person plural).   This topic rarely causes problems for native English speakers, who conjugate verbs correctly without much thought.  1. I 2. You 3. He / She / It 4. We 5. You 6. They

DONE.