© Oxford University Press 2008 The Ingredients of Language The Ingredients of Language: VERBS and ADVERBS

© Oxford University Press 2008 The Ingredients of Language A verb expresses an action or mental or physical state: I ate a sandwich as I felt hungry. As a general rule, if you can put ‘–ing’ after it, it is a verb.

© Oxford University Press 2008 The Ingredients of Language Remember that most sentences contain a verb or verbs. The verb lets you know what the subject of the sentence is doing or being: The artist painted as the model sat and thought about her holiday!

© Oxford University Press 2008 The Ingredients of Language The infinitive is otherwise called the ‘to’ form of the verb. For example, To ride To jump To smile To be Note that the infinitive does not tell us about tense or when an action is happening, nor does it tell us who is performing the action.

© Oxford University Press 2008 The Ingredients of Language Activity: Think of some more infinitive verbs and write them down. Remember that verbs can tell you about actions and mental and physical states. To

© Oxford University Press 2008 The Ingredients of Language Verbs may also be classified into finite and non-finite verbs. The finite forms of a verb are the forms where the verb shows tense, person or singular/plural. In other words, a finite verb shows who is performing the action and when it was performed. For example: I am, She was

© Oxford University Press 2008 The Ingredients of Language Non-finite verb forms have no person, tense or number and usually combine with a modal, auxiliary or infinitive. For example: I will be going They might go I want to go

© Oxford University Press 2008 The Ingredients of Language Like nouns, English verbs can be sub- divided into two main classes: Strong verbs - form the past tense by changing the vowel of the base form, and Weak verbs - form the past tense by adding ‘–ed’ to the base form Use the table which accompanies this presentation to familiarize yourself with these classes of verbs.

© Oxford University Press 2008 The Ingredients of Language There are also different types of verb which perform different jobs. Main or lexical verbs express the main action or state within the sentence. For example: I was walking to the station. Write your own sentence which has a main verb.

© Oxford University Press 2008 The Ingredients of Language Here is another type of verb which has a supporting role! Auxiliary verbs are found in front of the main verb and can tell us about tense. For example: I must have been going the wrong way! Notice that going is the main verb of this sentence. Have and been are the auxiliary verbs.

© Oxford University Press 2008 The Ingredients of Language The most important auxiliary verbs are different forms of the following base forms: Be Have Do Write your own sentences which contain a main verb and some auxiliary verbs. Remember to indicate the different types of verb.

© Oxford University Press 2008 The Ingredients of Language Modal verbs are another type of helping verb which express the possibility or probability of an event happening: Can/Could Will/Would Shall/Should May, Might and Must You will just have to learn these!

© Oxford University Press 2008 The Ingredients of Language Modal verbs Consider the difference between the following: I can go to the cinema tonight. I should go shopping tonight. I will go to the ball. Try to put these modal verbs in order of probability.

© Oxford University Press 2008 The Ingredients of Language Adverbs give us additional information about the verb... How- manner When- time Where- place Think of some ways of using adverbs in sentences.