Verbs

Verbs

A verb is often defined as a word which shows action or state of being. The verb is the heart of a sentence - every sentence must have a verb. Recognizing the verb is often the most important step in understanding the meaning of a sentence.

·         In the sentence - The dog bit the man, bit is the verb and the word which shows the action of the sentence.

·         In the sentence - She is a smart girl, there is no action but a state of being expressed by the verb is.

Types of Verbs:

                  

These verbs are also called Helping Verbs, as they ‘help’ the main verb to denote the actions of the subject. They help in making compound tenses of the main verb and also help in making negative statements, questions and passive voice statements.  There are only four auxiliary verbs - Be, Have and Do. 

Be – is, am, was, were, be, been, being.

Have – has, have, had, having.

Do - do, did, does, done.

Modal Auxiliaries [Never Change Form] - Modal verbs are used to express ideas such as ability, possibility, intention or necessity. Modal verbs can be used before main verb or helping verbs.

Examples:

• Can, could (ability)
• May might (possibility)
• Will, shall, would (intention)
• Should (necessity)
• Must (necessity)
• Ought to

Examples
I can play violin.
It may rain today.
You must learn the test-taking strategies.
I will call you.

Uses of “Auxiliary” verbs

·         Am / Is / Are – Present tense

·         Was / Were – Past tense

·         Will be – future tense

·         Have / Has – Present tense

·         Had – past tense

·         Do / Does – present tense

·       
Did – Past tense

Note:  ‘Am’ is used for first person singular present,’ is’ used for third person singular present,’ Are’ is used with we, you, They for present. ‘Was’ is used for third person singular past, ‘were’ is used for we, you, they for past, ‘Will be’ is used for future for all the tenses.

5.2 Forms of Verbs:

Any main verb will have three forms, which are:

1. Present / Base form

2. Past form

3. Past participle form.

On the basis formation of past simple and past participle, verb is divided into

•Regular verbs

•Irregular verbs

1.      Regular Verbs:

Some verbs form their past simple and past participle form by adding “-ed” to their base form, such verbs are called regular verbs, for example laugh—laughed—laughed, look—looked—looked.

Some examples

Verb	Base form or V1	Past simple or V2	Past participle or V3
To advise	advise	advised	advised
To allow	allow	allowed	allowed
To enjoy	enjoy	enjoyed	enjoyed
To rain	rain	rained	rained
To smile	smile	smiled	smiled

 

 

2.      Irregular Verbs:

Some verbs form their past simple and participle in different ways for example, buy—bought—bought, eat—ate—eaten, such verbs are called irregular verbs. 

Some examples

Verb	Base form or V1	Past simple or V2	Past participle or V3
To know	know	knew	known
To go	go	went	gone
To drink	drink	drank	drunk
To hold	hold	held	held
To write	write	wrote	written

Some verbs remain same in past simple and past participle.

Some examples

Verb	Base form or V1	Past simple or V2	Past participle or V3
To cut	cut	cut	cut
To shut	shut	shut	shut
To spread	spread	spread	spread
To put	put	put	put
To read	read	read	read