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A Verb is a word that tells or asserts something about a person or thing. The verb tells of action or doing.
Example:
Walk, ride, laugh, hunt, sing, think, feel, recall, play, look, want, like,
We shall look at some types of verbs
Ordinary verbs
Ordinary verbs occur by themselves in sentences and convey some action.
Example:
Play, take, go, come, walk, sing, jump, play, run, think, feel, see
Auxiliary verbs
Auxiliary verbs are verbs that have to be used with other verbs. They only add meaning to other verbs. They are used with Ordinary verbs.
Example:
- to be, to have, to do, to be able (can), may, must, will, shall, ought to, used to.
Usage:
- Is playing, have taken, do come, may go, must come, shall walk, ought
to study, used to walk.
Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
Depending on whether the action denoted by the verb is transferred from the subject to the object or not, verbs are said to be transitive or intransitive. Transitive means passing over.
Transitive verb
When the action denoted by the verb helps passes over from the doer or subject to some object. The verb is called a Transitive verb - The boy took the turkey.
- Oliver finished the soup.
- The horse crossed the bridge
- The young trainee read carefully, and loudly all the pages of the company brochure.
- A tired old man brought his cart up the hill.
Intransitive verb
When the action denoted by the verb stops with the doer or subject and does not pass over to an object the verb is called an Intransitive verb. An intransitive verb may also express a state or being.
Example:
- He walked a long distance (action)
- The girl laughs (state)
- There is a mistake in the recipe (Being)
Would you like to see some verbs used both transitively and intransitively?
Most verbs can be used transitively and intransitively. Therefore it is better to say that a verb is used transitively or intransitively rather than calling a verb a Transitive or an Intransitive verb.
| Ted spoke the truth.
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Ted spoke angrily.
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| The driver stopped the bus.
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The bus stopped suddenly.
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| The sportsman fights fear.
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The boys fight fearlessly.
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| The men broke the wall.
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The glass broke.
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| The boy burst the balloon with a pin.
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The bubble burst.
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| He opens the window.
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The window opens to the lake.
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| Ask the question WHAT after the verb. If you get an answer then it is used transitively.
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Spoke what? - the truth
Stopped what? - the bus
Tense
We use the tense of the verb to denote the time of action.
Time can be classified as Past, Present and Future.
Tense can be classified as Present tense and the Past tense
Generally the link between Tense and Time is simple.
Present tense is used for Present time and Future time
Example:
- He buys books. (present time)
- He is singing a song. (present time)
- He has a headache. (present time)
- He leaves for Paris tomorrow. (future time)
- He is going on a business trip next month. (future time)
- He will buy her a gift for Christmas. (future time)
Past tense is used for Past time.
Example:
- He bought a book yesterday. (past time)
- He left for Paris last year. (past time)
- They sang songs at the wedding. (past time)
- We were playing on the hill. (past time)
Each tense has a simple form indicating action, a progressive form, indicating ongoing action; a perfect form, indicating completed action; and a perfect progressive form, indicating ongoing action that will be completed at some definite time.
| Present
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Take / takes
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Is/ are taking
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Has/ have taken
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Has/ have been taking
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| Past
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Took
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Was/ were taking
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Had taken
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Had been taking
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Take
- The Simple Present Tense is used to express habitual action or general truths.
- Peter takes his dog for a walk.
- I drink coffee everyday
- The sun rises in the east
Is taking
Present Continuous Tense is used for an action going on at the time of speaking.
Peter is taking his dog for a walk (now).
I am reading a book (now).
The boys are playing hockey outside (now).
Has been taking
The Present Perfect Continuous is used for an action which began at some time in the past and is still continuing.
Peter has been taking his dog for a walk regularly.
I have been studying since 5 O'clock.
I have been watering the plants, yet they are dying.
Has taken
Present Perfect Tense is used to denote an action that began in the past and the effect of which has continued to the present moment. It is often used with since and for phrases. Remember that the specific time in the past when the action happened is often not important.
Peter has taken his dog out for a walk.
I have known him for a long time.
He has been ill since last week.
Present Perfect is never used with adverbs of past time.
Wrong: He has gone to Paris yesterday.
Right: He went to Paris yesterday.
Took
Simple Past Tense
The Simple Past is used to indicate an action completed in the past. It often occurs with adverbs or adverb phrases of past time.
Peter took his dog for a walk.
The ship sailed yesterday.
I received the parcel last week.
Were taking
Past Continuous Tense is used to denote an action going on at some time in the past. The time of the action is generally indicated.
Peter was taking his dog for a walk, when it started raining.
We were Watching TV all evening.
It was raining when I stepped out of the house.
Had taken
The Past perfect tense describes an action completed before a certain moment in the past. If two actions happened in the past, it may be necessary to show which action happened earlier than the other. Then the simple past is used in one clause and the Past Perfect in the other.
Peter had taken his dog for a walk when the guests arrived.
Jennifer had met David five years before she met Harry.
I had finished cooking before my friend came home.
Had been taking
Past Perfect Continuous is used for an action that began before a certain point in the past and continued up to a chosen time in the past.
Peter had been taking his dog for the daily walk, until his exams began.
The young man had been working in a paper mill for 6 months at that time.
He had been working on night shifts when he fell sick.
Subject-Verb Concord
We have two numbers in English, the Singular and the Plural. We therefore classify nouns into countable and non-countable nouns. The countable nouns can be singular or plural. How do we regard non-countable nouns?
Countable noun
Countable nouns are the names of objects or people that we can count. They have plural forms.
- Table, Tables, bag, bags, tree, trees,
- pen, pens, friend, friends, rabbit, rabbits,
- spoon, spoons, cup, cups, bag, bags, basket, baskets
Non-countable nouns
Uncountable nouns are the names of things that we cannot count. We count cups of tea, spoons of sugar and packets of oil, but we cannot count tea, sugar or oil. Words like tea, sugar and oil are uncountable nouns. Uncountable nouns do not have plurals.
- sugar, salt, rice, money, sand, oil, milk, petrol
Verbs also are singular or plural. The verb takes the same number as its subject has, in the given sentence. When the subject is singular, the verb is singular. When the subject is plural, the verb is plural.
| Singular
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The boy
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Plays
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The boy plays.
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| Plural
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The boys
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Play
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The boys play.
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| Singular
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A bird
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Is singing
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A bird is singing.
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| Plural
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Some birds
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Are singing
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Some birds are singing
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| Singular
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A stone
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Was shining
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A stone was shining
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| Plural
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The stones
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Were shining
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The stones were shining
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Uncountable nouns take on singular verbs.
| Present tense
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Sings
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Sing
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| Past tense
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Sang
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Sang
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| Present tense
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Is singing
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are singing
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| Past tense
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was singing
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Were singing
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| Present tense
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Has sung
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Have sung
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| Past tense
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Had sung
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Had sung
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| Present tense
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Has been singing
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Have been singing
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| Past tense
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Had been singing
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Had been singing
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Example:
- The furniture has to be changed
- The crockery was exquisite
- The milk has spilt.
- Tea is a popular drink.
Person
Verbs behave peculiarly with pronouns.
- We say I am but he is,
- We say you are even if 'you' refers to a single person.
- Would you like to see a table to explain number with person?
| First person singular
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I
I
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take
am happy
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I take a walk.
I am happy
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| First person plural
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We
We
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take
are
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We take a walk.
We are happy
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| Second person singular
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You
You
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take
are
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You take a walk.
You are happy
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| Second person plural
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You
You
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take
are
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You take a walk.
You are happy
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| Third person singular
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He / she
He/she
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takes
is
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He takes a walk.
He is happy.
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| Third person plural
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They
They
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take
are
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They take a walk.
They are happy
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| First person singular
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I
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am
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I am taking a walk.
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| First person plural
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We
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are
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We are taking a walk.
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| Second person singular
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You
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are
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You are taking a walk.
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| Second person plural
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You
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are
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You are taking a walk.
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| Third person singular
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He / she
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is
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He is taking a walk.
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| Third person plural
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They
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are
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They are taking a walk.
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Read the passage and observe the use of the verbs: A hunter was going through the woods. He was a proud man. He met a woodcutter. He told the woodcutter that he was searching for a bear.
He asked the woodcutter, "My, good man, have you seen a bear?"
The brave woodcutter put down his axe, "Yes, I have seen bears. I will take you to the den".
The hunter became white with fear. He began to shake. "I am looking for bear tracks, not for bears" he stammered. The hunter ran away.
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