All about The Verb
· What is a verb?
· Can a verb be of only one word?
· Can you think of a sentence without a verb?
· Do all verbs show action?
· What are action verbs and auxiliary verbs?
· What are transitive and intransitive verbs?
· What are finite and non finite verbs?
Dear
students, verb is the most important element of a sentence.
It
tells about an action, a state or a condition occurring in present, past and
future.
A verb-phrase may be of two
words or of three four and even of five words.
One-
word- verb is the root or the base form of the verb or.
For
example
1.He goes to temple daily to worship God.
(one word)
2.He made me laugh.
3.He has promised to help me.(two words)
4.Dinner has been cooked by my mother. (three
words)
5.Dinner has not been laid on the table yet.
(four words)
6.The work will not have been done by them. (five
words)
A
verb may have an auxiliary verb.
List of Auxiliary
Verbs:
(i)
Be-type
verbs: is/am/are (present forms)
was/were (past forms)
(ii)
Have-type
verbs: Has/have (Present forms) Had
(Past form)
(iii)
Do-type
verbs: Do/does (Present forms) did (Past form)
Modal Auxiliary
Verbs:
Can could
may might
Will shall
would should
Must dare
need used ought
An Auxiliary or a helping verb
can be used as main verb only. In that case, it will be called a Primary Verb,but a modal auxiliary verb cannot be
used as a Primary verb.
For
example
Is,
am, are, was, were, has, have and had
For
example
1.He is my best
friend.(‘is’ as a primary verb)
2.He is sleeping at
this time.(‘is’ is a helping verb)
3.You are the only
person who can help me.
4.I have a story to
tell you.
Every sentence must
have at least a verb.
See
the following sentences:
He
is the student of class VI.
She
does not tell a lie.
Why
are you so angry?
He
has a few acres of land.
In
the above sentences, the verbs are:
Is, does not tell,
are, has
What are the action verbs?
In
the sentence (2), tell is the
action verb. It refers to the action of telling lie.
Some more examples
of action verbs:
( to ) go, ( to
speak, ( to ) write,( to ) laugh, (to) smile,( to ) think,
( to) hate, etc.
· Some actions are
visible and some are invisible.
· You can notice some
actions through your eyes. But there are actions which are not visible through
eyes. They can be felt.
For
example, if you hate someone, the feeling of hatred can’t be seen by others
because the feeling of hatred is in your mind. However you can show your hatred
through some actions.
Your
action of writing, laughing, smiling, going and speaking is visible.
See the use of the
following sentences:
1.I am
hungry.
2.Her mother is
a teacher.
3.These days he is very busy.
4.The Taj Mahal is
situated near the bank of the Yamuna.
5.He was
very interested in your song.
6.They were
not my enemies.
In
the above sentences, am ,is, was, and were are the be-
type primary verbs.
These
verbs show the state or the condition of a situation / a thing or of mind.
Is, am, and are show the condition
or the state in the Present Time.
Was and were show the condition
or the state in the Past Time
To form negative of the be-type verbs ‘not’ is placed after them.
For
example:
He
is not a fool.
They are
not ready to go to Libya
To form the interrogative sentence, be- type verb ‘is’ put in front of the subjects.
Is
he a fool?
Are they ready to go to
Libya?
In the sentences
beginning with interrogative pronouns and interroagtive adverbs of w
or wh type, be- type verbs are put
after them.
For example:
What
is this?
Who
is your brother?
Why
are you so sad?
We often use the contraction form of these verbs in spoken English,
I
am = I’m
She
is = She’s
He
is = He’s
It
is = It’s
Mohan
is = Mohan’s
You
are = you’re
They
are = they’re
The
negative contractions are:
Am
not = aren’t
Are
not = aren’t
Is
not = isn’t
Was
not = wasn’t
Were
not = weren’t
Verbs are transitive and intransitive also.
Transitive Verb: The verb that
needs an object is called transitive
verb. For example,
He
writes
a letter.
To
find out an object form a sentence is very easy. Put question ‘what’ to the
main verb of the sentence. The answer will be the object of the verb.
In
the above sentence ‘He writes a letter’, the main verb is ‘writes’. Now put
question ‘what’ to it. ‘Writes what?’ The answer will be: a letter.
Objects
are also of two types.
1. Direct object 2. Indirect object
See
the sentence: Cow gives us milk.
In
this sentence, ‘ milk’ is direct and ‘us’ is indirect object.
Now
find out objects from the following sentences:
1.She has told
nothing to me.
2.They were solving
their problems.
3.He gave me a book.
4.He made me the
captain of the team.
5.He said that he is
a fool.
6.Those who live in
glass houses should not throw stones at others.
Ans. 1. .nothing, me 2. .their problems 3.
.me, a book 4 .me 5. .that he is a fool 6. .stones
Finite and
Non-finite Verbs
Finite verbs:
1.The first form with
or without ‘s’ or ‘es’ in Simple Present
Tense and the second form in Simple
Past Tense are finite verbs.
2.All be-type (is,
are, am, was, were)
3.All have-type verbs
(has, have, had)
4.All do-type verbs
(do, does, did)
5.All modal auxiliary
verbs (can-could, may-might, will-shall, would-should, dare, need, used, ought)
Pick up the finite
verbs from the following sentences:
1.He believes in superstitions.
2.She does not obey her father.
3.I get up early in the morning.
4.We have not done our work yet.
5.She has been waiting for you.
6.I can do this work easily.
7.You ought to respect your teachers.
Non-finites are:
(A)
Infinitive
1.Infinitive with to:
He stood up to ask a question.
2.Bare infinitive: I
can do this work.
(B)
Gerund: Swimming is a good habit.
(C)
Participle:
1. Present Participle: I am taking bath.
2. Past Participle: He is very disappointed.
3. Perfect Participle: Having finished my work, I went to sleep.
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