VERBS
A VERB IS A WORD THAT INDICATES AN ACTION.
A VERB MAY TELL US
1) What a person, an animal, or a thing does.
EXAMPLES: Grandmother
sings.
The dog barks.
The clouds gather in the sky.
2) What is done to a person, an animal, or a
thing.
EXAMPLES: The
babies are fed.
He was scolded by his father.
The dinner is prepared.
3) What a person, an animal, or a thing is.
EXAMPLES: He
is tall.
The dog is black and white.
The chair is lost.
Verbs are the words
that describe the action, occurrence, existence, state, status, position,
profession, or change, pertaining to the subject, that the sentence seeks to
convey.
EXAMPLES:
•
They eat to live.
•
We are presenting a group dance.
•
I have finished writing my novel.
•
My sister is happy to get a first division.
•
He was a young boy of fifteen.
•
Her mother is a pilot.
•
This pineapple was sweet.
POINTS TO REMEMBER
•
The verb is the most important and essential part of a sentence.
•
It forms the only essential component of the predicate of a sentence.
•
The form of the verb changes with the change in tense.
•
Verbs satisfy the questions, “What……do” “What is/am/are/was/were”, and
“How is/are/am/was/were”.
KINDS OF VERBS
MAIN VERBS: Words showing action, being, possession.
Transitive Verbs
Intransitive Verbs
Strong Verbs
Weak Verbs
AUXILIARIES VERBS: Words helping in completion of meaning of
main verbs.
Primary Verbs
Modal Verbs
MAIN VERBS
Main Verbs are the words that express action,
possession, being, quality, position or profession.
EXAMPLES:
•
The weeping girl sat on rock.
•
The chief guest will inaugurate the college building.
•
A teacher teaches the students.
•
I am a doctor.
•
The dog has a short tail.
•
My brother wants to be a doctor.
•
A parrot is holding a red chili in its beak.
TRANSITIVE VERBS
The main verbs having either a direct object
or an indirect object in addition to a direct object are called Transitive
Verbs. The object is the recipient of an action or it is something that a main
verb affects directly or indirectly.
EXAMPLES:
•
The monkey eats a banana
•
The washerman washed his clothes clean.
•
The girl plucked some beautiful flowers.
•
The master gives the donkey a radish.
•
He goes to home.
•
The driver stopped the cab.
•
The caterpillar ate the leaf.
INTRANSITIVE VERBS
The main verbs, which are not supplied with
any object or the main verbs whose effect stops with the subject, are called
intransitive verbs.
EXAMPLES:
•
The girl laughed loudly.
•
The women were walking fast.
•
The baby is sleeping.
•
The boy cried.
•
The teacher speaks slowly.
•
All his friends deserted.
•
The birds are chirping.
STRONG VERBS / IRREGULAR VERBS
The main verbs, which derive their past and
past participle forms by undergoing change in their basic vowels such that two
or all the three forms are dissimilar, are called strong or irregular verbs.
|
I
(PRESENT) |
II
(PAST) |
III
(PAST PARTICIPLE) |
|
Eat |
Ate |
Eaten |
|
Go |
Went |
Gone |
|
Write |
Wrote |
Written |
|
Speak |
Spoke |
Spoken |
|
Know |
Knew |
Known |
|
Draw |
Drew |
Drawn |
|
Choose |
Chose |
Chosen |
|
Bite |
Bit |
Bitten |
|
Hide |
Hid |
Hidden |
|
Sing |
Sang |
Sung |
|
Ride |
Rode |
Ridden |
|
Fly |
Flew |
Flown |
|
Freeze |
Froze |
Frozen |
|
Give |
Gave |
Given |
WEAK VERBS / REGULAR VERBS
The main verbs which take –d, -ed or –t in their past and
past participle forms are called weak or regular verbs.
|
I
(PRESENT) |
II
(PAST) |
III
(PAST PARTICIPLE) |
|
Cry |
Cried |
Cried |
|
Divide |
Divided |
Divided |
|
Leave |
Left |
Left |
|
Feed |
Fed |
Fed |
|
Mean |
Meant |
Meant |
|
Say |
Said |
Said |
|
Walk |
Walked |
Walked |
|
Burn |
Burned |
Burnt |
|
Buy |
Bought |
Bought |
|
Purchase |
Purchased |
Purchased |
|
Sleep |
Slept |
Slept |
|
Laugh |
Laughed |
Laughed |
|
Sit |
Sat |
Sat |
|
Pluck |
Plucked |
Plucked |
Some main verbs have all their three forms
alike.
|
I
(PRESENT) |
II
(PAST) |
III
(PAST PARTICIPLE) |
|
Put |
Put |
Put |
|
Cut |
Cut |
Cut |
|
Hurt |
Hurt |
Hurt |
|
Shed |
Shed |
Shed |
|
Let |
Let |
Let |
|
Hit |
Hit |
Hit |
|
Set |
Set |
Set |
|
Shut |
Shut |
Shut |
|
Spread |
Spread |
Spread |
PRIMARY AUXILIARIES
Primary Auxiliaries are the different forms of the verbs Do,
Be and Have helping main verbs to complete their meanings in different tenses.
Be :
is, am, are, was, were
Do :
Do, Does, Did
Have : Has, Have, Had
EXAMPLES:
•
He does not know his name.
•
Alan did not kick him.
•
The cattle are not grazing in meadows.
•
He has finished his project.
•
Mr. Kapoor had purchased a plot.
•
He is going to market.
•
They were working a lot.
POINTS TO REMEMBER
•
Primary auxiliaries do not have any meaning of their own.
•
Primary auxiliaries decide the tense of the main verbs.
MODAL AUXILIARIES
These are the words which, while acting as auxiliaries,
express various modes or moods of an action.
The Modal Auxiliaries: Can, Could, May, Might, Shall,
Should, Will, Would, Must, Ought to, Need, Dare and Used to.
EXAMPLES:
•
You may go wherever you like. (Permission)
•
The bee might have stung the boy. (Possibility)
•
She is ill, she must consult the doctor. (Urgency)
•
My younger sister can solve any problem. (Ability)
•
Nobody dares to face a tiger. (Courage)
•
You should chew food properly. (Advice)
•
Need he
go to such lengths to please them! (Necessity)
POINTS TO REMEMBER
•
Modal Auxiliaries are capable of expressing various modes or moods
without being limited by the tense.
• They remain unaffected by the changes in the number or gender of the subject or the object of the main verb.
