All about Verbs
Summary
Verbs describe actions, states, and events.
- Rita climbed Mt. Everest last year.
- Tumkin likes to travel.
- It was cold when we visited Greenland in December.
Verbs may be lexical (full) or auxiliary (supporting).
- I should have known better.
known = lexical verb; have = primary auxiliary; should = modal auxiliary
Some verbs simply describe the subject.
- Anita is wise and witty.
The copular (or linking) verb is helps describe the subject of the sentence.
Verbs also show when an event occurred—that is, they carry tense.
- Farley fell out of a tree.
something that happened in the past
Voice dictates whether the subject of the sentence is the performer or the recipient of an action.
- Active: Tumkin has won the lottery.
- Passive: The lottery has been won by Tumkin.
Verbs may be either transitive or intransitive, depending upon whether an object is needed to convey complete meaning.
- Transitive: Poco gave a speech at the conference.
- Intransitive: Lulu danced.
Phrasal verbs are two or more words that act as a single verb.
- The scruffy little kitten grew up to be a majestic cat.
Verbs can be modified by adverbs.
- Lulu danced beautifully at the performance.
What is a verb?
A verb describes an action, occurrence, or state.
- Rita ran to catch the bus.
- Lulu sent me an email.
- Farley believes in destiny.
Types of verbs
Sentences contain lexical (or full) verbs and primary or modal auxiliary verbs.
- Farley could have drowned in the river.
drowned = lexical (full) verb; have = primary auxiliary verb; could = modal auxiliary verb
Lexical verbs
Lexical verbs act as main verbs in a sentence and can stand by themselves without needing other verbs. They are also called full verbs. These are words that denote actions, events, or states.
- Rita drank some pumpkin juice.
- Tumkin visited Malaysia in July.
- Maya thinks about the future all the time.
- Nesbit likes to shoot zombies on a screen.
Auxiliary verbs
Auxiliary or supporting verbs are used alongside lexical verbs to convey additional meaning in a sentence. Being auxiliaries, such verbs cannot stand alone in a sentence. They need a lexical verb to complete their meaning.
- Maya could have climbed Mt. Everest, but she didn’t.
climbed = lexical verb; have = primary auxiliary; could = modal auxiliary
- Rita is going to eat up all the birthday cake!
going = lexical verb; is = primary auxiliary
- Farley should try carrying a horseshoe around in his pocket.
try = lexical verb; should = modal auxiliary
Primary auxiliaries
The primary auxiliary verbs be, do, and have add to the meaning of the main verb in a sentence by indicating tense, aspect, and voice. These verbs can also help form emphatic and negative structures and frame questions.
- Farley was singing a song when the roof fell in.
The be verb (“was”) combines with the main verb sing to show the past progressive tense.
- They are planning to adopt a dog from the shelter.
- Poco has smashed all the plates.
The have verb combines with the main verb smash to show the present perfect tense.
- I did not set his house on fire.
The do verb (“did”) combines with the main verb set to form a negative structure.
- Have you called your mother yet?
The auxiliary have helps form a question.
The do verb is sometimes used as an auxiliary for emphasis.
- I do think he is right.
More emphatic than “I think he is right.”
- I did call him, but he never answered.
The primary auxiliaries—be, do, and have— can also serve as main verbs in sentences.
- Lulu was the funniest girl in school.
The be verb functions as the main verb (“was”) and is thus used as a full or lexical verb rather than an auxiliary verb.
- Poco has a house in the Bahamas.
- I did everything I could for him.
Modal auxiliaries
Modal verbs help frame suggestions, requests, and commands. We use the modal verbs can, could, will, would, shall, should, may, might, and must with main verbs to express necessity, possibility, ability, capacity, permission, and obligation.
- You must wear a helmet in space.
Must used with the main verb wear shows necessity.
- Anita may find these articles interesting.
possibility
- Tumkin can run faster than I.
ability
- Could you pass the pepper, please?
request
- These new antibiotics will cure the infection.
capacity
- Maya would never write such a message.
possibility
- Visitors to the space station shall wear identification at all times.
instruction or command
- One should always reply to emails.
obligation
- Tumkin might know what to do.
possibility
Need, dare, ought to, have to, and used to also serve as modal verbs when used alongside a main verb.
- You needn’t be so unkind.
- I dare not contradict him when he is angry.
- You ought to apologize to her.
- I have to find a way to travel more often.
- Maya used to write for a newspaper.
Verb contractions
Auxiliary verbs are often contracted in speech and informal writing.
- Tumkin’s going to Serbia on holiday.
is going
- I’d never sell my house.
would never
- She’s been traveling around the world for three years.
has been
- We’ll sing songs in space someday.
will sing
In casual communication, the be verb is contracted not just when it’s the auxiliary verb but also when it’s the main verb in a sentence.
Avoid contracting the have verb when it is the main verb in a sentence and means “to possess.”
- Incorrect:Maya’s two cats at home.
May be confusing to the reader: Maya has two cats? Maya is two cats? Maya’s two cats (possessive)?
- Correct:Maya has two cats at home.
However, when have is an auxiliary verb, it’s fine to contract it in casual communication. (We generally avoid the use of contractions in formal writing.)
- Maya’s applied for a berth on the spaceship.
has applied
Contractions are also used to form negative structures (questions in particular).
- I don’t believe a word she says.
do not
- Hasn’t Nesbit come to work today?
- Rita isn’t going to sell her motorcycle to you.
- Couldn’t you at least have called me?
Copular or linking verbs
Copular or linking verbs do not refer to an event but are used to describe the subject in a sentence. Instead of talking about an action, these verbs simply connect the subject to additional information about it (in other words, link the subject to the complement).
- Lulu is a great dancer.
The verb is helps describe Lulu rather than referring to an action or event.
- This food tastes delicious.
- A holiday sounds wonderful.
- Poco became suspicious when he found his emails open on the screen.
- The classroom gets noisy sometimes.
The verbs be, become, and seem are always linking rather than action verbs.
- The aliens were surprisingly friendly.
- Tumkin became fitter and happier as the days passed.
- Your friend seems nice.
Other verbs, such as get, taste, feel, sound, and prove may sometimes be linking verbs and sometimes action verbs.
- Linking: Do lemons taste sweet?
Action: Lulu tasted the soup to check for salt.As a linking verb, taste helps describe lemons, but it can also refer to an action, such as someone tasting the soup. - Linking: It got a bit crazy there yesterday.
Action: Farley got himself a new hat at the fair. - Linking: Maya feels happy when it rains.
Action: Rita felt about for her phone in the dark. - Linking: Waking up at 5 a.m. sounds impossible to me.
Action: Poco sounded the buzzer, and we all stopped working. - Linking: The government’s scheme proved a complete success.
Action: Nesbit must prove his theory to win the prize.
Stative and dynamic verbs
It is useful to differentiate between verbs based on whether they refer to an action or a state. Dynamic verbs describe an action and are therefore also called action verbs.
- Tumkin tossed a coin.
- Lulu is singing a song.
- Maya was talking to her cat when the phone rang.
In contrast, stative verbs describe a condition or a state that is not likely to change. These verbs are therefore not usually used in the progressive tense.
- Rita believes in three-headed monsters.
This is more a general state than an action. “Rita is believing in monsters” would sound odd and incorrect.
- Lulu thinks you’re cute.
- Farley fears the future.
- Lemons taste sour.
Stative verbs are not used in the progressive tense, even when speaking of a situation or state that is temporary.
- I
am living/ live in Hawaii but will move to New York next month. - I
am hoping/ hope you’re right.
Other examples of commonly used stative verbs are remember, forget, love, like, hate, want, need, and understand.
Transitive and intransitive verbs
Transitive verbs require an object to convey complete meaning. If the object is missing, you want to ask the question “What?” or “Whom?”
- Incomplete meaning:Rita eats for breakfast.
Eats what?Complete meaning:Rita eats caterpillars for breakfast.
- Incomplete meaning:Poco has found.
Found what?Complete meaning:Poco has found a new job.
- Incomplete meaning:Farley lost at the fair.
Lost what?Complete meaning:Farley lost his hat at the fair.
- Incomplete meaning:Tumkin met yesterday.
Met whom?Complete meaning:Tumkin met me yesterday.
Other transitive verbs include like, love, believe, bring, receive, raise, suggest, put, and need.
Intransitive verbs are complete in themselves and don’t require an object or complement to complete their meaning.
- Complete meaning: Lulu laughs all the time.
You don’t want to ask “Laughs what?” or “Laughs whom?” This verb doesn’t need an object.
- Complete meaning: One can always dream.
The verb dream doesn’t require an object.
- Complete meaning:Nothing ever happens.
- Complete meaning:Yes, it matters.
- Complete meaning:It rained this morning.
Other intransitive verbs are breathe, cough, sleep, run, live, snore, snow, work, vanish, and rise.
Some verbs can be used both transitively and intransitively.
- Transitive: We played a game.
Intransitive: As children, we played together every summer. - Transitive: Anita passed the exam.
Intransitive: We have all passed with flying colors. - Transitive: Maya wrote a note.
Intransitive: Maya writes in the morning.
Phrasal verbs
Phrasal verbs are two or more words that work together as a verb.
- Could you look after my cat for a couple of days?
“Look my cat” would not make sense, but “to look after” means “to take care of.”
- Lulu ran into Nesbit at the mall today.
Different from “Lulu ran Nesbit.”
- Poco turned down Farley’s proposal.
A phrasal verb consists of a verb (e.g., look, run, turn) and a particle (e.g., after, into, down).
The meaning of a phrasal verb can be quite different from the literal meanings of the verb and particle that comprise it. For example, turn into means to transform, turn up means to appear unexpectedly or be found, while turn down means to reject something. Dictionaries (like Merriam-Webster and Oxford) provide meanings and usage examples of the different phrasal verbs.
Participles
Participles are verb forms that serve multiple purposes. For example, they can describe nouns, thus acting as adjectives. The present participle is formed by adding -ing to a verb.
- a bottle of drinking water
Instead of referring to an action or event, the verb form drinking describes the noun water.
- a fighting chance
- a skipping rope
The past participle of a verb often ends in -ed or -en (e.g., filtered, baked, forgotten, stolen). However, note that many verbs in English have irregular past participles (e.g., lost, found, run, sung).
- a bottle of filtered water
- a forgotten friend
- her lost letters
An important function of participles is to indicate tense.
- Lulu is singing a song.
present progressive tense
- Poco has begun working on a new project.
present perfect tense
Properties of verbs
Verbs change form depending on their subject and the tense and mood you want to convey. Verbs can also be modified (or described) using adverbs.
Person and number
A verb has a subject (the one performing the action). Verb forms are affected by whether that subject is in the first, second, or third person and whether it is singular or plural.
| Person | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| First person | I write | we write |
| Second person | you write | you write |
| Third person | he/she/it writes | they write |
Ensure subject-verb agreement by using the correct verb form for the person and number.
- Incorrect:Maya have written a novel.
Correct:Maya has written a novel. - Incorrect:Everyone I know have read it.
Correct:Everyone I know has read it.
Tense and aspect
Tense refers to the time of an event’s occurrence.
- Present: Maya sees shooting stars.
- Past: Maya saw shooting stars.
- Future: Maya will see shooting stars.
Aspect reveals the speaker’s perspective of when the event happened.
- Simple: Nesbit fixed my computer for me.
- Progressive: Lulu was dancing in the garden when it started to rain.
- Perfect: Anita had finished her book by the time the flight was announced.
- Perfect progressive: Poco had been yelling for two hours when his eyes exploded.
The progressive aspect indicates what the speaker perceives the duration of an event to be (was dancing . . . when . . . ), while the perfect aspect shows how events are temporally related to each other (had finished . . . by the time . . . ). Tense and aspect thus combine to present a complete picture of when an event occurred.
| Tense | Present | Past | Future |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple | she writes | she wrote | she will write |
| Progressive | she is writing | she was writing | she will be writing |
| Perfect | she has written | she had written | she will have written |
| Perfect progressive | she has been writing | she had been writing | she will have been writing |
As you can see, the present participle (writing) with the auxiliary verb be is used to form the progressive tenses (is writing). The past participle (written) combines with the auxiliary have to form the perfect tenses (has written).
Voice: Active and passive
The voice of a sentence determines whether the subject is the performer or the recipient of an action. In the active voice, the subject is the one performing the action.
- Nesbit rode Rita’s motorcycle today.
- Tumkin will drink a protein shake.
- Maya wrote a short story.
In contrast, when a sentence is in the passive voice, the subject is the one to whom something is done. Use the passive voice when you want to focus on the recipient of the action in a sentence, rather than on the performer or doer.
- Rita’s motorcycle was ridden by Nesbit today.
- A protein shake will be drunk by Tumkin.
- A short story was written by Maya.
The past participle form of a verb is used in the passive voice. To change the active-voice sentence, “Maya wrote a story,” to passive voice, we use the past participle form written: “A story was written by Maya.”
A sentence without an object cannot be in passive voice.
- Active: Maya writes.
The verb writes has no object. Therefore, this sentence must stay in the active voice.
- Active: Maya wrote a book.
The object, or recipient of the action, is “a book.”Passive: A book was written by Maya.
Interestingly, linking verbs, which merely link the subject to its description and have no object, have no voice.
- Rita is reckless.
The verb is helps describe Rita. There is no performer or recipient of an action in this sentence, and it therefore does not carry voice.
Mood
The mood of a verb tells us whether the verb expresses a statement of fact, a command, or a wish or desire. The moods in English are indicative, imperative, and subjunctive.
- Indicative: Platypuses are egg-laying mammal.
The indicative mood, used most often, helps express a fact.
- Imperative: Brush your teeth twice a day.
In the imperative mood, the verb is used in its base form to issue instructions or commands.
- Subjunctive: If I were a ghost, I would travel to the edge of the galaxy.
The subjunctive, used rarely in English, expresses a wish. Note the use of were instead of was in the sentence.
Modification by adverbs
Verbs can be modified by adverbs: you can use an adverb to add to the meaning of a verb.
- Lulu sings beautifully.
The adverb beautifully adds to the meaning of the verb sings. It tells us how Lulu sings.
- Rita runs fast.
- Maya danced happily in the rain.
Usage guide
Use verbs to speak of actions, events, and states.
- With a lexical (or full or main) verb, use an auxiliary verb to convey tense and aspect (has been flying).
- Modal verbs, which speak of possibility, ability, obligation, etc. (She may have been flying), can help you frame requests, make suggestions, and issue commands (We could fly to Nusquam tomorrow).
- Auxiliary verbs like be and have are often contracted in casual communication (they’re traveling the world) but not in formal writing.
- Use linking (or copular) verbs to describe people and things (Lulu is funny).
- Check that the verb form you use matches the subject in person and number (Everybody
were/was dancing on the mountaintop). - Use tenses to speak about when something happened and your perspective of it (The flight will have left by the time we reach the airport).
- Remember that stative verbs, which speak of a state rather than an action, are not generally used in the progressive tense (I
am living/live in Nusquam). - Use the active voice when the performer of the action is important (One of the guests has stolen Farley’s wallet), and the passive voice when the recipient of the action is more important than the performer or doer (Farley’s wallet has been stolen by someone).
- Use the correct phrasal verb to speak of an action or event. When in doubt, cross-check the meaning in a standard dictionary.
- If you want to add to the meaning of a verb, use an adverb (Rita rode recklessly down the mountainside).