Verbs

Verbs convey action or a state of being.

Verb forms

Regardless of the verb’s inflection, all verbs have a form-type:

Tense

Tense refers to when the action expressed by the verb occurred:

Verbs that express tense are finite, a verb that does not is inifinte:

• Finite: I did my homework.
• Infinite: I have homework.

Aspect

How an action extends over time. There are two aspects:

Perfect

Action completed by a certai point in time, even if that means that it will be completed in the future. auxillary verb: have

• Dan has danced.
• Dan had danced.
• Dan will have danced.

Progressive

Action ongoing for a period of time, even if the action occurred in the past or hasn’t occurred yet. auxillary verb: be

• Sally is running.
• Sally was running.
• Sally will be running in college.

Progressive participles are when you us an -ing form of a verb with a form of be to express ongoing action.

Transitive, intransitive, and copular/linking verbs

Transitive verb

Takes a direct object. The direct object is the recipient of the verb’s action:

Jack kissed [Jill]. (Jill is the direct object)

Intransitive verb

Does not take a direct object:

ack cried. (No direct object)

Copular/linking verb

Neither transitive or intransitive. Most common is be, but includes other verbs that deal with being, becoming, appearing, and the five senses.

These verbs link the subject of the clause to a noun or adjective phrase in the predicate. So, the predicate refers back to the subject:

A Camaro is [a sports car]. (noun phrase) A Camaro is [cool]. (adjective phrase)

The noun phrase that follows a copular verb is called a subject predicative, which is a different way to say that the subject is also referenced in the predicate.

Examples that don’t use be as the linking verb:

• Rachel became the new director.
• The movie looks bad.
• Doug acts impulsively.

Physical senses

Adverbs describe verbs/actions (quickly, badly, etc.), while adjectives describe nouns. For example:

• I feel bad. (correct: adjective describing the noun bad)
• I feel badly. (incorrect: adverb describing the verb feel. Essentially says “I cannot feel things well.”)

Auxillary and modal auxillary verbs

Auxillary verbs are helpers to lexical verbs (verbs that are not auxillary). The main aux verbs are be and have. These verbs help express the following:

• When an action took place: John has left.
• Whether an action is ongoing: Jim is talking. You are leaving.

Modals do not have any form types (no -s, -ing forms). Also, they cannot be inifinitives.

Modal auxillary

Express the following:

• certainty
• possibility
• willingness:
• obligation: You should leave.
• necessity: You must leave.
• ability: You can cook.

These verbs include the following:

• can
• could
• may
• might
• will
• shall
• would
• should
• must

Semi-modal verbs (also called modal phrases):

• dare
• need
• outght to
• have to
• have got to
• to be going
• to be able to

Examples

• Ability: Rick can swim.
• Permission: You may go to the restroom.
• Obligation: You must go to the front door.

Operators and dummy operators

Operators are verbs that move around to accomplish expression. Auxillary verbs have and be are often operators:

• Have you eaten dinner?
• Are you OK?

You can do the following:

• form a question: You swap the places of the subject and first auxiliary verb to make the verb an operator:

  Rick was crying. -> Was Rick crying?

• make the verb negative. You put not after the auxiliary verb:

  It is cold outside -> It is not cold outside.

• add emphasis: Do leave your coat at the check.

• truncate sentences: I do.

Dummy operator

Insert the dummy operator so you can have an operator that allows you to form a quesiton or add negation, particularly when there is no auxiliary verb to make a question or negation. Dummy operators include conjugations of the word do:

• do
• did
• does

Examples:

• Gary danced. -> Does Gary dance?
• Evelyn lies. -> Does Evelyn lies?

Mood

There are three moods in English:

Subjunctive

Expresses wishes, doubts, suggestions, hypothetical situations, or actions that have not yet occurred. The subjunctive mood conveys uncertainty, possibility, necessity, or emotion. It applies in the following:

• contrary-to-fact situations: If I were you…
• commands
• demands
• statements of necessity
• suggestions
• requests
• proposals
• suppositions

Examples:

• I wish he were here.
• If you were here.
• It’s important that you be quiet.

Present tense

You can apply to any verb, just replace the conjugated form with the base form:

• Rick is here -> It is important that Rick be here.
• I am nice. -> It is critical that I be nice.

Past tense

Applies only to be and you just change any instance to was or were:

• I was. -> I wish I were.
• He was. -> I wish he were.

Indicative

Any simple declarative statment of fact:

• He is there.
• John ran the race.

Imperative

A command where the subject is always an implied You.

• Do your homework
• Be ready.

The implied you allows them to be one word long:

• Eat!
• Run!

Voice

There are no active or passive verbs–whether a sentence is active or passive voice depends on the structure of the sentence. In passive construction, the object of the transitive verb is the grammatical subject of the sentence:

• Vicki ate the cake. (active)
• The cake was eaten by Vicki. (passive)

Passive

Use passive when the object of the action is more important than the doer:

• Fido was found after a few days.

In the preceding sentence, we use passive to focus on Fido, rather than the person that found Fido.

To form a passive, you must combine the verb be with the passive participle, which is the same as the past participle:

• God created the Earth. (active)
• The Earth was created by God. (passive)

You do not have to include the doer of the action in the passive tense:

• The door was slammed by Bill.
• The door was slammed.

Phrasal verbs

When a verb is used with one or more prepositions or adverbs to change the meaning of the verb, it is a phrasal verb. You can even insert a pronoun in the middle of the phrase:

• I broke up with my boyfriend.
• Jill made up her biography.
• We put him up for the night. (Includes a pronoun)

Gerunds

A gerund is the -ing form of the verb used as a noun:

• Crying is so sad.
• Chewing the fat is my favorite pasttime.
• My nephews do not like reading.

Participial modifiers (verbs as adjectives)

When you modify a noun with the participle form (-ing or -ed for regular verbs) of a verb:

• The dancing fool.
• A known fact.
• My favorite writing class.

Contraction

Commonly contracted verbs:

• be
• have
• will
• would
• not (adverb)
• us (pronoun)