3. Verbs
Verbs are words that describe an action or a state of being. A verb can also be used to “link” the noun or pronoun to the rest of the sentence. A verb is important, as the sentence cannot be formed without it.
Example: laugh, shout, find, run, singing, searching, sleeps, looked, found, is, am, has, have, had, be, will, have, shall, tells, looks, feels, etc.
I ran to catch the train. (The verb ran tells us what I did; similarly, catch is the action taken w.r.t. the train).
Please call me when you are free. (The verb call tells you what to do, the verb are explains the state of you).
I am so tired! (The verb am tells us the narrator's state).
Verbs are categorised in several ways, and the most common ones are mentioned here:
Action verbs are verbs expressing an action. This is the most common form of verb.
Examples: watch, eat, run, talk, love, sleep, etc.
I must tell you something.
She initiated the discussion.
The class is reading Shakespeare's sonnets.
Linking verbs are verbs that join the subject to the predicate, giving meaning to the sentence.
Examples: be, look, become, feel, seem, stay, turn, is, was, shall, must, etc.
We shall be away all summer. (note that shall links we and away).
You are being silly. (note that are links you and being silly).
The food smells good. (the speaker is performing the action of smelling, not the food)
Do you have fever, your forehead feels hot. (the speaker is feeling that the forehead is hot, not the person whose forehead it is)
Auxiliary verbs are a sub-type of linking verbs that express conditions or situations which exist, usually for the subject of the sentence. They are also called modal verbs or state of being verbs.
Examples: is, was, has, have, had, am, are, were, will, shall, may, might, must, would, could, etc.
I am nineteen.
She has a bee in her bonnet about the cat.
I shall tell him what you said.
Some other concepts with respect to verbs are:
3.1 Gerund - is a verb which behaves like a noun, or the subject of the sentence (we will cover the subject in subsequent sections). The gerund always ends with ing.
Example:
Travelling has always been my passion.
She is afraid of flying.
We are going skiing in the afternoon.
Note that the underlined verbs are used as gerunds only in these examples. They are usually used as active verbs, as shown by the following examples:
Example:
I love to travel.
She is afraid to fly.
I love to ski.
3.2 Infinitive - is the basic form of a verb. The verb is usually preceded by “to”.
Example: to eat, to drink, to sleep, to run, etc.
Sometimes, an infinitive is split from the word to (to boldly go where no man has gone before). It is usually preferable not to split the infinitive from the verb.
3.3 Participle - is a word which has been formed from a verb but is used as an adjective.
Example: burnt toast, broken back, crying baby, burning log, etc.
You can see that these words are describing the nouns following them (toast, back, cause).
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