Verbs Flashcards
Verbs
words that express action, existence, or condition
Action verbs
Verbs that express action
Ex. Ran, leapt
Linking verbs
Sometimes known as the copulative verb, joins the subject of the sentence to some word or words in the predicate. The most common example is “be”
How can you test if a verb is a linking verb?
Substitute the appropriate version of the form “be”. If it fits then the original verb was a linking verb.
Verb phrases
Composed of more than one verb - a main or principal verb and auxiliary verbs
Principal verb
Or main verb. By itself it can express complete action, existences or condition. It is always positioned at the end of the verb phrase.
Auxiliary verbs
Or helping verbs. The verbs in the verb phrase that precede the principal or main verb. A verb phrase may contain as many as four helping verbs. They specify characteristics of the principal or main verb but cannot stand alone as complete verbs.
Ex. Be, have, do, can, may, will, shall, and must
What are the five primary characteristics of verbs?
Number, person, voice, mood, and tense
Number of the verb
Indicates how many people, creatures, or things a verb refers to. Singular or plural.
Ex. He runs, they run.
Person verbs
Describes the perspective from which the speaker is making his or her statements or observations. Can be first, second, or third.
First person verbs
When the speaker wants to describe what they are doing, seeing, feeling, etc. Employs the pronouns I or we and the verbs take the appropriate forms to match.
Second person verbs
The speaker addresses the person or people around them. Uses the pronoun you.
Third person
Employs the pronouns he, she,it, or they. Or any third person pronouns. Similar to a person observing their environment or an omniscient third person.
Active voice
The subject of the sentence takes the action of the verb
Passive voice
The subject is acted upon.
What’s an easy way to test for passive voice?
If the preposition by is present - or if you can easily insert a phrase starting with the word by that indicates who performed the action.
Indicative mood is used when you
Make a statement or ask a question
Imperative mood is used when you
Give commands or make requests. Always in second person because commands and requests are always spoken to another person.
Wipe, set, and fetch are all in the imperative mood.
Subjunctive mood is when you
Express wishes or make statements contrary to fact. They express hypothetical or imaginary situations. Can also be used to make commands (ex. It is necessary he be told immediately. Be told is subjunctive) or express a motion (ex. I move that he be permitted to keep chickens. Be permitted is subjunctive)
If is frequently used with subjunctive mood, but you can also use though, lest, unless, that, and till.
Were is always used for subjunctive.
The three verb tenses
Past, present, future
Present tense
Only those actions or states of being that exist in the immediate moment.
Past tense
Includes any action or state of being that we could find between the dawn of time and a split second before the present.
Future tense
Encompasses all actions or states of being we might encounter between the briefest of moments after the present and the end of time.
A verb in the future tense must be in the form of a verb phrase. There are no future tense forms for single verbs, so grammar demands that we use one of the auxiliaries shall or will with a principal verb in a verb phrase to create the future tense.
What are the simple forms of verbs?
Past, present, and future
What are the perfect forms of verbs?
Present perfect, past present, future perfect
The perfect forms of tenses
Have fixed ending points in terms of time.
How do you form the present perfect tense of a verb?
Use have or has with the past participle of the main verb (have or has + verb + -ed).
Ex. I have completed my work.
How do you form the past perfect tense of a verb?
Use had with the past participle of the main verb (had + verb + -ed).
Ex. I had completed my work.
How do you form the future perfect tense of a verb?
Use either shall or will and have with the past participle of the main verb (shall or will + have + verb + -ed).
Ex. I shall have completed all my work before our vacation tomorrow.
What is the progressive form?
Another form of tense that describes verbs whose action or condition is specifically ongoing. It begins at some point in time, past, present, or future, and continues.
How do you form the progressive tense of a verb?
Add a form of be to its present participle (be + verb + -ing). For future progressive you also use shall or will.
Present progressive: I am loving you
Past progressive: I was loving you
Future progressive: I shall be loving you
What tense from is the following sentence using: “I have been looking for you”?
Present perfect progressive
What tense from is the following sentence using: “I had been looking for you”?
Past perfect progressive
What tense form is the following sentence: “I shall have been looking for you”?
Future perfect progressive
What part of the verb phrase indicates the tense?
The first auxiliary verb in a verb phrase indicates the tense.
What is subject verb agreement?
The person and number of the verb must match the person and number of the subject noun(s) or pronoun(s)
What is a compound subject?
Subjects composed of several nouns or pronouns connected by and, or, either-or, or neither-nor.
True or false: subjects connected by and almost always form a plural subject and demand a plural verb. If false, why? If true, what are the exceptions?
True with two exceptions.
1) when a compound subject comes to be regarded as singular through popular usage (ex. Bacon and eggs is my favorite breakfast)
2) when subjects connected by and describe a single person or thing (ex, the creator and champion of the sport is injured)
What are the rules for either-or and neither-nor?
- When two singular subjects are connected by either-or or neither-nor we regard the compound subject as singular and it takes a singular verb.
- If a singular subject and a plural subject are connected, the verb takes the number of whichever subject is closer.
Conjugation of a verb is
The complete set of verb forms inflected across tense, mood, voice, person, and number.
Regular verbs
Form their past indicative and past participle parts in a regular way (-ed is added to their present indicative form - i.e. the base)
Irregular verbs
form the past indicative and past participle parts in irregular ways. There is no easy method to use.
Base of the verb
The base is the present indicative form
To conjugate the present indicative forms:
Every verb in the present indicative except be derives its first and second singular forms and its first, second, and third plural forms from the base, unchanged.
[verb]
To derive the third person singular forms, add -s or -es to the base.
[verb + -s]
To conjugate the past indicative forms:
Add -ed or -d to the base forms of regular verbs. Or make the necessary changes for irregular verbs.
[verb + -ed]
To conjugate the past participle:
Add -ed or -d to the base forms of regular verbs.
[verb + -ed]
To conjugate the present perfect indicative forms:
Pair the past participle of the verb with either have or has
[have or has + verb + -ed]
To conjugate the past perfect indicative forms:
Had followed by the past participle
[had + verb + -ed]
To conjugate the future indicative forms:
Use shall or will with the base of the verb
[shall or will + verb]
To conjugate the future perfect indicative forms:
Use shall or will with have and then past participle
[shall or will + have + verb + -ed]
To conjugate the imperative forms:
Use its unchanged base
[verb]
To conjugate the present subjunctive forms:
Use the unchanged base form of the verb
To conjugate the past subjunctive forms:
With two exceptions it is identical to the past indicative form.
Exceptions: when the subject is first person singular or third person singular and it’s verb is be, use were instead of was.
To conjugate the past perfect subjunctive forms:
Identical to the past perfect indicative. Use had with the past participle.
To conjugate the present participle forms:
Add -ing to the base form
Present participle is used in the progressive form of a verb
Different verbs are helped by different types of words or phrases, but they will always
follow the verb.
Action verbs may take _____ and ______, while linking verbs take _______.
Direct and Indirect objects, subject complements
The direct object receives _____ and answers the questions _____ or _____?
the action of the verb, whom or what?
In the sentence “she gave me a present”, is present a direct or indirect object?
Direct, it tells us what she gave.
The indirect object receives and _____ the direct object in the sentence.
precedes
Indirect objects answer these questions
To whom? or For whom?
Most indirect objects refer to
people
In the sentence “she gave me the evil eye”, which word is the direct object and which word is the indirect object?
direct object: eye, indirect object: me
Direct objects are usually
nouns or pronouns
Any verb that requires a direct object is known as
a transitive verb
An intransitive verb
does not take an object
In the sentence “I taught the children” is taught a transitive or intransitive verb?
Transitive, it takes the object children
In the sentence “we stayed at the Ritz” is stayed a transitive or intransitive verb?
Intransitive, it doesn’t take an object.
What is an object complement?
Nouns, pronouns, and adjectives that rename or describe the direct object. It always follows the direct object in the sentence.
What is a subject complement?
Nouns, pronouns, adjectives, or nominals that rename or describe the subjects of sentences - i.e. they complement the subjects! They always follow linking verbs.
What is another name for a subject complement?
Predicate nominative - for nominals - or predicate adjective for adjectives.
Contractions are
Two words joined together with an apostrophe
What is the contraction for is not?
isn’t
What is the contraction for should not?
shouldn’t
What is the contraction for does not?
doesn’t
What is the contraction for have not?
haven’t
What is the contraction for will not?
won’t
What is the contraction for shall not?
shan’t
What is the contraction for I am?
I’m
What is the contraction for I have?
I’ve
What is the contraction for you are?
you’re
What is the contraction for we have?
we’ve
What is the contraction for they have?
they’ve
What is the contraction for he is?
he’s
What is the contraction for she is?
she’s
What is the contraction for it has or it is?
it’s
What is the contraction for might have?
might’ve
What is the contraction for could have?
could’ve
What is the contraction for should have?
should’ve
What is the contraction for would have?
would’ve
