Verbs [Butte.edu] Flashcards
Verbs part 1
VERBS
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If a noun was the first word you ever spoke (“Mama” or “cookie”), a verb probably followed just as soon as you learned that (“Give” cookie) got you better results than “Cookie.”
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In a sentence, the verb expresses what the subject does
(She “hopes” for the job) or what the subject is (She “is” confident).
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All verbs are one of three types:
Action verbs
Linking verbs
Helping verbs
Verbs part 2
Action verbs
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In a sentence, an action verb tells what the subject “does”.
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Action verbs express physical or mental actions:
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“think”, “eat”, “collide”, “realize”, “dance”
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Admittedly, some of these seem more active than others.
Nevertheless, “realize” is still as much a verb as “collide”:
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-I finally “realized” my mistake.
-The outfielder “collided” with the second-baseman.
-She “dances” every Friday night.
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(In the present tense, statements with subjects of “he”, “she”, or “it”, we add an “ s “to the verb:
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“I go downstairs”,
“we go downstairs”, and
“ballplayers go downstairs”, but
“he goes downstairs” and
“Loren goes downstairs”.
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For more, see the TIP Sheet “Subject-Verb Agreement.”)
Verbs part 3
Linking verbs
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Linking verbs are the couch potatoes of verbs, that is, not very active at all.
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In a sentence, a linking verb tells what the subject “is” rather than what it “does”;
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linking verbs express a state of being.
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For example, all the forms of the verb “to be” are linking verbs:
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—————1st person ( i ; we )
present: am ; are
past: was ; were
participle: [have] been ; [had] been
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—————2nd person ( you )
present: are
past: were
participle: [have] been ; [had] been
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———–3rd person ( she, he, it; they )
present: is ; are
past: was ; were
participle: [has] been; [had] been
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These verbs connect a subject, say, “Loren”, with more information about that subject:
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“Loren is an athlete”, or
“Loren was glad.”
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Another set of linking verbs are those pertaining to our five senses–seeing, tasting, touching, hearing, and smelling–and how we perceive the world:
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the verbs “appear”, “seem”, “look”, “feel”, “smell”, “taste”, and “sound”, for example.
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When used as linking verbs, they connect the subject with a word offering more information about that subject:
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-“Loren” seems “anxious” about the test.
-The well “water” tastes “wonderful”.
-My “carpet” still feels “damp”.
-“You” sound “hoarse”.
-The “curtains” smell a little “smoky”.
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As linking verbs, these “sense” verbs have about the same meaning as is.
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“Loren ‘seems’ anxious” is roughly equivalent to “Loren ‘is’ anxious”;
“the curtains ‘smell’ smoky” is about the same as “the curtains ‘are’ smoky”.
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However, these same “sense” verbs can sometimes be action verbs instead.
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The real test whether one of these verbs is or is not a linking verb is whether it draws an equivalence with the subject, almost like a math equation:
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Loren = anxious;
curtains = smoky.
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Consider the sentence
“I can’t taste my lunch because I have a cold”.
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“Taste” here does not draw an equivalence between “ I “ and “lunch”;
rather, here it is an action verb, something the subject does.
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In the sentence
“Can you smell smoke?”
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“smell” does not describe what the subject “is”, but what the subject “does”; it is an action verb.
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Other common linking verbs include
“become”,
“remain”, and
“grow”,
when they link the subject to more information (either a noun or an adjective) about that subject:
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-“You” will soon become “tired” of the monotony.
-“Pha” has become a very responsible “teenager”.
-I remain “hopeful”.
-“Daniel” grew more and more “confident”.
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Again, these verbs might be action verbs in other sentences, such as in “I grew carrots”.
Verbs part 4
Helping verbs…
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Verbs often appear with helping verbs that fine-tune their meaning, usually expressing when something occurred.
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The “complete verb” is the main verb plus all its helping verbs.
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Verb “tense” is the name for the characteristic verbs have of expressing time.
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Simple present tense verbs express present or habitual action, and simple past tense verbs express actions that were completed in the past;
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neither simple present nor simple past tense verbs require helping verbs.
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However, most other verb tenses require one or more helping verbs.
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Moreover, some helping verbs express more than just time-possibility, obligation, or permission, for example.
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««…“have, has, had”»»
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Every verb has three basic forms:
present or simple form,
past form, and
participle form.
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All participle forms require a helping verb that fine-tunes the time expression:
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-Comets “have collided” with earth many times.
-Stan “had known” about the plan for some time.
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The table below demonstrates these three forms with their required helping verbs:
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[[ Present or simple form ]]
collide
is
choose
know
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[[ Past form ]]
collided
was
chose
knew
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[[ Participle form ]]
collided
been
chosen
known
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[[ Participle + helper ]]
has, have, had collided
has, have, had been
has, have, had been «chosen»
has, have, had been «known»
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Participles used as verbs in a sentence “must” be used with “has”, “have”, or “had”.
Participles used without helpers become adjectives:
The early explorers sailed beyond the “known” world.
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««<
…to be: am, are, is, was, were, been
»»>
Verbs with “-ing” endings require a helper from the “to be” family of verbs.
These progressive verb tenses express
ongoing present action,
continuous past action or
future planned action:
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-They “are” still “working” on the contract.
-Phanat “was studying” all night.
-Holly “had been reviewing” her notes since the day before.
-We “are holding” student elections next September.
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Verbs with “-ing” endings “must” be used with one of the “to be” helpers;
an “-ing” word without a helper is ineligible to act as the verb of a sentence.
It can, however, be a noun
(“Hiking is fun”)
or an adjective
(“The hiking trail is closed”).
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««…“do, does, did”»»
The helping verbs “do”, “does”, and “did” may be used optionally to add emphasis:
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-She certainly “does” likeher morning mocha.
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While adding emphasis is optional, these helpers “must” be used when forming questions:
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-DoesAndreaskievery weekend?
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They must also accompany the verb in sentences that combine not with an action verb:
-Don’t you wantto take the train?
-Do not wait for me past 4:30.
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When “do” and “does” are used, they change form to match the subject while the main verb remains in simple form:
instead of
-She likes coffee,
we would say,
-She suredoeslikeher coffee.
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Similarly, for questions, we change the form of the helper and leave the main verb in simple form:
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-DoesAndreaski?
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The negative is
-Andreadoesnotski,
even though the statement would have been “Andreaskis”.
(In the past tense, with “did”, the verb never changes form.)
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««…will and shall»»
Future tense verbs require a helper, “will” or “shall”, and express intention, expectation, or action that will happen later.
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-We “shalldrive” to Santa Barbara in August.
-Krista “will” not “attend”.
-We “willbeholding” student elections in September.
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…“would, could, should, can, may, might”…
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The verb helpers
“would”, “could”, “should”,
“can”, “may”, “might”, “must”,
“supposedto”, “oughtto”, “usedto”, and “haveto”
are examples of “modal” helpers.
(“Will” and “shall” are technically modals as well.)
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Modal helpers are little different from real verbs because they never change form.
They are easy to use because they always are used with the simple form of the verb:
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-I “maywant” to change my flight.
-You “cancash” your check at the grocery store.
-Paul “mustnotify” his employer soon.
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Instead of expressing time, modals help verbs express a variety of other things:
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Expresses- >For example…
past habit-
>”I never ‘used to eat’ breakfast; I ‘would’ nevereatbreakfast.”
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requests-
>”He ‘would’ ‘like’ us to clean up;
‘could’ you ‘clean’ up? ‘Can’ you
‘do’ it?”
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permission-
> “Yes, you’can’ ‘go’. You ‘may’ ‘change’ the channel. He’could’ ‘leave’early.”
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necessity, advisability-
>”You’must’ ‘see’that movie! We ‘ought’ ‘to’ ‘go’soon; we’will’ ‘have’ ‘to’ ‘call’ later.”
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possibility-
>”I’might’ ‘pay’with cash; we ‘may’ ‘write’ a check. That ‘could’ ‘be’ true.”
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For more information on the various possible meanings of some modals, see the TIP Sheet “Would, Should, Could.”
For more on verbs, see the TIP Sheets “Consistent Verb Tense” and “Two-Word Verbs.”
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(Grammar geek note: Sometimes, when words like “would” and “could” express a statement of possibility or desire, or when they state something contrary to fact, a special verb form, the “subjunctive”, is required.
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For example, “If he had known, hewould have comesooner” is an expression contrary to fact.
So in this example, the subjunctive form causes the helper to change to “have” instead of the expected “has–” for more information, check a grammar and usage guide for “subjunctive mood.”)
