The Verb

This page was first published on the 6th of April, 2014 and last updated on the 28th November, 2016 by Patrick Carpen.

At Primary School, you may have learned that verbs are “action words” such as run, jump, and swim. This is true, but not all verbs are action words. Some verbs are “linking” or “state of being” verbs.

For example:

The boy is fat.

In the sentence above, the word “is” is a linking verb.

While not all verbs are action verbs, you can think of verbs as the “legs” of a sentence. They make the sentence “go.” Imagine what the sentence above would read like without the linking verb “is.” We would have no idea of knowing if the boy is fat now, was fat one year ago, or will be fat next year.

Regular and Irregular Verbs

Regular verbs follow a fixed pattern during conjugation. For example, the verb “walk” is a regular verb.

I walk to school every morning. (present simple)

I walked to school yesterday. (past tense)

Below are some more regular verbs.

Play

Intend

Watch

Love

Print

Talk

Introduce

Imitate

Smile

Irregular verbs on the other hand do not follow any fix patterns. They can either: have no ending, have a changed vowel or be something completely different. Examples:

I buy cane juice every morning (present simple tense)

I bought cane juice yesterday (past tense).

Some more examples of irregular verbs include:

Go, buy, eat, drink, think, sink.

Some more examples of irregular verbs are listed in the table below.

Begin	Began	Begun
Give	Gave	Given
Buy	Bought	Bought
Choose	Chose	Chosen
Cut	Cut	Cut
Drink	Drank	Drunk
Eat	Ate	Eaten
Feed	Fed	Fed
Go	Went	Gone
Fly	Flew	Flown

Irregular verbs in the past simple tense.

1. Jack began every day with a healthy breakfast.
2. Alicja’s dog gave a nasty bite when provoked.
3. Anne and Alicja bought all their vegetables at the Farmers’ market.
4. Ollie chose his friends carefully.
5. Anne cut her hair regularly.
6. Jack drank beer occasionally with friends.
7. Anne and her friend ate out at least once a week.
8. Alicja fed her dog the best quality dog food.
9. Ollie went to visit his parents regularly.
10. Alicja flew to Poland every year.

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

A transitive verb is a verb that transfers its action to an object. An intransitive verb is a verb where the action performed by the subject is not transferred to an object.

Transitive verbs

The word “transitive” might seem complex, but it really refers to movement.

Transitive verbs are followed by a direct object (a thing or a person that is affected by the action of the verb).

Look at the following sentences, where we’ve highlighted the transitive verb for you:

• Alicja took photographs using her new camera.

The direct object of the transitive verb is photographs.

• Jack cooked dinner for Anne.

The direct object of the transitive verb is dinner.

• The dog bit the postman.

The (unfortunate) direct object of the transitive verb is the postman.

Identifying the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs is really easy when you know how.

You have to ask either one of the following questions regarding the verb in question:

• What?
• Whom?

If there is an answer to either question in the sentence then the verb is transitive. Look back over the previous examples and ask the questions and you should find these results:

• What did Alicja take? She took photographs. Therefore the verb is transitive.
• What did Jack cook? He cooked dinner. Therefore the verb is transitive.
• Whom did the dog bite? He bit the postman. Therefore the verb is transitive.

If there is no answer to either question, the verb is intransitive – so let’s find out about what they are.

Intransitive verbs

Intransitive verbs do not have a direct object and the action ends rather than being transferred to a person or an object.

Some verbs may be transitive in one sentence and intransitive in another, depending on how they are used and depending on their context. This means you need to always be aware of the content of a sentence before deciding what type of verb it is.

This is especially important as some transitive verbs can have their objects left out of a sentence when the meaning is clear from the context.

Look at the following examples:

• Jack has smoked since he was fifteen.

The direct object (cigarettes) is understood. Therefore the verb is transitive.

• She plays beautifully.

The direct object (a musical instrument) is understood. Therefore the verb is transitive.

However, there are some verbs which are always transitive or always intransitive. A good dictionary will tell you if a verb can be used either way or if it is always used in one way.

So why do you need to know the difference between the two? Transitive verbs always have to be followed by a direct object (even if this is inferred rather than stated). If students don’t do this, they are left with incomplete or grammatically incorrect sentences.

The Present Simple Tense

The present simple tense of a verb describes an action which is true presently or happens on a regular basis and is likely to continue over a period of time. Examples:

Present simple; first person:

1. I am Jack.
2. I eat a healthy breakfast in the morning.
3. I work as an English teacher.
4. I love music.
5. I go to the cinema every week.
6. I play chess with my friend Anne.
7. I have a new bike.
8. I ride my bike into town most days.
9. I run the movie club every month at my school.
10. I teach my wonderful students.

Present simple; second person:

1. You are Jack.
2. You eat a healthy breakfast in the morning.
3. You work as an English teacher.
4. You love music.
5. You go to the cinema every week.
6. You play chess with Anne.
7. You have a new bike.
8. You ride your bike into town most days.
9. You run the movie club every month at your school.
10. You teach your wonderful students.

Present simple: third person:

1. She is Anne.
2. She eats a healthy breakfast in the morning.
3. She works as an English teacher.
4. She loves music.
5. She goes to the cinema every week.
6. She plays chess with Jack.
7. She has a new bike.
8. She rides her bike into town most days.
9. She runs the movie club every month at her school.
10. She teaches her wonderful students.

The Verb “To Be”

The verb “to be” is the first verb students of English learn. It is conjugated as follows:

I am

You are

He/She/It is

You are (plural)

They are

We are.

Past Particle

The past particle of a verb comes after the past tense. Example: eat (present tense), ate (past tense), eaten (past participle).

The past participle can be combined with the auxiliary verb “have” to form the present perfect tense. Example: I have eaten my breakfast.

The past participle can be combined with the auxiliary verb “had” to form the past perfect tense. Example: I had eaten my breakfast.

Present Participle

The present participle of a verb usually ends in “ing.” The present participle can be combined with the simple present form of an auxiliary verb to form the present continuous tense. Example: Jack is eating breakfast.

The present participle of a verb can be combined with the simple past tense form an auxiliary verb to form the past continuous tense. Example: Jack was eating breakfast.

Auxiliary or Helping Verbs

In English, we like to separate our verbs into different types, like regular and irregular.

Another way of thinking about verbs is as strong or weak verbs.

Strong verbs do not need any help to do their job, and they can sit in a sentence without any support.

However, weaker verbs – like the present participle and past participle verbs we have already looked at – need the help of verbs called auxiliary verbs to get their meaning across.

There are three main auxiliary verbs we use in the English language. They are be, have and do.

These verbs can be also used as ordinary verbs in their own right in a variety of ways, including in their infinitive, past simple, past participle and present participle forms.

Even though they work on their own, auxiliary verbs are good-natured and lend a hand to weak verbs that need some help in forming sentences. This is why you’ll sometimes see auxiliary verbs being called helper verbs. Here’s a helpful table you can use to see how the three auxiliary verbs “be”, “have”, and “do” take different forms.

Infinitive	Past Simple	Past Participle	Present Participle
Be	Was/Were	Been	Being
Have	Had	Had	Having
Do	Did	Done	Doing

Be

The auxiliary be (am, is, are, was and were) is used to support present participle verbs. It appears before the main “-ing” verbs (writing, running, doing, playing, holding, etc.) to help provide extra meaning.

• I am writing a very long book.
• Jack is running the marathon next week.
• People are not doing much to help the environment.
• Ollie was playing games on his computer this morning.
• Alicja and her boyfriend were holding hands in the cinema

Have

The auxiliary have (have, has and had) is used to support past participle verbs where it appears before the main verb (written, run, done, finished, begun, etc.) to help them.

• I have written a few books.
• Jack has run the marathon.
• We have not done much to help the environment.
• He hadn’t finished his homework when Alicja saw him this morning.
• By the time Ollie got to the cinema the film had begun.

Do

The auxiliary verb do (do, does and did) is used to support main verbs in question forms, negative sentences (with not added to the end e.g. don’t, doesn’t and didn’t) and to emphasise the importance of something. It appears before the main verb (e.g. like, love, enjoy, have, see) to support them.

• Don’t you like music?
• I do love music, but not heavy metal.
• Does Alicja enjoy dancing?
• Did you have a good time last night?
• I didn’t see you with your girlfriend.

Modal Verbs

Modal verbs are similar to auxiliary verbs in that they provide further meaning and use to the main verb in the sentence.

Modal verbs include:
Can, could, shall, should, will, would, may, might, must, ought to, used to.

Some facts about modal verbs:

• Modal verbs don’t have an infinitive form. You will never see these types of phrases: to can, to could, to would or to used to.
• Modal verbs don’t have a past tense. There is no such verb as coulded, musted, woulded or oughted to.
• Modal verbs don’t have the “-ing” form, so they can never be used as a present participle verb. There is no such thing as: coulding, shalling, maying or oughting to.
• Modal verbs don’t have a past participle form either.
• Modal verbs can’t stand alone as main verbs, so they have to be used along with another verb or as an auxiliary verb. There is no such thing as: “I can the piano”, “I ought to my mother”, “I will my car”. You need another verb along with the modal verb for the structure to make sense.

Gerunds: Verbs that have been transformed into nouns.

The gerund looks exactly like a verb but functions like a noun. A word is assigned a part of speech based on how it is used in a sentence. A gerund is therefore a noun, not a verb. Here are some examples.

The boy is swimming in the lake. (present particle, present continuous tense).

Swimming is a great exercise. (gerund, used to name an activity).

The girl is riding along the side of the highway. (present participle, present continuous tense).

Riding brings many health benefits. (gerund, used to name an activity).

I am singing on stage. (present participle, present continuous tense).

Singing is one of my hobbies. (gerund, used to name an activity).

The Infinitive

The infinitive of a verb is formed by putting “to” before the base form of the verb. Examples: to eat, to jump, to sleep, to run. The infinitive is not always used as a verb. Sometimes, it can serve as a noun, adjective, or adverb.

Phrasal verb

An idiomatic phrase consisting of a verb and another element, typically either an adverb, as in: “break down“, or a preposition, for example: “see to“, or a combination of both, such as: “look down on“.

Phrasal verbs can be difficult to teach – as there are thousands of them out there and they can’t be directly translated into other languages.

As tricky as this makes things for you as a teacher, they are vitally important in understanding English – so you’ll need to learn how they work.

We’re not able to teach you everything about them here but to ease you in to the topic, we have a simple question for you: what is the difference between a preposition and an adverb?

Here are two examples for you to help you out:

The mouse ran up the clock.

This is a preposition since up has an object, the clock.

The mouse ran off.

This time it’s an adverb since off has no object and talks about the verb, ran.

These are both examples of phrasal verbs, with one using a preposition “ran up” and the other using an adverb “ran off”. When we talk about phrasal verbs, they can be related to prepositions or adverbs depending on how they are used in a sentence. Sometimes they can be three words like: “to get on with”.

Here are just a few more examples of the thousands of phrasal verbs:

Turn in	Get up	Come by	Bring on
Turn down	Get on	Come under	Bring up
Turn away	Get by	Come up	Bring down

We use phrasal verbs a lot in English, and you’ll need to know the different uses they have. The best way to help your students learn them too is to give them lots of opportunities to practise them.