By Puan Noraza Ahmad Zabidi

By Puan Noraza Ahmad Zabidi

 Verbs are a class of words used to show the performance of

an action (do, throw, run), existence (be), possession (have),
or state (know, love) of a subject. To put it simply a verb
shows what something or someone does.
 Most statements in speech and writing have a main verb.

These verbs are expressed in tenses which place everything
in a point in time.
 The verb is perhaps the most important part of the
sentence. A verb or compound verb asserts
something about the subject of the sentence and
express actions, events, or states of being.
 The verb or compound verb is the critical element

of the predicate of a sentence.
 In each of the following sentences, the verb or
compound verb is highlighted:
 Dracula bites his victims on the neck.

 The verb "bites" describes the action Dracula takes.
 In early October, Giselle will plant twenty tulip bulbs.

 Here the compound verb "will plant" describes an
action that will take place in the future.
 My first teacher was Miss Crawford, but I remember

the janitor Mr. Weatherbee more vividly.
 In this sentence, the verb "was" (the simple
past tense of "is") identifies a particular
person and the verb "remembered" describes
a mental action.
 Karl Creelman bicycled around the world in
1899, but his diaries and his bicycle were

destroyed.
 In this sentence, the compound verb "were
destroyed" describes an action which took

place in the past.
 Vebs can be grouped into 3 major classes
 1 Lexical verbs(run,eat,think) function only

as main verbs
 2. Primary verbs(be,have ,do) can function
as both auxiliary and main verbs

 Modal verbs(can, could,shall, will,would,
may, might, must function only as auxiliary

verbs
 Lexical verbs(sometimes called ‘full verbs)
are only used as main verbs.
 Children and dogs ran from side to side
 He barely ate or slept that night
 Most lexical verbs have regular endings for
forming past and present tense(call, calls,

called)
 Many of the most common lexical lexical
verbs in English have irregular morphology.

 2. primary verbs
 There are primary verbs—be,have , do are the most

common verbs form a separate class because they
can be used either as a main verb or as an
auxiliary verb
 Compare the following uses of each primary verb
 Primary verbs-main verbs –main verb function:

 He does my washing
 His dad was an art professor
 Every atom has a dense nucleus
 Primary verbs-auxiliary verb function(with
main verb underlined):
 He doesn’t look at the numbers

 He was wearing a dark ski mask
 A particular combination of results has
occurred
 In the English language, a modal auxiliary verb is an auxiliary
verb( or helping verb) that can modify the grammatical mood
of a verb
 The modal auxiliaries do not have participles or infinitives
 The modal auxiliaries are as follows:
 Will and would

 Shall and would
 May and might
 Can and could
 Must and have to
 Ought to and had better
 Stative verbs are static; they have no duration
and no distinguished endpoint
 Examples of sentences with stative verbs
-I am tired
-I have two children
-I like the colour blue
-I think they want something to eat
-We believe in one God
-The case contains six bottles
-This would imply that we didn’t care
 It includes
 1) Verbs about mental activity:believe, forget,
know, notice, recognise, remember,
understand.
 Eg: he believes in God
 Not: he is believing in God
 I don’t recognise her
 Not; I an not recognising her
 Do you understand?
 Not: are you undertanding
 2) Verbs which describe emotional states: desire,
hate, like, love, prefer, want
 Eg : she loves her parents
 Not; she is loving her parents
 Which do you prefer?
 Not: which one are you preferring?
 He wants a new car
 Not; he is wanting a new car
 3)Certain other verbs: belong, cost, fit, include ,
mean, need, own, matter.
 Eg : this book belongs to me
 Not; this book is belonging to me
 The ticket cost five pounds
 Not; the ticket was costing five pounds
 I own three houses
 Not ; I am owning three houses
 4) Verbs of perception : see, hear, smell, taste,
feel(5 senses)
 Eg: can you hear that music?
 Not: are you hearing that music?
 I couldn’t taste the onions in the soup
 Not: I wasn’t tasting the onions
 It’s dark. I can feel you but I can’t see you.
 Not I am feeling but I’m seeing…
 Can you smell the scent of the roses?
 Not: are you smelling the scent
 Some other English stative verbs are believe, know,
seem, and have
 All these generally denote states rather than actions
 However, it should be noted that verbs like have and be,
which are usually stative, can be dynamic in certain
situations
 Think is stative when it means ‘ believe’, but not when it
means ‘consider’.
 The following are not stative;

 You are being silly
 She is having a baby.
 Quiet please, I am thinking.
 Forms of the present simple
 3rd person singular all others
 He works I work
 She works You work
 The boss works we work
 The telephone(it works ) they work
 Her friend works Her friends
work
 I am/have/do/say
 We/you/they are/have do say
 He/she/it is has/does/says
 What do you mean?

 What does she mean?
 I don’t like sweets
 She likes sweets
 We have pets
 Siti has a pet
 Ann doesn’t have any pets
 1) A present state. It indicates a state which
exists now; a fact which is always or
generally true
 Something was true in the past, is true now
and will be true in the future
 Eg: water consists of hydrogen and oxygen

 Most animals kill only for food
 The world is round
 The sun rises in the east
 2) A present habit; an action we repeat
regularly.
 E.g I study for 2 hours every night

 My classes begin at nine
 He always eats sandwich for lunch
 E.g What do you do on weekdays? Well, I get
up at 7, have breakfast, walk to the station,
and catch the train to work. I arrive at home
from work at about 6 o’clock
 3) A present event. It refers to an event which
happens at the very moment of speaking. e.g when
we describe what we are saying as offering,
accepting, begging
 E.g I regret that I made a mistake

 We accept your offer
 I beg you not to go there
 E.g I have only a dollar right now
 I don’t recognise that man
 He needs a pen right now
 Note-the ‘event’ meaning of the present simple is
also found in newspaper headlines
 (Italy wins World cup)

 (monkeys escape from London zoo)
 In sports commentaries
 (Ali passes the ball to Ahmad)

By Puan Noraza Ahmad Zabidi

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

By Puan Noraza Ahmad Zabidi

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

By Puan Noraza Ahmad Zabidi

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

By Puan Noraza Ahmad Zabidi

 Verbs are a class of words used to show the performance of

 Most statements in speech and writing have a main verb.

 The verb or compound verb is the critical element

 Dracula bites his victims on the neck.

 In early October, Giselle will plant twenty tulip bulbs.

 My first teacher was Miss Crawford, but I remember

1899, but his diaries and his bicycle were

destroyed" describes an action which took

 1 Lexical verbs(run,eat,think) function only

as both auxiliary and main verbs

may, might, must function only as auxiliary

forming past and present tense(call, calls,

verbs in English have irregular morphology.

 There are primary verbs—be,have , do are the most

 Primary verbs-main verbs –main verb function:

 He doesn’t look at the numbers

 Will and would

 The following are not stative;

 What do you mean?

 Eg: water consists of hydrogen and oxygen

 E.g I study for 2 hours every night

 E.g I regret that I made a mistake

 (Italy wins World cup)

You might also like