Verbs | English Grammar | Itselfu

 

verbs | english grammar | itselfu

Definition 

Suppose, you are lying on the bed and missing someone. You might think of doing no physical work but still you must remember that your brain is functioning, hence such a work „miss‟, even if being performed by your brain, is also considered as a verb. 

Verbs are used to indicate the actions, processes, conditions, or states of beings of people or things. 

Verbs play an integral role to the structure of a sentence. They constitute the root of the predicate, which, along with the subject (the “doer” of the verb’s action), forms a full clause or sentence—we cannot have a sentence without a verb. When we discuss verbs’ role in the predicate, we usually divide them into two fundamental categories: finite and non-finite verbs.

Finite and Non-Finite Verbs 

The predicate requires at least one finite verb to be considered complete. A finite verb has a direct relationship to the subject of a sentence or clause, and does not require another verb in the sentence in order to be grammatically correct. For example: 

• “I swim every day.” 

• “She reads many books.” 

• “He talked for several hours.” 

Each of the above is a finite verb, expressing an action that is directly related to the subject of the sentence. Non-finite verbs, on the other hand, do not express that relationship directly. 

The only verbs that can be considered finite are those in their base form (the infinitive form without the particle to), their past tense form, or their third person singular form. Verb forms that are never considered finite are gerunds, infinitives, and participles (both past and present). Let’s look at an example containing both a finite and non-finite verb: 

• “We are learning about the American Revolution in school.” 

This sentence uses the present continuous verb are learning. This functions as a single unit, with learning expressing most of the meaning. 

However, learning is a present participle, which is considered a non-finite verb; the finite verb of the sentence is actually just the auxiliary verb are. It is an inflection of the verb be used for a first person plural subject (we).

We can see the difference if we use each verb in isolation with the subject: 

• “We are” 

• “We learning” 

We can see that the first verb is finite because it expresses a direct relationship with the subject, and it can go on to form any number of complete sentences. For example: 

✔ “We are tired.” 

✔ “We are almost there.”

✔ “We are a large group.” 

The second verb, the present participle learning, cannot make such sentences, and so is not finite. The following examples all require a finite verb to be correct: 

✖ “We learning math.” 

✖ “We learning a lot.” 

✖ “We learning in school.” 

To learn more about the differences between these two classes of verbs, go to the Itselfu : SSC CGL (Website) Finite and Non-finite Verbs chapter. 

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs 

Every verb is classed as being either transitive or intransitive. Transitive verbs describe an action that is happening to someone or something. This person or thing is known as the direct object of the verb. For example: 

• “He’s reading a book.” (The action of reading is happening to the book.) 

• “The people watched the game from the bleachers.” (The action of watched is happening to the game.) 

• “I was eating a delicious steak for dinner last night.” (The action of eating is happening to a delicious steak.) 

Transitive verbs can also take indirect objects, which are the people or things receiving the direct object. For instance: 

• “I sent my brother a letter.” (My brother receives the letter through the action of sent.) 

Conversely, intransitive verbs do not have objects—their action is not happening to anyone or anything. For example: 

• “I can’t believe our dog ran away.” (There is no object receiving the action of ran away.) 

• “There was a lot of dust in the air, which made me sneeze.” (There is no object receiving the action of sneeze.) 

• “Don’t be too loud while the baby sleeps.” (There is no object receiving the action of sleeps.)

Main Verb and Auxiliary Verb/Helping Verb

A.) Main Verb :- Main verb describes the action of the subject such as to dance, to sing, to think, to read, to write, to see, to move, to miss, to beat etc.

Action doesn‟t only mean the physical work. When you think, your brain works, so „to think‟ is also an action ; hence it is a verb.

B.) Auxiliary Verb/Helping Verb :- Auxiliary or “helping” verbs are verbs that are used to complete the meaning of other primary or “main” verbs in a sentence. In the example we looked at above, are is an auxiliary to the main verb, learning. 

The three primary auxiliary verbs—be, have, and do—are used to create different tenses, to form negatives, or to ask questions. For example: 

• “I am working on my project.” (present continuous tense) 

• “She does not work here anymore.” (negative sentence) 

• “Have you seen my keys?” (question)

Regular and Irregular Verbs 

A.) Regular Verb :- Just as every verb is either transitive or intransitive, each one is considered to be either regular or irregular 

Most verbs are regular verbs, which means that “-d” or “-ed” can be added to their base form (the infinitive of the verb without to) to conjugate both the past simple tense and past participle forms. For example:

Base Form :- “I play violin.” “I bake cakes.” “I listen to my teacher.” “I gather firewood.” “I climb trees.” 

Past Simple Time :- “I played violin.” “I baked cakes.” “I listened to my teacher.” “I gathered firewood.” “I climbed trees.”

Past Participle :- “I had played violin.” “I had baked cakes.” “I had listened to my teacher.” “I had gathered firewood.” “I had climbed trees.”

B.) Irregular Verb :-  Irregular verbs, on the other hand, have past tense and past participle forms that do not (or do not seem to) adhere to a distinct or predictable pattern, and they are usually completely different from one another. 

Unfortunately, this means that there is generally no way of determining how to conjugate irregular verbs—we just have to learn each one individually. There are many irregular verbs, but here are a few common ones:

Base Form :- “I see the horizon.” “I grow bigger every day.” “I give to charity.”

Past Simple Time :- “I saw the horizon.” “I grew bigger every day.” “I gave to charity.”

Past Participle :- “I had seen the horizon.” “I had grown bigger every day.” “I had given to charity.”

Uniquely, the verb be is considered highly irregular, having three different present tense forms (is, am, are) and two past tense forms (was, were), in addition to its base form and its past and present participles (been, being). 

Verb Forms List (A to Z)

V1 Present (Root)	V2 Past	V3 Past participle	ing-form
Gain	Gained	Gained	Gaining
Grant	Granted	Granted	Granting
Cool	Cooled	Cooled	Cooling
Believe	Believed	Believe	Believing
Bring	Brought	Brought	Bringing
Admire	Admired	Admired	Admiring
Fail	Failed	Failed	Failing
Break	Broke	Broken	Breaking
Act	Acted	Acted	Acting
Agree	Agreed	Agreed	Agreeing
Amaze	Amazed	Amazed	Amazing
Amuse	Amused	Amused	Amusing
Appear	Appeared	Appeared	Appearing
Arrive	Arrived	Arrived	Arriving
Ask	Asked	Asked	Asking
Behave	Behaved	Behaved	Behaving
Borrow	Borrowed	Borrowed	Borrowing
Blame	Blamed	Blamed	Blaming
Belong	Belonged	Belonged	Belonging
Believe	Believed	Believed	Believing
Call	Called	Called	Calling
Cool	Cooled	Cooled	Cooling
Carry	Carried	Carried	Carrying
Cause	Caused	Caused	Causing
Clear	Cleared	Cleared	Clearing
Climb	Climbed	Climbed	Climbing
Enjoy	Enjoyed	Enjoyed	Enjoying
Explain	Explained	Explained	Explaining
Hunt	Hunted	Hunted	Hunting
Ignore	Ignored	Ignored	Ignoring
FightImprove	FoughtImproved	FoughtImproved	FightingImproving
Impress	Impressed	Impressed	Impressing
Invite	Invited	Invited	Inviting
Jog	Jogged	Jogged	Jogging
Jump	Jumped	Jumped	Jumping
Join	Joined	Joined	Joining
Knock	Knocked	Knocked	Knocking
Last	Lasted	Lasted	Lasting
Label	Labelled	Labelled	Labelling
Learn	Learned	Learned	Learning
Live	Lived	Lived	Living
Look	Looked	Looked	Looking
Love	Loved	Loved	Loving
Mark	Marked	Marked	Marking
Match	Matched	Matched	Matching
Move	Moved	Moved	Moving
Notice	Noticed	Noticed	Noticing
GrowNote	GrewNoted	GrownNoted	GrowingNoting
Enjoy	Enjoyed	Enjoyed	Enjoying
Explain	Explained	Explained	Explaining
Open	Opened	Opened	Opening
Order	Ordered	Ordered	Ordering
Offer	Offered	Offered	Offering
DrawProtect	DrewProtected	DrawnProtected	DrawingProtecting
Push	Pushed	Pushed	Pushing
Prefer	Preferred	Preferred	Preferring
Plan	Planned	Planned	planning
Play	Played	Played	Playing
ThrowProvide	ThrewProvided	ThrewProvided	ThrowingProviding
RingRepair	RangRepaired	RungRepaired	RingingRepairing
Become	Became	Become	Becoming
Flee	Fled	Fled	Fleeing
ChooseRepeat	ChoseRepeated	ChosenRepeated	ChoosingRepeating
ThinkRest	ThoughtRested	ThoughtRested	ThinkingResting
SitShare	SatShared	SatShared	SittingSharing
Save	Saved	Saved	Saving
Slow	Slowed	Slowed	Slowing
Sneeze	Sneezed	Sneezed	Sneezing
Solve	Solved	Solved	Solving
Start	Started	Started	Starting
Stop	Stopped	Stopped	Stopping