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Verbs
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Verb Definition
• A verb is a word that:
• expresses action
• makes a statement
• links relationships.
Finite Verbs
Finite Verbs
• A finite verb is considered
TRANSITIVE or INTRANSITIVE
depending upon its relationship
with some other words in the
sentence.
Transitive Verbs
Transitive Verbs
• A transitive verb has two characteristics.
• First, it is an ACTION VERB, expressing a
DOABLE activity like kick, want, paint,
write, eat, clean, etc.
• Second, it must have a DIRECT OBJECT,
something or someone who RECEIVES
the action of the verb.
Transitive Verbs
•
•
Look at these sentences:
He met her yesterday.
She wrote a story last year.
Rust destroys iron.
In these sentences, the verbs are the words met, wrote and destroys.
•
•
In each sentence, you ask the question, “______
You will get the answers as follows:
WHOM/WHAT?'
– sentence 1 — question: met whom?
• answer: her
– sentence 2 — question: wrote what?
• answer: story
– sentence 3 — question: destroys what?
• answer: iron
•
•
(note that we use whom in the questions for human beings and what for
things and also for animals.)
The words her, story and iron in the sentences above are called OBJECTS
in grammar.
• A transitive verb is, therefore, a verb which has an object.
What is an Object?
• An object, we may say, is the AIM or
PURPOSE or DESTINATION or TARGET
of a verb's action.
• In our three example-sentences, the
verbs met, wrote and destroys have the
words her, story and iron as their
TARGETS.
• These targets are called OBJECTS.
– With a transitive verb, we can EXPECT
these objects.
Why Are They Called “Transitive”?
• We call these verbs
'transitive' because
these verbs have the
property of
TRANSITIVITY
Why Are They Called “Transitive”?
What is transitivity?
• To transit means to pass through.
• Each of the verbs met, wrote and destroys in our
examples has its action CONVEYED (CARRIED)
to the object.
• We might also say that the action begins with the
subject (he, she, rust in our sentences) and
PASSES THROUGH the verb to the direct
object.
• This property of the verb is transitivity. Hence we
call these verbs transitive.
Understanding these verbs in this way helps us
to remember what they are.
List of Transitive Verbs
• Here's a list of transitive verbs.
eat, drink, read, write, play, see, hear,
answer, find, love, like, understand,
catch, bring, sing, meet, give, take, get,
forget, buy, sell, pay, help.
Examples
• (a) The teacher answered the question.
– Trans Verb = answered
Object = question
• (b) My friend bought a house.
– Trans Verb = bought
Object = house
• (c) The children found the money.
– Trans Verb = found
Object = money
• (d) Most Indians love cricket.
– Trans Verb = love
Object = cricket
• (e) The Robinsons like football.
– Trans Verb = like
Object = football
Examples
• Sylvia kicked Juan under the table.
– Kicked = transitive verb; Juan = direct object.
• Joshua wants a smile from Leah, his
beautiful but serious lab partner.
– Wants = transitive verb; smile = direct object.
• Cory painted the canvas in Jackson Pollock
fashion, dribbling bright colors from a
heavily soaked brush.
– Painted = transitive verb; canvas = direct
object.
Examples
• Alisha wrote a love poem on a restaurant
napkin.
– Wrote = transitive verb; poem = direct object.
• Antonio eats lima beans drenched in
brown gravy.
– Eats = transitive verb; lima beans = direct
object.
• Pinky the poodle cleans the dirty supper
dishes with his tongue before Grandma
loads the "prewashed" items into
dishwasher.
– Cleans, loads = transitive verbs; dishes,
items = direct objects.
Intransitive Verbs
Intransitive Verbs
•Important Note:
When no DIRECT OBJECT
follows an action verb, the
verb is INTRANSITIVE.
Intransitive Verbs
• An intransitive verb has two
characteristics.
• First, LIKE a transitive verb, it is an
ACTION VERB, expressing a DOABLE
activity like arrive, go, lie, sneeze, sit, die,
etc.
• Second, UNLIKE a transitive verb, it will
NOT have a direct object receiving the
action.
Intransitive Verbs
• Here are some examples:
• walk, jump, sleep, sit, lie,
stand, weep, kneel, fall, fly,
flow, remain, die, belong, wait,
come, go.
Intransitive Verbs
• Here are some example sentences.
– (a)
– (b)
– (c)
– (d)
– (e)
We walk to the railway station.
The children jump with joy.
Babies sleep for many hours.
My brother stood there.
Jesus wept.
Examples
• Identify the Intransitive Verb:
• Huffing and puffing, we arrived at the
classroom door with only seven seconds
to spare.
– Arrived = intransitive verb.
• James went to the campus cafe for a
steaming bowl of squid eyeball stew.
– Went = intransitive verb.
Examples
• To escape the midday sun, the cats lie in the shade
under our cars.
• Lie = intransitive verb.
• Around fresh ground pepper, Sheryl sneezes with
violence.
• Sneezes = intransitive verb.
• In the evenings, Glenda sits on the front porch to
admire her immaculate lawn.
• Sits = intransitive verb.
• Flipped on its back, the beetle that Clara soaked with
insecticide dies under the refrigerator.
• Dies = intransitive verb.
Exceptions: Intransitive
Verbs
• You will often find TRANSITIVE
verbs used INTRANSITIVELY,
i.e. without an object.
–They are eating.
–We play in the evening.
–I understand.
Exceptions: Intransitive
Verbs
• At rare times intransitive verbs are used
transitively.
• How did you cover all that distance? We
walked it.
– ('walked' has the object 'it' in this sentence)
• I cannot stand such nonsense.
– ('stand' has the object 'nonsense' in this sentence)
Exceptions: Can Be
Used As Both
• Realize that many verbs can be
both transitive and intransitive.
• An action verb with a direct object
is transitive while an action verb
with no direct object is intransitive.
Exceptions: Can Be
Used As Both
• Some verbs, such as arrive, go, lie,
sneeze, sit, and die, are always
intransitive; it is IMPOSSIBLE for a direct
object to follow.
• Other action verbs, however, CAN be
transitive or intransitive, depending on what
follows in the sentence.
Exceptions: Can Be
Used As Both
• Because of blood sugar problems, Rosa always
eats before leaving for school.
• Eats = intransitive verb.
• If there is no leftover pizza, Rosa usually eats
whole-grain cereal.
• Eats = transitive verb; cereal = direct object.
• During cross-country practice, Damien runs over
hills, through fields, across the river, and along the
highway.
• Runs = intransitive verb.
• In the spring, Damien will run his first marathon.
• Will run = transitive verb; marathon = direct object.
Note:
Besides transitive and
intransitive verbs, we have
LINKING VERBS in the
finite verbs family.
Verbals
A verbal is the form of a verb
used as a noun, adjective or
adverb.
Verbals
• Verbals is another name for NON-
FINITE verbs.
• The important questions are...
– What are non-finite verbs?
– Why are they called verbals?
– What are the things to learn about
them?
Non-finites
• Simply put, non-finite verbs are
verbs which are NOT finite verbs.
• Looks very simple, but it's not
entirely so.
• The basic points of difference
between finites and non-finites are
as follows:
Difference Between Finites
and Non-finites #1
• A non-finite verb DOES NOT change
according to its SUBJECT, as a finite verb
does.
• Example: He likes to drive. They like to drive.
• The non-finite verb to drive remains constant,
while the finite verb like/likes changes
according to the subject he/they.
Difference Between Finites
and Non-finites #2
• Non-finite verbs are not affected by
TENSE CHANGES, finite verbs are...
• Example:
– They like to drive. They liked to drive.
• The finite verb shows two DIFFERENT forms
like or liked for the simple present and simple
past tenses respectively.
• For the non-finite verb to drive, tense is
IRRELEVANT.
Why Are Non-finites
Called Verbals?
• We often call the different types of non-finite verbs a "VERBAL
SOMETHING," depending on the non-verblike work they do.
• So the word 'verbal' becomes a kind of GENERIC (common)
name for them.
• There are three types of VERBALS/Non-finite verbs:
– The Gerund is known as a verbal noun.
– the Participle is often called a verbal adjective.
– The Infinitive does the work of a noun, or an adjective, or an adverb
(adjective modifier, purpose modifier, etc).
• We usually don't call the infinitive a verbal noun or a verbal adjective,
only because we don't want to CONFUSE it with the gerund or the
participle.
Infinitives
Infinitives
•
•
Infinitives are one of the three groups
of non-finite verbs (also called
verbals)
We shall look at this particular type of
verb from three angles:
1.
2.
3.
How it looks (its form or morphology)
What work it does in a sentence (its function or syntax)
Its meaning (or semantics)
How Can You Recognize an Infinitive?
• Its form is usually as follows:
– to eat, to drink, to play, to be, etc.
• with a 'TO' before it.
• In some cases the word 'to' is dropped.
• We speak of such a verb (with the word 'to'
dropped) as a BARE INFINITIVE.
• The bare infinitive is the STANDARD
FORM of an English verb.
What work does it do?
• According to function, that is, the work it does
in a sentence (syntax), it may be both a
NOUN and a VERB
• Here is an example:
– I like to finish the work quickly.
• In this sentence the infinitive to finish does
the following jobs:
– It is the object of the finite verb like—therefore to finish is
similar to a NOUN (because being an object is a noun's job).
– The phrase to finish has its own object, work—so to finish is
a VERB (since verbs have objects).
Example Cont.
• The adverb quickly modifies (i.e. tells us
something more about) to finish.
– Since the phrase to finish is modifiable by an
adverb, it must be a VERB.
• We can say that the infinitive, though born in
the verb family, does not limit itself to being a
verb.
• It often behaves like a noun when it goes
around socializing in the world of
sentences!
Also…
• In some cases...
• It behaves even as an ADJECTIVE, as in the following
sentence.
– That was a game to watch!
• In this sentence, to watch tells us something more about the quality of
the game (a noun). Describing a noun is the work of an adjective.
• Sometimes it can behave like an ADVERB. The sentence
below illustrates this.
– Her voice is pleasant to hear.
• The phrase to hear tells us something more about the quality of being
pleasant.
• The word pleasant is an adjective, and words that tell us more about an
adjective are traditionally called adverbs.
The Infinitive and Meaning
• If we take the meaning, (semantics) then
the infinitive could be viewed as a pure,
unadulterated form of a VERB.
• This pure meaning we modify, change,
or mutate, by imposing on it such things
as tense, modality, voice, etc.
• The infinitive in itself (semantically) is a
pure ACTION WORD (to do, to write, etc)
or a word denoting EXISTENCE (to be)
Gerund
Gerund
• A gerund is a non-finite verb and is
often referred to as a VERBAL
NOUN.
• There are three kinds of non-finite
verbs:
1. Gerund
2. Infinitive
3. Participle
Gerund
• To understand the gerund, we shall look at
its...
• MORPHOLOGY—i.e. the shape of the
gerund-word
• SYNTAX—i.e. its function in a sentence
• SEMANTICS—i.e. its meaning.
Gerund
• It has an "-ing" ending.
• Please note that all verbs ending in “ing" are NOT gerunds.
• PRESENT PARTICIPLES also have
the same form.
• It is easy therefore to CONFUSE a
gerund with a present participle.
• This is why we need to look at the
WORK it does in a sentence.
The Syntax of the Gerund
• The gerund does the work of a NOUN in a
sentence.
• This means, it can be any one of the following:
• The SUBJECT of a verb, as in the sentence...
– Swimming is good exercise.
• The word swimming is the subject of the verb is.
• The OBJECT of a finite verb, as in...
– You enjoy learning a new language.
• The word learning is the object of the finite verb enjoy.
• The OBJECT of a non-finite verb...
– She intends to begin writing the story soon.
• The word writing is the object of to begin, an infinitive (i.e. a
non-finite verb).
The Syntax of the Gerund
• The object of a preposition...
– He is interested in joining the group.
• The word joining is the object of the preposition in.
• The indirect object of a verb...
– She gave reading great importance in her life.
• The word reading is the indirect object of the verb gave.
• All these functions which the gerund is shown
doing are usually those of a NOUN.
• Depending on the function, the grammatical
case of the gerund will be nominative or
accusative or genitive, etc.
The Semantics of the Gerund.
• You know that the NOUN is a name.
• The gerund is also a name.
• It is the name of an activity.
In so far as it is an activity, it is a verb.
In so far as it is a name, it is a noun.
• Here are two examples:
• walking stick—the word walking looks like an adjective describing
stick...but it is not—
• walking stick is not a stick which walks. It is a compressed form of
stick for walking. So walking is the object of the preposition for. So
walking is a gerund.
• reading room—the phrase does not mean that the room reads. It
is a compression of a room for (the purpose of) reading. So
reading is a gerund.
Participles
Participle
• a participle is a word that shares some
characteristics of both VERBS and
ADJECTIVES
• It can be used in compound verb
tenses or voices, or as a modifier.
• A phrase composed of a participle and
other words is a PARTICIPIAL
PHRASE.
Participles
• Look at these two sentences:
– The stranger ignored the barking dogs.
– I saw a boy riding a bicycle.
• In sentence 1, the word barking...
– is formed from the verb 'bark' and it also
denotes an action; therefore it is a VERB
– describes the noun 'dogs' and therefore it is
like an ADJECTIVE.
Participles
• In sentence 2, the whole phrase riding a
bicycle... acts like an ADJECTIVE.
– It describes the noun 'boy'.
• The whole phrase is called a PARTICIPIAL
PHRASE and the word 'riding' is called its
HEAD...
– and as the head it is mainly responsible for the
adjectival function.
• The word 'riding' also acts like a VERB, because
it has 'bicycle' as its OBJECT.
• Also remember that the phrase 'riding a bicycle'
is an action-based description of the boy.
Participles
• A participle is a verbal ADJECTIVE.
• It is by birth a verb, but mostly serves
nouns and pronouns as an ADJECTIVE
does.
• They are of three types:
– the PRESENT Participle
– the PAST Participle
– the PERFECT Participle.
Present Participles
• This NON-FINITE verb can be recognized
from its -ING ending
– (e.g. eating, playing, singing, studying,
sleeping).
• However, this fact alone is not enough to
recognize it for sure, because the
GERUND also has the same ending.
Present Participles
• A present participle does the work of an
ADJECTIVE, but a gerund does the
work of a NOUN.
• Though both have the same form, they are
different in the JOBS they do (i.e. in their
function).
Present Participle
• These two examples will make this point clear…
– I enjoy singing.
• 'singing' is the object of the verb 'enjoy'—being an object
of a verb is the mark of a noun—therefore, 'singing' is a
GERUND.
– She is a singing girl.
• 'singing' describes the noun 'girl'—describing a noun is
the function of an adjective—therefore 'singing' is a
PARTICIPLE.
• So if you want to recognize a present participle
you need to take into consideration not only its form
but also its USE in sentences.
Past Participle
• All past participles DO NOT
have one type of form.
• So they are harder to recognize.
Past Participle
• Here are some ways to help you recognize
them...
– They often have one of these endings: -ed, -d, -t,
-en, -n
• (as in: developed, hoped, burnt, fallen, grown).
– Sometimes they are formed by making an INTERNAL
CHANGE in the basic form of the verb
• e.g. sung from sing, won from win, bound from bind, met
from meet).
– A third way of forming the past participle is by NOT
CHANGING the form of the verb at all
• (as in verbs: put, cut, set).
Perfect Participle
• The form of this particular non-finite
verb depends on that of the PREVIOUS
one, i.e. the PAST PARTICIPLE.
• The form is: the word 'HAVING' + the
past participle. (e.g. having sung,
having won, having met, having rested,
having seen, etc).
Any…
QUESTIONS?