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Verbs
The verb is about the noun.
• Verb: A word that shows action,
being, or links a subject to a subject
complement.
•The verb
tells what
the noun
does or is.
Noun
Verb
Verbs
Action Verbs
• If the verb is an action verb, then it
might show action on a direct object:
– Mrs. Lee taught the class.
• Or, an action verb might show simple
action not on a direct object:
– Mrs. Lee taught.
Verbs
Linking Verbs 1
• Linking verbs do not express action.
Instead, they connect the subject of
the verb to additional information
about the subject :
– He is a poet.
– During the afternoon, my cats are
content to nap on the couch.
Verbs
Linking Verbs 2
• The following verbs are true linking verbs:
any form of the verb be [am, is, are,
was, were, has been, are being, might
have been, etc.], become, and seem.
These true linking verbs are always
linking verbs
Verbs
Linking Verbs 3
• How do you tell when they are action
verbs and when they are linking
verbs? If you can substitute am, is,
or are for the verb and the sentence
still sounds logical, you have a linking
verb on your hands. If, after the
substitution, the sentence makes no
sense, you are dealing with an action
verb instead.
Verbs
Linking Verbs 4
• Examples:
– Sylvia tasted the spicy squid eyeball stew.
Sylvia is the stew? I don't think so!
Tasted, therefore, is an action verb in this
sentence.
– The squid eyeball stew tasted good.
The stew is good? You bet. Tasted,
therefore, is a linking verb.
Identify the nouns, pronouns, adjectives,
and verbs in the sentence below and
indicate if they are action or linking.
Parts
Of
Speech:
He
was
pron.
v.
(linking)
brilliant,
adj.
fantastic,
adj.
and
irresponsible.
adj.
Identify the nouns, pronouns, adjectives,
and verbs in the sentence below and
indicate if they are active or linking.
This
is
the desert where the elves decimated the trolls.
Parts
pron. v. adj.
Of
Speech:
(linking)
n.
adj.
n.
v.
(action)
adj.
n.
The Verb is About the
Noun
• Every sentence has a subject, and the
verb (the predicate of the sentence)
is about it.
• The subject will always be a noun or
subject pronoun, and the simple
predicate is the verb.
• The verb is saying that the noun did
something or that the noun is
something.
Four Principal Parts of
the Verb
• All verb forms are made out of four
primary forms that each verb
possesses. The four primary forms
are called the verb’s principal
parts. These four parts are:
-the
-the
-the
-the
infinitive
present participle
past
past participle
Regular Verbs
• Most verbs make the four principle
parts in the same regular way, and
therefore, we refer these ordinary
verbs as regular verbs.
infinitive
present participle
past
past participle
to work
working
worked
worked
to spill
spilling
spilled
spilled
Irregular Verbs
• Many verbs do not follow this regular
pattern. Instead they have principal
parts that are unique and must be
memorized. Some irregular verbs are:
infinitive
present participle
past
past participle
to ring
ringing
rang
rung
to break
breaking
broke
broken
to write
writing
wrote
written
Auxiliary or Helping Verbs
• In simple tense the verb stands alone, as a
single word, to make the simple predicate.
• In a compound tense, the main verb is
supplemented by a helping verb to construct
the tense. The future and perfect tenses are
examples compound tenses that use helping
verbs.
– Example: I will have composed.
The main verb is composed and the
helping verbs are will have.
Action Verbs can be…
Transitive or Intransitive
(Active Voice) or (Passive Voice)
~ Linking verbs are neither! ~
Transitive or Intransitive?
• Transitive verb: (v.t.) A transitive
verb is an action verb that acts on a
direct object: The harpoon hit Moby
Dick.
• Intransitive verb: (v.i.) An
intransitive verb is an action verb
that does not act on a direct object:
Harpoons flew.
Why We Call Them “Transitive”
• Transitive verbs are action verbs that
are called transitive because of the
transit of action or energy that takes
place when the subject acts on the
object.
– If: I kick the bucket. The energy transfers
from me to the bucket I am kicking.
– If: I kick. The verb kick is an intransitive
verb because there is no transfer of
energy.
Active Voice
Verb
An active voice verb is
an action verb that
shows the subject
acting.
For example:
Johnson discussed the
problem.
a
n
d
Passive Voice
Verb
A passive voice verb is
an action verb that
shows the subject being
acted upon.
For example:
The problem was
discussed.
Passive voice makes the
sentence seem weak, since
the subject of the sentence
is not doing anything.
When do we use active
or passive voice?
• Use passive voice in scientific writing:
Writers of scientific papers often
prefer passive voice and past tense in
order to describe the results of
experiments.
• In writing papers on literary matters
and on historical figures, you should
avoid passive voice.
Time makes verbs
tense.
• Time is so central in our life
experience that we identify it in every
sentence we make. We do this by
putting each verb in a time tense.
• We use six different tenses to
indicate time in sentences.
Six Verb Tenses
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Present
Past
Future
Present Perfect
Past Perfect
Future Perfect
Conjugating These Six
Verb Tenses
(example of first person singular)
Present
I protest
Past
I protested
Future
I will (shall) protest
Present Perfect
I have protested
Past Perfect
I had protested
Future Perfect
I will (shall) have protested
Why we call them perfect
tenses:
• The three perfect tenses are called
perfect because they come from the
Latin perficere, meaning to finish.
• The perfect tenses are finished, either
finished in the past, finished in the
present, or finished in the future. I
have returned, I had returned, or I will
have returned.
• Notice the three perfect tenses use the
linking verb to have as a helping verb.
Parallel Verb Tense
• The proofreader’s mark for parallel
construction is //.
• Parallelism in tense means sticking to
the tense you are using, unless there
is reason to change.
Notice how disturbing the
unparallel tenses are in the
passage below:
do not copy this page – do try to determine
when this took place
NOT //
When Charles Dickens went to America,
he gives many speeches, and feels that
his trip was successful. After he returned
to England, he begins to lose the buoyant
spirit he finds in America, and he will
descend into melancholy.
Notice how satisfying the parallel
tenses are in the second
passage:
//
do not copy this page – do try to determine
when this took place
When Charles Dickens went to America, he
gave many speeches, and felt that his trip
was successful. After he returned to
England, he began to lose the buoyant spirit
he found in America, and he descended
into melancholy.
Avoid contractions in
formal writing:
• There is nothing incorrect about the
grammar of contractions, but the
contraction is not in keeping with the
serious intellectual tone of the formal
essay. It suggests that one is in a
hurry and does not want to write out
the word.
• Of course you should use the
contraction if it is part of a quote.
Verbs (a summary):
Transitive
or
Intransitive
Active Voice
or Passive
Voice
Action
Verbs
Linking
Circle all the verbs. When you finish, answer
the questions below.
“This dog looked like he belonged to rich
people. Fausto cleaned his juice-sticky
hands on his pants and got to his feet.
The light in his head grew brighter. It just
might work. He called the dog, patted its
muscular back, and bent down to check
the license.”
How many words are in this passage?
How many of these words are verbs?
How many of these verbs are action verbs?
Circle all the verbs. When you finish, answer
the questions below.
“This dog looked like he belonged to rich
people. Fausto cleaned his juice-sticky
hands on his pants and got to his feet.
The light in his head grew brighter. It just
might work. He called the dog, patted its
muscular back, and bent down to check
the license.”
48
How many words are in this passage?
11
How many of these words are verbs?
How many of these verbs are action verbs? 8