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BENSALAH. B
GRAMMAR
2nd LMD
TYPES OF VERBS
Verbs can be divided according to the job they do in a sentence. They can be classified in three ways:
Syntactically (according to their role in a sentence), Morphologically (based on their formation) or
Semantically (their meaning).
1. Syntactically: These are the divisions and sub-divisions according to syntax:
 Finite Verbs
o Transitive Verbs
o Intransitive Verbs
o Linking Verbs
 Non-Finite Verbs (Also called Verbals)
o Infinitives
o Gerunds
o Participles
 Present Participle
 Past Participle
 Perfect Participle
 Helping Verbs (Auxiliaries)
o Primary Auxiliaries
o Modal Auxiliaries
2. Morphologically: We know that verbs are words, just like any other part of speech. The words
that represent the verbs follow different patterns of spelling or sound. Verbs can, therefore, be
divided into various kinds depending upon how they are formed. Grammarians would call this
a morphological division.
 Regular Verbs
 Irregular Verbs
 Compound Verbs
 Phrasal Verbs
3. Semantically: verbs can be grouped according to meaning (to explain what a verb is).
 Action Words (Action Verbs)
 Being
 Having
Now you know the names of different verbs and how they are classified. In what follows, we will look
at each type in detail:
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BENSALAH. B
GRAMMAR
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Types of Verbs
Syntactically
Finite V
Non-Finite V
Transitive V
Infinitives
Intransitive V
Gerunds
Morphologically
Helping V
Primary
Auxiliaries
Modal
Auxiliaries
Linking V
Present
Participle
Participles
Past
Participle
Regular V
Irregular V
Semantically
Action V
Being
Compound V
Having
Phrasal V
Perfect
Participle
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BENSALAH. B
I.
GRAMMAR
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Syntactic Division
Consider the following groups of sentences:
Group A
Group B
I like to help people.
I am fond of reading books.
We like to help people.
We are fond of reading books.
You like to help people.
You are fond of reading books.
He likes to help people.
He is fond of reading books.
She likes to help people.
She is fond of reading books.
Anita likes to help people.
Antony is fond of reading books.
They like to help people.
They are fond of reading books.
In sentences in Group A, we have the verbs like and help. The verb like takes on different forms (like,
likes) in the six sentences in the group. The verb help has the same unchangeable form to help in all the
sentences. So, we have one verb which changes and the other which does not change.
In the sentences in Group B, we have a similar thing. We have the verb be in different forms (am, is,
are) and the unchangeable verb form reading of the verb read. So, here too, we have again one changing
verb and the other an unchanging verb.
1. Finite Verbs
The verb like in group A and the verb be in group B are verbs which change. The reason these verbs
change their forms must surely be because of the words I, we, you, he, she, Anita, they...since it is clear
that all other words within the same group of sentences are the same. These verbs which change
according to words I, we, you, he, she, Anita, and they, are called Finite Verbs. The
word finite means limited. Since the words I, we, you, he, etc., can make these verbs change, i.e., the
power of these verbs is limited by: Agreement with the subject; Tense and aspect; Voice; and
Mood. We can think of these as properties of the verb or as "rules" which finite verbs obey. They are
obedient and reliable verbs.
Verbs of this type are transitive, intransitive or linking.
1.1 Transitive Verbs
A transitive verb is a type of finite verb. A finite verb is considered transitive or intransitive depending
upon its relationship with some other words in the sentence. Another way of saying this is that
the division into transitive and intransitive is based on syntax.
Consider:
1. He met her yesterday.
2. She wrote a story last year.
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3. Rust destroys iron.
In these sentences, the verbs are the words met, wrote and destroys. In each sentence, you ask the
question, 'met whom/what?' You will get the answers as follows:



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. A transitive verb is, therefore, a
verb which has an object.
An object is the aim or purpose or destination or target of a verb's action. In our three examplesentences above, 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. We call these
verbs transitive because these verbs have the property of transitivity.
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 object. This property of the
verb is transitivity. Hence we call these verbs transitive.
List of transitive verbs
Eat, drink, read, write, play, see, hear, answer, buy, find, love, like, understand, catch, bring, sing, meet,
give, take, get, forget, buy, sell, pay, help. Examples
Sentence
verb
object
(a) The teacher answered the question.
answered
question
(b) My friend bought a house.
bought
house
(c) The children found the money.
found
money
(d) Most Indians love cricket.
love
cricket
(e) Keralites like football.
like
football
1.2 Intransitive Verbs
A transitive verb is a verb which does not take an object such as: walk, jump, sleep, sit, lie, stand, weep,
kneel, fall, fly, flow, remain, die, belong, wait, come, go.
(a) We walk to the railway station.
(b) The children jump with joy.
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(c) Babies sleep for many hours.
(d) My brother stood there.
(e) Jesus wept.
Some Exceptions: You will often find transitive verbs used intransitively, i.e. without an object.
They are eating. / We play in the evening. /I understand.
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)
1.3 Linking
Linking Verbs simply show that the subject exists. These Verbs usually can’t be demonstrated. They
include the following:
• Forms of the verb “to be”: am, is, was, were, will be, had been, etc.
• Verbs of “sense”: seem, appear, look, smell, taste, sound, etc.
Examples:
Susie IS the head cheerleader.
George IS a good father.
Chris IS the captain of the team.
Tracy SEEMED very excited.
This fish SMELLS rancid.
Vicks NyQuil TASTES awful.
Pete APPEARED sulky and unhappy.
I FELT very foolish.
My new stereo SOUNDS wonderful.
In each sentence, the subject complement (the word which completes the meaning of the sentence) is
either a noun or an adjective. For example, cheerleader is a noun renaming who Susie is. Excited is an
adjective describing Tracy.
Two important points to remember: • When a sentence contains a linking verb, THE COMPLEMENT
MAY BE EITHER A NOUN OR AN ADJECTIVE.
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GRAMMAR
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2. Non-Finite Verbs
Non-Finite verbs are verbs which do not change. In group A (in Section I), the verb to help and in group
B the verb reading are non-finite verbs of two different types. No word in a sentence can impose a
change on these verbs. That is why we call them non-finite, which means not limited by other words in a
sentence. Though they are born in the verb family, the non-finites often act like nouns, and sometimes
like adjectives or adverbs. Verbs of this type are the infinitive, the gerund, and the participle.
2.1 Infinitive
Infinitives are verbals that are made up of the word to and a verb. Infinitives may function as nouns,
adjectives or adverbs. Since infinitives are derived from verbs, they do express actions or states of being.
When infinitives function as adjectives and adverbs, they are usually found preceding nouns and
pronouns in sentences, and when they function as nouns, they are used as subjects, direct objects and
objects of prepositions.
2.1.1
Its Morphology (Form)
We can recognize the infinitive from its form, which 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 and is called a bare infinitive. The bare
infinitive is the standard form of an English verb.
2.1.2
Its Syntax (function)
Infinitives (to + verb) should not be confused with prepositional phrases (to + noun or pronoun).
Infinitives may occur as to + one verb, or they may be part of an infinitive phrase. They have different
functions:
 Infinitives functioning as nouns: To love is the greatest achievement.
 Infinitives functioning as adjectives: [That was a game to watch!] In this sentence, to
watch tells us something more about the quality of the game (a noun).
 Infinitives functioning as adverbs: [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 (adjective modifiers) are traditionally called adverbs.
 Infinitive phrase functioning as noun: Ranee wanted to arrive at her destination.
 Infinitive phrase functioning as adjective: [The Smiths were the first family in our
neighborhood to adopt a child.]
 Infinitive phrase functioning as object: [I like to finish the work quickly] It is the object of the
finite verb like - therefore to finish is similar to a noun (because it is an object is a noun's job).
Infinitive phrase functioning as a verb: [I like to finish the work quickly] It is a verb since it
has its own object, work and it is modifiable by the adverb quickly which tells us something
more about to finish.
2.1.3 Its semantics (meaning)
Semantically, the infinitive is a pure action word (to do, to write…) or a word denoting existence (to be).
Then the infinitive could be viewed as a pure, unadulterated form of a verb whose meaning can be
modified by imposing on it tense, modality, voice, etc.
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GRAMMAR
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Test: This test only works for infinitives and infinitive phrases that function as adverbs. It is a good test
to determine if an infinitive is functioning as an adverb: “If an infinitive or infinitive phrase can be
moved to the beginning of the sentence, then that infinitive or infinitive phrase modifies the verb” (Lester
2005: 199). E.g. [You must study hard to get good grades.]=To get good grades, you must study hard.
2.2 Gerund
2.2.1
Its Morphology (Form)
Gerund is often referred to as a verbal noun because it is a verbal that functions as a noun and has an –
ing ending. Yet, not all verbs ending in ing are gerunds. Present participles also have the same form. It is
easy therefore to confuse them with a present participle. Since gerunds are derived from verbs and have
an –ing ending, they do express action. However, because gerunds function as nouns, they occupy slots
traditionally held by nouns in sentences such as subjects, direct objects and objects of prepositions.
Gerunds may occur as one word, or they may be part of a gerund phrase. Let’s take a look at some
examples of their functions:
2.2.2
Its Syntax (function)
The Gerund does the work of a noun in a sentence. This means, it can be any one of the following:
1. The subject of a verb: Swimming is a good exercise. (Swimming is the subject of the verb is.)
2. The object of a finite verb: You enjoy learning a new language. (Learning is the object of the
finite verb enjoy.)
3. The object of a non-finite verb: She intends to begin writing the story soon. (Writing is the
object of to begin, a non-finite infinitive verb.
4. The indirect object of a verb: She gave reading great importance in her life. (Reading is the
indirect object of the verb gave.)
5. Gerund, functioning as direct object: James enjoys swimming.
6. Gerund, functioning as object of preposition: You will get good grades by studying. He is
interested in joining the group. (Joining is the object of the preposition in.)
7. Gerund phrase, functioning as subject: Eating on the run is one of the unhealthiest American
habits.
8. Gerund phrase, functioning as direct object: The teacher simply cannot excuse sleeping
during class.
9. Gerund phrase, functioning as object of preposition: We found the keys by looking on the
ground next to the car.
2.2.3
Its semantics (meaning)
The Gerund is also a name. It's 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.
N.B: Avoiding Confusion: Sometimes, not only the morphology, but also the syntax may lead us to
believe a word is a present participle. At such times semantics helps us to recognize a Gerund. Here are
two examples:
 Walking stick - the word walking looks like an adjective describing stick...but it is not.
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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.
To determine whether a word in a sentence is a gerund, look at the word(s) ending in –ing in the
sentence. If this word can be replaced by the pronoun it, then the word is a gerund. If the word it
replaces other words in addition to the gerund, then these make up the gerund phrase.
e.g., My grandfather loves getting together at Christmas.
My grandfather loves it.
2.3 Participle
A participle is also referred to as a verbal adjective. It is by birth a verb, but mostly serves nouns and
pronouns as an adjective does. This is not surprising, because participles are verbs by birth but they can
describing nouns which other verbs do not do. Participles generally end with an –ed or –ing. When
participles function as adjectives, they are usually found preceding the nouns and pronouns in a
sentence. When they function as adverbs, they are typically found following the verb in a sentence.
There are three types of participles: present participles, past participles and perfect participles.
2.3.1
Present participle
2.3.1.1 Its Morphology (Form)
A Present Participle is often confused with a gerund because both have an ing ending. Hence, we
cannot depend on morphology alone to identify a Present Participle. We need to look also at its function
in a sentence.
2.3.1.2 Its Syntax (function)
a. It is a Part of Finite Verb Phrases: The Present Participle is the word in any finite verb phrase
that shows the continuous (progressive) aspect. (am eating, had been eating, was being eaten,
will be eating) These phrases show the aspect of continuity and the present participle in each of
these phrases is the word which is especially responsible for expressing this continuity.
b. It is a verb:
- [The stranger ignored the barking dogs.] barking is formed from the verb bark which
denotes an action. (It is an adjective too because it describes the noun dogs).
- , because it has bicycle as its object. So the phrase riding a bicycle is an action-based
description of the boy.
- In [Opening the gate, the man entered the compound.] The participle Opening acts like a
verb because it has the noun gate as its object; and in [We saw the man, carrying a box
on his head.] the participle carrying has the noun box as its object.
c. It is a Verb with an Active or a Passive Meaning.
- [The crowd watching the match loudly cheered.] The participle watching has an active
meaning because it describes the crowd as doing the watching activity.
- [The games being played occupy a lot of our time.] The participle being played has
a passive meaning because the games do not do the playing, but have the playing done to
them.
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d. It is a Participial Adjective: An adjective is a word that describes a noun. The adjective lazy in
the phrase lazy dog describes the noun dog. When we use a participle in this way, we call it
a participial adjective. In the phrase sleeping dog, the word sleeping describes the dog. In [I saw
a boy riding a bicycle.] 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
which is mainly responsible for the adjectival function.
As an adjective, it can be
Descriptive Adjective vs. Participial Adjective: There is some difference between an
ordinary descriptive adjective and a participial adjective. The word sleeping (participial
adjective) is derived from a verb (sleep) and therefore, is an action-based descriptive
word. The word lazy (descriptive adjective) is a quality-based descriptive word.
The present participle (as well as, the past participle) can be used in this way. This type of
use, where the adjective, is close to the noun (almost always on its left side in English) is
called an attributive use.
Predicative Adjective vs. Attributive Adjective: [The little boy is smart.] The
adjective smart is an essential part of the predicate. If you remove smart from the sentence,
you do not have a sentence so the adjective smart is a predicative adjective (e.g., The news
is disturbing.) The adjective little can be removed and we would still have a sentence so it
is an attributive adjective.
e. It is an adjective with modifiers and determiners.
The present participle shouting in [The loudly shouting boss] is modified by the degree
modifier loudly and
an
article
the preceding
the
modifier.
In
[My
two
extremely struggling friends] the participle struggling is modified by the degree modifier
extremely and the determiners two and my. The participle is behaving here exactly like an
adjective in a noun phrase. It allows modifiers and determiners to modify it.
2.3.1.3 Dangling Participles: A Common Error
Consider the following sentencesi:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The robber ran from the policeman, still holding the money in his hands.
After being whipped fiercely, the cook boiled the egg.
Flitting gaily from flower to flower, the football player watched the bee.
After winning the Peloponnesian war, Athens was ruled briefly by the Spartans.
"Considering the Assyrians' brutal policies toward foreigners, their catastrophic fall in 612 BCE
comes as no surprise."
6. "While still focusing on the Greeks, the Persians were also a major civilization in antiquity."
The grammatical problem here rests with the -ing and -ed words used in these sentences: holding, being
whipped, flitting and winning. They are all participles, a type of verbal form that modifies nouns. The
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antecedent—that is, the noun to which the participle refers—must be clear to the readers in order for
them to understand what is being said. Otherwise, an action may be subscribed to the wrong player, such
as flitting to athletes. That is called a dangling participle, because it's left dangling without a clear
antecedent.
In English, Proximity shows the link between a participle and its antecedent i.e., the participle goes with
the noun closest to it, either directly preceding or following it. In the example above, "flitting" is clearly
intended to go with "bee" but because the closest noun to "flitting" is "the football player" the sentence
seems to suggest that the athlete is doing the flitting, not the bee. Sentence (3) should read "The football
player watched the bee flitting gaily from flower to flower."
By juxtaposing "winning" and "Athens," in sentence (4), the writer erroneously implies that Athens won
the Peloponnesian War, which is wrong. The Spartans won the war. The sentence should be rephrased
so that the participle is closer to the Spartans than to Athens: "After winning the Peloponnesian War, the
Spartans ruled Athens briefly." Or, you can just rewrite the sentence and not use a participle: "After the
Spartans won the Peloponnesian War, Athens was briefly in their control."
Examples (5) and (6) illustrate difficulties that frequently arise from the misuse of two common
participles, "considering" and "focusing," which often end up dangling.
"Considering" means literally "thinking about" So, in example (5), "fall" is the noun nearest to
"considering," so, the sentence implies that the "fall" is doing the "thinking." But that makes no sense.
"Falls" cannot think; they just happen. Clearly the writer means to say that we (i.e. historians) are
"considering." Thus, the statement needs to be rephrased: "Considering the Assyrians' brutal policies
toward foreigners, we cannot be surprised by their catastrophic fall in 612 BCE."
Example (6) is another instance of a dangling participle; it literally means: the Persians were focusing
(looking at) the Greeks when they were building Persia. This will lead to a misunderstanding of the
intended meaning because what clearly the writer means (historians) are doing the "focusing," so "we"
needs to be introduced into the sentence: "While still focusing on the Greeks, we must admit the Persians
were also a major civilization in antiquity."
2.3.1.4 Its Semantics (Meaning)
Since participles are derived from verbs, they do express actions or states of being.
2.3.2
Past participle
The Past Participle form is one of the principal parts of the verb (i.e., the most important forms of any
verb, out of all the forms it can have.)
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2.3.2.1 Its Morphology (Form)
a.
b.
The Past Participle of Regular Verbs: Verbs which are called Regular Verbs have a regular
form of this verbal. The Past Participle of Regular Verbs are formed by adding the suffix -ed,
as shown in the table below.
Basic Form of Verb
Past Participle Form
play
jump
walk
talk
escape
chase
stop
played
jumped
walked
talked
escaped
chased
stopped
The Past Participle of Irregular Verbs: These are formed irregularly. Like the verbs in this
table:
Basic Form of Verb
Past Participle Form
sit
sing
eat
write
see
sleep
put
sat
sung
eaten
written
seen
slept
put
There is no single rule that can be applied to all irregular verbs. From the table above we can draw out
the different ways the past participle is formed from the basic form of an irregular verb.
1. For the verbs sit and sing, an internal vowel change takes place.
2. For the verbs eat, write, and see, the suffix -en is added. (Note that some pre-adjustment is made
before adding the suffix -en. For the verb see, one e is dropped before adding the suffix; for the
verb write, an e is dropped and the t is doubled.)
3. For the verb sleep, the internal vowel is changed and then the suffix tis added.
4. For the verb put, no change is made.
2.3.2.2 Its Syntax (Function)
Some of its functions are similar to those of the Present Participle and some are different.
a. As a main verb in Passive Voice
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In all the passive voice forms of finite verb phrases, the past participle is the main verb...
is sung
was sung
will be sung
is being sung
was being sung
has been sung
had been sung
will have been sung
b. As a main verb in active voices.
In the four examples on the left column of the table above, please note:




the healed person is not doing the healing;
the instructions are not doing the writing;
the teacher is trained by somebody else;
the path does not beat itself, people beat (create) the path by regularly walking there.
So each past participle in these examples has a passive meaning. But less frequently, you can find past
participles with active meanings, as in the two examples in the right column above...


risen sun, where the sun does the rising;
fallen angels, where the angels fell.
The verbs rise and fall, from which risen and fallen are formed, are both intransitive; so, rising and
falling cannot be done to the sun or the angels.
c. As Participial Adjectives
Past participles too behave like adjectives (participial adjectives) in the same way as the present
participles do...
healed person
written instructions
trained teacher
beaten path
risen sun
fallen angels
d. As a verb
Like the present participle, the past participle too can function as the head of a participial phrase.
It can have an object and can be modified by modifiers. [Lovingly taught English by her father, she
eventually became a fine writer.] In this sentence, the word English is the object and the
adverb lovinglymodifies the past participle taught, which is the head of the participial phrase'lovingly
taught English by her father'.
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e. As an Adjective
Like the present participle, the past participle shares the nature of an adjective, in that it can be modified
by a degree modifier.

Fully healed of his own bad memories, he went on to become an outstanding counsellor.
In the participial phrase 'fully healed of his own bad memories', the past participle healedis modified by
the degree modifier fully.
2.3.2.3 Its Semantics (Meaning)
The meaning which this participle conveys is of an action-based description, where the action is a
completed action.


risen sun - the rising activity of the sun is complete
broken glass - the glass is not breaking at the moment of speaking; the breaking activity is
complete before that.
2.3.3
Perfect Participle
2.3.3.1 Its Morphology (Form)
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).
In perfect tenses, the past participle is part of the finite verb phrase, as in...
has sung
had sung
will have sung
has been sung
had been sung
will have been sung
2.3.3.2 Its Syntax (Function)
The perfect participle indicates completed action. You form the perfect participle by putting the present
participle having in front of the past participle.
e.g., having done, having finished, having read, having spoken
It can be used to form the passive voice.
e.g., Having improved her English Pia's promotion prospects were much better.
As with gerunds, participles may occur as one word, or they may be part of a participial phrase. Here are
some examples:
Present Participles
The running water provided a picturesque view. (Adjectival)
The clown was able to stop the raging bull from attacking the rider. (Adjectival)
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Past Participles
The crushed bug was an unpleasant sight. (Adjectival)
He was able to repair the broken lock. (Adjectival)
Present Participial Phrases
The car stopping at the light was hit by the truck. (Adjectival)
The bull came running towards the rodeo clown. (Adverbial)
Past Participial Phrases
James, amused by the crowd’s response, continued to perform magic tricks. (Adjectival)
Shaken from his near-death experience, John was unable to speak. (Adjectival)
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 Non-finite verbs, the Infinitive, the Gerund, and
the Participle.



The Gerund is known as a verbal noun.
The Participle is often called a verbal adjective.
The Infinitive too does the work of a noun, or an adjective, or an adverb (adjective
modifier, purpose modifier, etc). We usually do not call the infinitive a verbal
noun or a verbal adjective, only because we do not want to confuse it with
the gerund or the participle.
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3. Helping Verbs
Helping Verbs (also called Auxiliary Verbs) are not always clearly understood.
It is not uncommon among students of English, especially those who began seriously learning the
language late in life, to mistakenly believe that some words are always auxiliary verbs and others
always main verbs.
For instance, in the minds of such students, the verb 'is' in the sentence, 'John is a good
student.' is incorrectly branded as an auxiliary verb. They consider all occurrences of 'is' as auxiliary
verbs.
The truth is that the verb 'is' can function as a helping verb in one sentence and as a main verb in
another...

John is a good student.
(is - is a main verb in this sentence).

John is reading a book.
(is - is a helping verb and reading is the main verb, both these verbs together forming a single
finite verb phrase).
So then...
WHAT ARE HELPING VERBS?
Helping Verbs are part of finite verb phrases. Finite verb phrases usually have a main part and a
helping part.
Finite verbs are usually phrases (groups of words), except for two instances, when they are single words.
Those two exceptional cases are:


the simple present tense active affirmative (e.g. sing/sings)
the simple past tense active affirmative (e.g. sang)
HERE ARE SOME EXAMPLES
OF FINITE VERB PHRASES IN SENTENCES ...
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BENSALAH. B




GRAMMAR
2nd LMD
I write an article every week.
Now the article is written.
My daughter has been writing it since last Monday.
In my wife's opinion, I should have been writing it.
THE FINITE VERBS IN THESE SENTENCES
CAN BE BROKEN UP AS FOLLOWS :
Helping verb
Main verb
write
written
is
should
has
been
writing
have
been
writing
From this table we know that write, written and writing are the main verbs. Each of them is a different
form of the verb 'to write.'
All the other verbs in the table are helping verbs.



Both is and been are forms of the verb to be.
has and have are forms of the verb to have.
The verb should is called a modal auxiliary (or simply a modal).
You can also notice that in the four sentences above...


there is no helping verb in the first sentence,
you find one, two, and three of them in the second, third and fourth sentences respectively.
There is a main verb in all the sentences. So, a helping verb requires a main verb to receive its
help. Without a main verb, there can be no helping verb.
HOW DO HELPING VERBS HELP?
Some helping verbs (called Primary Auxiliaries) help syntactically, i.e. they perform some
grammatical function, as in...



in forming the passive,
in expressing the continuity (progressive) aspect,
in expressing the perfect (completed) aspect,
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BENSALAH. B

GRAMMAR
2nd LMD
in providing a dummy verb where a negative or interrogative sentence is to be made in particular
tenses.
Other helping verbs (called Modal Auxiliaries) perform semantic functions. They add meaning to
the meaning of the main verb. What they add aremeanings like...





ability,
possibility,
permission,
command,
habitual action, etc.
Helping verbs are used before action or linking verbs to convey additional information regarding
aspects of possibility (can, could, etc.) or time (was, did, has, etc.). They are also called auxiliary verbs.
The main verb with its accompanying helping verb is called a verb phrase.
3.1 Primary Auxiliaries
Auxiliary verbs, which are sometimes called helping verbs, act as helpers to other verbs. They appear in
front of action verbs and linking verbs.
- The Girl Scouts are meeting after school today.
- We have been waiting for twenty minutes in the dentist’s office.
Although there are a variety of auxiliary verbs in the English language, the following words are a few
that often function as helping verbs. Note that these auxiliary verbs may function as action or linking
verbs in other cases.
can
may
must
shall
will
has
could
might
would
should
had
have
Examples:
Mary is (helping verb) going (main verb) to Florida.
The trip might (helping verb) be (main verb) dangerous.
Modals, always function as helping verbs: Can, may, must, shall, will, could, might, ought to, should,
would
Examples: Tanya could learn to fly helicopters. (Could helps the main verb, learn.)
Janine will drive to Idaho tomorrow. (Will helps the main verb, drive.)
In addition, the following forms of the verbs to be, to do, and to have sometimes serve as helping verbs.
(Note:
In other cases, they may serve as action or linking verbs.)
To be [Am, be, being, was, are, been, is, were.]
To have [have, has, had]
To do [do, did, does]
HELPING: Jana is moving to a new house.
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BENSALAH. B
GRAMMAR
2nd LMD
LINKING: Jana is ready to go.
HELPING: Dustin did eat his vegetables!
ACTION: Dustin did his homework last night. (transitive verb)
Test: To distinguish between an auxiliary verb and a linking verb, simply look to see whether
an action verb immediately follows the “to be” verb. For example, in the sentence “John was
HELPING:
jumped
cliff. game,” the action verb wearing immediately follows
wearing his Erin
luckyhas
sneakers
at off
the the
baseball
ACTION:
good
(transitive
verb)
the
“to be”Erin
verbhas
was,a so
weattitude.
know that
the “to be”
verb in this case is an auxiliary verb because
it is “helping” out the action verb wearing. However, in the sentence “I was angry,” the “to be”
verb was appears alone, so it cannot be classified as an auxiliary verb. In this case it is a linking
verb that describes how I was feeling.
Helping Verbs: Primary/Modal Auxiliaries
may
might
must
be
being
been
am
are
is
was
were
do
does
did
should
could
would
(main)
have
had
has
will
can
shall
(main)
(main)
Notice that verbs in three of the families may also stand alone and be the main verb of a sentence. For
example:


We are teaching you about helping verbs. ("are"-helping verb, "teaching"-main verb)
We are in the fourth grade at Brisas Elementary. ( "are" is the main verb)
Other things to keep in mind:




Not every sentence will have a helping verb with the main verb.
When you see an "ing" verb such as "running", be on the lookout for a helping verb also.
Sometimes there is another word which separates the helping verb from the main verb. One
common example is "not", as in: The boy couldn't find his socks. The helping verb iscould and
the main verb is find.
A sentence may contain up to three helping verbs to the main verb. An example would be: The
dog must have been chasing the cat. The helping verbs are: must, have, and been; the main verb
is chasing (See Rule #2 above!).
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BENSALAH. B
GRAMMAR
2nd LMD
3.2 Modal Auxiliaries
HOW DO HELPING VERBS HELP?
Some helping verbs (called Primary Auxiliaries) help syntactically, i.e. they perform some
grammatical function, as in...




in forming the passive,
in expressing the continuity (progressive) aspect,
in expressing the perfect (completed) aspect,
in providing a dummy verb where a negative or interrogative sentence is to be made in particular
tenses.
Other helping verbs (called Modal Auxiliaries) perform semantic functions. They add meaning to
the meaning of the main verb. What they add are meanings like...





II.
ability,
possibility,
permission,
command,
habitual action, etc.
Morphological Division
We know that verbs are words, just like any other part of speech. The words that represent the verbs
follow different patterns of spelling or sound. Verbs can, therefore, be divided into various
kinds depending upon how they are formed. Grammarians would call this a morphological division.
1. Regular verbs
2. Irregular verbs
3. Compound verbs
You construct a compound verb out of an auxiliary verb and another verb. In particular, you may use
an auxiliary verb (also known as a helping verb) with the verb in order to create the many of the tenses
available in English. In each of the following sentences, the compound verb appears highlighted:
-
Karl Creelman bicycled around the world in 1899, but his diaries and his bicycle were
destroyed.
The compound verb in this sentence is made up of the auxiliary "were" and the past
participle "destroyed."
-
The book she was looking for is under the sofa.
Here the compound verb is made up of the auxiliary verb "was" and the present participle "looking."
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BENSALAH. B
-
GRAMMAR
2nd LMD
They will meet us at the newest café in the market.
In this example the compound verb is made up of the auxiliary verb "will" and the verb "meet."
-
That dog has been barking for three hours; I wonder if someone will call the owner.
In this sentence the first compound verb is made up of the two auxiliary verbs ("has" and "been") and a
present participle ("barking"). The second compound verb is made up of the auxiliary verb "will" and
the verb "call."
Written by Heather MacFadyen at
http://www.writingcentre.uottawa.ca/hypergrammar/vbcmpd.html
4. Phrasal verbs
It's the combination of a verb + a particle (preposition or adverb) resulting in a new word. The new unit
is different from the two separate words.
Examples



She's looking after the kids
I've decided to give up smoking.
What will she say when she finds out?
Phrasal verbs are very common in spoken and written English so we need them to understand and speak
natural English.
References
-
i
Melzow, C-Ch. (2005) Understanding Verbs: Gerunds, Participles, and Infinitives. The
Academic Center and the University of Houston-Victoria. Available at www. uhv.edu/ac
Lester, M. (2001). Grammar and usage in the classroom. 2nd ed. Boston: Allyn and Bacon
LINKING
VERBS,
Available
at
www.stlcc.edu/Student_Resources/Academic.../linking_verbs.pdf
Super Teacher Worksheets, Available at http://www.superteacherworksheets.com
See Damen (2002) Dangling Participles. Available at http://www.usu.edu/history/faculty/damen/classesdamen.htm
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