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The Ingredients of Language
The Ingredients of Language:
VERBS and ADVERBS
© Oxford University Press 2008
The Ingredients of Language
A verb expresses an action or mental or
physical state:
I ate a sandwich as I felt hungry.
As a general rule, if you can put ‘–ing’ after it, it is a
verb.
© Oxford University Press 2008
The Ingredients of Language
Remember that most sentences contain
a verb or verbs.
The verb lets you know what the subject of the
sentence is doing or being:
The artist painted as the model sat and thought about
her holiday!
© Oxford University Press 2008
The Ingredients of Language
The infinitive is otherwise called the ‘to’
form of the verb.
For example,
To ride
To jump
To smile
To be
Note that the infinitive does not tell us about tense or
when an action is happening, nor does it tell us who is
performing the action.
© Oxford University Press 2008
The Ingredients of Language
Activity: Think of some more infinitive verbs and
write them down.
Remember that verbs can tell you about actions and
mental and physical states.
• To
• To
• To
• To
• To
© Oxford University Press 2008
The Ingredients of Language
Verbs may also be classified into finite
and non-finite verbs.
The finite forms of a verb are the forms where the
verb shows tense, person or singular/plural. In other
words, a finite verb shows who is performing the
action and when it was performed.
For example:
I am, She was
© Oxford University Press 2008
The Ingredients of Language
Non-finite verb forms have no person, tense or
number and usually combine with a modal, auxiliary
or infinitive.
For example:
I will be going
They might go
I want to go
© Oxford University Press 2008
The Ingredients of Language
Like nouns, English verbs can be subdivided into two main classes:
Strong verbs - form the past tense by changing the
vowel of the base form, and
Weak verbs - form the past tense by adding ‘–ed’
to the base form
Use the table which accompanies this presentation to
familiarize yourself with these classes of verbs.
© Oxford University Press 2008
The Ingredients of Language
There are also different types of verb
which perform different jobs.
Main or lexical verbs express the main action or state
within the sentence.
For example:
I was walking to the station.
Write your own sentence which has a main verb.
© Oxford University Press 2008
The Ingredients of Language
Here is another type of verb which has
a supporting role!
Auxiliary verbs are found in front of the
main verb and can tell us about tense.
For example:
I must have been going the wrong way!
Notice that going is the main verb of this sentence.
Have and been are the auxiliary verbs.
© Oxford University Press 2008
The Ingredients of Language
The most important auxiliary verbs are
different forms of the following base
forms:
Be
Have
Do
Write your own sentences which contain a main verb
and some auxiliary verbs.
Remember to indicate the different types of verb.
© Oxford University Press 2008
The Ingredients of Language
Modal verbs are another type of helping
verb which express the possibility or
probability of an event happening:
Can/Could
Will/Would
Shall/Should
May, Might and Must
You will just have to learn these!
© Oxford University Press 2008
The Ingredients of Language
Modal verbs
Consider the difference between the following:
I can go to the cinema tonight.
I should go shopping tonight.
I will go to the ball.
Try to put these modal verbs in order of probability.
© Oxford University Press 2008
The Ingredients of Language
Adverbs give us additional information
about the verb . . .
How
- manner
When
- time
Where
- place
Think of some ways of using adverbs in sentences.
© Oxford University Press 2008