Download The Parts of Speech - Gellert-LA

The Parts of Speech
Verbs
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A verb tells what people or things do.
More generally, a verb tells the action a
noun or pronoun does.
Mrs. Ellis read a book about a green
snake to us. read
Every sentence should start with a
capital letter. start
• A verb can also express state of
being or tell something about the
condition of its subject.
• Mrs. Ellis is our teacher.
• Mrs. Ellis has blue eyes.
• Mr. Smith appears tired.
• Julie seems sick.
• These verbs are also called linking
verbs.
• Linking Verbs
• Linking Verbs explain the connection
between the subject and its complement
or that which completes the subject's
description.
• The most common linking verb is "to be."
Some other linking verbs are: appear,
feel, remain, sound, become, grow,
seem, stay, continue, look, smell, taste,
• Examples:
• Opera seems overly dramatic to the
music novice. “Overly dramatic"
describes the subject "opera," but it does
not express an action that "opera"
performs.
• He appeared happy at the news of the
inheritance. Appeared links “He” to
“happy.” “Happy” describes the
condition or state-of-being of “He.”
• I am pathetically inept in such situations.
• He is a doctor of medicine.
• Note: while "a doctor" answers the
question "what?" the verb is not an action
verb, but rather a "state of being" verb.
Therefore; it links the subject (he) with his
state of being (doctor).
• Remember, however, if what follows the
verb can provide an answer to the
question "what," then the verb is not a
linking verb.
• Compare:
• He tastes the soup as he cooks it.
• “Tastes” is an action verb.
• The fruit tastes rotten.
• “Rotten" describes or the state of the fruit,
and therefore tastes links the subject (fruit)
and its condition (rotten).
• State of being or condition verbs are often
a form of the verbs to be: am, is, are,
were.
• Verbs like to seem and to appear are
often used as being or condition verbs, as
are: feel, remain, sound, become, grow,
stay, continue, look, smell, taste,
• A verb can be classified according to a
number of categories:
• The person indicates who or what is doing
the action, whether the speaker, the
addressee, or someone or something else.
• The number indicates how many people
or things are doing the action, whether one
or many.
• The tense indicates the time of the action,
which can be past, present, or future.
• The voice indicates whether the subject of
the clause is acting or being acted upon.
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Many verbs are made up of more than
one word. Notice the verbs in these
sentences.
Betsy walked home.
Betsy is walking home.
Betsy has been walking home.
When the verb is made up of more than
one word, the last word is the main verb.
The other words are called helping
verbs.
Helping Verb + Main Verb
=
Verb
walked
walked
is
walking
Is walking
has been
walking
called
has been
walking
called
was
calling
was calling
will have
called
will have called
• The most common helping verbs are
forms of be, have and do.
• be – am, is, are, was, were
• have – has, have, had
• do – does, do, did
• These are other helping verbs that can be
used with main verbs:
• be been shall could would might
• being can will should may
• A verb may be made up of a single word. A
verb may also be a group of words made
up of a main verb and one or more helping
verbs.
• The basic tenses of verbs are quite
simple: past, present, and future.
However, each tense can take one of
four forms: simple, progressive,
perfect, and perfect progressive.
• Tense determines time. Verbs can take
one of twelve forms. See the chart and
examples below and note the verbs
required to determine form. Note that
the auxiliary (helping) verb for most
forms is that which determines the tense
of the whole verb (is, was, will be; has,
had, will have).
• PRESENT TENSE
Simple present (action or situation exists
now):
• I dance.
He dances.
They dance.
• Present progressive (action is in
progress):
• I am dancing.
He is dancing.
We are dancing.
• Present perfect (action begins in the past
and leads up to and includes the present):
• I have danced.
She has danced.
You have danced.
• Present perfect progressive (action
begins in the past, continues in the
present, and may continue into the future):
• I have been dancing.
He has been dancing.
They have been dancing.
• PAST TENSE
Simple past (actions or situations are
complete and completely in the past):
• They danced.
We danced.
She danced.
• Past progressive (actions in the past
occurred over a period of time):
• She was dancing.
They were dancing.
I was dancing.
• Past perfect (an action that has been
completed before another action or
situation):
• She had danced.
We had danced.
You had danced.
• Past perfect progressive (an ongoing
action in the past has ended):
• She had been dancing.
We had been dancing.
They had been dancing.
• FUTURE TENSE
Simple future (actions will occur in the
future):
• I will dance.
She will dance.
You will dance.
• Future progressive (future actions will
continue for some time).
• I will be dancing.
She will be dancing.
They will be dancing.
• Future perfect (actions will be completed
by or before a specific future time):
• I will have danced.
She will have danced.
They will have danced.
• Future perfect progressive (actions are
ongoing up to a specific future time):
• I will have been dancing.
You will have been dancing.
He will have been dancing.