Types of verbs
In a nutshell
Verbs describe actions or states. For a sentence to be a sentence, it must contain a verb, so they are really important. There are different kinds of verbs that serve various functions within a sentence. In this summary, these verbs and functions will be explored in more detail.
Primary verbs
There are three primary verbs that can either function as main verbs or auxiliary verbs. The primary verbs are: be (am, are, is, was, were), have (have, had) and do (do, does, did). They are also very common verbs. Here's the primary verb, to be, conjugated:
Number | Person
| pronoun
| present | past |
Singular
| First person | I | am
| was
|
Second person | you | are | were |
Third person | he, she, it | is | was |
Plural
| First person | we | are | were |
Second person | you | are | were |
Third person | they | are | were |
Main verbs
The primary verbs can be used as a main verb which is the most important verb in a sentence because it carries the meaning in a verb phrase and indicates actions and states.
verb
| examples
|
to be
| This movie was so interesting! |
to have | She has many friends. |
to do | I did my homework. |
Auxiliary verbs
The primary verbs can also be used as auxiliary verbs which assist the main verb and form longer verb phrases. The main verb carries the main meaning in a verb phrase while the auxiliary verb tells you the tense.
Examples
We have finished our homework.
I am considering this deal.
She had been phoning him all day.
Regular and irregular verbs
Verbs can either be regular or irregular. When changing from the present to the past tense, the -ed inflection is added to regular verbs, while irregular verbs completely change their form. The primary verbs discussed earlier are all examples of irregular verbs. In English, there are many more regular verbs than irregular.
regular Verb in base form
| present tense with -s ending
| past tense
|
walk | walks | walked |
commit | commits | committed |
Irregular verb in base form | Present tense with -s ending | Past tense |
eat | eats | ate |
buy | buys | bought |
Note: all irregular verbs (and many regular ones too) are derived from Old English.
Modal auxiliary verbs
Earlier, you learnt about the primary verbs: be, have and do which can function as main verbs and auxiliary verbs. Modal auxiliary verbs, on the other hand, are an interesting sub-category of auxiliary verbs. They can provide a sense of future time and put forth notions of possibility, probability, necessity or obligation.
There are nine modal auxiliary verbs:
shall
| should |
can | could |
will | would |
may | must |
might
| ought (to) |
need (to) | has (to) |
Note: the highlighted verbs are known as quasi-modal auxiliary verbs. Compared to the nine modal auxiliary verbs that come before the base form of a verb in a sentence (e.g. I will eat my sandwich), quasi-modal auxiliary verbs are followed by 'to' (e.g. You ought to study for your test).
Modal auxiliary verbs can further be divided into epistemic modals and deontic modals.
type
| definition | examples
|
Epistemic modal | Modal verb use relating to belief and knowledge. | She could have scored higher on the test. |
Deontic modal | Modal verb use relating to obligation and permission. | You should have studied for your test. |
Dynamic and stative verbs
All verbs can be grouped as either being dynamic or stative. Dynamic verbs describe something happening, in other words, a process, an action. Stative verbs, on the other hand, describe a state and indicate that something is existing.
dynamic verb
| example
|
chase | The dog chased the cat. |
stative verb
| example
|
love | The dog loves his cat friend. |
Active and passive voice
The active and passive voice allows you to write more varied sentences. Sentences in the active voice follow a normal subject-verb-object word order; these types of sentences are clear and direct. Sentences in the passive voice offer more varied effects. The subject is no longer the actor in the sentence; the object becomes the new grammatical subject and receives the action of the verb.
| S | V | O |
Active voice | The dog | chased | the cat |
| O (new S.) | V - to be (in the tense you need) + past participle
| S
|
Passive voice | The cat | was chased | (by the dog) |
Note: there are a few things to take note of with the passive voice: the prepositional clause, "by the dog" is optional (the sentence still makes sense without it), the 'to be' verb form has been added and written in the correct tense (was) and lastly, the main verb has been written in its past participle form (chased).
Aspect
The term aspect is used to highlight whether an action is still in progress (progressive aspect) or has been completed (perfect aspect). Take note, aspects can be formed in all three tenses (past, present and future).
aspect
| definition
| examples
|
Progressive aspect | To show that an action is still in progress; continuous. This can be done by adding the inflection '-ing' to the end of the main verb and the 'to be' verb as an auxiliary (am, is, was, were). | The dog is chasing the cat. |
Perfect aspect | To show that an action started in the past and is continuing up to the present. This can be done by adding the inflection '-ed' to the end of the main verb and the verb 'have' as an auxiliary (have, had). | The dog has chased the cat. |
