The Verb in a Sentence | Main verb Concepts
The Verb in a sentence | Types of Verbs
Speaking about the verb, it is a main language item of a sentence. In fact, the sentence gives the complete sense only with a verb. Basically, the verb is of two types.
(1)Main Verb (2) Helping Verb
Main verb denotes an Action,Possession, Emotion and state where as Helping verb is used to indicate a continuous action, attitude of action,state of being and a completed action.
Examples for main verbs:-1) I eat fruit. 2) She has long hair. 3) I love my country. 4) I need your help. To be precise,main verbs act as a key words of communication which express an idea, information, a feeling… etc
Examples for helping Verbs:(1)Radha is cooking food (continuous action) (2) Dheeraj can play Piano nicely .(attitude of action) (3) Swathi is a software engineer (occupation) (4) I have seen a latest movie. (completed action)
Concepts of a Main Verb
(1)’ Action’ Verb (2) ‘Possession’ Verb (3) ‘Emotion’ Verb (4) ‘State’ Verb
‘Action’ verbs’: They demand an effort to perform an action from the subject(doer) in a sentence.
| ‘ACTION’ Verbs | ||||||
| Wake up | Buy | Eat | Wash | Walk | Prepare | Get |
| Sleep | Bring | Drink | Do | Watch | Clean | Play |
Eg: I wake up at 6 A.M ; She eats fast food at times. ; The maid is cleaning the house.
‘Possession’ Verbs: They show that somebody is in the possession of something or somebody is in a certain relation with an another person.
| ‘POSSESSION’ Verbs | |||||
| Has | Have | Possess | Belong | Had | Own |
Eg: I have a car ; She has two siblings ; We possess lot of property; That complex belongs to Mr. Ranjith ; My brother had a smart phone in his teens; Our neighbors own agricultural land in their home village.
Émotion’ Verbs: They are related to one’s emotion/feeling.
| ‘ EMOTION’ Verbs | |||
| Fear | Like | Hate | Feel |
| Mind | Love | Dislike | Envy |
Eg: I like swimming; My brother hates staying indoors on Sundays; Mamatha loves listening to classical music;I don’t mind lending you some money.
| ‘State’ Vebs | ||||||
| Am | Contain | Trust | Is | Appear | See | Need |
| Are | Consist | Forget | Want | Think | Taste | Believe |
| Were | Owe | Understand | Cost | Weigh | Hear | |
| Was | Exist | Know | Seem | Recognize | Smell | |
Eg: There is a grocery shop down the street; I am at class now, Nov; My cousins are abroad;The book consists of 200 pages;Meera knows 8 languages; the bag costs 25 thousand; what does the sweet taste like?; I believe in God.
forms of a Main Verb | Action verb forms
They are of five forms:-
(1) Basic Form (2) ‘S’ Form (3) ‘ing’ Form (4) Past Form (5) Past Participle Form.
And their short forms are V1,Vs,Ving,V2,V3 respectively.
Regular forms of a verb
The past and past participle verbs form by adding ‘d’ or ‘ed’ to present form of a verb.
| Basic form | ‘S’ Form | ‘ing’ Form | Past form | past participle |
| V1 | VS | Ving | V2 | V3 |
| Work | Works | Working | Worked | Worked |
| Complete | Completes | Completing | Completed | Completed |
| Wash | Washes | Washing | Washed | Washed |
| Move | Moves | Moving | Moved | Moved |
| Clean | Cleans | Cleaning | Cleaned | Cleaned |
| Prepare | Prepares | Preparing | Prepared | Prepared |
| Wait | Waits | Waiting | Waited | Waited |
| Paint | Paints | Painting | Painted | Painted |
| Play | Plays | Playing | Played | Played |
| Dislike | Dislikes | ——— | Disliked | Disliked |
| Possess | Possesses | ——— | Possessed | Possessed |
| Remove | Removes | Removing | Removed | Removed |
Irregular forms of a Verb
2) they form changing a vowel. Mostly, they end in ‘en’, ‘n’ and ‘ne’.
| Basic form | ‘S’ Form | ‘ing’ Form | Past form | past participle |
| V1 | VS | Ving | V2 | V3 |
| Wake | Wakes | Waking | Woke | Woken |
| See | Sees | —— | Saw | Seen |
| Break | Breaks | Breaking | Broke | Broken |
| Buy | Buys | Buying | Bought | Bought |
| Fly | Flies | Flying | Flew | Flown |
| Keep | Keeps | Keeping | Kept | Kept |
| Run | Runs | Running | Ran | Run |
| Draw | Draws | Drawing | Drew | Drawn |
| Tear | Tears | Tearing | Tore | Torn |
| Become | Becomes | Becoming | Became | Become |
- Note :- The main verbs which indicate Emotion, State and Possession do
not take “ing”. They don’t have continuous forms.
Usage of the Verb Forms
Mainly,The present form verbs (V1) are used in simple present and simple future in all kinds of sentences. In addition to that, they come in the simple past for negative statements and all types of questions. But for past form(V2), it comes only in positive statements of simple past. Go through the following detailed explanation.
Basic verb form (V1)
You can use this form for simple present tense and simple future tense to show general actions/ concepts /facts at present and somebody’s intentions to do something in future.
eg:
I read the news paper everyday (present general action).
I will read a novel tomorrow (future intention).
Note:Basic verb form (V1) is used in various kinds of sentences .
Eg: I didn’t go to college yesterday. ( V1) ( Negative statement)
Eg: Did you go to college yesterday? ( V1) (Question in the past)
Eg: Go there. (Command)
Basic ‘S’ Verb Form (Vs):
You can this form to show the present general action specially with the subjects He, She, It & a singular naming word (only in positive statement)
eg:- He reads the ‘Hindu’ news paper daily.
She reads the ‘Hindu’ news paper daily.
My mother reads the ‘Eenadu’ daily.
Gopi reads the ‘Deccan Chronicle’ daily.
Continuous Verb form (VIng) :
You can use this form to show a continuous action.
eg:- I am reading(VIng) (Action in progress)
She is reading (Action in progress)
They are playing (Action in progress)
He was watching (Action in progress at some time in the past)
They will be going to Tenali next week. (Future plan)
Past Verb form(V2)
You can use this verb form to show the actions happened at some time or during a specific time frame in the past .
eg :- I saw the movie yesterday.
I completed my B.Tech in 2005.
Past Participle Verb form (V3) :
They are used to show a completed action in the present, past or
future . And they precede the helping verbs have , has or had.
eg:-I have finished my work.
He has gone home.
My brother had left for office before I got home from yoga center.
She will have reached there by now.
He will have completed the work by tomorrow.
In passive voice, past participle verbs are used after am, is, are,was,were, be. being,been.
English is spoken all over the world. (Subject is affected/passive voice)
Exams were held last month. (Subject is affected/ passive voice)
A show room will be inaugurated tomorrow. (Subject is affected/passive voice)
The house has been painted (Subject is affected/passive voice)