Verb

A verb is a word that shows action, being, or links a subject to a subject complement.

Four Principal Parts of the Verb:

all verb forms are made out of four principal

forms which each verb possesses.

Verb

Verb Form do go think dream

infinitive to do to go to think to dream

presentparticiple

doing going thinking dreaming

past did went thought dreamed

pastparticiple

done gone thought dreamed

Verb

Regular VerbsMost verbs make the four principal parts in the

same way. They always begin with the infinitive, add -ing to make the present participle, and add -d or -ed to make the past and past participle.

Example: to work, working, worked, worked to spill, spilling, spilled, spilled

Verb

Irregular Verbs Irregular verbs have principal parts that are unique and that must be memorized in order to

be used correctly.Example: to shrink, shrinking, shrank, shrunk

to ring, ringing, rang, rung

to break, breaking, broke, broken

to write, writing, wrote, written

Verb

Transitive Verb: a transitive verb is an action

verb that acts on a direct object.

Example: Rocks hit Sue.

Intransitive Verb: an intransitive verb is an

action verb that does not act on a direct object.

Example: Rocks flew.

Verb

Active voice verb: an active voice verb is an action verb that shows the subject actually acting.

Effect: Active voice is usually more interesting and vigorous than passive voice.

Example: Johnson discussed the problem.

Verb

Passive voice verb: a passive voice verb is an action verb that shows the subject only being acted upon.

Effect: Passive voice can make sentences seem weak, since the subject of the sentence is only passively involved, and passive voice also tends to leave out important information.

Example: The problem was discussed.

Verb

Verb TenseThe tense of a verb shows its relationship to

time. There are six different verb tenses in English. (three “plain” and three “perfect”).

1. Present 4. Present Perfect2. Past 5. Past Perfect3. Future 6. Future Perfect

In conjugating these six verb tenses, we see that verbs, like pronouns, have person (first,

second, or third) and number (singular or plural).

Verb - Present Tense

Singular Plural

I protest We protest

You protest You protest

He, she, it protests They protest

Verb - Past Tense

Singular Plural

I protested We protested

You protested You protested

He, she, it protested They protested

Verb - Future Tense

Singular Plural

I will protest We will protest

You will protest You will protest

He, she, it will protest They will protest

Verb - Present Perfect Tense

Singular Plural

I have protested We have protested

You have protested You have protested

He, she, it has protested They have protested

Verb - Past Present Tense

Singular Plural

I had protested We had protested

You had protested You had protested

He, she, it had protested They had protested

Verb - Future Perfect Tense

Singular Plural

I will (shall) haveprotested

We will have protested

You will haveprotested

You will haveprotested

He, she, it will haveprotested

They will haveprotested

Verb

Progressive Verb FormsEvery one of the six tenses can also be used in a progressive form, adding an -ing

variation, indicating action still in progress. First person singular examples of the sex tenses’ progressive forms:

Present progressive: I am protesting.Past progressive: I was protesting.Future progressive: I shall be protesting.Present perfect progressive: I have been protesting.Past perfect progressive: I had been protesting.Future perfect progressive: I shall have been protesting.

Verb

Verb MoodThere are three moods: 1. Indicative2. Imperative3. SubjunctiveIndicative and imperative are easy because we use

them all the time in everyday speech. The subjunctive mood is used in IF situations, with the verb were.

Verb

The indicative is the regular mood.

The imperative is the command mood.

The subjunctive is the if mood.

Examples:

Indicative: I am a mongoose.

Imperative: Find the mongoose.

Subjunctive: If I were a mongoose...

Verb

Parallel verb tenses

Parallelism in tense means adhering logically to the tense one is already using, unless there is a

logical reason to change. Example: I went home, picked up an apple, threw

it through the window, and laughed. (all past tense)

Non-parallel: When Dickens went to America, he gives many speeches, and feels that his trip was

successful. After he returned to England, he begins to lose the buoyant spirit he finds in

America, and he will descend into melancholy.