VerbsMs. Heard 2014-2015

By Definition…

Verbs carry the idea of being or action in the sentence.

I am a student.

The students passed all their courses.

Verb Forms

Verb Forms

Past Tense—Something existed or happened in the past. I ran five miles each day.

Present Tense—something exists or is currently happening now. I run five miles each day.

Future Tense—Something will come into existence or will happen in the future. I will run five miles each day.

Past Tense Verb Forms

Past Progressive—I was working two jobs then.

Past Perfect—I had worked two jobs at the same time before that.

Past Perfect Progressive—I had been working two jobs at the same time before that.

Present Tense Verb Forms

Present Perfect—I have cooked tomato soup.

Present Progressive—I am cooking tomato soup before

Present Perfect Progressive—I have been cooking tomato soup for years.

Future Tense Verb Forms

Future Perfect—I will be studying./I am going to be studying.

Future Progressive—I will have studied English for four hours if I continue for another hour.

Future Perfect Progressive—I will have been studying English for over two hours by the time you arrive.

Irregular Verbs

Most verbs in English form their various tenses consistently: add -ed to the base of a verb.

ie. Walk becomes walked

There are, however, a number of so-called irregular verbs, (including, unfortunately, some very common verbs such as “to be” and “to have”) whose various forms must be memorized.

Common Irregular Verbs

Dictionary of Common Irregular Verbs

http://www.englishpage.com/irregularverbs/irregularverbs.html

Linking Verbs

A linking verb connects a subject and its complement. Sometimes called copulas, linking verbs are often forms of the verb to be, but are sometimes verbs related to the five senses (look, sound, smell, feel, taste) and sometimes verbs that somehow reflect a state of being (appear, seem, become, grow, turn, prove, remain). What follows the linking verb will be either a noun complement or an adjective complement:

!

Those people are all professors.

Those professors are brilliant.

This room smells bad.

I feel great.

A victory today seems unlikely.

Common Linking Verbs

Be

Is

Was

Shall be

Will be

Has been

Had been

May be

Should be

Become

Appear

Am

Are

Were

Shall have been

Will have been

Have been

Can be

Might be

Could be

Would be

Seem

Helping Verbs

Helping verbs or auxiliary verbs such as will, shall, may, might, can, could, must, ought to, should, would, used to, need are used in conjunction with main verbs to express shades of time and mood. The combination of helping verbs with main verbs creates what are called verb phrases or verb strings.

Example: As of next August, I will have been studying chemistry for ten years. ("will have been" are helping or auxiliary verbs and "studying" is the main verb; the whole verb string is underlined)

I shall go now.

He had won the election.

They did write that novel together.

I am going now.

He was winning the election.

They have been writing that novel for a long time.

Common Helping Verbs

Am

Is

Are

Was

Were

Been

Be

Can

Has

Shall

Will

Do

Does

Did

Have

Should

May

Might

Would

Must

Could

Had

Let’s Practice

1. The shadows of the ships rock on the crest in the low lustre of the tardy and soft inrolling tide.

2. The lucid and endless wrinkles draw in, lapse and withdraw.

3. I sing the song of the billowing flags, the bugles that cry before.

4. I sing of hosts triumphant, long ranks of marching men.

5. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me.

6. But, for this you need white horses, English trees, men with bows and arrows, at least two flags, a prince and a castle to hold your banquet in.