1 Verbs
Go! Be amazing! Run as fast as
you can! Win the race! Congratulate every
participant who put in the work and competed!
These bolded words are verbs. Verbs are words that describe
specific actions, like running, winning, and being amazing.
Not all verbs refer to literal actions, though. Verbs that refer
to feelings or states of being, like to love and to be, are
known as nonaction verbs. Conversely, the verbs that do refer
to literal actions are known as action verbs.
1.1.1.1
What
is a verb?
Let’s start with the basics: What is a verb? Verbs
are words that describe actions, whether physical or mental. Verbs also
describe a “state of being,” like the verbs be, become, or exist.
Every sentence needs at least one verb. If there’s no verb, it’s
an incomplete sentence or a sentence fragment. Except for imperative sentences (commands),
a sentence also needs a subject, the thing doing the action.
Subjects are important for a verb because they change how it’s
conjugated, which we explain below. This is especially true for the most common
verb: be.
1.1.1.2
Types
of verbs
1.1.1.3
Dynamic
(action) verbs
Most verbs describe a physical action or activity, something
external that can be seen or heard. These verbs are formally known as dynamic
verbs, but can also be called action or event verbs.
Examples: walk, laugh, swim, play, eat, drink, sing, dance,
talk, say
There are a lot of actions that take place in our minds and
feelings, which are not external. Verbs that describe mental
or internal actions are still dynamic verbs, but they’re not always so obvious.
These include “process verbs,” which describe actions of
transition.
Examples: consider, guess, change, grow, live, endure, succeed,
fail
1.1.1.4
Stative
(state-of-being) verbs
The opposite of dynamic verbs of action is stative verbs of
being. Stative verbs describe a subject’s state or feeling, including things
they like and don’t like.
Examples: want, need, prefer, love, hate, like, dislike, seem,
understand, know, believe, involve, realize
1.1.1.5
Auxiliary
(helping) verbs
Auxiliary verbs, or “helping verbs,” are used in English to
change another verb’s tense, voice, or mood. When auxiliary verbs are used,
there’s always a main verb that represents the main action. However, the
auxiliary verb must still be conjugated correctly.
The main auxiliary verbs are be, have,
and do. We explain how they’re used specifically for conjugating
below, but here are a few quick examples:
I have eaten sushi many times before. (tense)
That piece of sushi was eaten by me. (voice)
Did you eat my sushi? (mood)
1.1.2
Modal auxiliary verbs
Some auxiliary verbs are added to another verb to show
necessity, possibility, or capability. Like other auxiliary verbs, modal
auxiliary verbs are not the main verb, but they do change its
meaning slightly. Some common examples are can, may, could, should, would, must, ought,
and might.
I could swim across the English Channel,
but should I do it?
She must be the strongest person on the team,
and might be the strongest person in the region.
1.1.3
Phrasal verbs
Phrasal verbs are phrases that act as individual verbs, often
combining two or more words and changing their meaning. The verb get,
for example, becomes many different phrasal verbs when combined with different
prepositions.
When the bus stops, passengers get out on the
sidewalk.
After losing his job, he’s getting by on
savings.
The important thing to remember about phrasal verbs is that they
act as a single verb, so you can still use them with other verbs and
prepositions. However, when you conjugate a phrasal verb, you only conjugate
the part of the phrase that’s actually a verb, like get.
1.1.3.1
Verb categories
Aside from the different types, verbs also come in different
categories. Dynamic, stative, and auxiliary verbs all make up the categories
below.
1.1.3.2
Transitive,
intransitive, and ditransitive
Transitive, intransitive, and ditransitive refer to how a verb
acts with direct
and indirect objects. A direct object is the person or thing that the action happens
to, while an indirect object is the person or thing that receives the direct
object.
Lindor threw the ball to deGram.
In this example, the subject is Lindor and the
verb is threw. The direct object is the ball because
that is what was thrown—Lindor did the action to the ball. The indirect object
is deGram because he received the direct object, the
ball.
Verbs that don’t use either a direct or indirect object are
called intransitive. These verbs are complete actions by
themselves.
Examples: go, walk, run, talk, sit, sleep, work
Verbs that use a direct object, but not an indirect object, are
called transitive. They don’t always need a direct object, but
they have the option.
Examples: clean, like, love, dislike, hate, want, learn,
deserve, say
Verbs that use both direct and indirect objects are called ditransitive.
They don’t always need an indirect object, but they have the option.
Examples: throw, make, buy, sell, read, give, lend, bring
Just as a verb can be either dynamic or stative depending on the
meaning, a verb can sometimes act transitive while at other times act
intransitive. These are known as ambitransitive. For example, if
you ask someone if they’re hungry, they might respond:
No, I already ate. (intransitive)
No, I already ate a sandwich. (transitive)
1.1.3.3
Active
vs. passive voice
In English, the standard format where the subject performs the
action is known as the active voice. However, you can switch around
your words to make the direct or indirect objects the subject of the sentence,
known as the passive voice. As explained in our guide to the
passive voice, you can make a verb passive by adding a conjugated form
of be in front of its past participle.
Stricklen threw the ball to Williams. (active)
The ball was thrown to Williams by Stricklen. (passive)
Williams was thrown the ball by Stricklen. (passive)
1.1.3.4
Linking
(copular) verbs
A linking verb is
any verb, dynamic or stative, that directly connects or “links” the sentence’s
subject to other words in the sentence. For example:
Garfield is a cat.
Here, “Garfield” and “a cat” are the same thing, so “is” acts as
a linking verb.
A linking verb—also known as a copula or copular
verb in formal linguistics—connects the subject not just to other
nouns and adjectives, but also to prepositional phrases and other verbs in the
infinitive form. Although the verb be is the most-used linking
verb in English, other linking verbs like seem and become are
also common.
Garfield is in the kitchen.
Garfield became fat by eating lasagnas.
Garfield seems to hate Mondays.
Likewise, perception verbs are often linking verbs as well, but
only when they describe what is being perceived.
The mild sauce also tastes spicy.
Birds look happy when the sun comes out.
The student felt pride when they used perfect
grammar.
1.1.4
Regular vs. irregular Verbs
Verbs have different forms to show different uses, such as an
action that happened in the past, or an action that happens continuously.
Normally, these forms follow the same patterns of conjugation, so that you can
use the same rules on all verbs. Verbs that use the normal forms are regular
verbs.
Unfortunately, some verbs don’t want to play by the rules. They
have their own unique forms with no patterns, specifically for the simple past
tense and past participle forms. These are the notorious irregular
verbs, and there are quite a few of them—including the most common
verb be.
To make matters worse, the only way to learn how to use
irregular verbs is to study them and all their forms. On the bright side, we
explain the best
ways to memorize irregular verbs. But first, you’ll want to learn
the standard verb forms of the majority regular verbs below.
1.1.4.1
Verb forms
Before we explain how to conjugate verbs in English, you need to
understand the different forms a verb takes. This helps immeasurably when you conjugate on your own—you just need
to use the right form at the right time. Keep in mind that these forms work
mostly for regular verbs; irregular verbs each have their own special
forms.
1.1.4.2
Root
The root form is the basic form of the verb with no changes.
It’s also the simple present tense for everything except the third-person
singular.
1.1.4.3
Third-person
singular present
Used with subjects like he, she, the
singular they, or it, the third-person singular in the
present tense just adds an -s to the end of the root form most of the
time.
For verbs that end in a consonant and -y (try, carry),
you remove the y and add -ies (tries, carries).
If the verb ends in a vowel and -y (say, buy), you just add
an -s like normal (says, buys).
Verbs that end in -ch, -sh, -x, -z, or -s add -es to
the end instead of just -s. For example, watch becomes watches and kiss becomes kisses.
1.1.4.4
Simple
past
The past tense shows an action that already happened. In most
cases it’s made by adding -ed to the end of the root form, or
just -d if the root form already ends in an E.
However, be careful of irregular verbs—their rules for the past don’t tend to
be consistent.
1.1.4.5
Present
participle
The present participle is used for the continuous tenses to show
ongoing or current action, and in more advanced English can be used for participial
phrases. In most cases you simply add –ing to the end of
the root form, although sometimes you have to remove an E first.
1.1.4.6
Past
participle
The past participle is used for the perfect tenses. In regular
verbs, it’s the same as the simple past tense, so there’s nothing extra to
learn. However, irregular verbs often use unique past participles, so you may
have to memorize their forms.
1.1.5
Infinitives and
gerunds
Do you like to swim? Do you enjoy learning?
If you want to use a verb as a noun, you can turn it into an infinitive or
gerund, the noun forms of verbs.
An infinitive adds
the preposition to in front of a verb’s root form. Although
technically two words, an infinitive acts as a single word, usually a noun, but
sometimes also an adjective or adverb.
To forgive is divine. (noun)
Bring a snack to eat if you get hungry. (adjective
describing “snack”)
Alternatively, you can turn the verb into a gerund by
adding -ing, identical to the present participle. A gerund is
strictly used as a noun, and occasionally you can use them to create gerund phrases, which
act as a single unit to modify the gerund.
Running is too difficult.
Studying the cosmos is not the same as understanding
the cosmos.
So what’s the difference between infinitives and gerunds? Often,
they are interchangeable—both infinitives and gerunds can act as subjects and
direct objects.
Living with a dog changes your outlook on life. (correct)
To live with a dog changes your outlook on life. (also
correct)
However, only gerunds can be the object of a preposition.
When I’m not fishing, I’m thinking about fishing.
Moreover, some transitive verbs only use infinitives as
a direct object—for example, want.
I want to break free. (correct)
I want breaking free. (incorrect)
Although there are others, some common verbs use infinitives.
They include the following: choose, decide, hope, plan, prepare,
promise, wish.
In general, use the infinitives for situations that are
abstract, unreal, or haven’t happened yet. Use gerunds for situations that are
specific, real, or have already happened.
In the mornings, I really like to exercise. (abstract;
infinitive)
This morning, I really liked exercising. (specific;
gerund)
Subject-verb agreement
No matter what tense you use, your verb has to match the number
of the subject. In other words, singular subjects conjugate verbs differently
than plural subjects.
A lot of the time, you either add -s to the end of the verb or
you don’t. However, more advanced tenses with auxiliary verbs can get
tricky—both be and have are irregular verbs,
so you have to pay close attention to using their right forms even when they’re
not the main verb.