Verbs The verb The verb is the engine

Verbs

The verb The verb is the engine of the sentence A verb is a word or group of words which denote some action or state In English, the form of the verb varies according to: Person (first, second, third) Number (singular, plural) Tense (past or present) Aspect (progressive (-ing; to be) or perfective (have)) Voice (active or passive) Eg: He drives a car (3 rd person, singular, present tense) I drove a car (1 st person, singular, past tense)

If we omit the verb of any sentence, it is hard to understand. Eg: Lucy is a teacher. (Lucy a teacher). Here we see that a verb is not always a doing word.

FINITE VERB = a verb which has a subject, and shows number and tense. It does not always need an auxiliary verb. Finite verbs have a definite relation with the subject. It must have a subject, number and tense. Eg: I cook the evening meal. She plays. They argue.

Non-finite verbs = a verb that does not show tense, subject or number. These verbs may have other forms – infinitive; or participles The infinitive = when a verb is preceded by a ‘to’ It must be preceded by a finite verb: She wants to discuss Eg: I tried to study (infinitive) The infinitive should not be split: I am going to definitely complete my work wrong I am definitely going to complete my work correct Eg:

Examples of non-finite verbs Sit over there Sit= non-finite verb because it has no subject, number or tense. I want to go there. to go = non-finite verb because it is an infinitive

Auxiliary verbs A helping verb Most common: be, do , have, will, am, are, can , could Always comes before the verb Regulates the tense of the verb: Eg: She will do her work (future tense). She had done her work (past tense). An auxiliary verb can consist of more than one word – eg: had been, will have been.

Participles Two types: past and present. Past participles: Help to make the past tense of the verb and usually end in ed. Eg: giggled; helped; jumped Present participles: State the continuous nature of the action and usually end in –ing Eg: giggling; helping; jumping