VERBS

Verbs

Definition: Verbs are a class of words used to show the performance of an action (do, throw, run), existence (be), possession (have), or state (know, love) of a subject. To put it simply a verb shows what something or someone does.

For example:

• Paul rides a bicycle.
  * Here, the verb rides certainly denotes an action which Paul performs - the action of riding a bicycle.
• We buy some books to learn English verbs.
  * In this example, the action word is "to buy". It tells us that the subject "we", that is the person who performs the action of the verb is "buying some books".

The verb tense shows the time of the action or state. Aspect shows whether the action or state is completed or not. Voice is used to show relationships between the action and the people affected by it. Mood shows the attitude of the speaker about the verb, whether it is a declaration or an order. Verbs can be affected by person and number to show agreement with the subject.

Most statements in speech and writing have a main verb. These verbs are expressed in "tenses" which place everything in a point in time.

Verbs are conjugated (inflected) to reflect how they are used. There are two general areas in which conjugation occurs; for person and for tense.

Conjugation for tense
Conjugation for tense is carried out on all verbs. All conjugations start with the infinitive form of the verb.
The infinitive is simply the to form of the verb For example, to begin.
The present participle form (the -ing form), is formed by adding ing to the bare infinitive. For example, to begin - beginning.
There are two other forms that the verb can take, depending on the tense type and time, the simple past form and the past participle.

The form of the verb or its tense can tell when events take place.
For example, the verb kiss:

Present Simple kiss/kisses	Past Simple kissed	Future Simple will kiss
Present Perfect has/have kissed	Past Perfect had kissed	Future Perfect will have kissed
Present Continuous (Progressive) is/am/are kissing	Past Continuous (Progressive) was kissing	Future Continuous (Progressive) will be kissing
Present Perfect Continuous (Progressive) has/have been kissing	Past Perfect Continuous (Progressive) had been kissing	Future Perfect Continuous (Progressive) will have been kissing

Conjugation for person
Conjugation for person occurs when the verb changes form, depending on whether it is governed by a first, second, or third person subject. This gives three conjugations for any verb depending on who is acting as the subject of the verb. For example: we have I begin, you begin , and he begins. Note that only the third conjunction really shows a difference.

Gerund

Definition: A gerund is the form of a verb when it acts as a noun; a gerund (often known as an -ing word) is a noun formed from a verb by adding -ing. For example: Studying is good for you. Formation: Base Form + ING Gerunds can act as the subject or object of a main verb. For example: Going to parties is fun. Hunting elephants is dangerous. Flying makes me nervous.  * Here, gerunds are subjects I enjoy reading. * Here, gerund is object Use Certain words like adjectives, prepositions, verbs, nouns are followed by an Ing-Form. Use after certain adjectives Adjectives (with Prepositions) followed by the Gerund afraid of angry about / at bad at busy clever at interested in proud of crazy about disappointed about excited about famous for fond of sorry about worried about For example: He’s afraid of going by plane. I am interested in visiting the museum. He is clever at skateboarding. The girl is crazy about playing tennis. I'm worried about making mistakes. Use after certain prepositions Prepositions followed by the Gerund about after apart from because of by in instead of on For example: Before going to bed he turned off the lights. She avoided him by walking on the opposite side of the road. We arrived in Madrid after driving all night. He told the joke without laughing. Use after certain verbs Verbs followed by the Gerund admit advise allow appreciate avoid suggest understand miss reject consider delay deny dislike enjoy resist imagine permit practise For example: I enjoy cooking. He admitted having driven too fast. Ralph is considering buying a new house. I delayed telling Max the news. They miss playing with their friends. Use after certain nouns Nouns with Prepositions followed by the Gerund advantage of alternative of chance of choice between danger of doubt about experience in fun hope of point in idea of interest in opportunity of pleasure in problem reason for trouble in use waste of money waste of time For example: We had problems finding our way back home. There's no point in waiting any longer. What is the advantage of farming over hunting? He is in doubt about buying the correct software for his computer system. There's a real reason for winning the contest. Gender Definition: A grammatical category in which a noun, pronoun, article and adjective is masculine, feminine or neuter. Genders in English are extremely simple, and in any case the gender of a noun only affects its pronoun and possessive adjective. For example: Mary is a doctor. She is a doctor Peter is a doctor. He is a doctor. In nouns In general there is no distinction between masculine, feminine and neuter in English nouns. However, gender is sometimes shown by different forms or different words. Different words: Masculine Feminine man father uncle boy husband woman mother aunt girl wife Different forms: Masculine Feminine actor prince hero waiter widower actress princess heroine waitress widow Some nouns can be used for either a masculine or a feminine subject: cousin teenager teacher doctor cook student parent friend relation colleague partner leader For example Arthur is my teacher. He is my teacher. Jane is my teacher. She is my teacher. It is possible to make the distinction by adding the words "male" or "female". For example a male teacher, a female teacher, etc. present tense   There are two tenses in English – past and present. The present tenses in English are used: to talk about the present to talk about the future to talk about the past when we are telling a story in spoken English or when we are summarising a book, film, play etc. There are four present tense forms in English: Present simple: I work Present continuous: I am working Present perfect: I have worked Present perfect continuous: I have been working We use these forms: to talk about the present: He works at McDonald’s. He has worked there for three months now. He is working at McDonald’s. He has been working there for three months now. London is the capital of Britain. to talk about the future: The next train leaves this evening at 1700 hours. I’ll phone you when I get home. He’s meeting Peter in town this afternoon. I’ll come home as soon as I have finished work. You will be tired out after you have been working all night. We can use the present tenses to talk about the past... present simple The present tense is the base form of the verb: I work in London. But the third person (she/he/it) adds an -s: She works in London. Use We use the present tense to talk about: something that is true in the present: I’m nineteen years old. He lives in London. I’m a student. something that happens again and again in the present: I play football every weekend. We use words like sometimes, often. always, and never (adverbs of frequency) with the present tense: I sometimes go to the cinema. She never plays football. something that is always true: The human body contains 206 bones. Light travels at almost 300,000 kilometres per second. something that is fixed in the future. The school terms starts next week. The train leaves at 1945 this evening. We fly to Paris next week. present continuous The present continuous tense is formed from the present tense of the verb be and the present participle (-ing form) of a verb: Use 1. We use the present continuous tense to talk about the present: for something that is happening at the moment of speaking: I’m just leaving work. I’ll be home in an hour. Please be quiet. The children are sleeping. for something which is happening before and after a given time: At eight o’clock we are usually having breakfast. When I get home the children are doing their homework. for something which we think is temporary: Michael is at university. He’s studying history. I’m working in London for the next two weeks. for something which is new and contrasts with a previous state: These days most people are using email instead of writing letters. What sort of clothes are teenagers wearing nowadays? What sort of music are they listening to? to show that something is changing, growing or developing: The children are growing quickly. The climate is changing rapidly. Your English is improving. for something which happens again and again: It’s always raining in London. They are always arguing. George is great. He’s always laughing. Note: We normally use always with this use. 2. We use the present continuous tense to talk about the future: for something which has been arranged or planned: Mary is going to a new school next term. What are you doing next week? 3. We can use the present continuous to talk about the past: present perfect The present perfect is formed from the present tense of the verb have and the past participle of a verb: The present perfect continuous is formed with have/has been and the -ing form of the verb: Use We use the present perfect tense: for something that started in the past and continues in the present: They’ve been married for nearly fifty years. She has lived in Liverpool all her life. Note: We normally use the present perfect continuous for this: She has been living in Liverpool all her life. It’s been raining for hours.  for something we have done several times in the past and continue to do: I’ve played the guitar ever since I was a teenager. He has written three books and he is working on another one. I’ve been watching that programme every week. We often use a clause with since to show when something started in the past: They’ve been staying with us since last week. I have worked here since I left school. I’ve been watching that programme every week since it started. They’ve been married for nearly fifty years. She has lived in Liverpool all her life. Note: We normally use the present perfect continuous for this: She has been living in Liverpool all her life. It’s been raining for hours.  for something we have done several times in the past and continue to do: I’ve played the guitar ever since I was a teenager. He has written three books and he is working on another one. I’ve been watching that programme every week. We often use a clause with since to show when something started in the past: They’ve been staying with us since last week. I have worked here since I left school. I’ve been watching that programme every week since it started.   Note: We often use the adverb ever to talk about experience up to the present: My last birthday was the worst day I have ever had. Note: and we use never for the negative form: past tense There are two tenses in English – past and present. The past tense in English is used: to talk about the past to talk about hypotheses – things that are imagined rather than true. for politeness. There are four past tense forms in English: Past simple: I worked Past continuous: I was working Past perfect: I had worked Past perfect continuous: I had been working We use these forms: to talk about the past: He worked at McDonald’s. He had worked there since July.. He was working at McDonald’s. He had been working since July. to refer to the present or future in conditions: He could get a new job if he really tried. If Jack was playing they would probably win. and hypotheses: It might be dangerous. Suppose they got lost. I would always help someone who really needed help. and wishes: I wish it wasn’t so cold. In conditions, hypotheses and wishes, if we want to talk about the past, we always use the past perfect: I would have helped him if he had asked. It was very dangerous, What if you had got lost? I wish I hadn’t spent so much money last month. We can use the past forms to talk about the present in a few polite expressions: Excuse me, I was wondering if this was the train for York. I just hoped you would be able to help me. past simple Forms With most verbs the past tense is formed by adding -ed: call >> called; like >> liked; want >> wanted; work >> worked But there are a lot of irregular past tenses in English. Her are the most common irregular verbs in English, with their past tenses: infinitive irregular past be begin break bring buy build choose come cost cut do draw drive eat feel find get give go have hear hold keep know leave lead let lie lose make mean meet pay put run say sell send set sit speak spend stand take teach tell think understand wear win write was/were began broke brought bought built chose came cost cut did drew drove ate felt found got gave went had heard held kept knew left led let lay lost made meant met paid put ran said sold sent set sat spoke spent stood took taught told thought understood wore won wrote Use We use the past tense to talk about: something that happened once in the past: I met my wife in 1983. We went to Spain for our holidays. They got home very late last night. something that happened again and again in the past: When I was a boy I walked a mile to school every day. We swam a lot while we were on holiday. They always enjoyed visiting their friends. something that was true for some time in the past: I lived abroad for ten years. He enjoyed being a student. She played a lot of tennis when she was younger. we often use phrases with ago with the past tense: I met my wife a long time ago. past continuous The past continuous is formed from the past tense of be with the -ing form of the verb: We use the past continuous to talk about the past: for something which continued before and after another action: The children were doing their homework when I got home. Compare: I got home. The children did their homework. and The children did their homework when I got home. As I was watching television the telephone rang. This use of the past continuous is very common at the beginning of a story: The other day I was waiting for a bus when … Last week as I was driving to work …  for something that happened before and after a particular time: It was eight o’clock. I was writing a letter. Compare: At eight o’clock I wrote some letters. In July she was working in McDonald’s. .to show that something continued for some time: My head was aching. Everyone was shouting. for something that was happening again and again: I was practising every day, three times a day. They were meeting secretly after school. They were always quarrelling. with verbs which show change or growth: The children were growing up quickly. Her English was improving. My hair was going grey. past perfect We use the verb had and the past participle for the past perfect: I had finished the work. She had gone . The past perfect continuous is formed with had been and the -ing form of the verb: I had been finishing the work She had been going. The past perfect is used in the same way as the present perfect, but it refers to a time in the past, not the present. We use the past perfect tense: for something that started in the past and continued up to a given time in the past: When George died he and Anne had been married for nearly fifty years. She didn’t want to move. She had lived in Liverpool all her life. We normally use the past perfect continuous for this: She didn’t want to move. She had been living in Liverpool all her life. Everything was wet. It had been raining for hours. for something we had done several times up to a point in the past and continued to do after that point: He was a wonderful guitarist. He had been playing ever since he was a teenager. He had written three books and he was working on another one. I had been watching the programme every week, but I missed the last episode. We often use a clause with since to show when something started in the past: They had been staying with us since the previous week. I was sorry when the factory closed. I had worked there since I left school. I had been watching that programme every week since it started, but I missed the last episode. when we are reporting our experience and including up to the (then) present: My eighteenth birthday was the worst day I had ever had. I was pleased to meet George. I hadn’t met him before, even though I had met his wife several times. for something that happened in the past but is important at the time of reporting: I couldn’t get into the house. I had lost my keys. Teresa wasn’t at home. She had gone shopping. We use the past perfect to talk about the past in conditions, hypotheses and wishes: I would have helped him if he had asked. It was very dangerous. What if you had got lost? I wish I hadn’t spent so much money last month. active and passive voice Transitive verbs have both active and passive forms: active passive The hunter killed the lion. >>  The lion was killed by the hunter. Someone has cleaned the windows >>  The windows have been cleaned The passive forms are made up of the verb be with a past participle: be past participle English is spoken all over the world The windows have been cleaned Lunch was being served The work will be finished soon They might have been invited to the party We sometimes use the verb get to form the passive: Be careful with the glass. It might get broken. Peter got hurt in a crash. If we want to show the person or thing doing the action we use by: She was attacked by a dangerous dog. The money was stolen by her husband. We can use the indirect object as the subject of a passive verb: active passive I gave him a book for his birthday >>  He was given a book for his birthday. Someone sent her a cheque for a thousand euros >>  She was sent a cheque for a thousand euros. We can use phrasal verbs in the passive: active passive They called off the meeting. >>  The meeting was called off. His grandmother looked after him. >>  He was looked after by his grandmother. They will send him away to school. >>  He will be sent away to school. Some verbs very frequently used in the passive are followed by the to-infinitive: be supposed to be expected to be asked to be scheduled to be allowed to be told to John has been asked to make a speech at the meeting. You are supposed to wear a uniform. The meeting is scheduled to start at seven.  Modal verbs   The modal verbs are: can could may might shall should will would We use modals verbs to show if we believe something is certain, probable or possible (or not). We also use modals to do things like talking about ability, asking permission making requests and offers, and so on.   certain, probable or possible ability, permission, requests and advice modals + have can, could and could have may, might, may have and might have can or could will or would will have or would have certain, probable or possible The modal verbs are can, could, may, might, shall, should, will and would. The modals are used to show that we believe something is certain, probable or possible: Possibility: We use the modals could, might and may to show that something is possible in the future, but not certain: They might come later. (= Perhaps/Maybe they will come later.) They may come by car. (= Perhaps/Maybe they will come by car.) If we don’t hurry we could be late. (= Perhaps/Maybe we will be late) We use could have, might have and may have to show that something was possible now or at some time in the past: It’s ten o’clock. They might have arrived now. They could have arrived hours ago. We use the modal can to make general statements about what is possible: It can be very cold in winter. (= It is sometimes very cold in winter) You can easily lose your way in the dark. (= People often lose their way in the dark) We use the modal could as the past tense of can: It could be very cold in winter. (= Sometimes it was very cold in winter.) You could lose your way in the dark. (= People often lost their way in the dark) Impossibility: We use the negative can’t or cannot to show that something is impossible: That can’t be true. You cannot be serious. We use couldn’t/could not to talk about the past: We knew it could not be true. He was obviously joking. He could not be serious. Probability: We use the modal must to show we are sure something to be true and we have reasons for our belief: It’s getting dark. It must be quite late. You haven’t eaten all day. You must be hungry. We use must have for the past: They hadn’t eaten all day. They must have been hungry. You look happy. You must have heard the good news. We use the modal should to suggest that something is true or will be true in the future, and to show you have reasons for your suggestion: Ask Miranda. She should know. It's nearly six o'clock. They should arrive soon. We use should have to talk about the past: It's nearly eleven o'clock. They should have arrived by now. modals + have We use a modal verb with have and the past participle: Subject Modal Have Past Participle They will have arrived by now You might have seen the film Jack and Jill would have been late  We use a modal verb with have to refer back: … from a point of time in the past: We were very worried. Someone might have taken the car. … from the present It is nearly eight o’clock. They will have arrived by now. …or from the future: We won’t eat until they arrive. They might not have had supper. or to refer to past time: You should have helped her when she asked. can or could Possibility We use the modal can to make general statements about what is possible: It can be very cold in winter. (= It is sometimes very cold in winter) You can easily lose your way in the dark. (= People often lose their way in the dark) We use could as the past tense of can: It could be very cold in winter. (=Sometimes it was very cold in winter.) You could lose your way in the dark. (=People often lost their way in the dark) We use could to show that something is possible in the future, but not certain: If we don’t hurry we could be late. (=Perhaps/Maybe we will be late) We use could have to show that something is/was possible now or at some time in the past: It’s ten o’clock. They could have arrived now. They could have arrived hours ago. Impossibility: We use the negative can’t or cannot to show that something is impossible: That can’t be true. You cannot be serious. We use couldn’t/could not to talk about the past: We knew it could not be true. He was obviously joking. He could not be serious. Ability: We use can to talk about someone’s skill or general abilities: She can speak several languages. He can swim like a fish. They can’t dance very well. We use can to talk about the ability to do something at a given time in the present or future: You can make a lot of money if you are lucky. Help. I can’t breathe. They can run but they can’t hide. We use could to talk about past time: She could speak several languages. They couldn’t dance very well.