FORMS OF
VERBS
STRUCTURE
ü Objective
ü Introduction
•
Forms of
Verbs
•
Using Verb
Tenses
ü Present tense
ü Past tense
ü Future tense
ü Moods
ü Modal verbs and Auxiliary
ü Phrasal Verbs
ü Summary
ü Key words
Objective
The objective of this
lesson is to make the students understand about Verb and its forms, and their
usage.
Introduction
A verb is a word or a
group of words that denotes action, or the state in which a thing or a person
is, or joins the subject with the rest of the sentence. There has to be at
least one verb in the sentence to make it a sentence. A verb often consists of more
than one word. For example:
• The baby laughs.
• The man is a doctor.
• The weather seems bad.
In the first
sentence, the verb ‘laughs’ tells us about action, in the second, the verb ‘is’
tells us about what the man is. In the last, the verb is again stating about
the condition of the weather. Thus, a verb states something about the subject
of the sentence and expresses action, events or states of being. It forms a
part of the predicate of a sentence.
Forms of Verbs
Read the following sentences
carefully:
1. Ram kills the snake.
2. The boy laughs loudly.
In sentence 1, the
action denoted by the verb ‘kills’ passes over from the doer or the subject
‘Ram’ to the object ‘snake’. The verb ‘kills’ is, therefore, called a Transitive
verb in sentence 2, the action denoted by the verb ‘laughs’ stops with the
doer i.e., the boy, it does not pass over to any object. It does not affect any
noun other than the doer. The verb ‘laughs’ is, therefore, called an Intransitive
verb. Most Transitive verbs take a single object, however, verbs such as give,
ask, offer, promise, tell, ... take on two objects after them – an
object that denotes the person to whom something is given or for whom something
is done, and a direct object which is usually the name of things.
Using Verb Tenses
A verb indicates the time of the
action by changing its form. The tenses are determined according to the time
frame viz. present tenses, past tenses and future tenses.
Present tense:
1. The simple present – (We go).
Form: First form of the verb. The verb describes
things, situations or actions that are present now and are habitually true. The
sun rises in the east. (Always true). He goes for a walk every morning. (Habitually
true)
2. The present continuous – (We are going).
Form: is/am/are + -ing form of the verb. The verb
describes a particular action that is taking place at the time of speaking and
is in progress. Examples: 1. The baby is sleeping. 2. He is writing a letter.
3. The present perfect – (We have gone).
Form: has/have + third form (past participle) of
the verb. The verb describes an action that started sometimes in the past and continues
up to the present. Examples: 1. They have gone to Bombay. 2. He has eaten his
food.
4. The present perfect continuous – (We have been
going).
Form: have/has + been + -ing form of the verb +
since/for. The verb describes an action that began in the past, continues in
the present and may continue into the future also. Examples: 1. It has been
raining since morning. 2. He has been working for three hours.
Past tense:
1. The simple past – (We went).
Form: second form of the verb. The verb describes
actions or conditions of the past. Examples: 1. We went to a picnic yesterday.
2. I received this letter last week.
2. The past continuous – (We were going).
Form: was/were + -ing form of the verb. The verb
describes an action that took place in the past over a period of time.
Examples: 1. She was crying. 2. The children were playing.
3. The past perfect – (We had gone).
Form: had + third form (past participle) of the
verb. The verb describes an action or event, also completed in the past.
Examples: 1. She had cried. 3. The children had played.
4. The past perfect continuous – (We had been
going).
Form: had + been + -ing form of the verb +
since/for. The verb describes a continuing action in the past. Examples: 1. At
that time, he had been writing a book for two months. 2. He had been living in
Bombay since 1990.
Future tense:
1. The simple future – (We will go).
Form: will/shall + first form of the verb. The verb
describes actions or events of the future. It helps in making predictions about
the future, spontaneous reactions to events, making promises and thinking about
future possibilities. Examples: 1. It will rain tomorrow. 2. I think he will
not attend the party.
2. The future continuous – (We will be going).
Form: will/shall + be + -ing form of the verb. The
verb is used to describe an activity that will be happening at a precise point
in time in the future. Examples: 1. I'll be playing golf at six in the evening.
2. When you arrive in Hisar, he'll be sleeping.
3. The future perfect – (We will have gone).
Form: will/shall + have + third form (past
participle) of the verb. The verb is used to show that something that will have
been done up to a precise point in time in the future. Examples: 1. She'll have
read the book by the time you leave. 2. The last train will have left within an
hour.
4. The future perfect continuous – (We will have
been going).
Form: will/shall + have + been + -ing form of the
verb + since/for. The verb shows that something will continue up until a particular
event or time in future. Example: 1. They will have been talking for over an
hour by the time you arrive.
Note: Sometimes, the simple
present tense can express future time if there is some other word in the
sentence that clearly marks a future tense.
Moods
Verbs are used to
express commands, make suppositions and to make statements of fact. These modes
in which verbs are used are called Moods. There are three moods –
Indicative, Imperative and Subjunctive.
The Indicative makes
Statements of fact: I
go to office daily.
The Imperative mood
expresses commands/entreaties: The subject is usually omitted. Stand there;
Go home, etc.
The Subjunctive Mood
occurs in traditional phrases: God bless you.
Modal verbs and Auxiliary
Modal verbs are
special verbs which behave very irregularly. The modal verbs are can, could,
may might, will, would, shall, should, ought to, must, need.
2.0 A modal verb always has the same
form. There is no -s ending, no -ing form and no -ed form, e.g., he will, they
will, etc.
3.0 Modal verbs and auxiliary verbs
come before the subject to form questions. e.g., Will you come for the party?
4.0 They are used to form negatives by
adding 'not' after them. e.g., I cannot/can't do this.
5.0 Modal verbs are used to talk about
someone's ability to do an action, an action that is necessary and a situation
that is possible. e.g.,
1. To express Ability: can, could, be able
to etc. She can swim He could play the harmonium when he was very young.
2. In case of necessity: must, have to,
needn't, etc. We must tell him the truth. I will have to go.
3. For permission: can, may, etc. Can I use your pen,
please? May I come in?
4. In case of obligation: ought to, should,
etc. We should respect our elders. He ought to do as his parents want him to
do.
5. In case of possibility: may, might, could,
etc. The students may ask for an off tomorrow. The books could be in one of the
racks.
6. Certainty: will, must, can't, etc. The story can't be
true. He must have reached home by now.
Phrasal Verbs
Many verbs, when
followed by various prepositions, or adverbs, acquire idiomatic sense. e.g.,
put out, get on, turn round, break down, run away, look forward to, etc. Phrasal
verbs can be separable or inseparable and they can take an object or not. Phrasal
verbs which take objects can be separable or inseparable. e.g., I picked Tina
up or I picked up Tina. Separable phrasal verbs must be separated
when a pronoun is used. e.g., we picked him up at the station NOT
we picked up him at the station.
NOTE: The topic of Phrasal Verbs has been discussed
at length in Lesson 3 & 4. The students may refer to those for detailed
study.
Summary
In this lesson, we
have discussed about verb and its various forms. This understanding will help
the students to construct correct sentences.
Key words; Verb, tense, present tense, past tense,
future tense, mood, indicative mood, imperative mood, subjunctive mood, phrasal
verb, auxiliaries, modal verbs, etc.
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