Verbs

Classification

The verb
is the most important part of the sentence. It is the part of the sentence which makes a group of words a complete piece of communication. It expresses an idea or an action.

The students happy

The students are happy.

Properties of the verb:

Numbers Persons Voices Moods Tenses Aspects

The voices are: the active and the passive

The active voice is that form of a verb in which the subject denotes the doer of the action. The postman delivers the mail twice a day. The passive voice is that form of a verb in which the subject denotes a person or a thing that suffers the action expressed by its verb. The mail is delivered twice a day.

The moods are:

the indicative, the subjunctive and the imperative
The indicative represents something as a fact. The sun rises every morning. The subjunctive represents something not as reality or a fact, but only as a desire, plan, thought; something we hope. It expresses a condition or supposition. I wish I were there. The imperative represents: commands, requests, wishes, etc. Go home.

Tense
A tense is a form of the verb used to denote the time, the continuance and the completeness of an action. English tenses are formed by adding suffixes or by the aid of auxiliary verbs. English tenses can express two aspects.

Time and tense

The word time stands for a universal concept (the past, the present and the future). These are extra-linguistic units and the exist independently of the grammar of any particular language. We can make linguistic reference to these extra-linguistic realities by means of a verb form or series of verb forms called tenses.

 Tenses may indicate whether an activity is present, past or future. They may also indicate whether an activity or state is, was or will be completed or whether is, was or will be in progress over a period of time. Therefore, DO NOT CONFUSE: Past time and past tense, present time and present tense, and future time and future tense.

Active tenses
Present simple continuous perfect perfect continuous Past simple continuous perfect perfect continuous simple continuous perfect perfect continuous he works he is working he has worked he has been working he worked he was working he had worked he had been working he will work he will be working he will have worked he will have been working he would work he would be working he would have worked he would have been working

Future

Present conditional conditional continuous Perfect conditional conditional continuous

Aspects: the continuous and the indefinite

An aspect denotes the development of the action. The indefinite aspect which is sometimes called the static or perfective aspect denotes that the action is regarded as complete, absolute and permanent, taken as a fact, that we think of the result of the action. The sun rises in the east. The continuous aspect (or progressive aspect) which is sometimes called the durative, dynamic, imperfective aspect. The actions is regarded as transitory or being in progress. The sun is rising in the east.

Finite and non-finite verb forms

Finite verb forms have tense distinction, person and number concord between the subject and the finite verb. Non-finite verbal forms, which are sometimes called verb-nouns and verb adjectives, are: - The infinitive - The gerund - The participles

Finite Verb Phrases

There are two types of finite verb phrases: -simple -complex Simple finite verb phrases are those which contain only one word, and complex finite verb phrases contain more than one word. The single word of a simple verb phrase is always either a present or past tense form or an imperative or a subjunctive. (e.g. Present simple: He lives in Mostar. Imperative: Live in Mostar! Subjunctive: Long live the king!)

 Complex verb phrases are made up of one or more of four basic constructions:
Type A (modal) consists of a modal auxiliary followed by the infinitive (e.g. He can type well) Type B (perfective) consists of a form of to have followed by the past participle (e.g. He has typed it)

Type C (progressive) consists of the form of to be followed by the present participle (e.g. He was typing, when the telephone rang) Type D (passive) consists of the form of to be followed by the past participle (e.g. He is being examined)

 These four basic constructions can be combined in eleven ways: AB: should have repaired AC: should be repairing AD: should be repaired BC: has been repairing BD: has been repaired CD: is being repaired ABC: should have been repairing ABD: should have been repaired ACD: should be being repaired BCD: has been being repaired ABCD: should have been being repaired

Regular and irregular verbs

Regular verbs are those which have one stem and three forms made by adding suffixes (-(e)s; -(e)d and -ing) to the stem. Irregular verbs are those which have one stem and add two suffixes -(e)s and ing to form two forms while the third form (e)d (i.e. Preterit and Past Participle) is made: a) By vowel change: find, found, found b) By two vowel changes: sing, sang, sung c) By using the stem: put, put, put

Auxiliary and ordinary verbs

Auxiliary verbs are those which help to form tenses of another verb. They are: to be, to have , to do, can, could, may, might, must, ought, shall, should, will, would, need to, to dare and used to. All the other verbs are called ordinary verbs. E.g. to work, to sing, to pray.

Impersonal verbs
Impersonal verbs are those which are used only in the third person singular with it as the subject. It rains - it is raining It snows - it is snowing It freezes - it is freezing

Transitive and intransitive

A transitive verb is a verb that requires an object to complete its meaning. The object may be a noun, a pronoun or a clause. He ate the apple. An intransitive verb denotes a state or an action without reference to an object. I am sitting. I am dreaming.

Participles

Forms
Present Participle active (-ing): e.g. I hear you laughing. Present Participle passive (being +past participle) e.g. We saw the snow being cleared away. Past (Passive) Participle (-ed/vowel change) e.g. They wanted the snow cleared away.

Forms
Perfect Participle (having + past participle) e.g. Having waited an hour, the crowd were getting impatient. Perfect Participle passive (having been + past participle) e.g. Having been bitten twice, the postman refused to deliver our letters unless we chained our dog up.

Negative form
In the negative, not comes before the participle. He hesitated, not knowing what to do. Not having been informed, we were completely in the dark.

The use
To form the continuous tenses : He is working. As adjectives: running water After have + object: He had me swimming in a week. A present participle can sometimes replace a relative pronoun + verb: a map that marks/marked political boundaries = a map marking political boundaries

 Present participles/participle phrases such as adding/pointing out/ reminding/warning can introduce statements in indirect speech: He told me to start early, reminding me that the roads would be crowded. After verbs of sensation. The basic verbs of sensation see, hear, feel, smell, and the verbs listen (to), notice and watch can be followed by object + present participle: I see him passing my house every day.

 After catch/find/leave + object: I caught them stealing my apples. After go, come, spend, waste, be busy. Go and come can be followed by the participles of verbs of physical activity and the verb shop: They are going riding/skiing/sailing.

 Present participles can sometimes replace subject + verb in other main or subordinate clauses: Taking off our shoes we creep cautiously along the passage.

The gerund
-ing form used as a noun with a verbal meaning

Forms
Present Active: playing e.g. It was nice meeting you. Present Passive: being played e.g. I can't help not being amused by these silly jokes. Perfect Active: having played e.g. Sarah remembered having visited the place before. Perfect Passive: having been played e.g. Feedback without having been asked

The use
as subject of a sentence: Dancing bored him. as complement of a verb: Her hobby is painting.

after prepositions: He was accused of smuggling.

The use
after certain verbs: He admitted taking the money.

in noun compounds: a diving board (a board for diving off). The gerund here carries the main stress.

Infinitives
a substantival form of the verb, i.e. it has partly the character of a verb, partly of a noun.

 The full infinitive consists of two words: to + verb (e.g. to talk) The infinitive without to is called bare (e.g. talk) Split infinitives: e.g. It would take ages to really master this subject. An infinitive is sometimes represented by its to: e.g. Do you smoke? No, but I used to (smoke).

Forms
Present Infinitive: to play, to work, to buy e.g. I'd prefer to sit at the back. Present Continuous Infinitive: to be playing e.g. I'd rather be lying on the beach Perfect Infinitive: to have played e.g. You'd better have finished by tomorrow. Perfect Continuous Infinitive: to have been playing e.g. The man appeared to have been drinking.

Passive
Present Passive: to be played e.g. This is the way that it is meant to be played.

Perfect Passive: to have been played e.g. I am not sure but it might have been done.

Uses of the infinitive

The infinitive may be used alone: We began to walk. or as part of an infinitive phrase: We began to walk down the road. The infinitive may be the subject of a sentence: To compromise appears advisable.

Uses of the infinitive

The infinitive may be the complement of a verb: His plan is to keep the affair secret. The infinitive may be the object or part of the object of a verb. It can follow the verb directly: He wants to pay. or follow verb + how, what : He discovered how to open the safe. or follow verb + object: He wants me to pay.

Uses of the infinitive

be + infinitive can express commands or instructions: He is to stay here till we return. (he must stay) The infinitive can express purpose. He went to France to learn French.

Uses of the infinitive

The infinitive can be used after certain adjectives: angry, glad, happy, sorry, fortunate, likely, lucky, etc. I am happy to see you. The infinitive can connect two clauses: He hurried to the house only to find that it was empty.

Uses of the infinitive

The infinitive can sometimes replace relative clauses. He is the second man to be killed this way. The infinitive can be used after certain nouns. He made an attempt to stand up.

Uses of the infinitive

The infinitive can be used with too/enough and certain adjectives/adverbs. You are too young to understand. An infinitive phrase such as to tell the truth, to cut a long story short can be placed at the beginning or end of a sentence. To be honest, I dont really like you.