Ministry of higher education

Kabul University
Environment faculty
Environmental Protection department

Parts of speech (Verb)

Behroz Omar
Abid Ahmadzai
Lema Haidari
Rahmanullah shirzad
Adeeba babakrkhail

Table of Contents
Title …….……………………………………………………………… Page Verb
………………………………………………………………………..… 1
How to recognize a verb ……………………………………………. 1
Physical verbs ……………………………………………………………. 1
Mental verbs …………………………………………………………….. 2
Regular verbs …………………………………………………………….. 2
Rules of adding (d) or (ed) …………………………………………. 3
Irregular verbs …………………………………………………………… 3
Ordinary verbs …………………………………………………………… 4
Transitive verbs …………………………………………………………..4
Intransitive verbs ………………………………………………………..5
Auxiliary verbs …………………………………………………………....5
Principal auxiliary verbs ……………………………………………….6
To be verbs ………………………………………………………………….6
To have verbs ………………………………………………………………6
To do verbs ………………………………………………………………….7
Model auxiliary verbs …………………………………………………..7
Semi model auxiliary verbs……………………………………………9
Subject- verb agreement ……………………………………………..10
 Introduction
Parts of speech is made of several sections; verb is one of them. This chapter contains
information about verb, types of verb and usages of verb. As we know verb is the main part of
sentences so it is important to have information about it. Verb is divided in many parts. It has
many laws and if you want to make a sentence without any mistake you must be familiar with
them, like: there are some verbs which are always used with singular subject, likewise there are
some verbs which are always used with plural subjects. In this chapter we have gathered some
useful and short information about each part of the verb, we wish that collected information will
be useful and pleasant. If there is any mistake, forgive us.
Verb
The word ‘verb’ is derived from the Latin word ‘verbum’ means word. Verbs are the
action words in a sentence that describe what the subject is doing. Along with nouns, verbs are
the main part of a sentence. In fact, without a verb, full thoughts cannot be properly conveyed,
even the simplest sentences such as Maria sings, is consisted of at least one verb. Besides, we
can clarify one verb as a sentence as well.
A verb does not show an action but it expresses state, being, or emotions. To clarify, the sentence
1 and 2 shown below are a clear example of them.
1. I know your name.
2. I like Afghani food.

How to recognize a verb:

As shown in the above examples, one of the main characteristics of verbs are that they are almost
always used after a noun of pronoun. In these cases, the nouns and pronouns are referred to as
the subject.
Examples:
 He killed his uncle.
 You write your homework.
 We went to the market.
You can also ask “what is happening?”
In the sentence Mark eats his lunch, what is happening??
Eating is happening, so eating is the verb.
In the sentence I am playing football, what is happening, football is being played. Then playing
is a verb.

Physical verbs – Definition and Examples

Physical verbs are action verbs that describe specific physical actions.
Examples:
 I go to home.
  I set in the chair.
 I kick the ball.

Mental verbs – Definition and Examples

Mental verbs have meanings that are related to concepts such as discovering, understanding,
thinking, or planning. In general, a mental verb refers to a cognitive state.
Examples:
 I know her.
 I recognize you.
 Do you believe everything people tell you?
Verb Forms
A verb has three main forms: simple, past, and past participle
Examples:
 See saw seen
 Talk talked talked
 Go went gone
These verbs are categorized into two 2 parts:
1- Regular verbs
2- Irregular verbs

Regular verbs
Regular verbs are those verbs which form their past and past participle by taking (d) or (ed) at
the end of simple form.
Examples:
 Injure injured injured
 Persuade persuaded persuaded
 Watch watched watched

Rules of adding (d) or (ed) at the end of the verbs:

1- Verbs ending in (e) or (ee) take only (d)

Examples:
 encourage encouraged encouraged
 agree agreed agreed
 share shared shared

2- Verbs ending in (y) following a consonant, change (y) into (i) and add(ed)

Examples:
  Try tried tried
 Carry carried carried
 Marry married married

3- Add (ed) at end of the verbs ending in (Y) following a vowel without any change.

Examples:
 Play played played
 Pray prayed prayed
4- In one syllable regular verbs ending in a consonant following a vowel, double the last
consonant and add (ed)

Examples:
 Stop stopped stopped
 Drop dropped dropped
 Cap capped capped

Irregular verbs:
Irregular verbs are those which do not have any special rule for forming their past and past
participle forms.

Examples:
 Stand stood stood
 Say said said
 See saw seen
In general, there is two types of verb:
1- Ordinary verbs (main verbs)
2- Auxiliary verbs

Ordinary verbs (main verbs)

Those verbs which can stand alone or have complete meaning are called ordinary verbs. These
verbs typically show action or state of being of the subject. Like: drive, shine, jumps.
 I drive a car.
 She jumps.
Ordinary verbs are divided into 2 parts:
 Transitive verbs
 Intransitive verbs
 Transitive verbs:-
Transitive verbs always require direct object to receive their action. Without an object the
sentence will be incomplete.

Examples:
 I saw a picture.
 He broke the chair.
 Fred loves cake.

 Transitive verbs are also divided into 2 parts:

 Transitive verbs are also divided into two parts:
1. Active verb
2. Passive verb
o Active verb is a verb in which the doer of an action is the subject of the sentence.
o
Example:
 He fixed the car.
 Passive verb is a verb in which the receiver of the action is subject of the sentences.

Examples:
 The car was fixed by them.
 Football is being played by me.

Intransitive verbs
Are those which can stand alone and do not need any object. Means they express a complete
meaning alone.
Examples:
 Ali sings.
 Ahmad swims.
 Mahmood smiles.

Auxiliary verbs (Helping verbs):

Auxiliary verbs are used with main verbs to help express the main verb’s tense, mood or voice.
They also make negative and question forms when they come with main verbs.
We have 24 auxiliary verbs; they are as followed:
Is, am, are, was, were, have, has, had, do, does, did, can, could, will, would, shall, should, may,
might, ought to, must, need, dare, used to.
They are classified into 3 parts:
1- Principle auxiliary verbs
2- Modal auxiliary verbs
 3- Semi modal auxiliary verbs
4- Principle auxiliary verbs:
Are those which form main part of auxiliary verbs. When they are used alone, they are
ordinaries, if they are accompanied by other verbs, they are auxiliaries.

Examples:
- I have a car. (in here “have” is an ordinary verb)
- I have played football. (in here “have” is an auxiliary)
These auxiliaries are as follow:
To be verbs (is, am, are, was, were,), to have verbs (have, has, had) to do verbs (do, does, did).
Now we want to talk about each of them separately.

To be verbs:
These verbs show state or being in the sentence.
They consist in:
Is, am, are, was, were

Examples:
 I am a student.
 He is a good boy.
 We were close friends.

To have verbs:
Are those verbs which shows possession or ownership in a sentence.
They consist in: Have, has and had
Examples:
 He has a car.
 They have a good car.
 We had good days.
Note: to have verbs are used in the beginning of the sentences to form an interrogative sentence.
For example: have I am car?

To do verbs:
To do verbs shows performance of an action.
And they are as follow:
Do, does and did

Note: to do verbs are usually used in in the question and negative forms of the sentences which
do not contain any other auxiliary.
For example:
I study math every day.
Do I study math every day?

Modal auxiliary verbs:

A model verb is a type of verb that is used to indicate modality, that is: like hood, ability,
permission, request, capacity, request, suggestions, order, obligation or advice.
Modals do not have any (s) or (es) at the end of the third singular person. They have neither
infinitive nor the past participle form, therefor we cannot use them in the continuous form.

Modal auxiliaries consist in:

Can, could, shall, should, will, would, may, might, ought to and must.
1- Can, could:
Can shows present ability.
Could is used in past form of can. It can also show present probability.
Examples:
I can play football. (Present)
Ahmad could play piano well. (Past)
If I trained a lot, I could have won the match. (Present probability)
2- May, might:
May shows present probability. Might is used in past form of may.
 When (may) is placed at the beginning of the sentence, shows admission or permission.
Example:
- I may leave here tomorrow.
- He might have gone to school.
- May I help come in? (shows permission)

3- Shall, will, would, should

Shall and will shows an action which will take place in the future.
Example: I will go to school tomorrow. (Shows a future action)
- Should and would are used in the past form of the shall and will.

4- Ought to
Ought to indicate a command or instruction.
Example:
- I ought to tell him the fact.
- He ought not to neglect in his duties.

5- Must:
Must indicates strongest obligation or instruction. In other tenses (have to) is usually used
instead of it.
Example:
- He must do his homework.
- They must sing a song in a concert.

Semi modal auxiliary verbs:

Are those verbs which can both act as a model verb and ordinary verb.
There are three semi model auxiliaries in English language:
1- Dare:
Dare shows courage. It can be used both as auxiliary and ordinary verb.
Example: I dare tell him the matter.
2- Need:
Need shows necessity.
Example:
 I need to discuss with him. (auxiliary)
 I need a pen. (ordinary)

3- Used to:
 When (used to) is followed by the simple form of the verb, means before or ago.
Example: Jamal used to work in a bank.
 When (used to) is used with to be verb, followed by the (ing) form, means habit. For
example: he is used to chewing gum.
Subject – verb agreement
It is very important to take care of the subject and verb agreement while framing a sentence. It is
very important that verb must be compatible and agree with its subject to make a correct and
valid sentence.
Examples:
If we write:

 Phil is playing with a ball. (Correct)!

 Phil are playing with a ball. (Incorrect) X
In the first sentence, the subject (Phil) is singular, so we need a singular verb (is playing). The
sentence is correct. In the second sentence, the subject (Phil) is singular, but the verb is plural
(are playing). The sentence is incorrect.

Rules of Subject-Verb Agreement

Rule 1_ subject-verb agreement with a singular noun
If the subject is a singular noun or a pronoun (he, I, she, it). We must ensure that we use a
singular verb to write a correct sentence.
List of Example Sentence
1. She is playing the guitar.
2. The postman is asking for your signature.
3. Does he know the minister well?
4. He enjoys music.
5. My brother drives the car carefully.
6. He plays the guitar very good.
7. He runs so fast.
Rule 2_ subject- verb agreement with plural noun
If the subject is plural (we, they, those, you) we need a plural verb to write a correct sentence.
List of Example Sentences
1. The boys were talking too much
2. The children are playing in the garden.
3. We have finished our homework.
4. Formers work in the field.
5. Both the boys and the girls have worked hard.
6. Ahmad and Mahmood are swimming.

Rule 3_ subject- verb agreement with collective nouns

The collective nouns are considered as singular. We use singular verbs
With them.
List of example sentences
1. My family is from Poland.
2. The band is playing the school song.
3. Our team has to win the match.
4. The crowd was very noisy.
5. Our cricket team is the best team among the Asian countries.
6. The audience is having a good time.
7. The choir is singing beautifully.
Rule 4_ subject-verb agreement with indefinite pronouns
Indefinite pronouns like: nobody, everybody, someone, somebody, one are always singular.
List of Example Sentences
1. Everybody is liking our new car.
2. Someone has entered to the house.
3. One of the passengers was asking for a coffee.
4. Somebody is knocking at the door.
5. Somebody is calling you.
6. Nobody is allowed to enter that room.
Rule 5_
We use singular verbs for uncountable nouns.
List of Example Sentences
1. There is sufficient food in the refrigerator.
2. Cold weather is a problem in this part of the country.
3. Milk with biscuits is one of my favorite breakfast options.
4. Salt is obtained from sea water.
5. Sugar is found in shops near our house.
Rule 6_
A plural noun takes a singular verb when it is a name.
Such as Paris, China, Arabian nights and so on.
1. China is most populated country.
2. Norway has soft hearted people.
3. Afghanistan is a mountainous country.
 References

Nordquist, R. (n.d.). The 9 parts of speech in grammar. Retrieved February 07, 2021, from
https://www.thoughtco.com/part-of-speech-english-grammar-1691590

Verb: Definition and examples. (2016, July 01). Retrieved February 07, 2021, from
http://partofspeech.org/verb/
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