UNIT 5. Oh! Is that a verb?

Objectives:
1. Identify the functions and nature of verbs.
2. Differentiate the kinds of verbs.
3. Analyze the kind of verb used in a sentence.
4. Identify the four principal forms/parts of verbs.
5. Discuss the nature of a verb phrase.
6. Discuss the different tenses of the verbs.

Verbs
Traditional definition of verb is that, it is an action word. Well, there is nothing wrong in this
definition but there is something missing.
In the sentence: “George yells for help.”, the verb ‘yells’ is really an action word. But, in the
sentence: “He is an actor.”, the verb is ‘is’ but it does not suggest action. The verb ‘is’ simply states
being or links the subject to its predicate which intends to describe the subject. Thus, verb is the
part of speech which indicates action or states a being.

Kinds of Verbs
From the definition of the verb, you can now classify verb as either action verb (AV) or
linking verb (LV).
Under action verb, there are still subtypes – transitive, intransitive, regular, and irregular.

Transitive vs Intransitive
Transitive verbs (TV) are action words which require direct object while intransitive
verbs (IV) are known to be as independent verb for they can stand alone without a direct object or
even a modifier. The intransitive verb may or may not have an adverb modifier.

My student dances.
IV

My student dances gracefully.

IV Adv. of manner

My student dances cha-cha.

 TV Direct object (DO)

My student dances cha-cha gracefully.

TV DO Adv. of manner

The first two sentences use ‘dances’ as intransitive verb. The first sentence does not need
object nor modifier. In the second sentence, the verb ‘dances’ is modified by ‘gracefully.’ The
modifier ‘gracefully’ answers the question how ‘my student dances?’ On the other hand, the last two
sentences use ‘dances’ as transitive. The third sentence has a direct object ‘cha-cha’ which is still the
direct object in the last sentence though there is a modifier. That is, even if there is adverb modifier,
as long as there is also a direct object, the action verb is definitely a transitive not intransitive.
Now, it is very clear that action verbs may either be transitive or intransitive depending on
the presence of direct object which will receive the action. However, there are action verbs which
may never have a direct object such as ‘cry’ and ‘jump’.

Regular vs Irregular Verbs

Another types of action verbs are the regular and irregular verbs. To differentiate these two
simply, regular verbs are those action verbs which follow the usual patterns of adding either ‘ -d’ or
‘-ed’ to the base form of the verb to make the verb into past and past participle forms. Basically, the
action words which do not follow these patterns but having a unique or different pattern are
irregular. These regular and irregular verbs can still be classified as either transitive or intransitive
depending on the presence of direct object and adverb modifier or none at all. Study the following
tables showing examples of regular and irregular verbs and how these two types of verbs form
themselves in four principal parts/forms of verbs.
Examples of regular verbs

Present participle Past Participle

Base form Past Form
Form Form

walk walking walked walked

dance dancing danced danced

change changing changed changed

arrange arranging arranged arranged

donate donating donated donated

celebrate celebrating celebrated celebrated

Examples of irregular verbs

Base form Present participle Past Tense Past Participle

 Form Form

put putting put put

write writing wrote written

become becoming became become

drive driving drove driven

sing singing sang sung

drink drinking drank Drunk

The Linking and Helping Verbs

The second function of the verb is to link the subject to its predicate whether in the case of
predicate nominative, adjective, or pronoun. In using more complex tense of the verbs, verb phrase
can only be completed with the helping or auxiliary verbs. Some of the linking verbs (‘ be’ forms)
have the same forms with the helping verbs but they have definite difference in functions. Sense
verbs can also function as linking verb.
Below are the sentences which use linking verbs:
She is my favorite Math teacher.
(The predicate is in nominative. Specifically, predicate noun is used in this sentence. In this
case, the noun ‘teacher’ also functions as subject complement. )

The principal looks young in her red dress.

(The verb ‘looks’ can be substituted with ‘be’ form ‘is’. Another, the predicate is in adjective
form following the sentence pattern S-LV-C [Adjective].)

Other examples:
Our rest house was vacated few years back.
You are very special to me.
The music sounds romantic.
I am sorry about what had happened last night.

Meanwhile, below are helping verbs (HV) trying to aid the main verbs in verb phrases:
She is cleaning our house joyfully.
 (The verb phrase ‘is cleaning’ is composed by the helping verb ‘is’ and the main verb ‘cleaning’.
Again, here, the verb ‘is’ is no longer a linking verb since this verb is not used to describe the
subject. Rather, the verb ‘is’ functions as helping or axillary verb. Without the helping verb, the
thought will be incomplete and has to be returned to basic form as: She cleans our house
joyfully.)

The same matter will be observed even if the verb phrase has more than two verbs such as:
She will be cleaning our house.
(The verb phrase ‘will be cleaning’ has two helping verbs ‘will’ and ‘be’ with main verb
‘cleaning’.)
Lastly, more than one main verbs can share with the given helping verbs in a verb phrase.
Examples:
I am listening to music while checking the test papers of my students.
At the same time, he is finishing the portrait and baby-sitting his nephew.

Tenses of the Verb

Tense refers to the time when the action took place, takes place, or will take place. It also
pertains to time of a condition or statement.

I. Simple Tenses

One or more actions or states of being expressed at one time. Time indicator added may
help to clarify the time of occurrence or state.

A. Simple Present Tense denotes:

1. habitual action;

Examples:
a. She goes to church every morning.
b. Alden has monthly meet-and-greet with his fans.

2. general truth/idea;

Examples:
a. The Earth revolves around the sun.
b. People need oxygen to survive.

3. present fact; and

Examples:
 a. We are now in the 21st century.
b. There are 366 days this 2020.

4. permanent location.

Examples:
a. The Sun is at the center of the Solar System.
b. Statue of Liberty stands in New York.

B. Simple Past Tense suggests action or state of being in the past.

Examples:
a. Dr. Feliciano Bolisay Jr. was the NEUST Vice President for Academic Affairs in
2016.
b. My parents took me a ride yesterday.
c. She went to church last week.
d. Alden had his meet-and-greet with his fans last month.
e. Alden met his fans last month.

C. Simple Future Tense shows action or condition in the future (will/shall + base form
of the verb).

Examples:
a. Midterm Examination in Structure of English will be on October.
b. My parents will take me a ride to school this afternoon.
c. She will go to church tonight.
d. Alden will have his meet-and-greet with his fans next month.
e. Alden will meet his fans next month.

II. Emphatic Tenses

Just like simple tenses, emphatic tenses have action or actions which happened or
happen/s at one time but with emphasis. Emphatic means intensified. Thus, the action
has intensity.

A. Present Emphatic Tense (do/does + base form of the verb)

Remember: In this tense, the verb ‘does’ is used if the subject is singular and in third
person. The verb must meet these two criteria, any combination other than this
requirement, the verb ‘do’ must be used.

Examples:
a. My parents do take me a ride.
b. She does go to church.
c. Alden does meet his fans.
d. Does Alden meet his fans?
e. I do know you.
f. Do I know you?
g. I do do this work!
 B. Past Emphatic Tense (did + base form of the verb). Unlike in present emphatic tense,
the verb ‘did’ is the only verb used to indicate emphasis regardless of number and
person of the subject.

Examples:
a. My parents did take me a ride to school yesterday.
b. She did go to church last week.
c. Alden did have a meet-and-greet with his fans last month.
d. Alden did meet his fans last month.
e. I did do this work!

III. Progressive/Continuous Tenses

These tenses suggest continuity of actions. Present participle (V-ing) form of the
verb is used as the main verb of the verb phrase in the sentence. The main verb needs
the helping verb/s to complete the thought of the sentence.

A. Present Progressive Tense denotes that the action or state of being is true or going
on at the moment of speaking (am/is/are + present participle form of the verb). This
tense also suggests simple futurity of the action or state of being.

Examples:
a. My parents are taking me a ride to school.
b. She is going to church.
c. Alden is meeting his fans.
d. I am doing this work.
e. They are being kind to me. (They are kind to me.)
f. She is being here. (She is here.)
g. My parents are reminding me on their anniversary dinner while driving me to
school.

B. Past Progressive Tense shows that an action took place while another action in the
past was taking place. The verb of the intervening action is in “simple” past form.
Meanwhile, the progressive action used past form of the helping verb with present
form of the main verb. The conjunction “when” is used to introduce the intervening
action or simply expressed in “simple past tense (SPaT).” The pattern will be
was/were + present participle form + when + SPaT.

Examples:
a. My parents were taking me a ride to school when the rain fell.
b. When she went to church, Alden was calling her.
c. She was going to church when Alden called her.
d. She was being here yesterday when I did my assignment in PRFOED 4.

C. Future Progressive Tense refers to the action which started sometime in the
present but will be going on in the future without definite time of completion
(will/shall + “be” + present participle form of the verb).

Examples:
a. My parents will be taking me a ride to school.
 b. She will be going to church this afternoon.
c. Alden will be having a meet-and-greet session with his fans.
d. Alden will be meeting his fans.
e. She will be being here.

IV. Perfect Tenses

These tenses state actions or being which are completed in thought at the moment
of speaking. The verb phrase is composed of the helping verb has/have/had and main
verb in the past participle form.

A. Present Perfect Tense shows an action or state of being which is completed or

approved at the moment of speaking (has/have + past participle form of the
verb).

Examples:
a. My parents have taken me a ride to school.
b. She has gone to church.
c. Alden has have his meet-and-greet with his fans.
d. Alden has met his fans.
e. She has been here. (She is here.)
f. Have you been here?
g. You have been here.

B. Past Perfect Tense indicates two actions or states of being which took place in the
past where the first completed action uses “had” as the helping verb and past
participle form of the verb as the main verb while the second action is in simple past
tense. Conjunctions “after” and “before” will be used depending on chronology of the
actions or states of being. The usual pattern to express this tense is had + past
participle form of the verb + “before” + SPaT.

Examples:
a. My parents had taken me a ride to school before it rained.
b. Before it rained, my parents had taken me a ride to school.
c. After my parents had taken me a ride to school, it rained.
d. It rained after my parents had taken me a ride to school.
e. She had been here before Alden met his fans.
f. Alden met his fans after Kathryn had been here.

C. Future Perfect Tense denotes completeness of action or condition in the future. The
certainty of action or condition is definite or absolute. Compound helping verb “will
have” + main verb in past participle form consist the verb phrase of this tense.

Examples:
a. My parents will have taken me a ride to school this morning.
b. Alden will have met his fans this afternoon.
c. She will have gone to church by eight this morning.
d. She will have been here tonight.
V. Perfect-Progressive Tenses

These tenses show actions or conditions which are completed or will be completed
with intervening or succeeding actions. The compound helping verb of these tense use
has/have/had (like in perfect tenses) + “been” while the main verbs are in present
participle forms [V-ing] (like in progressive tense).

A. Present Perfect-Progressive Tense indicates a being or an action which is true at

the moment of speaking from definite time in the past and still continues in the
future. The pattern goes: has/have + been + present participle form of the verb + [a.
since + SPaT/specific time; b. when + SPat; and c. for + duration].
Examples:
a. My parents have been taking me a ride to school since I entered elementary.
Since I entered elementary, my parents have been taking me a ride to school.
b. My parents have been taking me a ride to school since last November.
c. My parents have been taking me a ride to school.
d. My parents have been taking me a ride when I entered elementary.
e. My parents have been taking me a ride to school for three years now.

B. Past Perfect-Progressive Tense suggests that an action was going on in the past
and was completed with an intervening action or state of being. This tense follows
had +been + present participle form of the verb + when/before + SPaT pattern.
However, it is rarely used by the writers for past progressive and past perfect tenses
are more preferred for clarity of thoughts.

Examples:
a. My parents had been taking me a ride to school even before I entered
elementary.
b. My parents had been taking me a ride to school before my older brother
offered to do the same on me.

C. Future Perfect-Progressive Tense is also known as “conditional tense”. An action

will take place after the other. The first future action/condition is expressed
perfectly while the second action or state will be named. Conjunctions which can be
used are: “when”; “after”; “until”; “by the time”; “by the moment”; and “if”.
However, the conjunction “before” may also be used depending on the chronology
of the thoughts in the sentence. This tense usually follows the pattern: will/shall +
have + been + present participle form of the verb + “conjunction” + Simple Present
Tense (SPreT). The second action is no longer expressed with the use of either ‘will’
or ‘shall’ for the conjunction to be used already suggests the futurity.

Examples:
a. My parents will have been taking me a ride to school if the rain does not stop.
b. Before the teacher gives quiz to his students, he will have been teaching the
lesson.
c. They will have been marrying by the time they return from abroad.