FUNCTIONAL ENGLISH

(English-I)

Akhtar Ali

Basics of English Grammar

Verb

A verb is a doing or telling word. Verb comes from the Latin Verbum, a
word. It is so called because it is the most important word in a sentence. It
says something about the subject:

In “Kev hit the ball” the verb is hit.

In “The ball was hit by Kev” the words was hit form the verb.

In “The ball will be hit” the words will be hit form the verb.
Verb

A verb may tell us;

I. What a person or thing does; as,
Hari laughs.
The clock strikes.
II. What is done to a person or thing; as,
Hari is scolded.
The window is broken.

III. What a person or thing is; as,

The cat is dead.
Glass is brittle.
Verb

A verb often consists of more than one word; as,

• The girls were singing.
• I have learnt my lesson.

• The watch has been found.

Transitive and Intransitive Verb

Transitive verb:
“A transitive verb is a verb that denotes an action which passes over from the
doer or subject to an object”
Look at the sentence

The boy kicks the football.

Here the action denoted by the verb ‘kicks’ passes over from the doer (subject)
‘boy’ to some object ‘football’. The verb ‘kicks’ is, therefore, called a Transitive
verb.
Transitive and Intransitive Verb

Intransitive verb:
“An intransitive verb is a verb that denotes to an action which doer doesn’t
pass over to an object.”
Look at the sentence

The boy laughs loudly.

Here the action denoted by the verb ‘laughs’ stops with the doer or the subject
‘boy’ and doesn’t pass over to an object. The verb laughs here is, therefore, a
Intransitive verb.
Transitive and Intransitive Verb

• Most transitive verbs take a single object; as,

He spoke truth.
• Some transitive verb as give, ask, offer, promise, tell, etc. take two objects
after them. An indirect object which denotes the person to whom
something is given or for whom something is done, and a direct object
which is usually the name of something; as,
His father gave him(indirect) a watch (direct).
Transitivity or Intransitivity

• Most verbs can be used as both transitive and as intransitive verbs. It is,
therefore, better to say that a verb is used Transitively or intransitively
rather than it is a transitive or intransitive e.g.
The ants fought the wasps (transitively)
Some ants fight very fiercely (intransitively)
Verb used as reflexively;

Look at the sentence;

The man killed himself.
Here the subject and object both refer to the same person. Hence the verb
is said to be used reflexively.
• Sometime, though the verb is used reflexively, the object is not expressed.
The bubble burst.
Please keep quiet.
• In actual sense, these sentence are;
The bubble burst itself.
Please keep yourself quiet.
 Intransitive verbs used as transitive:
1. When an intransitive verb is used in a causative sense it becomes transitive.
E.g.
A) 1. The horse walks. (intransitive) 2. He walks the horse. (transitive)
B) 1. Birds fly. (intransitive) 2. The boy fly their kites. (i.e. cause their kite to fly,
Transitive)
2. A few verbs in common use are distinguished as transitive or intransitive by their
spelling, the Transitive being causative forms of the corresponding intransitive
verbs.
E.g. Intransitive
1. Sit there. 2. Rise early with the lark.
Transitive
1. Set the lamp on the table. (Set = Cause to sit) 2. Raise your hands. (Raise =
cause to rise)
 Intransitive verbs used as transitive:
3. Some intransitive verbs become transitive by having a preposition added to
them; as,
I. All his friends laughed at him.

II. Please look into the matter carefully.

4. Intransitive verbs sometime take after them an object similar in meaning to the
verb. Such an object is called the Cognate object.
E.g.
III. I have fought a good fight.

IV. I dreamt a strange dream.

Intransitive verbs used as transitive:
5. A noun used as adverbially to modify a verb, an adjective, or an adverb denoting
time, place, distance, weight, value etc. is called an adverbial object.
 He went home.
 He swam a mile.
Verbs of Incomplete Predication
Read the following sentences
The baby seems happy.

On the other hand if we say

“The baby seems.”
The sentence does not make complete sense.
The intransitive verbs “seems” requires a word (e.g. happy) to make the sense
complete. Such a verb is called a verb of Incomplete Predication.

The word (e.g. happy) which is required to make the sense complete is called the
complement of the verb.