Lesson 2 - Verbs

Subsections in this lesson are:

A verb is a word or more than one word (verb phrase) that is used to express an action or a state of being of the subject. The verb is an essential element in the construction of a sentence as almost every sentence has a verb. Without a verb, a sentence is left incomplete.

Most sentences consist of a noun as the subject and a predicate. The predicate typically includes one or more verbs. The verb follows the subject, to which it must match in number, even if there are words intervening between them (see Lesson 8 - Subject-Verb Agreement). The verb in turn is followed by an object or a complement.

A verb takes the infinitive form which includes the word to (to paint, to walk) or a conjugated regular form (paint/paints, walk/walked) that is used in accordance with a grammatical classification such as person, tense or voice. The conjugated irregular verb form introduces a change in its spelling (go/went/gone), or a change in its ending (hide/hid/hidden). Such modification of a verb to express a different grammatical category is also called inflection.

A verb that is used in a sentence is usually an action verb or a linking verb. An action verb describes the physical or mental action of the subject. A linking verb links the subject to the rest of the sentence that provides information about the subject.

A verb can be just a word.

Examples:

She greets me.
They left early.

A verb can be more than one word.

Examples:

He is washing his car..
You have broken my window..

An action verb takes an object.

Examples:

Lee drives a car. (Subject: Lee / Object: car)
Someone has eaten my pizza. (Subject: someone / Object: pizza)

A verb may not have an object.

Examples:

The sun shines.
It is raining..

A verb connects the subject to a complement. The complement or subject complement can be a noun or an adjective.

Examples:

They are my brothers. (Subject: they / Complement: brothers)
She is beautiful. (Subject: she / Complement: beautiful)

Position of verbs

A verb usually follows the subject.

Examples:

She smiles.
The clown rides on a circus horse.

A word (intervening word) may come between the subject and the verb. It doesn’t affect anything. The usual grammatical rules still apply: the subject and verb must agree with one another in number (singular or plural). If a subject is singular, its verb must also be singular; if a subject is plural, its verb must also be plural. The intervening words are in bold in these examples.

Examples:

I accidentally knocked my head on the bookshelf.
She never talks about God.

A word may come between the verbs that make up a verb phrase. The verb phrase is in bold as shown here.

Examples:

She had recently come out of a prison.
Her cottage was partially hidden behind some trees.

A verb may come before the subject.

If the word here or there begins a sentence, a verb will come before the subject.

Examples:

Here comes the king.
(The subject king comes after the verb comes.)
There was an eagle perched on his right shoulder.
(The subject eagle comes after the verb was.)

If a sentence begins with a phrase (underlined), the subject typically follows the verb.

Examples:

Across the mountain and through the narrow valley was a dried-up stream.
(The subject stream comes after the verb was.)
Waving to passing trains is his hobby.
(The subject eagle comes after the verb was.)

Sometimes a sentence can be reversed without affecting its meaning if the subject and its object are the same.

Examples:

That monkey was the one that snatched her bag.
The one that snatched her bag was that monkey.
My uncle is the village’s only professional wrestler.
The village’s only professional wrestler is my uncle.

In most questions, the verb comes before the subject.

Examples:

Is she ready to go?
(The subject she comes after the auxiliary verb is.)
Do you want to come along?
(The subject you comes after the helping verb do.)