what is a verb? traditionally: verbs are doing words updated: verbs are words that name ways of doing, sensing, saying and being

kinds of verb full primary* auxiliary modal *may be main verb

kinds of verb full verb = the lexical verb; primary auxiliary verbs be, have, do; modal auxiliary verbs express ability, possibility or obligation, e.g. can, might, must The children played happily The children were enjoying themselves The children must hurry home

WARNING: used as the FULL verb be, have and do may also be The children were late; they had their dinner, then they did their teeth

full verb names ways of doing, sensing, saying and being e.g. doing She opened the door sensing They saw the accident. saying He asked a question being The child was hungry

some verbs of sensing cognition e.g. believe, know, think, reaction e.g. like, love, hate, fear, admire perception e.g. hear, feel, see, notice, smell

saying some verbs of stating commanding e.g. say, tell, talk, assert enquiring e.g. ask, question, commanding e.g. order, instruct

some verbs of doing doing acting e.g. throw, walk, cook happening e.g. fall, behaving e.g. smile, sleep, yawn

some verbs of being describing e.g. is, feel, seem possessing e.g. have, own, belong, Obviously, these are full (lexical) verb usages of the above forms identifying e.g. represent, mean,

full verb may be regular or irregular in form regular verbs have 4 different forms: the base form (also called the infinitive) e.g. jump the -s form - jumps the -ing form - jumping the -ed form – jumped (past tense or past participle)

irregular verb forms irregular verbs have a different form for the past tense and the past participle: base -s -ing -ed past past participle jump jumps jumping jumped speak speaks speaking spoke spoken take takes taking took taken swim swims swimming swam swum

primary auxiliaries be, have, do when used as auxiliaries, be, have or do are followed by a full verb, e.g. He is running fast. She has forgotten her books. Please do sit down.

primary auxiliaries When used as full verbs be, have or do occur alone, e.g. He is a fast runner. She has her own books I do my homework regularly.

forms of be, have and do base -s -ing -ed past -ed participle have has having had do does doing did done be am is are being was were been

central modals cannot be used as full verbs; modal auxiliaries central can, could; may, might; will, would; shall, should; must marginal need; dare; ought to central modals cannot be used as full verbs; marginal modals can.

modal auxiliaries possibility obligation/ necessity permission volition/ prediction ability ° of certainty is required to is allowed to is willing to is able to must can/could shall/should may/might should will/would could need to ought to have to

using modals modals can be used in combination with different sentence forms to express different degrees of politeness in getting people to do things

sentence forms and functions imperative Open the door declarative I’ll open the door interrogative Shall I open the door? command exhortative statement assertive question consultative

using modals When used with an interrogative form, the modals express politeness in getting people to do things, e.g. Could you help me (please)? less polite: You must help me (declarative form). least polite: Help me! (imperative form)

Ways of getting people to do things exhortative (imperative) Do it least polite assertive (declarative) You could do it You will do it You must do it less polite consultative (interrogative) Could you do it? Will you do it? Shouldn’t you do it? most polite (possibility) (inclination) (obligation)

using modals Q: When can the modals of obligation be used without giving offense? A: i) when giving advice, e.g. You should see a doctor about that fever. ii) when offering your services, e.g. You must have some tea.

using modals may/might/could express tentativeness modals of possibility are also used to express how certain we when we assert some state of affairs. may/might/could express tentativeness e.g. She might be hungry. must expresses certainty e.g She must be hungry.

auxiliaries and full verbs whenever a negative is present in a sentence it is closely coupled with the auxiliary verb so that when the negative is contracted it becomes fused with the auxiliary, e.g. The boy could not work hard The boy couldn’t work hard He has been ill, hasn’t he? 1

auxiliaries and full verbs the auxiliary is portable: it moves to the front of the sentence in order to make a question, e.g. The boy could work hard Could the boy work hard? Couldn’t he work harder? the main verb is not portable

It is often called gerund when functioning in these ways. the participle and the gerund a present participle and a gerund have the same form -ing. The –ing form functions in a sentence in a number of ways: in the same way that a noun does, i.e. as subject of the verb e.g. Reading bores him. object of the verb, e.g. His hobby is swimming. after a preposition, e.g. He is good at running as a classifier in a noun phrase, e.g. a walking stick. It is often called gerund when functioning in these ways.

to see: It’s nice to see you the infinitive to see: It’s nice to see you the bare infinitive (i.e. without ‘to’) e.g. go: What I did yesterday was go to the movies. the negative infinitive, e.g. not to go: We decided not to go to the movies

common errors with verbs agreement of subject and verb, e.g. They was early  They were early  leaving out the direct object of a transitive verb, e.g. This is to inform that.. This is to inform you that We enjoyed very much. We enjoyed it very much

useful references A Student’s Grammar… Greenbaum & Quirk pp.25-69 Rediscover Grammar by David Crystal London: Longman. (nd.) pp.52-65

just joking can, can’t; could, couldn’t A: My father …lift a pig with one hand. …your father do that? B: I’m not sure. Where do you get a pig with one hand?

re-order the words in brackets to complete the joke: A: Can I have a pair of crocodile shoes please? B: Sure. (size take crocodile what your does)

A:. Waiter, can you get me some. undercooked potatoes, some cold beans A: Waiter, can you get me some undercooked potatoes, some cold beans and a cold fried egg covered in fat? B: I’m sorry, sir but we couldn’t give you anything like that. A: Why not? (me gave what yesterday that’s you)