Verbs It’s what you do, or are, or seem, or other things too, but mostly what you do.

Week 4 Vocab Words Verb: a word that expresses an action, condition, or state of being. Action verb: A verb that demonstrates an action Linking verb: A verb that connects the subject to the noun or adjective in the predicate Auxiliary (helping) verbs: Used to change the tense of a verb and are part of a verb phrase. The “verb” in the sentence includes not just the action, but also the auxiliary verbs.

Week 4 Vocab Words Gerunds: are –ing verbs acting as nouns. ◦GERUNDS ALWAYS END IN –ING. Participle: Functions as an adjective describing a noun. Infinitives: A verb form that can be used as a noun, an adjective, or an adverb ◦will always have the word “to” followed by the base form of the verb

Some verbs are action or linking depending on whether or not the subject commits the action. A verb is a word that expresses an action, condition, or state of being. LINKING ActionsConditionBeing Jumpappearam Sleepseemsis Swimremainare Actfeelwas Tastetastewere Looklookbe

Action verbs are preferable in writing and should be used as often as possible. Action verb (A verb that demonstrates an action) ◦I looked in Mrs. Regan’s house while she was not home. ◦ The subject “I” did the looking with his or her eyes. Linking verb (A verb that connects the subject to the noun or adjective in the predicate) ◦Mrs. Regan looked angry when she found me in the house.  In this example, Mrs. Regan did not use her eyes to look at anything. It was an observation made by “me.” This is a linking verb.

Common Linking Verbs Smell Seem Grow Become Appear Sound Taste Feel Get Remain Stay Look

Auxiliary (helping) verbs are used to change the tense of a verb and are part of a verb phrase. The “verb” in the sentence includes not just the action, but also the auxiliary verbs. is am are was were be Being Been Do Did Does Has Have Had Should Would Could Will Shall Can May Might must Common Helping / Auxiliary Verbs

Number of a Verb A verb is singular if its subject is singular. Singular subjects require singular verbs. ◦The boy walks down the hallway. (singular)  The confusion, here, is that in the present tense, regular, singular verbs take on an “s” in the third person. ◦The boys walk down the hallway. (plural) Just remember, if the subject is singular, so is the verb.

Verbs with Objects A verb with a direct object is called transitive. ◦Mrs. Regan kicked the ladder away from her window. ◦Chase threw Addison the ball. ◦ Remember, the Direct object is who or what was directly affected by the action. In this case, the BALL. ◦ The indirect object is to whom or for whom the action was done. A verb without a direct object is called intransitive. ◦Mr. Hostetler cried all night.

Tense Shifts Past, present and future are basic tenses that most students use effectively. The PAST tense requires an –ed on regular verbs. ◦I walked to work. Irregular verbs are just annoying and require memorization. ◦I went to work. (Not I goed to work.) ◦I swam in the pool. (Not I swimmed) The “perfect” and “continuous” tenses are more complex requiring one or more helping verbs to create them. ◦I will have finished this PowerPoint before the students see it.  In this example, there is both a future and a past element to the verb phrase. The action will be completed at a future time, but by the time the “students” see it, it will be something that is in the past.  You will not be expected to identify different tenses, but need to be aware of how to express your ideas in them.

Present, Past, Past Participle Present tense indicates something happening right now. It is rarely used in writing. ◦I go to the store on Mondays. ◦I walk down the hallway. Past tense indicates something that happened before. This is most common in writing. ◦I went to the store on Monday. ◦I walked down the hallway. Past Participles are used to create perfect tenses with the help of has, have, had, or will. ◦I have gone to the store on Mondays. ◦I have walked down the hallway. ◦I will have walked down the hallway.

Regular Verbs With regular verbs, the past tense is created by adding –ed Past participles are created by adding has or have to the past tense form. ◦Stalk  stalked  has / have stalked ◦Walk  walked  has / have walked

Active Vs. Passive Voice In the “active voice” the subject of the sentence commits the action ◦Mr. Hostetler’s wife loves him. (active) ◦Mr. Hostetler is loved by his wife. (passive)  In this example Mr. Hostetler (the subject) is not the one who “loves.” Passive voice usually requires a prepositional phrase that begins with “by” to indicate who is responsible for the action.  The phrase can be “understood” and excluded from the sentence. ◦ Mr. Hostetler is loved. Use active voice whenever possible

Verbals “Verbals” refers to verb forms that are acting as another part of speech. They can act as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. These can be confusing in writing because they LOOK like verbs, but are not. ◦Swimming is fun. (Swimming = Noun) ◦To swim 500 yards is challenging. (noun) ◦The bored student slept in class. (adjective) ◦Some people find it difficult to swim. (adverb)

Gerunds Gerunds are –ing verbs acting as nouns. GERUNDS ALWAYS END IN –ING. ◦Running is hard on the knees. (gerund as subject) ◦Jumping off of a rooftop is dangerous. (gerund phrase as subject) ◦In high school, I chose swimming as my favorite sport. (gerund as direct object) ◦I gave swimming a chance. (gerund as indirect object) ◦I learned about swimming. (gerund as object of a preposition)

Participles Participles may be in past participle form or in –ing form. To tell the difference between a gerund and a participle, you have to see how the word or phrase is used. A gerund functions as a noun. A participle functions as an adjective describing a noun.

More participles The woman walking down the street is my wife. ◦The verb in this sentence is “is.” ◦The participial phrase “Walking down the street” tells us “which woman” and is describing her. The phrase acts like an adjective. The sleeping student received a detention. ◦Sleeping tells WHICH student (adjective) Bored with the class, the student fell asleep. ◦Bored with the class tells which student.

Infinitives Infinitives are easy to spot, but hardest to determine what they are “doing” in the sentence. Infinitives will always have the word “to” followed by the base form of the verb. ◦To be, to run, to swim, to sleep, to go, etc. Infinitives and infinitive phrases can act as nouns, adjectives or adverbs.

Examples of infinitives I love to sleep. (direct object) To sleep in class is forbidden. (subject) It is easy to get a Friday. (adverb…It tells what is easy. Easy is an adjective.) The need to sleep can overtake you in Friday school. (adjective describing need…What kind of need?)