Verb A verb is a word that shows action, being, or links a subject to a subject complement. Four Principal Parts of the Verb: all verb forms are made out of four principal forms which each verb possesses.

Verb

Regular Verbs Most verbs make the four principal parts in the same way. They always begin with the infinitive, add -ing to make the present participle, and add -d or -ed to make the past and past participle. Example: to work, working, worked, worked to spill, spilling, spilled, spilled

Verb Irregular Verbs Irregular verbs have principal parts that are unique and that must be memorized in order to be used correctly. Example: to shrink, shrinking, shrank, shrunk to ring, ringing, rang, rung to break, breaking, broke, broken to write, writing, wrote, written

Verb Transitive Verb: a transitive verb is an action verb that acts on a direct object. Example: Rocks hit Sue. Intransitive Verb: an intransitive verb is an action verb that does not act on a direct object. Example: Rocks flew.

Verb Active voice verb: an active voice verb is an action verb that shows the subject actually acting. Effect: Active voice is usually more interesting and vigorous than passive voice. Example: Johnson discussed the problem.

Verb Passive voice verb: a passive voice verb is an action verb that shows the subject only being acted upon. Effect: Passive voice can make sentences seem weak, since the subject of the sentence is only passively involved, and passive voice also tends to leave out important information. Example: The problem was discussed.

Verb Verb Tense The tense of a verb shows its relationship to time. There are six different verb tenses in English. (three “plain” and three “perfect”). 1. Present4. Present Perfect 2. Past 5. Past Perfect 3. Future6. Future Perfect In conjugating these six verb tenses, we see that verbs, like pronouns, have person (first, second, or third) and number (singular or plural).

Verb - Present Tense

Verb - Past Tense

Verb - Future Tense

Verb - Present Perfect Tense

Verb - Past Present Tense

Verb - Future Perfect Tense

Verb Progressive Verb Forms Every one of the six tenses can also be used in a progressive form, adding an -ing variation, indicating action still in progress. First person singular examples of the sex tenses’ progressive forms: Present progressive: I am protesting. Past progressive: I was protesting. Future progressive: I shall be protesting. Present perfect progressive: I have been protesting. Past perfect progressive: I had been protesting. Future perfect progressive: I shall have been protesting.

Verb Verb Mood There are three moods: 1. Indicative 2. Imperative 3. Subjunctive Indicative and imperative are easy because we use them all the time in everyday speech. The subjunctive mood is used in IF situations, with the verb were.

Verb The indicative is the regular mood. The imperative is the command mood. The subjunctive is the if mood. Examples: Indicative: I am a mongoose. Imperative: Find the mongoose. Subjunctive: If I were a mongoose...

Parallel verb tenses Parallelism in tense means adhering logically to the tense one is already using, unless there is a logical reason to change. Example: I went home, picked up an apple, threw it through the window, and laughed. (all past tense) Non-parallel: When Dickens went to America, he gives many speeches, and feels that his trip was successful. After he returned to England, he begins to lose the buoyant spirit he finds in America, and he will descend into melancholy.