Types of Verbs Flashcards
(14 cards)
What is a Verb? (vəːb/)
A word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence such as to hear, to become, to happen.
Students struggle with: using the correct form of the verb, choosing the correct modal verb, pronouncing past form regular verbs correctly, confusing regular and irregular verbs, using verbs to form grammatical structures like questions.
verb “to be”
talks about the state of someone or something, such as “I am” or “It is”.
We generally make this one of the first things we teach our students, as it allows them to make up basic sentences for themselves.
How do verbs inflect?
Verbs in English change based upon who the subject is.
I eat - He eat(s)
Past Participle
A past participle is another past form of the verb, for both regular and irregular types. However, it is NOT a tense in itself. We often use the past participle to form perfect tenses, which we precede with the auxiliary verb “have”, or to create the passive voice with the verb to be.
Jack has eaten his breakfast. (past participle of eat)
Present Participle
Present participles are verbs that describe an ongoing action, and these are the ones that include the “-ing” ending we commonly associate with verbs.
Examples include: swimming, playing, typing, cooking, smiling, talking
Auxiliary Verbs
also known as a helping verb, is a verb that comes before another verb to help express tense, aspect, mood, or voice. They are essential for forming various verb tenses, negations, and questions
In English, the most common auxiliary verbs are forms of “be,” “have,” and “do,” along with modal verbs like “will,” “can,” and “must”.
Modal Verbs
a type of auxiliary verb that indicates possibility, ability, permission, obligation, or necessity in a sentence. They work alongside a main verb to add extra meaning and nuance.
each modal verb has different uses and meanings; i.e. “can” can be used to express “asking for permission” e.g. “Can I open the window please?”
It can also be used for “ability” like in the chart above e.g. “I can swim.” But please do consult your grammar reference book for a full coverage of all the different meanings.
Transitive Verbs
a verb that requires a direct object to complete its meaning in a sentence. The direct object is the noun or pronoun that receives the action of the verb.
Alicja took (photographs) using her new camera.
The direct object of the transitive verb is photographs.
Intransitive Verbs
Intransitive verbs do not have a direct object and the action ends rather than being transferred to a person or an object.
Some verbs may be transitive in one sentence and intransitive in another, depending on how they are used and depending on their context. This means you need to always be aware of the content of a sentence before deciding what type of verb it is.
Ditransitive Verbs
these verbs require both a direct object and an indirect object. The direct object is the recipient of the action, while the indirect object typically represents the beneficiary or the recipient.
Example Verbs: give, send, tell, show.
Example Sentences:
“She gave him a gift.” (Direct object: “a gift”, Indirect object: “him”)
“I sent her an email.”
Ambitransitive Verbs
these verbs can function both as transitive and intransitive, meaning they can take or not take a direct object, depending on the context.
Example Verbs: eat, read, break, open.
“She ate the sandwich.” (Transitive: Direct object “the sandwich”)
“She ate quickly.” (Intransitive: No direct object)
Copular Verbs
verbs that link the subject of a sentence with a subject complement, which typically describes or identifies the subject. These verbs do not express action, but rather serve as a connection between the subject and a word.
verb to be, seem, become, appear.
Action vs. Copular
Action verbs show an action (e.g., “run,” “eat,” “jump”).
Copular verbs link the subject to a state or description (e.g., “is,” “seems,” “looks”).
Transitive Vs. Intransitive
transitive verbs require a direct object to complete their meaning, while intransitive verbs do not.
Transitive Verb:
She kicked the ball.
“Kicked” is the transitive verb, and “the ball” is the direct object (What did she kick? The ball).
Intransitive Verb:
She laughed loudly.
“Laughed” is the intransitive verb, and there is no direct object (What did she laugh? Nothing, it’s just the action of laughing).
