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What is a verb?
Verbs describe (i) an action, (ii) a state or (iii) an occurrence:- .
As an action word, it is something that you do, like walk or play or eat . .
As a state of being…: "My name is John. I am 20 years old. I am Caucasian and my girlfriend looks gorgeous! And she has a heart of gold!" .
As an occurrence/happening: "The snow glistened on the trees tops." .
1. ACTION VERBS are something that someone or something is doing, such as run, talk, play, go, cook, speak, etc. For example, in the phrase: "He is running", the two words 'is running ' is the present continuous form of the verb 'to run'. Here are a few more examples: .
They slept late that day. .
It slid off the shelf. .
Safa played with her toys. .
She screamed as loudly as she could. 2. 'STATE' VERBS Examples: .
Ice is cold. Puppies need a lot of care and attention. Bananas are yellow. Some people prefer winter to summer. Does life exist on other planets? Do you know what I mean ? 3. 'OCCURRENCE' VERBS Examples: .
The centenary of Florence Nightingale's death fell on Monday 10th May, 2010. .
William becomes six on Tuesday. .
A completely happy day? It happens , sometimes! .
REGULAR AND IRREGULAR VERBS With regular verbs, the past and perfect forms end with '~ed', e.g. talk/talked. Irregular verbs do not end their past and perfect forms with '~ed'. They change quite differently e.g. speak/spoke/spoken, sing/sang/sung. AUXILIARY VERBS are words that "help" the verb. e.g. .
In the sentence "I will run", 'will' is the helping verb, making it into a future form of the verb to run . .
In the sentence "I have run", 'have' is the helping verb, changing the main verb ' run ' into it's present perfect form. The verbs to be , to have and to do are used as auxiliary verbs. Their present, past, singular and plural forms all being used as appropriate. MODAL AUXILIARY VERBS : can, could, may, might, would, shall, should, must, ought to. Examples: .
I must visit my grandmother. .
You ought to do more exercise. .
Ben can ride a bike. .
My Uncle might come on Sunday. .
I could help you with your homework, but I don't know if I should (help you with your homework.) Note that Modal Auxiliary Verbs have no infinitives. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For more information about verbs, see 'Related links' below this box. . (MORE)
