A verb is a word or part of speech that expresses an action or state of being. Verbs are generally found after the subject in a sentence. It indicates what action the subject does or in what state the subject is in.
A finite verb is a type of verb that agrees with a subject and shows tense. Every sentence has a finite verb, which is also called the main verb.
In contrast, a non-finite verb does not follow a tense and does not agree with the subject. Non-finite verbs come in three types: gerund, infinitive, and participle.
An action verb tells us what the subject in the sentence does or executes. It can be classified as transitive or intransitive verbs.
A transitive verb is a verb that needs an object to receive the action. To check if the object is needed, answering the question “What” can help.
An intransitive verb is a verb that does not need an object to complete the sentence.
As the name suggests, a linking verb is a verb that acts as a link or connector between the subject and additional information about it. Linking verbs do not describe an action.
An auxiliary verb is a verb that comes together with the main verb. It generally helps indicate the tense, time, and possibility. Thus, an auxiliary verb is also termed a helping verb. This verb includes be verbs, have, and do.
TIP: Don’t get confused with be verbs used as linking verbs and auxiliary verbs. Be verbs used as linking verbs act as the main verbs in the sentence. Be verbs used as auxiliary verbs go together with main verbs.
Examples:
A modal verb is an auxiliary verb that adds meaning to the main verb. It often expresses obligation, ability, advice, necessity, request, permission, or possibility. Included in this list are can, could, may, might, will, would, shall, should, and must.
Verbs are classified according to their form. We identify them as regular and irregular verbs. These verbs are formed based on their past tense and past participle.
Most of the verbs follow a regular form. We add -d or -ed to the end of the verb when forming their past tense and past participle.
Example:
| Base form | Past | Past Participle |
| ask | asked | asked |
| believe | believed | believed |
| call | called | called |
Irregular verbs are called as they are because they do not follow a particular rule or pattern. Some may carry a change in their spelling while some do not change at all.
Example:
| Base form | Past | Past Participle |
| bear | bore | born |
| cut (other examples: set, hurt, quit; no spelling change) | cut | cut |
| go | went | gone |
| sing | sang | sung |
| take | took | taken |
The tense of a verb is determined by the time the action occurs. A verb has three main tenses namely past, present, and future. These tenses are further specified by a verb’s aspect. The aspect of a verb determines whether the action in the sentence suggests a mere statement or progression of action.
This suggests a fact or a situation that exists.
Also called continuous tenses, this aspect expresses an ongoing action.
This aspect expresses that one action is already perfected or completed before another action happens. It also indicates that an action started at an unspecified time in the past.
This aspect emphasizes how long (duration) a continuous action is completed. We generally use “for” or “since”.
Now that you have learned the basics of verbs, let us go over the following key points:
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