VERBS

Action Verbs– a word that expresses ACTION!!!

There are two types of action verbs:

physical actions and mental / emotional

actions

Physical Actions• Actions you can SEE

dive soartaste observeconstruct

returnspeak composeexplore traveldiscuss sleep

Mental / Emotional Actions

• Actions you CANNOT see (inside the brain)

hope love forgetlearn enjoy expectattempt frighten needremember imaginethink appreciate

• I raced to the store.

• I thought about a friend.

Direct Object…

• Receives the action of the verb

• Answers the question of•Who?•What?

*Will be AFTER the ACTION verb.

*NEVER in a prepositional phrase!!!

• During the race, he passed the baton. (what?)

• Julie dug a hole. (what?)

• Bubba kissed Suzie. (who?)

• He jumped the ramp.• She loves him.

Transitive Verbs

• Have a direct object

• If there is a direct object then it has a TRANSITIVE VERB!!!

ie: During the race, he passed the baton. = TRANSITIVE VERB

Intransitive Verbs

• Does NOT have a direct object.

ie: During the race, he passed fast.

Indirect Object

“In the Middle”

A noun or pronoun that answers the question:

–To Whom?–For Whom?–To What?–For What?

“In the Middle”

• Action Verb ~ Indirect Obj Indirect Obj ~ Direct Obj

1st 3rd 2nd

** In order to have an indirect object there must be a direct object!!!

How to find indirect objects…

1. What is the subject? ~ subject

2. What is the (subj) doing? ~ verb

3. What/Who is (subj) (verb)ing? ~ direct

object4. To/For Whom is (subj) (verb)ing (do)? (To/For What)

~ indirect object

• Sue threw her teammate the ball. Then they won the game!

Linking Verbs

• Connect the subject of a sentence with a predicate noun or predicate adjective

•After the verb•Tells what the subject IS or IS LIKE

•DOES NOT express action

Joe is sleepy.(What is Joe? Sleepy. Predicate

adjective)

Jamie is a young doctor.

(What is Jamie? Doctor. Predicate

noun)

Pigs are his favorite animals.Our boys and girls are noisy.

Linking Verbs

* seem * look * grow* turn * become* sound * taste* remain * feel• appear * smell* forms of the verb BE (next

slide)

“The Eight Never Fail” Linking Verbs

am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been

have, has, hadForms of be:

* am being * may be

* are being * might be* is being * must be* was being * shall be* were being * should be* can be * will be * could be * would be ( more)

*have been * must have been*has been *shall have

been*had been * should have

been*could have been * will have

been*may have been *would have

been*might have been

• Helpful Hint:– To find out if you have an Action

or Linking Verb:•Replace the verb with either:

– Is/are (present tense) or – Was/were (past tense)

– The class grew quiet.»The class is quiet. Yes-then

linking.

– The farmer grew vegetables.»The farmer is vegetables. No-

action

Predicate Nouns &Predicate Adjectives

1st look for the linking verb

orthe action that the subject’s

performing (if action verb = no predicate noun/predicate adjective)

2nd look for what is being linked to the subject.

•Predicate Noun ~ a noun that follows the

linking verb ~ ~ it RENAMES,

IDENTIFIES the subject

I am a collector of rubber ducks.

• Predicate Adjective ~an adjective that

follows the linking verb ~ DESCRIBES the subject

Dogs are sometimes dangerous.

Action Verb (as a linking

verb)• When the subject of the

sentence IS performing an action (the verb) = then it is an action verb not a linking verb.

ie. Candy feels the water. (Action verb, action

performed)

The water feels cold. (Linking verb, no action performed)

• Ask: Is the subject doing the verb?

• If yes = It is an Action Verb• If no = It is a Linking Verb

Helping Verbs

~ a verb(s) that “assists” another verb

~ verb(s) that are added BEFORE another verb (main verb) to make a verb phrase

• Some forms of be used as helping verbs:

• Some other common verbs are also used as helping verbs:

• He has been waiting for a new book.

Verb Phrases

• Verbs have 4 basic forms called principle parts.

• Present ~ talk• Present Participle ~ talking• Past ~ talked• Past Participle ~ talked

• Often a principal part of a verb is combined with a helping verb to form a verb phrase.

• In a verb phrase the word that names the main action is called the MAIN VERB.– Dr. Evans can explain much

about skateboards.– The class may ask questions

later.

• Remember: Where are helping verbs added?

•Verb Phrase ~ can have one, two, or three helping verbs BEFORE the main part of the verb

• The forms of the verbs:–be,–do, and

–havecan be used as main verbs or

helping verbs.

Is that clear? Who did that?Joe is speaking? We did

remember.

• Sometimes a verb phrase is interrupted by other words. Then we need to ignore those words!

Does Dr. Evans study the wheels of the skateboards?

She has recently studied Tony Hawk.Haven’t you ever wondered how many

bones he has broken?

**Words NEVER part of the verb:

NOT, certainly, seldom

4 Principle Parts of Verbs

•Present•Present Participle •Past •Past Participle

• He walks toward us in a hurry. (present)

• June is walking behind us. (pr part)

• They walked to the park. (past)

• We have walked three miles in search of our friends. (past part)

Regular Verbs• The past and past participle of

a regular verb are formed by adding “ed” or “d” to the present form.

Irregular Verbs

• The past and past participle forms do not follow the “ed” or “d” pattern.

• Look at pages 495 & 496

Verb Tenses•Past Tense

•I looked.

Present Tense- I look. She looks. They

look.

Future Tense-I will look. I shall look.

Perfect Tenses

• Made up of a form of have used as a helping verb and the past participle form of the main verb (ed).

•Present perfect ~– A verb names an action that

happened at an indefinite (not clearly defined) time in the past or

~ names an action that started in the past and is still happening.

has have*Meg has collected books about sharks for years.

•Past perfect ~ – Names an action that has

happened before another past action or event.

had

Meg had feared sharks before she studied them.

•Future Perfect ~– Names an action that will be

completed BEFORE another action or event in the future.

will have

Meg will have completed her report by Friday.

Progressive Verbs

• To continue• An Additional tense which expresses

continuing action or state of being.

ing ing ing inging ing ing

and a helping verb

Past Progressives

• Helping Verbs:– Was / Were

– He was living in a city by the sea.

Present Progressives

• Helping Verbs:– am / is / are:

– She is living on a beach.

• Is it …

• They visit.• He was helping.• We are leaving.• They liked bikes.

Present

Past

Present

Progressive

Past

Progressive

Subject / Verb Agreement

• A Verb MUST agree with its Subject in number.

• If subject is SINGULAR ~ the verb must be singular!

• If verb is PLURAL ~ the subject must be …

Plural!

• Most plural NOUNS have ~s or es– Cats, dogs, girls, boys, housesThe cats jump around a lot.

• Most singular VERBS have ~s– Jumps, dives, swims, dances, skipsThis cat jumps around a lot.

*Remember to ignore prepositional phrases- even if they come in between the subject and verb!

Compound Subjectsand Verb Agreement

• 2 or more SINGULAR SUBJECTS joined by OR or NOR must have a singular verb.

• 2 or more PLURAL SUBJECTS joined by OR or NOR must have a plural verb.

• Singular:– Either the turkey or the

stuffing is cooking.

Plural:-Neither the potatoes nor the

peas are done.

• When the singular and plural subjects are joined by OR or NOR, the verb MUST agree with the CLOSER subject.

– Singular: Neither the lights nor the wreath is in the box.

– Plural: Neither the wreath nor the lights are in the box.

• A compound subject joined by AND is usually plural and MUST have a PLURAL verb.

– The boy and girl are waiting for the parade.

– The boys and girls are waiting for the parade.

– The boys and girl are waiting for the parade.

Exceptions!!!

• 1.– If the parts of the compound

are considered a single unit – then it is singular and must have a singular verb.•Bacon and eggs is a very

popular breakfast. (Bacon & eggs = one breakfast)

• 2. If Every and Each are used before the compound subject – MUST have a singular verb.

– Every town and village celebrates.

Personal Pronouns and Agreement

• Personal pronouns MUST agree with their antecedents in person, number, and gender.

What is wrong with these sentences?Mary likes cats. Its favorite is Bubba.A teacher likes teaching their students.

• Mary likes cats. Her favorite is Bubba.

• A teacher likes teaching his or her students.

• If using 2 or more singular antecedents joined by OR or NOR – MUST have a singular pronoun.– Either Becca or Megan will take

her backpack.

• If compound antecedent is joined by AND – MUST have plural pronoun.

– Becca and Megan will take their backpacks.

• Remember all those indefinite pronouns? – You need to know them now!

• Always Singular: anyone, everyone, someone, anybody, everybody, somebody, each, either– Each of the banners is blue.-Everyone in the first five rows

was delighted.

• Always Plural: both, few, many, others, several

– Few have chosen a gift yet.– Many are waiting until they

finish reading.

• Some can be singular or plural: all, any, more, most, none, some

•You need to use context clues to figure it out!

•Some of the milk is frozen.

•Some of the cookies are frozen, too.

Irregular Verbs

Troublesome Verbs• did, done ~ only use done with

helping verbs such as have or has.

• I have done all my studying.• I did all my studying.

• gone, went ~ only use gone with helping verbs such as have or has. Went is the past of go and never has a helping verb.

• The Martins have gone on vacation.• Sue went with them.

• raise, rise ~ raise is usually followed by a direct object. It means “to lift,” “to build,” “to grow,” “to increase,”

raise, raising, raised

• Rise is NOT followed by a direct object. It means “to get up,” “to go up,” “to be increased” rise, rising, rose, risen.

• We raised our dog to obey rules.• The moon will rise at 8:00pm.

• saw, seen ~ use seen with a helping verb such as have or has. Otherwise use saw.

• We saw a great game. We have seen them before.

CommasUSE COMMAS:

1.To separate independent clauses (sentences) when joined by any of these conjunctions:

and, but, for, or, nor, so, yet

• i.e. The game was over, but the crowd refused to leave.

• Yesterday was her brother’s birthday, so she took him out to dinner.

2. After introductory a) clauses, b) phrases, or c) words that come before a main clause

i.e. a) common starter words: after, although, as, because, if, since, when, while.

a)While I was eating, the cat scratched at the door.

• Because her clock was broken, she was late for class.

• b) Having finished the test, he left the room.• To get a seat, you’d better come early.• c)Common introduction words: yes, however,

well (interjections)• Well, perhaps he meant no harm.• Yes, the package should arrive tomorrow.

 

4. To separate 3 or more words, phrases, or clauses in a series.

 

5. To separate 2 or more coordinate adjectives that describe same noun

• Coordinating adjective: adjective with equal status; neither is subordinate.Ask: Does sentence make sense if reverse adjective?Does sentence make sense if adjectives are written with and between them?

• I.e. He was a difficult, stubborn child.Your cousin had an easy, happy smile.

• Not: They lived in a white frame house.

She often wore a gray wool shawl.

 

6. Near end of sentence to separate contrasted elements or indicate a pause.

I.e. He was merely ignorant, not stupid.The chimpanzee seemed reflective,

almost human.

7. To set off all geographical names, items in dates, addresses, and titles in names.

I.e. Birmingham, Alabama, gets its name from Birmingham, England.

July 22, 1959, was a momentous day in his life.

Rachel B. Lake, MD, will be the speaker.

8. To shift between main sentence and quotation.I.e. John said without emotion, “I ’ll see you tomorrow.”“I was able,” she answered, “to complete the assignment.”

 

9. Wherever necessary to prevent possible confusion or misreading.I.e. Let us eat Grandma.

Let us eat, Grandma. To Brittany spears are dangerous.

To Brittany, spears are dangerous. 

10. To set off a noun or direct address. I.e. Sue, tell me about your trip. Tell me, Sue, about your trip.