VerbsThe verb is about the noun.

• Verb: A word that shows action, being, or links a subject to a subject complement.

Noun Verb

•The verb tells what the noun does or is.

Verbs Action Verbs

• If the verb is an action verb, then it might show action on a direct object: – Mrs. Lee taught the class.

• Or, an action verb might show simple action not on a direct object: – Mrs. Lee taught.

Verbs Linking Verbs 1

• Linking verbs do not express action. Instead, they connect the subject of the verb to additional information about the subject : – He is a poet. – During the afternoon, my cats are

content to nap on the couch.

VerbsLinking Verbs 2

• The following verbs are true linking verbs: any form of the verb be [am, is, are, was, were, has been, are being, might have been, etc.], become, and seem. These true linking verbs are always linking verbs

VerbsLinking Verbs 3

• How do you tell when they are action verbs and when they are linking verbs? If you can substitute am, is, or are for the verb and the sentence still sounds logical, you have a linking verb on your hands. If, after the substitution, the sentence makes no sense, you are dealing with an action verb instead.

Verbs Linking Verbs 4

• Examples:– Sylvia tasted the spicy squid eyeball stew.

Sylvia is the stew? I don't think so! Tasted, therefore, is an action verb in this sentence.

– The squid eyeball stew tasted good.

The stew is good? You bet. Tasted, therefore, is a linking verb.

Identify the nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and verbs in the sentence below and indicate if they are action or linking.

He was brilliant, fantastic, and irresponsible.

Parts Of Speech:

pron. v. adj. adj. adj. (linking)

Identify the nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and verbs in the sentence below and indicate if they are active or linking.

This is the desert where the elves decimated the trolls.

Parts Of Speech:

pron. v. adj. n. adj. n. v. adj. n.

(linking) (action)

The Verb is About the Noun

• Every sentence has a subject, and the verb (the predicate of the sentence) is about it.

• The subject will always be a noun or subject pronoun, and the simple predicate is the verb.

• The verb is saying that the noun did something or that the noun is something.

Four Principal Parts of the Verb

• All verb forms are made out of four primary forms that each verb possesses. The four primary forms are called the verb’s principal parts. These four parts are: -the infinitive

-the present participle-the past-the past participle

Regular Verbs

• Most verbs make the four principle parts in the same regular way, and therefore, we refer these ordinary verbs as regular verbs.

infinitive present participle past past participle

to work working worked worked

to spill spilling spilled spilled

Irregular Verbs• Many verbs do not follow this regular

pattern. Instead they have principal parts that are unique and must be memorized. Some irregular verbs are:

infinitive present participle past past participle

to ring ringing rang rung

to break breaking broke broken

to write writing wrote written

Auxiliary or Helping Verbs

• In simple tense the verb stands alone, as a single word, to make the simple predicate.

• In a compound tense, the main verb is supplemented by a helping verb to construct the tense. The future and perfect tenses are examples compound tenses that use helping verbs.

– Example: I will have composed. The main verb is composed and the helping verbs are will have.

Action Verbs can be…

Transitive or Intransitive(Active Voice) or (Passive Voice)

~ Linking verbs are neither! ~

Transitive or Intransitive?

• Transitive verb: (v.t.) A transitive verb is an action verb that acts on a direct object: The harpoon hit Moby Dick.

• Intransitive verb: (v.i.) An intransitive verb is an action verb that does not act on a direct object: Harpoons flew.

Why We Call Them “Transitive”• Transitive verbs are action verbs that

are called transitive because of the transit of action or energy that takes place when the subject acts on the object.

– If: I kick the bucket. The energy transfers from me to the bucket I am kicking.

– If: I kick. The verb kick is an intransitive verb because there is no transfer of energy.

Active Voice Verb

and

Passive Voice Verb

An active voice verb is an action verb that shows the subject

acting.

A passive voice verb is an action verb that

shows the subject being acted upon.

For example: Johnson discussed the problem.

For example:

The problem was discussed.

Passive voice makes the sentence seem weak, since the subject of the sentence is not doing anything.

When do we use active or passive voice?

• Use passive voice in scientific writing: Writers of scientific papers often prefer passive voice and past tense in order to describe the results of experiments.

• In writing papers on literary matters and on historical figures, you should avoid passive voice.

Time makes verbs tense.

• Time is so central in our life experience that we identify it in every sentence we make. We do this by putting each verb in a time tense.

• We use six different tenses to indicate time in sentences.

Six Verb Tenses

1. Present2. Past3. Future4. Present Perfect5. Past Perfect6. Future Perfect

Conjugating These Six Verb Tenses

(example of first person singular)

Present I protest

Past I protested

Future I will (shall) protest

Present Perfect I have protested

Past Perfect I had protested

Future Perfect I will (shall) have protested

Why we call them perfect tenses:

• The three perfect tenses are called perfect because they come from the Latin perficere, meaning to finish.

• The perfect tenses are finished, either finished in the past, finished in the present, or finished in the future. I have returned, I had returned, or I will have returned.

• Notice the three perfect tenses use the linking verb to have as a helping verb.

Parallel Verb Tense

• The proofreader’s mark for parallel construction is //.

• Parallelism in tense means sticking to the tense you are using, unless there is reason to change.

Notice how disturbing the unparallel tenses are in the

passage below:do not copy this page – do try to determine

when this took place

NOT //

When Charles 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.

Notice how satisfying the parallel tenses are in the second

passage:do not copy this page – do try to determine

when this took place//

When Charles Dickens went to America, he gave many speeches, and felt that his trip was successful. After he returned to England, he began to lose the buoyant spirit he found in America, and he descended into melancholy.

Avoid contractions in formal writing:

• There is nothing incorrect about the grammar of contractions, but the contraction is not in keeping with the serious intellectual tone of the formal essay. It suggests that one is in a hurry and does not want to write out the word.

• Of course you should use the contraction if it is part of a quote.

Verbs

Action

Linking

Transitive or

Intransitive

Active Voice or Passive

Voice

Verbs (a summary):

Circle all the verbs. When you finish, answer the questions below.

“This dog looked like he belonged to rich people. Fausto cleaned his juice-sticky hands on his pants and got to his feet. The light in his head grew brighter. It just might work. He called the dog, patted its muscular back, and bent down to check the license.”

How many words are in this passage?How many of these words are verbs?How many of these verbs are action verbs?

Circle all the verbs. When you finish, answer the questions below.

“This dog looked like he belonged to rich people. Fausto cleaned his juice-sticky hands on his pants and got to his feet. The light in his head grew brighter. It just might work. He called the dog, patted its muscular back, and bent down to check the license.”

How many words are in this passage?How many of these words are verbs?How many of these verbs are action verbs?

48 11 8