Verbs as Part of Speech

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Before moving ahead with the Verbs, let’s have a look at what are parts of speech in brief:

Parts of Speech Parts of speech are the basic categories of words according to their function in a sentence. It is a category to which a word is assigned in accordance with its syntactic functions. English has eight main parts of speech, namely, Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives, Verbs, Adverbs, Prepositions, Conjunctions & Interjections. In grammar, the parts of speech, also called lexical categories, grammatical categories or word classes is a linguistic category of words.

Verbs as Part of Speech

Verbs as part of speech are used to signify the actions, processes, conditions, or states of being of people or things. It is basically a word that characteristically is the grammatical center of a predicate and expresses an act, occurrence, or mode of being, that in various languages is inflected for agreement with the subject, for tense, for voice, for mood, or for aspect, and that typically has full descriptive meaning and characterizing quality in it.

Examples:

• Priya cleaned the table.

Here cleaned is the verb as it shows the action performed by Priya.

• Maya is an intelligent girl.

Here though no action is being performed here, the state of being is expressed through the verb is.

Classification of Verbs as Part of Speech

1. Finite and Non- Finite Verbs

Finite Verb – A finite verb is the main verb of a sentence and has a direct relationship to the subject of a sentence or clause. A sentence with a finite verb does not require another verb in the sentence in order to be grammatically correct.

Examples:

1. I play every day.
2. She skips many classes.

She cried for hours.

All the verbs mentioned above are finite verbs as they express actions directly related to the subject of the sentence. The only verbs that can be said to be finite are those in their base form (eat, play, read- all the infinitive form without to), their past tense form, or their third-person singular form (eats, plays, reads).

Infinite Verb – Verb forms that are never considered finite and are known as non- finite verbs are gerunds, infinitives, and participles (both past and present).

Example:

1. The teacher is teaching the French Revolution.

Here, the present continuous verb ‘is teaching’ has been used. Note that ‘teaching’ is present participle form and is considered as a non- finite verb. The finite verb in the sentence is the auxiliary verb ‘is’.

Consider the following:

a) The teacher is – ‘is’ is finite as it has a direct relationship with the subject and can form innumerable complete sentences:

• The teacher is smiling.
• The teacher is angry.
• The teacher is pretty.

b) The teacher teaching – The present participle ‘teaching’ as given cannot make sentences as made by the finite verb ‘is’. Sentences like The teacher teaching English will be incorrect. Therefore, it is called a non- finite verb.

Refer to the table below:

Finite		Non- finite
You	write	Gita kept	reading
It	was	Eager	to finish
Someone	will sing	They left the vehicle	Unattended
You	are imitating
The journalists	were active

2. Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

Transitive Verb – This describes an action that is happening to someone or something. This person or thing is known as the direct object of the verb.

Examples:

• He is holding a pen.

Here the action of holding is happening to a pen.

• I borrowed the book from the library.

Here the action of borrowed is happening to the book.

• I was reading an interesting book last night.

Here the action reading is happening to an interesting book.

Moreover, transitive verbs can also take indirect objects, which are the people or things receiving the direct object.

Example:

I mailed the draft to my boss.

Here my boss receives the draft through the action of mailing.

Intransitive Verbs – These verbs do not have objects, i.e., no one/nothing is receiving their action.

Examples:

• Meera runs.

Here there is no object receiving the action of running.

• I cannot believe that the riots broke out.

Here there is no object receiving the action of broke out.

• The morbid scenes in the movie made me puke.

Here there is no object receiving the action of puke.

• Do not disturb while the children sing.

Here there is no object receiving the action of sing.

3. Regular and Irregular Verbs

As each verb is either transitive or intransitive, each one is either regular or irregular.

Regular verbs – They are those to whose base form “-d” or “-ed” can be added to form both the past simple tense and past participle forms.

Examples:

Base Form	Simple Past	Past Participle
I bake cookies.	I baked cookies.	I had baked cookies.
They mintcoins.	They mintedcoins.	They had mintedcoins.
We play chess.	We played chess.	We had played chess.

Irregular verbs – They are those verbs whose past tense and past participle forms are usually completely different from one another. And since they do not follow any predictable pattern, one has no other option but to learn each one separately.

Base Form	Simple Past	Past Participle
I do yoga.	I did yoga.	I had done yoga.
I see a cat.	I saw a cat.	I had seen a cat.
I drive slowly.	I droveslowly.	I had drivenslowly.

Forms of Verbs as Part of Speech:

1. Tenses: The different forms of verbs show different meanings with respect to time. Such forms are known as tenses and there are three types of tenses: Present, Past, Future.

2. Auxiliary Verb: They are also called as helping verbs, auxiliary verbs are used to complete the meaning of other primary or “main” verbs in a sentence. The different tense forms of ‘be’, ‘have’ and ‘do’ verbs form the auxiliary verb.

Examples:

• I am working on the assignment.
• She does not teach anymore.
• Have you seen Gita?
• Maya is singing a song.

3. Modal Verbs: It expresses the possibility, likelihood or a future intention. These are can, could, will, would, shall, should, must, may, and might. They are only followed by a verb in its base form.

Examples:

• May I sit down? (Permission)
• I can study the whole night. (Ability)
• I may be late for the party. (Possibility)
• You must finish the homework on time. (Obligation)
• You should reach on time. (Advice)
• Would you mind reading? (Request or offer)

4. Phrasal Verbs: These are the verbs which pair with prepositions to form unique meanings. Most of the meanings are idiomatic expressions.

Examples:

• Ultimately she gave up.
• I have been looking for my spectacles since an hour.
• He has been looking after his neighbour’s pet.

5. Causative Verbs: These are the verbs which are used to indicate that a person or thing is causing another action or an event to happen. They are generally followed by a noun or pronouns and an infinitive verb that is not causative.

Examples:

• She let her hair loose.
• The hearing aid enabled Maya to listen clearly.

Subject-Verb Agreement

For a complete understanding of the Verbs, one needs to get acquainted with the concept of Subject-Verb Agreement. In any sentence, the use of verb according to the number of subjects or the persons is called verb agreement.

Examples:

• Maya sings a song.

Here Maya is a single person or subject, therefore the singular verb ‘sings’ has to be used.

• The students sing a song.

Here ‘Students’ is a plural noun, therefore, the plural verb ‘sing’ is used.

Let’s understand the singular and plural in order to use correct forms of verbs:

Singular Verb	Plural Verb
is	are
was	were
has	have
V1 + s/es (sings, makes, plays, etc.)	V1 (sing, make, play, etc.)

Keep the following in mind for Subject-Verb Agreement:

1. If two subjects are connected with the conjunction ‘and’, use the plural form of the verb.

Example – Sita and Gita are dancing.

2. If several nouns or adjectives are used for a single subject, use the singular verb.

Example – My friend, philosopher and guide have has come.

3. If two subjects are connected by “as well as”, “with”, “along with”, “together with”, “and not”, “in addition to”, “but”, “besides”, “except”, “rather than”, “accompanied by”, “like”, “unlike”, “no less than”, “nothing but”, then the verb should agree with the first subject.

Example – Priya as well as Shriya are is going to the concert.

My younger son unlike the older one is naughty.

4. If an article is used only with the first subject, it means that only one person or thing is being referred to. So in this case, a singular verb has to be used.
Example – A black and white photograph was taken by her.

Ashoka was a great king and a warrior of his time. 

However, if an article is used before every subject, it implies that different subjects and objects are there, therefore plural verb has to be used.
Example – The doctor and the mentor have come.

5. If two subjects are connected with “neither…nor”, “either…or”, “not only…but also”, “nor”, “or” and “none- but”, the verb will be according to the latter subject.

Example – Neither Maya nor Sita has arrived yet.

Either you or your friends should leave.

6. The verb should agree with the main verb. Be careful not to place it in accordance with the nearest subject.
Example – The quantity of oranges is less.

Ramya and not her friends is at fault.

7. If a Relative Pronoun (who, which, that etc.) is used to connect a subject and a verb, then the verb would be according to that Subject which precedes that Relative Pronoun.

Example – She is one of the oldest women that (relative pronoun) has have ever walked on the Earth.

I am one of those who (relative pronoun) will trust everyone who I they meet.

Rules to use Verbs as Part of Speech

1. If two subjects used in a sentence do not have the same number, use separate auxiliaries for both of them.

Example – Incorrect – Five apples sold and one were purchased.

Correct – Five apples were sold and one was purchased.

2. A single verb should be used for a subject only when the form of the verb is same for both the subjects.

Example – Incorrect – I am intelligent and my sister creative.

Correct – I am intelligent and my sister is creative.

                Maya is sixteen and Tushita (is) twenty. (Correct)

3. A Past Tense in the main clause should be followed by a Past Tense in the subordinate clause.

Example – Incorrect – Pratima failed because she misses classes.

     Correct – Pratima failed because she missed classes.

4. A Past Tense in the main clause can be followed by a Present Tense in the subordinate clause when the subordinate clause expresses a universal truth.

Example – Incorrect – We were told that the Earth moved round the sun.

       Correct – We were told that the Earth moves round the sun.

5. Modal auxiliaries are not used together, but they can be connected by a conjunction.

Example – Incorrect – You should must come.

Correct – You should and must come.