Verbs

Ch. 1

Verb Types

• Verbs

– Finite [Presence of Tense morpheme on the verb]

– Non-finite [Absence of Tense morpheme on the verb]

• to-infinitive [to go, to run, to eat, etc.]

• bare infinitive [run, eat, jog]

• Gerunds [v-ing]

Finite Verbs

• Verb – traditional definition– verbs show action (‘action’ does not necessarily mean

‘movement’)– e.g. clean, cut, drive, eat, fly, go, live make, play, read,

run, shower, trip etc.– What about verbs such as: think, know, look, hear,

taste, smell, love etc. • Angela thought about bears.

– A verb is word that expresses action or a state of being.• The drivers have just picked up our order.• Sheila will be late for the meeting.

Transitive verbs

• Transitive verbs express an action directed towards a person or thing.

• Transitive verbs require action objects (nouns and pronouns) to complete their meaning.

• The government promisedvt new business incentivesobj.

• Janice e-mailedvt meobj. yesterday.

• Steps to identify transitive verb:• First, identify the main verb

• Find out if the sentence can stand alone without the object.

• Identify the object.

Intransitive Verbs

• Intransitive verbs do not require ‘objects’ (nouns or pronouns) to complete their meaning.

• Maria walks to work every day.

• Katie listened carefully to the deposition.

• Michael left shortly after 9 p.m.

• After dinner, we stayed home and watched TV.

Linking Verbs

• Linking verbs link or join to subjects words that rename or describe the subjects.

• A noun, pronoun, or adjective that renames or describes the subject is called a ‘complement’.

• Gorden Vespucci is the new CEO.

• Their new album sounds good.

• The called could have been Jeremy.

• Mike felt bad about his e-mail to me.