Main verbs include:
believe read
break see
destroy run
eat sleep
go teach
love walk
meet work
We distinguish them here from the auxiliary verbs such as
can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would. Main verbs can occur as the only verb in a sentence:
Caroline eats pizza.
In contrast, an auxiliary verb such as will cannot occur alone:
*Caroline will pizza.
Instead, an auxiliary verb always occurs with a main verb:
Caroline will eat pizza.
The five verb forms
Verbs have five forms:
1 the base form Amy decided to walk to school.
2 the -s form Amy walks to school.
3 the past form Amy walked to school.
4 the -ed form Amy has walked to school.
5 the -ing form Amy is walking to school.
The endings -s, -ed, and -ing are called inflections . The inflections
are added to the base form of the verb.
In regular verbs, two of the forms are identical: the past form (walked)
and the -ed form (walked). However, we must distinguish between these two forms because they are not always identical. For example,the irregular verb write has the following five forms:
1 the base form Amy loves to write poetry.
2 the -s form Amy writes poetry.
3 the past form Amy wrote a poem.
4 the -ed form Amy has written a poem.
5 the -ing form Amy is writing a poem.
See the Appendix for a list of irregular verbs, together with their five forms.
In the following sections, we look at each of the five verb forms in turn.
The base form
The base form of a verb is used:
1 After to:
We decided to walk.
Amy loves to write poetry.
The combination of to and the base form of a verb is called the
infinitive.
2 In the present tense, with all subjects except he, she, or it (the third-person singular pronouns :
I walk we walk
you walk they walk
Compare:
he/she/it walks (= the -s form – )
3 In imperative sentences :
Walk quickly.
Don’t move.
Leave your coat here.
4 In the subjunctive
I insist that she resign immediately.
The -s form
The -s form of a verb is produced by adding -s to the base form. It is used only in the present tense, when the subject of the verb is he, she,or it (the third-person singular pronouns) :
She walks to school.
Amy writes poetry.
Compare:
I walk to school. (= the base form, )
The past form
The past form of a verb is produced by adding -ed to the base form. It is used for the past tense, with all subjects:
I cooked dinner last night.
You cooked dinner last night.
David cooked dinner last night.
We cooked dinner last night.
The children cooked dinner last night.
The -ed form
Like the past form , the -ed form of a verb is produced by
adding -ed to the base form. The -ed form is used:
1 After the passive auxiliary be :
The play was directed by Trevor Nunn.
The Queen was shown to her seat.
Our suitcases were stolen from the hotel.
Two new scenes were written for the final version.
2 After the perfective auxiliary have :
Trevor Nunn has directed many plays.
The Mayor has shown the Queen to her seat.
Someone had stolen our suitcases.
The scriptwriter had written two new scenes.
3 In subordinate clauses :
Published in 1998, the book became a best-seller.
The term ‘-ed form’ is a just a cover term. Only regular verbs actually end in -ed in this form (e.g. was destroyed). Irregular verbs display a very wide variety of endings in the -ed form
(e.g. begun, written, brought,shown, stolen).
The -ing form
The -ing form of a verb is produced by adding -ing to the base form. The-ing form is used:
1 After the progressive auxiliary be :
She is walking to school.
Alan was sleeping when I arrived.
2 In subordinate clauses :
Paul slammed the door, bringing the ceiling down.
Irregular verbs
Many of the most common verbs in English are irregular. This means that their past form and their -ed form are not produced in the usual way (that is, by adding -ed to the base form). For instance, the verbs bring, choose and think are irregular:
Base -s Past -ed -ing
bring brings brought brought bringing
choose chooses chose chosen choosing
think thinks thought thought thinking
The irregular verbs display a great diversity of spelling in the past formand in the -ed form . However, we can distinguish the
following major groups:
1 The base form ends in d, and the past form and the -ed form end
in t:
Base -s Past -ed -ing
bend bends bent bent bending
build builds built built building
send sends sent sent sending
spend spends spent spent spending
2 The base form has i, the past form has a, and the -ed form has u:
Base -s Past -ed -ing
begin begins began begun beginning
drink drinks drank drunk drinking
sing sings sang sung singing
swim swims swam swum swimming
3 The base form has ee or ea, and the past form and the -ed form
have e:
Base -s Past -ed -ing
bleed bleeds bled bled bleeding
feed feeds fed fed feeding
keep keeps kept kept keeping
leave leav left left leaving
The base form is identical to the past form and the -ed form:
Base -s Past -ed -ing
cut cuts cut cut cutting
hit hits hit hit hitting
put puts put put putting
quit quits quit quit quitting
5 The past form and the -ed form are identical, and end in ought or
aught:
Base -s Past -ed -ing
bring brings brought brought bringing
buy buys bought bought buying
catch catches caught caught catching
teach teaches taught taught teaching
Regular and irregular variants
Some irregular verbs have regular variants, which may be used for boththe past form and the -ed form. In the following examples, both theregular dreamed and the irregular dreamt are used as the past form:
Regular: She dreamed she was on a hill overlooking Alexandria.
Irregular: I can’t remember what I dreamt last night.
Similarly, the two variants learnt and learned are used as the -ed form in these examples:
Regular: Saddam Hussein ought to have learned from his
experience.
Irregular: Rajiv may have learnt a lesson from this episode.
The following verbs also have regular and irregular variants:
burn burned / burnt dive dived / dove
knit knitted / knit lean leaned / leant
leap leaped / leapt prove proved / proven
smell smelled / smelt spell spelled / spelt
spill spilled / spilt spoil spoiled / spoilt
In general, American English tends to prefer the regular variants
(eg .I dreamed last night rather than I dreamt last night).
The verb be
The verb be is very irregular, and exhibits a total of eight different forms.These forms are shown here:
Base Present-tense Past-tense -ed -ing
form forms forms form form
be I am I was been being
you are you were
he/she/it is he/she/it was
we are we were
you are you were
they are they were
Many of these forms are contracted in informal use:
I ’m = am
he/she/it ’s = is
you/we/they ’re = are
Some of the forms also have contracted negative counterparts:
he/she/it isn’t = is not
he/she/it wasn’t = was not
you/we/they aren’t = are not
you/we/they weren’t = were not
In British English, the form aren’t is used as a contraction of am not in tag questions:
I am right, aren’t I?
Multi-word verbs
Multi-word verbs are combinations of a verb and one or more other words.The combinations function like a single verb. We distinguish three types:
1 Phrasal verbs are combinations of a verb and an adverb:
The music faded away as we left the station.
The engine cut out just before landing.
Weigh up all the factors before making a decision.
Jeremy has been trying out the car in the Alps.
2 Prepositional verbs are combinations of a verb and a preposition:
I’ll look into the matter immediately.
Amy doesn’t approve of smoking.
The barrister called for a unanimous verdict.
Paul is looking after his sister.
3 Phrasal-prepositional verbs are combinations of a verb, an
adverb and a preposition:
I won’t put up with this noise any longer.
I went along with their ideas for the sake of peace.
Members of the Huntu tribe shy away from violence.
Don’t give in to his demands.
believe read
break see
destroy run
eat sleep
go teach
love walk
meet work
We distinguish them here from the auxiliary verbs such as
can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would. Main verbs can occur as the only verb in a sentence:
Caroline eats pizza.
In contrast, an auxiliary verb such as will cannot occur alone:
*Caroline will pizza.
Instead, an auxiliary verb always occurs with a main verb:
Caroline will eat pizza.
The five verb forms
Verbs have five forms:
1 the base form Amy decided to walk to school.
2 the -s form Amy walks to school.
3 the past form Amy walked to school.
4 the -ed form Amy has walked to school.
5 the -ing form Amy is walking to school.
The endings -s, -ed, and -ing are called inflections . The inflections
are added to the base form of the verb.
In regular verbs, two of the forms are identical: the past form (walked)
and the -ed form (walked). However, we must distinguish between these two forms because they are not always identical. For example,the irregular verb write has the following five forms:
1 the base form Amy loves to write poetry.
2 the -s form Amy writes poetry.
3 the past form Amy wrote a poem.
4 the -ed form Amy has written a poem.
5 the -ing form Amy is writing a poem.
See the Appendix for a list of irregular verbs, together with their five forms.
In the following sections, we look at each of the five verb forms in turn.
The base form
The base form of a verb is used:
1 After to:
We decided to walk.
Amy loves to write poetry.
The combination of to and the base form of a verb is called the
infinitive.
2 In the present tense, with all subjects except he, she, or it (the third-person singular pronouns :
I walk we walk
you walk they walk
Compare:
he/she/it walks (= the -s form – )
3 In imperative sentences :
Walk quickly.
Don’t move.
Leave your coat here.
4 In the subjunctive
I insist that she resign immediately.
The -s form
The -s form of a verb is produced by adding -s to the base form. It is used only in the present tense, when the subject of the verb is he, she,or it (the third-person singular pronouns) :
She walks to school.
Amy writes poetry.
Compare:
I walk to school. (= the base form, )
The past form
The past form of a verb is produced by adding -ed to the base form. It is used for the past tense, with all subjects:
I cooked dinner last night.
You cooked dinner last night.
David cooked dinner last night.
We cooked dinner last night.
The children cooked dinner last night.
The -ed form
Like the past form , the -ed form of a verb is produced by
adding -ed to the base form. The -ed form is used:
1 After the passive auxiliary be :
The play was directed by Trevor Nunn.
The Queen was shown to her seat.
Our suitcases were stolen from the hotel.
Two new scenes were written for the final version.
2 After the perfective auxiliary have :
Trevor Nunn has directed many plays.
The Mayor has shown the Queen to her seat.
Someone had stolen our suitcases.
The scriptwriter had written two new scenes.
3 In subordinate clauses :
Published in 1998, the book became a best-seller.
The term ‘-ed form’ is a just a cover term. Only regular verbs actually end in -ed in this form (e.g. was destroyed). Irregular verbs display a very wide variety of endings in the -ed form
(e.g. begun, written, brought,shown, stolen).
The -ing form
The -ing form of a verb is produced by adding -ing to the base form. The-ing form is used:
1 After the progressive auxiliary be :
She is walking to school.
Alan was sleeping when I arrived.
2 In subordinate clauses :
Paul slammed the door, bringing the ceiling down.
Irregular verbs
Many of the most common verbs in English are irregular. This means that their past form and their -ed form are not produced in the usual way (that is, by adding -ed to the base form). For instance, the verbs bring, choose and think are irregular:
Base -s Past -ed -ing
bring brings brought brought bringing
choose chooses chose chosen choosing
think thinks thought thought thinking
The irregular verbs display a great diversity of spelling in the past formand in the -ed form . However, we can distinguish the
following major groups:
1 The base form ends in d, and the past form and the -ed form end
in t:
Base -s Past -ed -ing
bend bends bent bent bending
build builds built built building
send sends sent sent sending
spend spends spent spent spending
2 The base form has i, the past form has a, and the -ed form has u:
Base -s Past -ed -ing
begin begins began begun beginning
drink drinks drank drunk drinking
sing sings sang sung singing
swim swims swam swum swimming
3 The base form has ee or ea, and the past form and the -ed form
have e:
Base -s Past -ed -ing
bleed bleeds bled bled bleeding
feed feeds fed fed feeding
keep keeps kept kept keeping
leave leav left left leaving
The base form is identical to the past form and the -ed form:
Base -s Past -ed -ing
cut cuts cut cut cutting
hit hits hit hit hitting
put puts put put putting
quit quits quit quit quitting
5 The past form and the -ed form are identical, and end in ought or
aught:
Base -s Past -ed -ing
bring brings brought brought bringing
buy buys bought bought buying
catch catches caught caught catching
teach teaches taught taught teaching
Regular and irregular variants
Some irregular verbs have regular variants, which may be used for boththe past form and the -ed form. In the following examples, both theregular dreamed and the irregular dreamt are used as the past form:
Irregular: I can’t remember what I dreamt last night.
Similarly, the two variants learnt and learned are used as the -ed form in these examples:
Regular: Saddam Hussein ought to have learned from his
experience.
Irregular: Rajiv may have learnt a lesson from this episode.
The following verbs also have regular and irregular variants:
burn burned / burnt dive dived / dove
knit knitted / knit lean leaned / leant
leap leaped / leapt prove proved / proven
smell smelled / smelt spell spelled / spelt
spill spilled / spilt spoil spoiled / spoilt
In general, American English tends to prefer the regular variants
(eg .I dreamed last night rather than I dreamt last night).
The verb be
The verb be is very irregular, and exhibits a total of eight different forms.These forms are shown here:
Base Present-tense Past-tense -ed -ing
form forms forms form form
be I am I was been being
you are you were
he/she/it is he/she/it was
we are we were
you are you were
they are they were
Many of these forms are contracted in informal use:
I ’m = am
he/she/it ’s = is
you/we/they ’re = are
Some of the forms also have contracted negative counterparts:
he/she/it isn’t = is not
he/she/it wasn’t = was not
you/we/they aren’t = are not
you/we/they weren’t = were not
In British English, the form aren’t is used as a contraction of am not in tag questions:
I am right, aren’t I?
Multi-word verbs
Multi-word verbs are combinations of a verb and one or more other words.The combinations function like a single verb. We distinguish three types:
1 Phrasal verbs are combinations of a verb and an adverb:
The music faded away as we left the station.
The engine cut out just before landing.
Weigh up all the factors before making a decision.
Jeremy has been trying out the car in the Alps.
2 Prepositional verbs are combinations of a verb and a preposition:
I’ll look into the matter immediately.
Amy doesn’t approve of smoking.
The barrister called for a unanimous verdict.
Paul is looking after his sister.
3 Phrasal-prepositional verbs are combinations of a verb, an
adverb and a preposition:
I won’t put up with this noise any longer.
I went along with their ideas for the sake of peace.
Members of the Huntu tribe shy away from violence.
Don’t give in to his demands.
