Verb – Definition, Types, Forms and Applications

09/01/202218/11/2021 by Mir Afzal

Valency of the Verb

What is the valency of a verb?

Objects, unlike verbs are not a compulsory part of speech of a sentence. On most occasions, a verb does not need an object. On some occasions, a verb refers to more than one object.

Valency is basically the number of objects that a subject refers to, via the verb of the sentence. Based on the valency of the verb, it is classified as intransitive, transitive or ditransitive. We’ll see a few examples:

• The invigilator has arrived. (‘has arrived’ addressing no object – Intransitive verb)
• You might have to wait. (‘might have to wait’ addressing no object – Intransitive verb)
• We have to attempt the preliminary test and final examination. (‘have to attempt’ addressing one object – Transitive verb)
• Upon failing the dope test, Brad had to lose his boxing title. (‘failing’ and ‘had to lose’ addressing one object each – Transitive verbs)
• Would you pass Dean the pack? (‘Would pass’ addressing two objects – Ditransitive verb)
• Somebody send HQ a situation report! (‘send’ addressing two objects – Ditransitive verb)

Transitive literally means the ‘act of transfer’. A transitive verb is the one that makes the subject refer to an object, as we have already seen in all the examples we’ve taken up in the previous sections. Thus a transitive verb needs an object, while an intransitive verb doesn’t.

A ditransitive verb however addresses two objects, one direct and one indirect. We have already learned direct and indirect objects as nouns.

Thus, the valency of any verb in the English language can be one (intransitive verbs, only subject), two (transitive verbs, one subject and one object) or three (ditransitive verbs, one subject and two objects).

Different forms of Verbs

A verb takes four different forms to show the status of completion or progress. Let us discuss them individually.

Root form

The Root form of the verb is the original form of the verb used in Simple tenses. Root form by itself gives no indication of the tense of the verb and is used to express the Simple Present Tense (except for the third person singular, which we will learn in the article on Simple Present Tense)

All the other forms of the verb are derived from the root form in expressing various tenses in the active and passive voice.

The root form of the verb is used with modals and as an infinitive. Modals in every tense bring down the verb to its root form. The root form in this case is called as the partial infinitive.

• I could retrieve the application from the docket.
• We will pitch our idea tomorrow.
• They might win this contest if that strategy is executed.

Another form of the above case with the preposition to, is called the full infinitive. Some examples include:

• I have to reprimand him for indiscretion.
• The band is expected to be here in a few minutes.
• This council moves to immediately resume the project.

Some cases of the infinitive where it acts as the noun phrase of the sentence is called as a gerund. Note the examples below:

• To err is human, to forgive, divine.
• To be or not to be, that is the question to be.
• To win this contest will be his greatest challenge.

Simple Past form

The Past form is used to express the verb in the simple past tense. The past form is generally expressed by adding the suffix ‘-ed’ to the root form of the verb.

The Past form is used exclusively for the Simple Past Tense. Note the examples below:

• You overshot the daily limit.
• They overcame all the difficulties.
• We performed the experiments satisfactorily.
• The mayor took care of the situation.

Present Participle form

The Present Participle form or the continuous form is used to show all forms of progressive tenses. The Present participle form is used to indicate that the action indicated by the verbs are still in progress. Let us look at a few examples:

• You are overshooting the daily limit.
• They had been overcoming all the difficulties.
• We were performing the experiments satisfactorily.
• The mayor will be taking care of the situation.

The Present Participle form is expressed by adding the ‘-ing’ suffix to the root form of the verb.

Past Participle form

The Past Participle form is used to express the complete execution or occurrence of the verb in any tense. The Past Participle form is used to show all forms of Perfect tenses. Let us take a few examples:

• You have overshot the limit.
• They had overcome all the difficulties.
• We have performed all the experiments satisfactorily.
• The mayor will have taken care of the situation.

The Past Participle form is generally expressed by adding the ‘-ed’ suffix to the root form of the verb. Do they always follow the generalization?

Regularity of Verbs

In the previous section, we raised a question on the present and past participle forms of verbs. Let us rephrase the question.

Is every verb consistent with the general present and past participle forms of verbs?

The answer is no. Most verbs aren’t. Which makes the consistency a criteria of classification, based on which we classify verbs as regular or irregular verbs.

Every Simple Past and Past Participle form of Regular verbs obey the general spelling rules.

• I travelled to the United Kingdom now. (Simple Past form ends in ‘-ed’)
• I have travelled to 7 nations in the last 12 months alone. (Past Participle ends in ‘–ed’)
• The papacy expected you to come sooner. (Simple Past form ends in ‘-ed’)
• The papacy had expected you at the conclave by now. (Past Participle ends in ‘–ed’)
• The board concluded that you’re delusional. (Simple Past form ends in ‘-ed’)
• The board will have concluded that you’re delusional. (Past Participle ends in ‘–ed’)

Irregular verbs are those whose at least one of Simple Past and Past Participle forms disobey the general spelling rules.

• I sent the cookies to the address specified. (Simple Past form does not end in ‘-ed’)
• I have sent the cookies to the address specified. (Past Participle does not end in ‘–ed’)
• I brought the groceries home an hour ago. (Simple Past form does not end in ‘-ed’)
• I had brought the groceries home an hour ago. (Past Participle does not end in ‘–ed’)
• It grew all over the place. (Simple Past form does not end in ‘-ed’)
• It will have grown all over the place. (Past Participle does not end in ‘–ed’)

Even if there exists a present/past participle form that does follow the spelling rules and another present/past participle form doesn’t, it would be an irregular verb.

• They lighted the place up. (Simple Past form ends in ‘-ed’)
• They had lit the place up. (Past Participle does not end in ‘–ed’)
• You burned the only piece of evidence we had. (Simple Past form ends in ‘-ed’)
• I have burnt the only piece of evidence we had. (Past Participle doesn’t end in ‘–ed’)
• We mowed the lawn yesterday. (Simple Past form ends in ‘-ed’)
• We will have mown the lawn by tomorrow. (Past Participle does not end in ‘–ed’)

Thus, in the above case, light, burn & mow would still be irregular verbs.

Different Variations of Irregular Verbs

Some irregular verbs take the suffix ‘-t’ to change into the Past and Past Participle form. Like the following examples:

• I brought the groceries home an hour ago. (Simple Past)
• I had brought the groceries home an hour ago. (Past Participle)
• You burnt the only piece of evidence we had. (Simple Past)
• I have burnt the only piece of evidence we had. (Past Participle)

Some irregular verbs take the suffix ‘-n’ to change into the Past Participle form. Their Past forms also show a remarkable similarity. Like the following examples:

• The organism grew quicker than we expected. (Simple Past)
• The organism had grown quicker than we expected. (Past Participle)
• This performance just blew my mind. (Simple Past)
• This performance has just blown my mind. (Past Participle)

Some irregular verbs don’t change in form. Let us take a few examples:

• I put the folder back exactly where I found it. (Simple Past)
• I had put the folder back exactly where I found it. (Past Participle)
• They cut a significant portion of his salary as a penalty. (Simple Past)
• They have cut a significant portion of his salary as a penalty. (Past Participle)

List of Irregular Verbs

Verb	Simple Past	Past Participle
To Arise	Arose	Arisen
To Be	Were	Been
To Beat	Beat	Beaten
To Become	Became	Become
To Begin	Began	Begun
To Bend	Bent	Bent
To Bet	Bet	Bet
To Break	Broke	Broken
To Bring	Brought	Brought
To Build	Built	Built
To Burn	Burned  / Burnt	Burned  / Burnt
To Buy	Bought	Bought
To Cast	Cast	Cast
To Catch	Caught	Caught
To Choose	Chose	Chosen
To Come	Came	Come
To Cost	Cost	Cost
To Cut	Cut	Cut
To Do	Did	Done
To Draw	Drew	Drawn
To Dream	Dreamt  / Dreamed	Dreamt  / Dreamed
To Drink	Drank	Drunk
To Drive	Drove	Driven
To Eat	Ate	Eaten
To Fall	Fell	Fallen
To Feel	Felt	Felt
To Fight	Fought	Fought
To Find	Found	Found
To Flee	Fled	Fled
To Forbid	Forbade	Forbidden
To Forget	Forgot	Forgotten
To Forgive	Forgave	Forgiven
To Get	Got	Got  / Gotten
To Give	Gave	Given
To Go	Went	Gone
To Grow	Grew	Grown
To Hang	Hung  / Hanged	Hung  / Hanged
To Have	Had	Had
To Hear	Heard	Heard
To Hide	Hid	Hidden
To Hit	Hit	Hit
To Hold	Held	Held
To Hurt	Hurt	Hurt
To Keep	Kept	Kept
To Know	Knew	Known
To Lead	Led	Led
To Lean	Leant  / Leaned	Leant  / Leaned
To Leap	Leapt  / Leaped	Leapt  / Leaped
To Learn	Learnt  / Learned	Learnt  / Learned
To Leave	Left	Left
To Lend	Lent	Lent
To Let	Let	Let
To Light	Lit	Lit
To Lose	Lost	Lost
To Make	Made	Made
To Mean	Meant	Meant
To Meet	Met	Met
To Overcome	Overcame	Overcome
To Pay	Paid	Paid
To Prove	Proved	Proved  / Proven
To Put	Put	Put
To Quit	Quit	Quit
To Read	Read	Read
To Ride	Rode	Ridden
To Ring	Rang	Rung
To Run	Ran	Run
To Say	Said	Said
To See	Saw	Seen
To Sell	Sold	Sold
To Send	Sent	Sent
To Set	Set	Set
To Shake	Shook	Shaken
To Shine	Shone  / Shined	Shone  / Shined
To Shoot	Shot	Shot
To Show	Showed	Shown
To Shut	Shut	Shut
To Sing	Sang	Sung
To Sit	Sat	Sat
To Sleep	Slept	Slept
To Slide	Slid	Slid  / Slidden
To Smell	Smelt  / Smelled	Smelt  / Smelled
To Speak	Spoke	Spoken
To Spend	Spent	Spent
To Stand	Stood	Stood
To Steal	Stole	Stolen
To Stick	Stuck	Stuck
To Strike	Struck	Struck
To Swear	Swore	Sworn
To Sweep	Swept	Swept
To Swim	Swam	Swum
To Take	Took	Taken
To Teach	Taught	Taught
To Tell	Told	Told
To Think	Thought	Thought
To Throw	Threw	Thrown
To Understand	Understood	Understood
To Upset	Upset	Upset
To Win	Won	Won
To Write	Wrote	Written

List of Regular Verbs

Verb	Simple Past	Past Participle
To Accept	Accepted	Accepted
To Achieve	Achieved	Achieved
To Act	Acted	Acted
To Admit	Admitted	Admitted
To Affect	Affected	Affected
To Agree	Agreed	Agreed
To Announce	Announced	Announced
To Answer	Answered	Answered
To Appear	Appeared	Appeared
To Apply	Applied	Applied
To Argue	Argued	Argued
To Arrive	Arrived	Arrived
To Ask	Asked	Asked
To Attend	Attended	Attended
To Avoid	Avoided	Avoided
To Believe	Believed	Believed
To Call	Called	Called
To Carry	Carried	Carried
To Cause	Caused	Caused
To Change	Changed	Changed
To Close	Closed	Closed
To Compare	Compared	Compared
To Consider	Considered	Considered
To Contain	Contained	Contained
To Continue	Continued	Continued
To Count	Counted	Counted
To Cover	Covered	Covered
To Create	Created	Created
To Decide	Decided	Decided
To Define	Defined	Defined
To Determine	Determined	Determined
To Develop	Developed	Developed
To Die	Died	Died
To Discover	Discovered	Discovered
To Enter	Entered	Entered
To Establish	Established	Established
To Exist	Existed	Existed
To Explain	Explained	Explained
To Finish	Finished	Finished
To Follow	Followed	Followed
To Form	Formed	Formed
To Happen	Happened	Happened
To Help	Helped	Helped
To Hope	Hoped	Hoped
To Imagine	Imagined	Imagined
To Improve	Improved	Improved
To Include	Included	Included
To Increase	Increased	Increased
To Indicate	Indicated	Indicated
To Introduce	Introduced	Introduced
To Kill	Killed	Killed
To Live	Lived	Lived
To Maintain	Maintained	Maintained
To Mention	Mentioned	Mentioned
To Move	Moved	Moved
To Need	Needed	Needed
To Note	Noted	Noted
To Notice	Noticed	Noticed
To Occur	Occurred	Occurred
To Offer	Offered	Offered
To Open	Opened	Opened
To Pass	Passed	Passed
To Play	Played	Played
To Prepare	Prepared	Prepared
To Prevent	Prevented	Prevented
To Produce	Produced	Produced
To Protect	Protected	Protected
To Publish	Published	Published
To Raise	Raised	Raised
To Reach	Reached	Reached
To Receive	Received	Received
To Recognize	Recognized	Recognized
To Reduce	Reduced	Reduced
To Remember	Remembered	Remembered
To Remove	Removed	Removed
To Represent	Represented	Represented
To Respond	Responded	Responded
To Return	Returned	Returned
To Save	Saved	Saved
To Seem	Seemed	Seemed
To Serve	Served	Served
To Share	Shared	Shared
To Sign	Signed	Signed
To Sound	Sounded	Sounded
To Stay	Stayed	Stayed
To Stop	Stopped	Stopped
To Study	Studied	Studied
To Suffer	Suffered	Suffered
To Support	Supported	Supported
To Touch	Touched	Touched
To Travel	Travelled	Travelled
To Treat	Treated	Treated
To Try	Tried	Tried
To Use	Used	Used
To Visit	Visited	Visited
To Walk	Walked	Walked
To Want	Wanted	Wanted
To Watch	Watched	Watched
To Work	Worked	Worked
To Worry	Worried	Worried

Auxiliary Verbs

Also called helping verbs, auxiliary verbs are those that generally are used in secondary status with respect to other verbs in the same sentence.

The three main auxiliary verbs used are do, have and be. The auxiliary verb be has various forms depending on the subject and tense, so do the verbs have and do.

There are eight main forms of the auxiliary verb be. We use them in the following examples:

• You will be facing the final exams in a week.
• She is playing with the senior team now.
• They are coming to see you tomorrow.
• I am leaving this place in a few minutes.
• Medha was running late for office.
• Our customers have always been expecting this bug to be fixed.
• You were working your way to be the best of the recruits.

There are three forms of the auxiliary verb do. We use them in the following examples:

• Do you leave for court early?
• Amy does always get in trouble. ^[1]
• He did reach the hall on time. ^[1]

There are three forms of the auxiliary verb have. We use them in the following examples:

• Ashish has a better solution to this problem.
• The previous batch had performed better than the current one.
• We have to maintain calm and think this through.

However, the above mentioned verbs can also act as standalone verbs. Observe the following examples:

• They are the first of the visitors to this island.
• She will be here in a few minutes.
• You were the best of the recruits.
• The previous batch was better than the current one.

Depending on the application, any one of these forms of the auxiliary verbs may be used.

Also Read: Auxiliary Verbs

Applications of the Verb

The rest of the study of English Grammar is based on the verb. Since they’re present in every sentence of the verb, they can be consistently used to determine various aspects of the sentence.

Speech of the Sentence

Though it is the punctuation that reveals us the nature of speech of a sentence, verbs are equally important.

• He said to the newcomer, “Will you be joining us?” (Direct Speech)
• He asked the newcomer if he was joining them. (Indirect Speech)
• She said, “Oh dear! The deadline has passed.” (Direct Speech)
• She expressed her disappointment over the passage of the deadline. (Indirect Speech)

Subject and Object of a Verb

The verb of a sentence determines which of the other words or parts of speech of any sentence is the subject and the object. In any sentence, the part that performs the action (of the verb) or whose state of being is explained by the verb is the subject. In most of the sentences, the subject is mentioned and can be easily identified. The object of the sentence is the part that the verb refers to. The object is the recipient of the verb, and is the one the subject is mentioning about.

• Madness is like gravity; all it needs is a little push. (Subject of the verb ‘is’)
• Jensen has to be patient while addressing the board. (Subject of the verb ‘has to be’)
• Finish your supper, kids. (Object of the verb ‘your supper’)
• The team has to assess the situation before the World Cup begins. (Object of the verb phrase ‘has to assess’)

Subjects and objects are generally nouns or noun phrases. We have already learnt about them as nouns.

Tense of the Sentence

The verb(s) of the sentence can help us in determining the tense of the sentence. The verb forms are altered to adjust to the tense of the speech.

• He achieved the targets way before the deadline. (Simple Past tense)
• He was achieving the targets way before the deadline. (Past Continuous tense)
• He had achieved all the targets way before the deadline. (Past Perfect tense)
• He had been achieving the targets way before the deadline. (Past Perfect Continuous tense)

There are three major tenses according to the verb of the sentence. If the verb refers to the same time as the statement is made (an activity or occurrence has happened/is happening now) (now, today, generally, as we speak, etc.) then the verb is in the present tense. If the verb refers to a time before (an activity or occurrence happened/was happening before) the statement is made (yesterday, many years ago, long back, before) then the verb is in the past tense. If the verb refers to a time after (an activity or occurrence will happen/will be happening soon/later) the statement is made (tomorrow, thereafter, upcoming, etc.) then the verb is in the future tense.

Based on the form of the verb, the tense of a sentence can be in the Past, Present or Future tense, each having four subtypes like the example above.

Phrases and Clauses

The presence of a verb can help us distinguish between a phrase and a clause. Phrases are those which do not have a subject and don’t carry a verb (unless it is a verb phrase). A clause will have a subject and a verb and can act like a standalone sentence, or may need another standalone clause.

• He performed brilliantly. (Independent clause)
• He performed so brilliantly that the audience was left dumbstruck. (Dependent clause)
• He performed at the south side auditorium. (Preposition phrase)

Voice of the Sentence

The verb(s) of a sentence determines the voice of a sentence. Here, active voice is where the subject is the executioner of the verb, while passive voice is where the subject is the recipient of the verb.

• They considered him to be an incorruptible officer. (Active Voice)
• He was considered to be an incorruptible officer. (Passive Voice)
• She has been interviewing candidates all day long (Active Voice)
• The candidates are being interviewed all day long (Passive Voice)

The voice of a sentence is altered for smooth reading of formal conversations.

Identification of a Verb

 If a word is a verb:

1.  It can be stated in the third person singular verb form:

 2.  It can be formed with an –ing ending.

 3.  It can be used with a modal verb.
 
Example: Is the word dance a verb?

1.  It can be used in the third person singular: He dances so well.

2.  It can be formed with an –ing ending: The couple was dancing perfectly in the competition.

3.  It can be used with a modal: They could dance all night if they didn’t have work in the morning.

 The answer to all of these is ‘yes‘. The word ‘dance’ is a verb.

Conclusion

This completes the basic idea of verbs of a sentence, its different forms, types and applications. The idea of a verb can also be extended to phrases and subordinate clauses which we will study with the other subordinate clauses.

Notes

[1] Different forms of the auxiliary verb do are either omitted or combined with the main verb during writing. For example:

• Amy does always get in trouble.

It is generally written as:

• Amy always gets in trouble.

Also, note the following sentence:

• He did reach the hall on time.

It is generally written as:

• He reached the hall on time.

While both the forms are grammatically correct, the general forms are more popularly used now.