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ENGLISH VERBS

I. INTRODUCTION

A. What are verbs?B. What do they look like?

Exercise: Indicate the verbs in the texts below.

Text 1

Text 2

Both texts taken from the book: Grammar for English Language Teachers

II. Main/Full Verbs

A. Lexical AspectMain Verb

Dynamic Stative

1. Dynamic VerbsMain verb

Dynamic Stative

Activity Event

Inglês IV Document 2: English Verbs

Wisdom is the ability to see, understand and know clearly and deeply, and to speak and act from that understanding. Wisdom sees into the heart of things. It comes from a deep connection with oneself, and also connects us with all life.

To make the barbecue sauce, sauté the chopped garlic in the oil for one minute. Discard the garlic and add the vinegar, wine, Worcestershire sauce, tomato ketchup, a few drops of Tabasco and water to the pan. Bring to the boil and simmer for 6 minutes, stirring occasionally.

1

2. Stative Verbs

Main verb

Dynamic Stative

Activity Event Cognitive Relations

a. Cognitive states (mental states)

i. Knowledge (know, understand, want, believe)

ii. Emotion (hate, like, love)

b. Relations

i. Existence (be, exist)

ii. Possession (belong, possess, own)

3. Dynamic and Stative VerbsExamples: Dynamic verbs: Smell and Have

I always smell perfume before buying it.

I normally have cereal for breakfast.

Examples: Stative Verbs: Smell and Have

The Pavia River always smells bad.

You have beautiful eyes.

Other verbs:

Verbs Dynamic qualities Stative qualities

feel, taste testing actions senses

have doing possession

appear, look actionse.g. She appeared late for dinner.

appearancee.g. The movie appears dull.

Inglês IV Document 2: English Verbs 2

B. Transitive / Intransitive Verbs1. Transitive Verbs

Examples

He (agent) bought (action) a shirt (object).

Kerry will win the presidential elections.

2. Intransitive VerbsExamples:

The freshmen danced.

The child fell.

Adverbial Example:

The child fell on the rocks.

3. Verbs that are both Transitive and IntransitiveExamples:

The freshmen danced

The freshmen danced the hokey pokey.

Indicate whether the verbs in the sentences below are transitive or intransitive.

1. Jennifer sings.

2. Jennifer sings a song.

3. Ghandi lived his life quite peacefully.

4. Ghandi lived with his wife in India.

5. Ana Salazar can sew.

6. Ana Salazar’s seamstresses sew her latest designs.

7. Maybe I should write to the mayor.

8. Maybe I should write a letter to complain about the stench.

9. Mary believed the stories her brother told her.

10. Mary believed in ghosts.

11. John ran into his old flame last night.

12. John ran a very successful legal firm in New York.

13. You will get into trouble with your arrogant view of yourself.

14. You will get sore feet with your refusal to wear proper shoes.


4. Troublesome English Verbs: LIE & LAY

Lie – to be down, to be flat – lie, lying, lay, lain.

Lay - to put down carefully – lay, laying, laid, laid.

Transitive Intransitive

lay lieExamples:

Don’t lie in bed all day.

Lie

I threw myself flat and lay motionless for ten minutes.

I laid the papers out on the table.

Lay

Lay the tent down on the grass.

III. Auxiliary Verbs

A. Do, Be, Have, Shall, Will

1. Do, Does and Did

a. Negatives and Questions

Examples

I don’t study at night.

She didn’t go to school yesterday.

Does he work here?

Did your friend call you yesterday?

b. Emphatic do

Example

He does like snails. He really does!


2. Have, has, hadExamples:

Have you eaten?

She had already arrived when Peter called.

The bridge will have been completed by 2006.

3. The verb to BeExamples:

The teacher is talking about English verbs today.

The poem was written by Edna St. Vincent Millay.

4. Shall, willExamples

I will finish my course this year.

Shall we start the lesson?

B. Modal Auxiliary Verbs

Modal Verb(s) Communicative function Example sentences

CanWould requesting Can you help me with this report?

Would you come here, please?May

Would offering May I help you?Would you like a hand with that?

Can asking for or granting permission

A: Can I take tomorrow off?B: No you can’t.

Ought toShould

Had betteradvising

You ought to/ should/ had better stay in bed.

Could suggesting You could study more.Would inviting Would you like to join us?

Modal auxiliary verbs with Perfect Infinitives

Examples:

She’s 2 hours late – what could have happened?

I think I may have annoyed him.

You were crazy to drive so fast – you might have killed yourself.


IV. VERB FORMS

A. Infinitives and Bare Infinitives

1. Full Infinitive – to + base form of the verb

We use these infinitives:

- to add more information

e.g. She wanted him to carry her books.

- to explain the reason for something or its purpose or function

e.g. Use this key to open the office door.

- as subjects and complements.

e.g. To smoke would be stupid if you’re not allowed to in this area.

Where do they come in sentences?

- After certain verbs (verb + infinitive)

Agree, appear, arrange, decide, expect, need, offer, promise, wish, want, etc…

e.g. The class agreed to postpone the next lesson.

- After certain verb + object combinations (verb + object + infinitive)

advise, allow, ask, forbid, instruct, order, permit prefer, remind, teach, tell, tempt,

etc…

e.g. The teacher encouraged her students to speak English.

- After certain adjectives (adjective + infinitive)

anxious, determined, certain, likely, possible, etc…

e.g. The university is likely to cancel lessons on the day of the Latada.

- After too + Adjective or Much/Many + noun

e.g. She’s too young to stay out till 1:00 am.

There’s too much information to digest.


- After adjective + enough

e.g. The coffee is not sweet enough to drink.

2. Bare Infinitives – infinitives without to- They are used in some tense forms.

e.g. They didn’t like the movie.

- After certain verb + object combinations

e.g. They made me clean the house.

B. –ING Form1. Gerund- After certain verbs (avoid, bear, consider, deny, dislike, enjoy, imagine, etc…)

e.g. I can’t bear listening to that music.

- After verb + object combinations

e.g. Do you mind me eating this apple in class?

- After prepositions

e.g. He’s interested in dancing.

- Subject / Complements

e.g. Reading a lot is one way to improve your general knowledge.

He enjoys reading.

2. Present ParticipleExample: We are writing in our notebooks.

C. Past ParticiplesExamples:

The murder was committed by an elderly man.

I have talked to him several times before.


V. The Tense SystemA. Tense

B. Aspect

1. Lexical Aspect

2. Grammatical Aspecta. Simple - completion

b. Continuous / Progressive – temporary, incomplete, and/or in progress (form:

verb to be + present participle)

c. Perfect – an event related to 2 different times (form: verb to have + past

participle)

3. Combining Lexical and Grammatical Aspect

Grammatical Aspect

Lexical Aspect Implicated Meaning

Perfect Dynamic Completed activity, looking back

Perfect Stative Pre-existing state that may continue, looking back

Continuous Dynamic Ongoing activity

Continuous Stative Temporary state

Examples:

1. a. She is learning karate. (This verb with dynamic aspect is a process that is

ongoing and incomplete.)

b. She has learned karate. (This verb with dynamic aspect is a process that is

completed and some goal has been achieved.)

2. a. I am writing some notes. (This verb with dynamic aspect is an activity that

is ongoing and incomplete.)

b. I have written some notes. (This verb with dynamic aspect is an activity

that is completed and some goal has been achieved.)


3. a. She has hated him since she first met him.

b. We have known the teacher for many years.

(These verbs with Stative aspect are used in the perfect and suggest that the

already existing situation being described will continue.)

4. a. You’re being foolish.

b. I’m having a terrible day.

(These verbs with Stative aspect are used with the continuous aspect to imply

that the state is not permanent but ongoing at a certain time, now.)

C. Voice

1. Active Voice

Example: Cats eat mice.

2. Passive Voice

Example: The book was written in the 1920s.

Use of the passive voice:

- To describe processes:

Example: The beans are picked in late summer and are left to dry in the sun.

- In various formal (often academic) styles of discourse, e.g. to introduce

evidence, argument or opinion:

Examples:

It is sometimes argued that …

A distinction can be made between …

Or to describe procedure in formally reporting scientific experiments:

Example: Thirty eight subjects were interviewed in the first round of interviews.

- To avoid the implication of personal involvement or responsibility:

Examples:

The vase got broken, Mum.

I’m afraid the work on your car won’t be completed today.


- With certain verbs – verbs we use when the person who did the action is

generally unimportant. They often describe claiming, blaming, acts of

destruction or emotional reactions:

Examples:

He is alleged to be in a sanatorium.

We have been inundated with gestures of support.

Get as an auxiliary verb instead of Be in Passive Constructions

We use get when:

- The action is unexpected, involuntary or possibly unwelcome:

Example: When he picked up the phone we got cut off.

- An achievement based on something that has been built up beforehand:

Example: She got elected.

- An achievement in the face of difficulty:

Example: I’m not going to get tricked.

Reduced Relative Clauses in Passive Constructions

Example: They produced various plans (which had been) drafted …

Causative Passive Constructions

Example: She (subject) got me (object) sacked.

We generally use causative constructions when we describe:

- what we arrange for someone to do for us:

Example: She goes to hospital and has her blood pressure taken.

- unfortunate experiences

Example: He got his leg broken playing football.

Basic pattern of Causative Passive Construction

Have or Get + object + the past participle of a verb


VI. MULTI-WORD VERBS

A. PHRASAL VERBS1. INTRANSITIVE Examples:

The injured man came to. The bomb failed to go off.

The music died away. We’ll get by somehow.

Stop messing about. How did you get on at the interview?

2. TRANSITIVE Examples:

They broke down the door. They broke the door down.

Let’s take back the glasses. Let’s take the glasses back.

3. Verb + Pronoun Object + Particle

Example:

They broke it down. We took them back.

4. Compare the examples below:

They cancelled the meeting. (end focus on meeting)

They called off the meeting. (end focus on meeting)

They called the meeting off. (end focus on off)

5. Final Position except for Contrastive Purposes

Examples:

They ruled us out. They ruled out me, but not Tom.

6. Long Direct Object – No Verb Particle Separation

Example:

He rang up all the friends he had made on the Mediterranean cruise the previous

summer.

and not

He rang all the friends he had made on the Mediterranean cruise the previous

summer up.


7. Transitive & Intransitive Verb + Particle combinations

Examples:

Terrorists have blown up the twin towers. (transitive)

The twin towers have been blown up. (intransitive)

The traffic policeman pulled him up for speeding. (transitive)

The cyclist pulled up at the traffic lights. (intransitive)

8. Different meanings of Transitive/Intransitive Phrasal Verbs

Example:

The radio transmitter gave out signals. (=emit) (transitive)

Our gasoline supply has given out. (=be used up) (intransitive)

B. PREPOSITIONAL VERBS

Examples:

The police are looking into the matter.

This job calls for a person of considerable initiative.

He set about filing the documents in quite the wrong way.

How did you come by such a valuable picture?

This kind of get-together makes for good social relations.

He touched on many interesting points in his lecture.

I ran across your brother at the airport the other day.

Most people I know would leap at such an opportunity.

Will you see to the children’s lunch?

A special commission will deal with donations for the refugees.

I just managed to scrape through the final exam.


Arguments which show Prepositional Objects are used after Prepositional

Verbs:

i. Many combinations can be replaced by a verb used transitively. E.g. The

police are studying the matter. (=look into)

ii. We can ask who(m) or what questions with the prepositional verbs eliciting

the Prepositional Object (Oprep): E.g. Who did you run across? What are

the police looking into?

iii. Many clauses containing prepositional verbs can be used in the passive: E.g.

The matter is being looked into; Many interesting points were touched on in

his lecture. The preposition is then said to be stranded.

iv. Prepositional Objects can be connected: E.g. He looked into the fraud and

also into the murder case.

C. DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PHRASAL VERBS AND PREPOSITIONAL VERBS

Prepositional verb break with and the phrasal verb break up.

(a) A preposition cannot be placed after the Object, unless it is stranded, whereas

the adverbial particles of phrasal verbs can generally come before or after the

Object.

Examples:

He broke with his girl-friend. He broke up the party.

*He broke his girl-friend with. He broke the party up.

(b) A pronoun follows a preposition but comes before the adverbial particle of a

phrasal verb:

Examples:

He broke with her. He broke it up.

*He broke her with. *He broke up it.

(c) An adverb can be placed between a verb and its following preposition. Phrasal

verbs do not admit an adverb between the verb and the particle.

Examples:

He broke completely with his girl-friend.

*He broke completely up the party.


(d) A WH question or relative can often be preceded by the preposition of a

prepositional verb (although there may be a clash of register) but not by the

particle of a phrasal verb.

Examples:

With whom did he break? *Up what did he break?

The girl with whom he broke. *The party up which he broke.

Verb + particle combinations as both Phrasal and Prepositional Verbs

Prepositional Verb Phrasal Verb

His friends turned on him.

She’ll never get over the divorce.

I came across an old friend.

Let’s turn on the lights.

I want to get this class over.

Her voice comes across well.

D. PHRASAL-PREPOSITIONAL VERBS

Examples:

He goes in for wind-surfing. (=enjoy)

We ran up against difficulties.

They have done away with free school meals.

You’d better cut down on fatty foods, cakes and alcohol.

The waiter says they have run out of doggy-bags.

I don’t think I can go through with this ordeal.

Don’t monkey about with the computer.

It all boils down to money in the end.

She is always on at him to buy a bigger car.


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