Classification of verbs in English

Prctica Gramatical Unit 1

By Patricia Meehan

There are three major types of verbs in English

Full or lexical verbs

Primary auxiliary verbs

Secondary or Modal auxiliary verbs

Primary Auxiliary Verbs

BE am - is - are - am not - are not - arent - aint*- isnt

was were - was not - were not - wasnt werent. being - been

HAVE have - has have not has not hasnt havent

had had not - hadnt. having-had

DO do not - dont - does does not - doesnt did didnt

*Non-standard for all persons. Also havent / hasnt. doing - done

Auxiliary verbs are used in:

Questions. (weak form) Negative Statements. (strong form) Short Replies Emphatic constructions. (strong form) Substitution Tag questions. (strong form) The formation of tenses. (weak form)

Primary Auxiliary verbs are also used

in the formation of tenses and other grammatical constructions:

DO: Simple Tenses (negative statements and questions) BE: Progressive Tenses and Passive Voice. HAVE: Perfect Tenses and Causative Use of Have

Modal Auxiliary Verbs

MAY (MAY NOT/MAYNT) MIGHT (MIGHT NOT/MIGHTNT) CAN COULD SHALL (SHANT) SHOULD WILL (WONT) WOULD MUST NEED (NEEDNT) DARE (DARENT)

Modal verbs are defective verbs because:

They do not take inflections to show agreement or tense. They do not have non-finite forms i.e they are always finite. (They are also called anomalous
finites)

Modal Verbs can express stance meanings related to possibility, necessity, obligation, advice, etc. Logical/Epistemic Meaning Logical status of states or events. Meanings expressing different degrees of certainty, likelihood Personal/Non-epistemic meaning Control of actions and events by humans and/or other agents. Meanings expressing permission, obligation, volition, intention...

Primary Auxiliary Verbs as Lexical Verbs

BE is a lexical verb when it functions as a copular verb.

*(There be.: Lexical verb meaning exist)

HAVE is a lexical verb when it means possess, have got or obtain.Also eat, enjoy, drink. DO is a lexical verb when it means perform, carry out and activity or task.

*(DO can also function as pro-predicate or it can substitute a whole predicate)

FINITE AND NON-FINITE FORMS OF THE ENGLISH VERB

Finite Forms

The Base

The 3rd Person Singular

The Past Form

The base form

Indicative Mood: Simple present tense (all persons except 3rd person singular) Imperative Mood: Used with all persons.

Subjunctive Mood: Used with ALL persons (including 3rd person singular)

The 3rd person singular

Indicative Mood: Its used in the Simple Present Tense only with 3rd p.singular.

The Past Form

Indicative Mood: It is used in the Simple Past tense with all persons either to indicate past time or hypothetical situations in the present or future.

Non- Finite Forms

The Infinitive

The -ing Form

The Gerund The Present Participle

The Past Participle or ed Form

The Infinitive can be:

A to infinitive A bare infinitive

A perfect infinitive

The ing form can be :

GERUND When it is a gerund it ONLY has nominal function. In other words its a noun equivalent. PRESENT PARTICIPLE When it is a participle it can have EITHER adverbial or adjectival function. It can be part of a finite verb phrase when it is used in progressive tenses.

The ed or Past Participle

Like the Present Participle it can have either adjectival or adverbial function. It can be part of a finite verb phrase when it is used in perfect tenses or in passive voice constructions.

Circle all the verbal forms you find and classify them into auxiliary or lexical verbs.

Van Gogh was born in Holland in 1853, the son of a vicar. He was a deeply religious man who had worked as a lay

preacher in England and among Belgian miners. He had

been deeply impressed by the art of Millet and its social message, and decided to become a painter himself. A younger brother, Theo, who worked in an art-dealers shop, introduced him to Impressionist painters. This brother was a remarkable man. Though he was poor himself, he always gave ungrudgingly to the older Vincent and even financed his journey to Arles in southern France.

Van Gogh was born in Holland in 1853, the son of a vicar. He was a deeply religious man who had worked as a lay preacher in England and among Belgian miners. He had been deeply impressed by the art of Millet and its social message, and decided to become a painter himself. A younger brother, Theo, who worked in an art-dealers shop, introduced him to Impressionist painters. This brother was a remarkable man.

List your findings below

Auxiliary Verbs

Lexical Verbs

Underline all the finite forms in the second part of Van Goghs biography

Vincent hoped that if he could work there undisturbed for a number

of years he might be able one day to sell his pictures and repay his
generous brother. In his self-chosen solitude in Arles, Vincent set down all his ideas and hopes in his letters to Theo, which read like a continuous diary. These letters, by a humble and almost self-taught artist who had no idea of the fame he was to achieve, are among the most moving and exciting in all literature. In them we can feel the artists sense of mission, his struggle and triumphs, his desperate

loneliness and longing for companionship, and we become aware of

the immense strain under which he worked with feverish energy.

Vincent hoped that if he could work there undisturbed for a number of years he might be able one day to sell his pictures and (to) repay his generous brother. In his self-chosen solitude in Arles, Vincent set down all his ideas and hopes in his letters to Theo, which read like a continuous diary

List all the non-finite forms you have found and label them according to the classification given above

work (bare infinitive) Undisturbed (past participle)

(could)