Verbs

Verbs are words that tell us about action or a state of being. They are one of the most important parts of a sentence because they show what the subject does or what the subject is like. • Action verbs show what someone or something does: run, eat, sing, write. • Linking verbs do not show action. They connect the subject to more information: am, is, are, was, were, seem, become. • Helping verbs work with another verb to show time or meaning: have, has, had, do, does, did, will, can, may. A sentence usually needs a verb to be complete. For example, in "She runs," the verb runs shows action. In "He is happy," the verb is links he to happy. In "They are playing," are is the helping verb and playing is the main verb. To find the verb, ask: What is the subject doing? or What is happening? If the word shows action, links ideas, or helps another verb, it is a verb. • Verbs can change form to show time. • One sentence may have more than one verb. • Every complete sentence needs a verb.

Verbs change form to show the past or the present. In beginner English, it is helpful to learn regular and irregular verbs. • Regular verbs make the past tense by adding -ed: play → played, clean → cleaned, visit → visited. • Irregular verbs do not follow one simple rule: go → went, eat → ate, see → saw. The base form is the verb's simple form: walk, talk, make. The past tense tells about completed actions in the past: yesterday, last week, ago. Many verbs also have a past participle form, which is used with helping verbs: have eaten, has gone, was made. Beginner learners should notice that regular verbs are easier because they follow the same pattern. Irregular verbs must be memorized because their changes are different. • Use regular verbs with -ed in the past. • Learn common irregular verbs in small groups. • Check the time word in the sentence to choose the correct form.

Verbs must match the subject in number. This is called subject-verb agreement. • Singular subjects usually take singular verbs: She runs, He plays, The cat sleeps. • Plural subjects usually take plural verbs: They run, We play, The cats sleep. • With he, she, and it, many present-tense verbs take -s or -es: walks, watches, goes. Some verbs are followed by a gerund or an infinitive. • A gerund is a verb ending in -ing that works like a noun: swimming, reading. • An infinitive is to + verb: to swim, to read. Verbs can also show voice. • In active voice, the subject does the action: The girl opened the door. • In passive voice, the subject receives the action: The door was opened by the girl. Beginner learners should focus on simple patterns: match the subject with the verb, learn common -ing and to + verb structures, and notice who does the action in a sentence. • Subject and verb should agree. • Some verbs need -ing after them. • Some verbs need to + verb after them.