Verbs are words that express action or being, and they are quite a bit more complicated than what we've done so far. For one, there are four categories of verbs and they seem to influence and help each other in their job. But once you wrap your mind around verbs, they actually aren't that difficult to understand.
The first two categories are easy: action verbs (jump, sit, run) and being verbs (am, are, is, was). Action verbs may be split further into transitive and intransitive verbs.
Transitive verbs are defined as words that take on an object. If you can ask whom? or what? to the verb in a sentence, then the verb is transitive. For example, "carried" in the sentence "I carried the injured boy to the ambulance" is transitive.
Linking verbs (or copulative verbs) are words that can substitute being verbs. For example, in the sentence below, "tasted" is a linking verb.
The soup tasted too spicy for me.However, in the sentence below, "tasted" is an action verb.
The soup [is] too spicy for me.
I tasted the spicy soup.
I [is] the spicy soup. X
Helping (auxiliary) verbs are verbs that can join the main verb to express the tense, mood, and voice of the verb. The words in italics are examples of auxiliary verbs that affect the tense of the main verb.
She is singing.A special class of auxiliary verbs are modal auxiliary verbs (can, could, may, might, must, ought to, shall, should, will, and would). These verbs do not change form for different subjects. They affect the mood and voice of the verb.
She has been dancing the entire night.
She did not write love poem.
I can help!Tomorrow we do adverbs.
I may help!
I will help!
I must help!
[Get the book.]
1 comment:
similarly, the term "apraxia", which means inability to execute a task or action, has a subgroup of transitive and intransitive ideamotor apraxia which means inability to execute a task with or without a tool respectively :)
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