Verbs
A verb is either a linking word or an action word. A verb is the only obligatory element of a clause or sentence. A verb confers meaning on a clause or a sentence.
Types of Verb
Basically verbs are divided into two.
i. Lexical Verb
ii. Auxiliary Verb
1. Lexical Verbs: refers to what the dictionary called action verb and it is an open ended type of verb. that is it has so many examples e.g. sleep, beat, eat, go, take etc.
2. Auxiliary Verbs: can be divided into two,
i Primary Auxiliary verb
ii Secondary Auxiliary verb or modal operator
3. The DO Form of Primary Auxiliary Verb.
The DO form of primary auxiliary verb has three families which are: Do, Does, Did
| Present | Past | Perfect | Progressive | |
| I | Do | Did | Have/had done | Are/were doing |
| You | Do | Did | Have/had done | Are/were doing |
| We | Do | Did | Have/had done | Are/were doing |
| They | Do | Did | Have/had done | Are/were doing |
| He | Does | Did | Have/had done | Are/were doing |
| she | Does | Did | Have/had done | Is/was going |
| If | Does | Did | Have/had done | Is/was going |
ii. Secondary Auxiliary Verb or Modal Operators
The members of the secondary auxiliary verb or modal operators are as follows
(i) Will/would
(ii) Shall/should
(iii) Can/could
(iv) May/might
(v) Must/had to
(vi) Ought to/heed to
Shall can only take I/We, 1st Personal Singular and 1st person plural.
Example
(i) Peter must have forgotten his phone at home
(ii) The man would have written his will before his death
(iii) They should have known the road is not motor able
(iv) The tailor could have closed for the day
(v) The thief may have been arrested
(vi) She might have seen you
(vii) I shall sing etc.
Exercise
a. Make two sentences with the following
1. Used to 2. Have to
3. Had to 4. Will have to
5. Must 6. Ought to
7. Need to 8. May
9. Might 10. Had better
11. Can 11. Could
13. Shall 14. Should
15. Would have to 16. You’d better
17. Wish/Wishes 18. Hope / Hopes
19. Want/wants 20. Would like / prefer / rather
Verb Forms
Finite and non-finite verb
Finite verb
A finite verb is a verb form which changes when there is It has three members namely:
1st member is V + O
2nd member is V + S
3rd member is V + D
(1) V + O: is the first member which is the base form, i.e. Simple present tense. E.g. dance, ding, eat, cook, play, write etc.
(2) V +S: is the second member which is the 3rd person singular of the simple present tense, e.g. goes, eats, comes, cooks, write, plays, and sings etc.
(3) V + D: is the third member which the simple past tenses. E.g. went, danced, ate, sang, cooked, played, etc.
Non-Finite Verbs
Non-finite verbs are type that is used in a sentence but it has its peculiarities. It is known as the verb that does not change according to number, person tenses. It is not limited by any factor. It serves as aiding or helping verb. Member of infinitive verb are three:
- V + ing
- To + V
- V + en
- Verb + ing: This is a continuous tense or progressive tense e.g. going, cooking, dancing,
Example
i. I am going to church
ii. She is dancing to the music
iii. Mummy is cooking rice
2. To + verb: this is an infinity verb. E.g. To sing, to write, to cook, to play, to eat.
3. Verb + en: This is a participle form of non – finite verb. E.g. Taken, Eating, Written, cooking.
Example
(i) He has written the letter
(ii) The patient has taken the drug.
(iii) She has eaten her food.
Non – finite verbs cannot stand on its’ own. That is why there is need for a helping verb like, an, is, are etc.
Regular and irregular verb
1. Regular verb
Regular verbs are those verbs that change their form to past tense and past participle with the addition of surfix ‘ed’ or ‘d’ .
Example
| VERB | PAST TENSE | PAST PARTICIPLE |
| Clean | cleaned | Cleaned |
| Say | said | Said |
| Cry | Cried | Cried |
| Shy | Shied | Shied |
| Dance | Danced | Danced |
| Laugh | Laughed | Laughed |
| Play | Played | Played |
| Work | Worked | Worked |
| Hang | Hanged | Hanged |
| Kill | Killed | Killed |
| Cook | Cooked | Cooked |
| Sow | Sowed | Sowed |
| Sew | Sewed | Sewed/sewn |
| Hew | Hewed | Hewed/hewn |
| Mow | Mowed | Mowed/mown |
| Shave | Shaved | Shaved/shaved |
| Pay | Paid | Paid |
| Try | Tried | Tried |
| Fry | Fried | Fried |
| Hear | Heard | Heard |
| Show | showed | Showed/shown |
| Strew | strewed | Strewed/strewn |
| Saw | sawed | Sawed/sawn |
Eight verbs in the above are kind of different because they have alternative past participle forms but it does not mean that they are not regular verbs.
Irregular Verb
Irregular verb are said to be the verbs which their verb form changes when used in the past tense. this means that, irregular verb change their form when used in the past tense and past participle respectively. They change in the following ways:
1. Change in the Vowel
Example
| Verb | Past Tense | Past participle |
| Run | ran | run |
| Sit | sat | sit |
| Ring | rang | rung |
2. Change in the consonant
| Verb | Past Tense | Past participle |
| Make | made | Made |
| Build | Built | Built |
| Have | Had | Had |
3. Changing the word altogether
| Verb | Past Tense | Past participle |
| Go | Went | Gone |
| Buy | Bought | Bought |
| Seek | Sought | Sought |
4. Verbs ending in t or d, no change at all
| Verb | Past Tense | Past participle |
| Put | Put | Put |
| Cut | Cut | Cut |
| Cost | Cost | Cost |
5. Other examples of Irregular verbs are:
| Verb | Past Tense | Past Participle |
| Break | Broke | Broken |
| Freeze | Froze | Frozen |
| Bleed | Bled | Bled |
| Fed | Felt | Felt |
| Eat | Ate | Eaten |
| Dwell | Dwelt | Dwelt |
Transitive and interactive verbs
Transitive verbs
Transitive verbs are specialized verb in the sense that they go with object. This means that, transitive verbd are the object. These verbs cannot be written without an object or subject beside it. E.g. lick, write, kill, dream, wash, etc, this is so because these verbs go with noun and as such they pass their actions to these nouns.
Example
i. The boy want to write a letter to his mother
ii. She will dust the library tomorrow
iii. She puts some money in her bag everyday
Intransitive Verbs
These are verb that need no direct object to be able to make meaning in sentence. This means that, intransitive verb will not need noun in them for a sentence with intransitive to the meaning. Intransitive verb do not take object or noun. Examples are: rise, laugh, cry, die, travel, sleep, eat, etc. these verbs mention can stand in a sentence without object or noun and convey the message it intended to convey.
Example
The baby is smiling
The birds are flying
The goat is died
The president is talking
I am laughing
Exercise
a. complete each of the following sentences with the proper form of the verb in brackets
- We have the work (do)
- Peter is to see me (come)
- The farmer has planting the yams (finish)
- I have not you since last year (see)
- She to see her mother (go)
- The pastor has to the congregation (preach)
- The president has the nation. (Address)
b. Say the following sentence is a transitive and intransitive according to the function performed by the verb in the sentence.
- Bolt runs very well
- Goats eat grasses
- Ducks drinks water
- John walks fast
- Timothy has cut down a tree
- The old woman is selling locust beans
- Paul plays football every evening
- Kate bought some chocolate
- Debby, please, cook enough food for the families
- He lived and died as a philanthropist
(b) Name the objects in the sentences that are transitive above.
(c) Give three examples of the three members of finite verb i.e V + O, V + S, V+ D and use it in sentences.
(d) With three examples use the three member of non-finite verbs in sentences + ing, To + verb, verb + en
