VERBS by Busungu Joseph

 VERBS

A verb is a word used to indicate an action or state of being of existence or possession.

A verb performs various functions as follows;

            i.         It tells what a person or thing does

ü The choir sings

ü A bird flies very fast

ü He runs to school

           ii.        It tells what is done to a person or thing

ü He was punished

ü The ruler was broken

ü I was told that you are a liar

         iii.      It tells about the state of being

ü He is a teacher

ü I am an ambassador

ü They are students

ü She was a poetess

          iv.       It tells about possession

ü I have two houses at Kataraguza

ü She has three children

ü Busungu owns a school

ü The dog belongs to Gideon

Verbs are categorized into main verbs and auxiliary verbs

Main verbs

Main verbs are divided into;

a)    Regular verbs: These verbs add d, ed or ied when changed into their simple past form. For example;

ü Clean    cleaned

ü Dance   danced

ü  Pick      picked

ü Wash    washed

ü Cook     cooked

ü Try        tried

ü Bake     baked, etc.

b)   Irregular verbs: These verbs do not add d, ed or ied when changed into their simple past form. They change the whole form or remain unchanged. For example;

ü Go         went

ü Take     took

ü Write    wrote

ü  Find     found

ü  Drive   drove

ü Run       ran

ü Make    made

ü Hit         hit

ü Cut        cut

ü Have     had

ü Drink    drank

ü See        saw, etc.

Auxiliary verbs

An auxiliary verb is a verb used to help the main verbs. Auxiliary verbs are also known as helping verbs. There are two types of auxiliary verbs namely;

a)    Primary auxiliary verbs

b)   Modal auxiliary verbs

 

 

 

 

Primary auxiliary verbs

These are verbs used to form negatives, interrogatives and tenses. there are three primary auxiliary verbs namely;

a.    BE

b.     HAVE

c.      DO

USES OF VERB ‘BE’

The verb ‘BE’, has eight forms (is, are, am, was, was, been, being, be)

                     i.   Used as a linking verb

ü He is a teacher

ü They are very humble

ü I am a winner

ü He was a musician

ü Students were very brilliant

             ii.       It is used to show negation

ü I am not a liar

ü She is not a troublesome boy

ü It wasn’t my intention to hurt her

ü We were not invited

           iii.      Used to express commands or advice

ü Be generous to the needy

ü Be polite to others

ü Be silent

ü Be smart

ü You are to keep quite

ü You are to respect elders

         iv.         Used to form passive voice

ü I was congratulated by my father

ü The car is driven by him

ü My finger was hurt

ü I am taught by my brother

              v.       Used to make questions and tag questions

ü Is he playing piano?

ü Were they provoking to the guests?

ü Am I a lazy boy?

ü Aren’t we calling them?

ü He is a brave student, isn’t he? (tag question)

ü They were very safe, weren’t they? (tag question)

            vi.      Used to avoid repetition

ü He is not a teacher as I am.

ü Is he coming now? Yes, he is.

ü You said that he was not a champion but he was.

          vii.    Be + to infinitive to indicate a future plan

ü I am to marry her next year

ü He is to pass with flying colours

ü They are to bring respect in our family

      viii.  Was/were + perfect infinitive to indicate unfulfilled arrangements

ü He was to have finished the assignment last week

ü They were to have won the last match

ü It was to have repaired yesterday

ü We were to have prepared ourselves for the journey since last Sunday

ix.      Used to mark tenses

ü He is talking to the former headmaster (present progressive)

ü I am writing a book (present progressive)

ü We were chasing a thief (past progressive)

ü They were laughing at the children (past progressive)

 

 

USES OF VERB ‘HAVE’

It has three forms namely; have, has and had.

               i.         Used to mark perfective aspect of tense

ü He has learnt the lesson (present perfect)

ü They have been learning a lesson (present perfect progressive)

ü She had cheated her (past perfect)

ü She had written a note (past perfect)

ü She had been writing a note (past perfect progressive)

              ii.        Used as a full verb to possess, experience, take and receive.

ü I have two daughters (possess)

ü She had a typhoid (experience)

ü We have our breakfast at 8.10am (take)

ü He has four guests from Njombe (receive)

           iii.            Used to form negations

ü She has not come early

ü They have not tried to compete

ü We hadn’t had any evidence

ü It hasn’t rained yet

            iv.      Used to form questions and tag questions

ü Have you communicated with your father? (Question)

ü Has he decided what to do? (Question)

ü Busungu has written three books, hasn’t he? (Question tag)

ü We haven’t seen the criminals, have we? (Tag question)

              v.       Used to avoid repetition

ü Have they informed the members? Yes, they have.

ü Has she shifted to Maswa? Yes, she has.

ü He had a serious case than I had.

            vi.   Have + to infinitive to express command

ü You have to finish your work

ü He has to visit his aunt

ü You have to tell the truth

ü You have to answer straight

       vii.    Used to form passive voice

ü He has been arrested by the police

ü We have been invited to the party

      viii.  Have + to infinitive to express obligation

ü He has to take care of his family

ü Children have to respect their parents

ü We have to help the special needs

ü He has to earn money for his family

USES OF VERB ‘DO’

It has three forms namely; do, does and did.

            i.         It is used as a full verb to perform an action

ü He did the best

ü She does her homework every morning

ü They do the cleanliness in a perfect manner

          ii.       It is used to for request or invitation

ü Do visit us today

ü Do cooperate with us

ü Do greet my parents

        iii.         Used to show emphasis

ü You do look smart

ü They do come early

ü He did clean well

ü She did come yesterday

            iv.   It is used to avoid repetition

ü Do you love her? Yes, I do.

ü Mosses does not sing well as Lightness does.

ü Does she study at Mwasayi? Yes, she does.

 

           v.         It is used to form negation

ü We do not tolerate laziness

ü He doesn’t escape from the camp

ü He didn’t blame anyone

            vi.      It is used to form question tags in statements without auxiliary verbs

ü He attended the meeting, didn’t he?

ü He comes early, doesn’t he?

ü I don’t run in the smart area, do I?

          vii.    It is used to form questions

ü Does it taste bitter?

ü Do you agree our suggestion?

ü Did he fall down?

MODAL AUXILIARY VERBS

These are verbs used to express various moods. Examples of modal auxiliary verbs include;

ü Can

ü Could

ü Will

ü Would

ü Shall

ü Should

ü Must

ü May

ü Might

ü Used to

ü Dare

ü Need to

 

 

USES OF ‘CAN’

   i.   To show ability

ü I can drive a car

ü He can play piano

ü We can lift a stone

ü She can carry a block

ii.      To show possibility

ü It can rain today

ü Simba sports club can win the trophy this season

ü He can be inside the house now

iii.      To ask for a permission

ü Can I use your table?

ü Can I go now?

ü Can he contact you?

iv.      To express or grant permission

ü You can go now

ü You can drink with me

  v.      To express capacity

ü The car can host four people

ü The tank can contain 1000 litres

ü The airplane can host 200 people

USES OF ‘MAY’

      i.   To show possibility

ü It may rain today

ü He may come tonight

ü We may escape the camp

      ii.   To ask for a permission

ü May I get in?

ü May you help me?

ü May I use you compass?

   iii.   To express or grant permission

ü You may get in

ü You may use my compass

  iv.            To express wishes

ü May God bless you

USES OF ‘USED TO’

      i.            To show past discontinued habit

ü I used to drink coffee

ü I used to wake up early when I was a student

ü They used to learn English and French at school

ü They used to sing nice songs

ü He used to doze in the class when he was in class one

USES OF ‘MUST’

      i.            Used to show obligation or duty

ü Children must greet their parents

ü Parents must take care of their children

ü Students must respect their teachers

   ii.            To express possibility or expectations

ü You must be a good singer

ü You must be an intelligent boy

iii.            To express necessity

ü We must work hard in order to succeed in our lives

ü We must leave now

ü You must finish this task

ü He must travel tomorrow

USES OF ‘WILL’

      i.            To show willingness

ü I will buy you a phone

ü I will escort you to the market

ü I will pay bills for you

   ii.            To express a request

ü Will you come today?

ü Will you attend the party?

ü Will you visit us this holiday?

USES OF ‘SHOULD’

      i.            To express duty or obligation

ü We should study hard

ü We should help each other

USES OF ‘SHALL’

      i.            To express future actions

ü I shall visit you next year

ü We shall conduct a seminar this weekend

   ii.            To express suggestion

ü Shall we pray

ü Shall we go to see our grandfather tomorrow

USES OF ‘OUGHT TO’

      i.            To show obligation, duty or advice

ü You ought to do physical exercises

ü You ought to be smart

ü We ought to help the poor

CHARACTERISTICS OF MODAL AUXILIARY VERBS

         i.         They cannot be used as the main verb of the sentence. They are only used with the main verb

ü She can drive a car

 (Not: she can a car X)

ü We must leave now

(Not: we must now X)

ü She will come today

(Not: she will today X)

ü He used to cry once a week

(Not: he used to once a week X)

ü It may rain now

(Not: it may now X)

       ii.       They have one form

They do not change their forms regardless of the subject they take like primary auxiliaries.

ü They can help him

ü He can teach

ü You may come

ü She may come

ü He must be strong

ü We must be powerful

     iii.      They don’t have infinitive or participle forms

You cannot say

ü To can or caned X

ü To shall or shalled X

ü To must or musted X

ü To may or mayed X

However, to will, to need and to dare can be used as the main verbs in some circumstances and they carry different meanings. For example,

ü He was ready to will his house to his wife

ü We don’t need to fear the Satan

ü He dared to insult his parents

INFINITIVES, GERUNDS AND PARTICIPLE

Verbs can further be classified as finite and non-finite verbs. Finite verbs are those verbs showing time and they have limited number and person of the subject. Finite verbs must agree with the subject. For example,

·       Aneth teaches literature

·       They teach literature

·       She has taught literature

·       We have taught literature

In the above examples, the verb “teach” has changed to various forms (teach, teaches, taught) depending on the nature of the subject. Hence, it is a finite verb. All lexical verbs (main verbs) including verb “Be” and its forms are finite verbs.

On the other hand, non-finite verbs are those verbs which do not show time. A non-finite verb does not agree with the subject since it is not limited by number, person or tense of the subject. For example,

·       She wants to play

·       They want to play

·       I wanted to play

In the above examples, the verb ‘want’ is a finite verb since it has changed to several forms depending on the nature of subject and time. while the verb ‘play’ is a non-finite verb since it has remained unchanged regardless of the changes in subjects and tense of the sentence. So, there are verbs that can be either finite or non-finite. The word ‘play’ becomes non-finite when it is preceded by the word ‘to’ to make it ‘to infinitive’.

There are three types of non-finite verbs in English namely;

a)    Infinitive: Infinitive can be categorized into bare infinitive verbs and to infinitive verbs. Bare infinitive is the original form of the verb without any changes in the base of the word. Foer example,

ü Let him go

ü Let her play football

ü She made me understand the meaning of love

The verbs ‘go’, ‘play’ and ‘understand’ are bare infinitives since they do not indicate any tense.

To infinitive verbs are formed by adding the word ‘to’ before the root. For example,

ü I want to study in France

ü I told her to speak English

ü I like to write books

Thus, the words ‘to study’, ‘to speak’ and ‘to write’ are to infinitives.

USES OF TO INFINITIVES

1)   They are used as subjects of the verb

ü To come early is very difficult

ü To speak English needs courage

ü To forgive a person brings peace

2)   They are used as objects of the verb

ü I like to study English

ü We want to visit our classmates

ü I wish to become a writer

3)   They are used as the complement of the subject

ü Our greatest weapon is to study hard

ü His intention was to help the poor

ü My priority is to teach English

ü Dady’s hobby is to play football

b)   Gerund: This is a verbal noun formed by adding ‘-ing’ to the root of the verb. It is a verb form which functions as a noun. A gerund usually refers in a general way to the activity represented by a verb it is derived from. For example,

ü I enjoy swimming

ü Seeing is believing

ü I don’t like gossiping

A gerund can be used as a subject, object or complement of the sentence. For example,

ü Singing brings peace of mind

      S

ü I like dancing

              O

ü Seeing is believing

      S            Cs

c)    Participle: Present participle has the same form as the gerund but they differ in uses. Present participle is a verbal adjective while gerund is a verbal noun. Present participle qualifies or gives the quality of the pronoun or noun as adjective. In short, present participles are used as adjectives while gerunds are used as nouns. For example,

·       I helped a crying girl (adjective)

·       Crying is not good (gerund)

·       I read an interesting story (adjective)

·       Baking machine are very expensive (adjectives)

·       Baking is my favorite hobby (gerund)

NB: Gerunds and to infinitives can be replaced each other without changing the meaning. For example,

Ø I like to sing------------ I like singing

Ø To swim needs practice------- swimming needs practice

Ø Playing creates physical fitness----- to play creates physical fitness