If we are asked what verb is, we readily answer that it is a word which denotes action. Though it is not a correct definition, we may go head what a verbal is. And then comes what a verb phrase or verb group. All the questions I put will be answered step by step. Now at first we may start with verb.
What is the definition of verb? Most of us answer that a verb is a word which denotes an action. Is this all? Is the definition correct? No, this is not completely correct. This is partially correct. I am going to prove my point. Let us see….for example
Jony reads a story.
Here the word “read” is a verb as it denotes an action. Well, now when I give you a sentence like
He is a student.
Here the word “is” a verb but it does not denote an action rather it expresses “being”. So if we define verb correctly we must say that
Verb denotes an action, state of being and remaining.
The Examples are:
Jony is a player.
Rehan plays football well.
Nancy stays in a hotel.
All the underlined words are verb as “is” and “stays” expresses state of being and remaining respectively and “plays” denotes an action . For this, all the three words cited above are verb.
So the definition of verb is – a word that denotes action, or state of being, or having is called verb.
When a group of words works as a verb is called verbal or verb group or verb phrase. Example :-He is a boy. (Here ‘is’ is a verb.) He is going to school. Here ‘is going’ is verbal / verb group / verb phrase as it is a group of verbs consisting of ‘is’ and ‘going’. Let’s go to the classification of the verb.
CLASSIFICATION OF VERB:
Verbs can be classified into two categories. They are :
- Helping verb/ Auxiliary verb
- Main verb
Now let us discuss the categories.
Helping verb/ Auxiliary verb:
The Helping verb is classified into three categories. They are
- Primary Auxiliary
- Modal Auxiliary
- Do verb
Primary Auxiliary verbs are :-
Be verbs (am/is/are/was/were)
Have verbs (Have/Has/Had)
Modal Auxiliary: Modal auxiliary verbs are : can, could, shall, should, will, would, may, might, need, ought to, must.
Do verb: Do verbs are also called Dummy verb. They are used in various forms. They are – do, does, did.
These auxiliary verbs are called operator because they can change assertive sentences into interrogative sentence with the change of their position, and they can change an affirmative sentence into negative sentence with taking “not”.
Example :
He is a cricketer. (Assertive)
Is he a cricketer ? (Interrogative sentence)
And
He is a singer.(Affirmative)
He is not a singer.(Negative)
Hope you understand. In this connection I must say that all auxiliary verbs play important roles in a sentence.
All these auxiliary verbs do not have complete conjugation forms. Examples are :
Is (present) –was (past) — no past participle
Shall (present) — should (past)–no past participle
Main verb: Examples of main verbs are : go, read, jump, write, see, come, etc.
On the basis of structure Main verbs are classified into two categories. They are 1. Finite Verbs, and 2. Non-finite Verbs.
Finite Verbs :- The verbs which change their forms with the change of Person and Number of the Subject, and the change of Tense and express complete sense are called Finite Verbs.
Example : Going to Delhi, I saw the Taj….. (Here if we change the Tense of the verb into Present, it will be….Going to Delhi I see the Taj. And with the change of Person of the Subject “I” into Third person ” He ” the verb ” See ” will be changed into ” Sees “..like Going to Delhi he sees the Taj.. So ” Saw ” is the finite verb ..where “going ” is Non-finite verb.
Non-finite verb :- The verbs which are not affected with the changes of Person & Number of the Subject and the Tense and cannot express complete sense are called Non-finite verb. Example : Going to market I buy a pen. And ” Going “is a Non-finite verb.
But Verbs are also categorised into two. They are 1. Transitive Verb and 2. Intransitive Verb.
Transitive Verb : Verbs which take object in a sentence are called Transitive Verbs. example : She gives me a pen.They watched the game. The words in bold ” gives ” and ” watched ” are Transitive Verbs as they take object ” me , a pen’ and ” the game ” respectectively.
Intransitive Verbs : Verbs having no object are called Intransitive Verbs. Example : She dreams. They play. Here the verbs ” dreams ” and ” plays ” are Intransitive Verbs as they have no object in these sentences. For the convenience of understanding an image of classifications of verb is given
Hope the article helps you to be ready for the further steps to the path of success.
