Languages & Linguistics
Main Verbs
Main verbs are the central component of a sentence, expressing the action or state of being of the subject. They convey the main meaning of the sentence and can stand alone in a sentence. In English, main verbs can be modified by auxiliary verbs to indicate tense, aspect, mood, and voice.
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eBook - ePubNavigating English Grammar
A Guide to Analyzing Real Language
- Anne Lobeck, Kristin Denham(Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Wiley-Blackwell(Publisher)
forms of English Main Verbs. We’ll see that there is quite a bit of variation among these forms in current varieties of American English, and that the forms of many English Main Verbs have changed quite a bit over time (and continue to do so).Main VerbsWe can divide the (larger) category Verbs up in different ways. We can distinguish among auxiliary , or helping verbs, including have and be ; the class of modals , such as may , might , can , could , or will ; and the class of Main Verbs , including words such as eat , sleep , become , amuse , drive , or feel . Main Verbs have lexical meanings, and like the other lexical categories we’ve discussed so far, Noun and Adjective, the category Main Verb is an open class; we can add new members to it, and we do so all the time. We blog , text , and IM each other, we downsize and we outsource .Main Verbs can be pretty easy to spot; every clause must have a main verb, so we know, when there’s only one verb in a clause, that it must be a main verb!The zebra chased main verb a lion. Murray became main verb a surgeon. Shakespeare is main verb a famous author. We can define main verbs, then, as the required verbal element in a verb string. Another way to put this is to say that the main verb is the head of the verb phrase, or VP. That means that any time you have a verb phrase, you’ll have (at least) a main verb. (We have to modify this notion a bit later.) Some simple VPs are given below, each headed by a main verb.In these tree diagrams, chased , became , and is are all Main Verbs. Interestingly, is , a form of the verb be , is a main verb, but it’s functional rather than lexical. The verb be is an exception to the claim we made above that Main Verbs are a lexical category. We will discuss be more as we progress through this and the following chapters.Main Verb MorphologyIn this section we discuss the ways we build Main Verbs through derivational affixation, and how we create new Main Verbs using different word formation rules. We spend quite a bit of time discussing the inflectional morphology of Main Verbs because it is inflectional morphology that gives us the five different forms of the verb.
eBook - PDF- Martin J. Endley(Author)
- 2007(Publication Date)
- Information Age Publishing(Publisher)
Linguistic Perspectives on English Grammar, pages 39–75 Copyright © 2010 by Information Age Publishing All rights of reproduction in any form reserved. 39 2 Verbs and Verb Phrases in Linguistic Perspective In this chapter, I turn to the other major syntactic category in English, the verb. The plan for this chapter is as follows. I begin by trying to establish more precisely what a verb is and what purposes verbs serve when viewed in linguistic perspective. Here, I discuss the important idea that verbs play a central role in describing particular “situations.” After that, I discuss the very important closed class of so-called primary verbs, which have a very high frequency in modern English and can appear either as Main Verbs or as auxiliaries. As we will see, it makes sense to treat these as a distinct group on the basis of their morphosyntactic properties. Much of the remainder of the chapter is devoted to a detailed discussion of the especially interesting group of “multi-word” verbs. These are a striking feature of modern Eng- lish and are widely recognized as presenting a particular challenge to non- native English speakers. In consequence, the nature of these challenges, in- volving both problems of form and problems of meaning, will be discussed at some length. 40 Linguistic Perspectives on English Grammar What Are Verbs? A traditional answer to this question would say that verbs are words that de- scribe or identify actions and events. There is much to be said for this view. Verbs often do this, providing descriptions of perceptually accessible events that often involve physical motion or action and, frequently, rapid change. Yet, as with nouns, it does not take long to see that many verbs do not fit this definition and that it really only works with what are called dynamic verbs such as walk, run, jump, and so on. This way of thinking about verbs is much less effective for state or psych verbs such as know, want, hope, and numerous others.
eBook - ePub- (Author)
- 2015(Publication Date)
- For Dummies(Publisher)
subject) to tell you who performs the action of the verb.Verbs are at the core of a sentence, and you should start with the verb when you want to do anything to your sentence — including correct it. So, in this chapter we look at different types of verbs, how to find them and how they fit together with subjects.Verifying Verbs
Verbs come in various shapes and sizes — action and linking, auxiliary and main, regular and irregular, singular and plural. They can be present, past and future. The tense of a verb tells you when the action is happening. Making sure that you have the right verb in the right place is the key to understanding sentences. So in this section, we’re going to reacquaint you with the different types of verbs, show how they often hang out together in groups, and give you the lowdown on how to locate the verb in a sentence.Happening with action verbs
Action verbs are the real ‘doing words’. Something happens in a sentence with an action verb:Chris buys and then devours three pasties as a snack. (Buys and devours are action verbs.)Ed had answered the question even before it was asked. (Had answered and was asked are action verbs.)Don’t let the name action fool you. Some action verbs aren’t particularly energetic: think, sit, stay, have, sleep, dream and so on. Besides describing the perfect day off, these words are also action verbs.Being with linking verbs
Not all verbs are as busy as action verbs. Linking verbs are also called being verbs because they express states of being — what is, will be or was. (Not surprisingly, the verb used to express the state of being is often the verb to be.) You can think of a linking verb as an equals sign in the middle of your sentence. In the same way that an equals sign tells you that the parts on either side of it are the same value, the word is
eBook - PDF- (Author)
- 2015(Publication Date)
- For Dummies(Publisher)
Verbs are at the core of a sentence, and you should start with the verb when you want to do anything to your sentence — including correct it. So, in this chapter we look at different types of verbs, how to find them and how they fit together with subjects. Verifying Verbs Verbs come in various shapes and sizes — action and linking, auxiliary and main, regular and irregular, singular and plural. They can be present, past and future. The tense of a verb tells you when the action is happening. Making sure that you have the right verb in the right place is the key to understanding sentences. So in this section, we’re going to reacquaint you with the different types of verbs, show how they often hang out together in groups, and give you the lowdown on how to locate the verb in a sentence. 22 Part I: Understanding Verbs and Sentences Happening with action verbs Action verbs are the real ‘doing words’. Something happens in a sentence with an action verb: Chris buys and then devours three pasties as a snack. (Buys and devours are action verbs.) Ed had answered the question even before it was asked. (Had answered and was asked are action verbs.) Don’t let the name action fool you. Some action verbs aren’t particularly energetic: think, sit, stay, have, sleep, dream and so on. Besides describing the perfect day off, these words are also action verbs. Being with linking verbs Not all verbs are as busy as action verbs. Linking verbs are also called being verbs because they express states of being — what is, will be or was. (Not surprisingly, the verb used to express the state of being is often the verb to be.) You can think of a linking verb as an equals sign in the middle of your sentence. In the same way that an equals sign tells you that the parts on either side of it are the same value, the word is links two ideas and says that those ideas are the same.
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