The Parts of Speech

1. The Parts of Speech Warriner, John E., Mary E. Whitten and Francis Griffith. Warriner’s English Grammar and Composition Third Course. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977. Print.

2. The Verb

3. Definition A verb is a word that expresses action or otherwise helps to make a statement.

4. A noun or a pronoun, no matter how many modifiers it may have, cannot make a sentence. • The noun or pronoun must act in some way, or something must be said about it. • The part of speech that performs this function is the verb.

5. Some examples… • The president of our club (NO verb) • The president of our club began the meeting. • The rainy season (NO verb) • The rainy season lasts from August through October.

6. 2 Kinds of Verbs • Action Verbs • Linking Verbs

7. Action Verbs • Words such as do, come, go and write are action verbs because they describe an action…something you can do. • Sometimes action verbs express an action that cannot be seen: believe, remember, know, think and understand.

8. What are the action verbs? • The festival judges selected Robert Hayden. • Architects like I. M. Pei sometimes charge high fees for their designs. • The army retreated to a stronger position. • The club finally voted funds for the picnic.

9. Even good friends sometimes disagree. • At the last moment, Miguel remembered his friend’s warning. • The rain lasted all afternoon.

10. Lisa practices in the afternoon for an hour. • On the opening night of the class play, Carlos got a standing ovation. • During vacation, time passes rapidly.

11. Linking Verbs • Some verbs help to make a statement, not by expressing an action but by serving as a link between two words. • These verbs are called linking verbs or state-of-being verbs.

12. The most commonly used linking verbs are forms of the verb be. You should become familiar with the verbs in the following list: • be • being • am • is

13. are • was • were • shall be • will be • has been • had been

14. shall have been • will have been • should be • would be • can be • could be

15. should have been • would have been • could have been

16. Any verb ending is be or been is a form of the verb to be.

17. Other frequently used linking verbs… • appear • become • feel • grow • look • remain • seem • smell • sound • stay • taste • turn

18. Find the linking verbs… • The sum of two and four is six. • Sue could have been a carpenter. • That roast beef smells good. • The light remained red.

19. Some linking verbs could also be used as action verbs. • The movie star appeared nervous. (linking verb) • The movie star appeared in a play. (action verb)

20. The soup tasted good. (linking verb) • The cook tasted the soup. (action verb)

21. Let’s make some sentences with linking verbs. • the lukewarm coffee (insert the linking verb was) • Billie Holiday, a singer of the blues (had been) • the frightened animal (looks

22. the restless audience (grew) • that bitter medicine (tastes) • Arthur Ashe, a tennis player (is) • the calm lake (remained) • their odd behavior (seems) • one daughter, a famous pianist (may become) • that expensive watch (looks)

23. Verb Phrases • Parts of the verb be may serve another function besides that of linking verb. • They may be used as helping verbs inverb phrases. • A phrase is a group of related words.

24. A verb phrase consists of a main verb preceded by one or more helping verbs. • These helping verbs work together with main verbs as a unit. • Check out the helping verbs in the following examples of verb phrases:

25. is leaving • had seemed • shall be going • may become • should move • could jump • might have remained • must have thought • does sing

26. Sometimes the parts of a verb phrase are interrupted by other parts of speech. • She had always been thinking of her future. • Her book may not have been stolen after all. • They should certainly be arriving any minute.

27. Parts of verb phrases are often separated in questions. • Did you see Bill Cosby’s film? • Can her sister help us? • Has the girl next door been collecting the CDs of Taylor Swift?

28. Find the verbs and verb phrases… • Mr. Jensen always sweeps the floor first. • Then he washes the whiteboards. • He works slowly but steadily • Thieves had broken into the office.

29. They did not find anything of value. • The intruders were probably looking for cash. • The weather report had confidently predicted rain. • All morning the barometer was dropping rapidly.

30. The storm was slowly moving in. • Although the food tasted good, it was not very good for you. • Your dog will become fat if you feed it too much. • Dogs will usually eat everything you give them. • Cats will stop when they have had enough.

31. You should have told us where you were going. • After the team has had more practice, they will surely play better. • Because we had always lived in the South, we had never seen snow. • We liked the snow, but we hated the cold.