traditionally: verbs are doing words

1. what is a verb? traditionally: verbs are doing words updated: verbs are words that name ways of doing, sensing, sayingandbeing

2. kinds of verb full primary* auxiliary modal *may be main verb

3. kinds of verb The children played happily • fullverb = the lexical verb; • primary auxiliary verbs be, have, do; • modalauxiliary verbs express ability, possibility or obligation, e.g. can, might,must The children were enjoying themselves The children must hurry home

4. WARNING: be, have and do may also be used as the FULL verb The children were late; they had their dinner, then they did their teeth

5. full verb names ways of doing, sensing, sayingandbeing doing She opened the door sensing They saw the accident. sayingHe asked a question beingThe child was hungry e.g.

6. sensing some verbs of cognition e.g. believe, know, think, reaction e.g. like, love, hate, fear, admire perception e.g. hear, feel, see, notice, smell

7. saying some verbs of stating e.g. say, tell, talk, assert enquiring e.g. ask, question, commanding e.g. order, instruct

8. doing some verbs of doing acting e.g. throw, walk, cook happening e.g. fall, behaving e.g. smile, sleep, yawn

9. being some verbs of describing e.g. is, feel, seem possessing e.g. have, own, belong, identifying e.g. represent, mean,

10. full verb may be regular or irregular in form regular verbs have 4 different forms: • the base form (also called the infinitive) e.g. jump • the -s form - jumps • the -ing form - jumping • the -edform – jumped (past tense or past participle)

11. irregular verb forms irregular verbs have a different form for the past tense and the past participle:

12. primary auxiliaries be, have, do when used as auxiliaries, be, have or doare followed by a full verb, e.g. He isrunning fast. She hasforgotten her books. Please dosit down.

13. primary auxiliaries When used as full verbs be, have or dooccur alone, e.g. He is afast runner. She has her own books I do my homework regularly.

14. forms of be, have and do

15. modal auxiliaries central can, could; may, might; will, would; shall, should; must marginal need; dare; ought to central modals cannot be used as full verbs; marginal modals can.

16. modal auxiliaries

17. using modals modals can be used in combination with different sentence forms to express different degrees of politeness in getting people to do things

18. sentence forms and functions command imperative Open the door declarative I’ll open the door interrogative Shall I open the door? exhortative statement assertive question consultative

19. using modals When used with an interrogative form, the modals express politeness in getting people to do things, e.g. Could you help me (please)? less polite: You must help me (declarative form). least polite: Help me! (imperative form)

20. Ways of getting people to do things

21. using modals Q: When can the modals of obligation be used without giving offense? A: i) when giving advice, e.g. You should see a doctor about that fever. ii) when offering your services, e.g. You must have some tea.

22. using modals modals of possibility are also used to express how certain we when we assert some state of affairs. may/might/could express tentativeness e.g.She might be hungry. must expresses certainty e.gShe must be hungry.

23. auxiliaries and full verbs • whenever a negative is present in a sentence it is closely coupled with the auxiliary verb so that when the negative is contracted it becomes fused with the auxiliary, e.g. The boy couldnot work hard The boy couldn’twork hard He has been ill, hasn’the?

24. auxiliaries and full verbs • the auxiliary is portable: it moves to the front of the sentence in order to make a question, e.g. The boy could work hard Could the boy work hard? Couldn’t he work harder? • the main verb is not portable

25. the participle and the gerund a present participle and a gerund have the same form-ing. The –ing form functions in a sentence in a number of ways: • in the same way that a noun does, i.e. as subject of the verb e.g. Reading bores him. object of the verb, e.g. His hobby is swimming. after a preposition, e.g. He is good at running as a classifier in a noun phrase, e.g. a walking stick. It is often called gerund when functioning in these ways.

26. the infinitive to see: It’s nice to see you the negative infinitive, e.g. not to go: We decided not to go to the movies the bare infinitive (i.e. without ‘to’) e.g. go: What I did yesterday wasgoto the movies.

27. common errors with verbs • agreement of subject and verb, e.g. They was early  They were early  • leaving out the direct object of a transitive verb, e.g. This is to inform that.. This is to inform you that We enjoyed very much. We enjoyed it very much

28. useful references A Student’s Grammar… Greenbaum & Quirk pp.25-69 Rediscover Grammar by David Crystal London: Longman. (nd.) pp.52-65

29. just joking can, can’t; could, couldn’t A: My father …lift a pig with one hand. …your father do that? B: I’m not sure. Where do you get a pig with one hand?

30. re-order the words in brackets to complete the joke: A: Can I have a pair of crocodile shoes please? B: Sure. (size take crocodile what your does)

31. A: Waiter, can you get me some undercooked potatoes, some cold beans and a cold fried egg covered in fat? B: I’m sorry, sir but we couldn’t give you anything like that. A: Why not? (me gave what yesterday that’s you)