Identify Verbs in a Sentence
There are two types of verbs (Regular and Irregular) and 6
forms that verbs can take, but not all verb forms (verbals) act
as verbs in sentences.
Regular verbs:
All make the past tense by adding -ed: walked, hurried,
talked, worked, etc.
Irregular verbs:
All make the past tense in a variety of ways: ran, bought,
taught, drove, ate, etc.
| Simple |
S-form |
Past |
Present Participle |
Past Participle |
Infinitive |
| talk |
talks |
talked |
talking |
talked |
to talk |
| eat |
eats |
ate |
eating |
eaten |
to eat |
Present Participle:
The present participle can be used in 4 ways:
Noun--to name an action: (When a present participle
acts as a noun, it is called a "gerund.")
Swimming
is fun.
Adjective--to describe:
The
swimming children yelled.
Adverb/adverbial phrase--to describe:
Hurrying,
we approached the building.
Verb--must have a form of BE in front of it:
I am
swimming. (progressive tense)
Past Participle:
The past participle can be used in 3 ways:
Noun--to name something:
The
driven work extra hard to succeed.
Adjective--to describe:
The
broken window fell out.
Verb--must have a form of BE or HAVE in front
of it:
The window
was broken by the wind. (passive voice)
He
has broken the window. (perfect tense)
Infinitive:
The infinitive is "to + Verb": to eat, to study, to
sing, to worry, etc.
The infinitive is a verb form but is NEVER part
of the verb of the sentence.
Noun--to name an action:
I love
to eat.
Adjective--to describe:
Her need
to study is clear from her scores.
Adverb--to describe:
He is
happy to leave.
Remember:
- To be part of the verb, the present participle must
have a form of BE in front of it.
- To be part of the verb, the past participle must have a
form of BE or HAVE in front of it.
- The infinitive is never part of the verb.
Note: keeping the exceptions listed above under present
participle, past participle, and infinitives in mind, one can
predict that the following will be verbs in a sentence, either
alone or in combination with other verb forms.
- BE--is, am, are, was, were, been, being
- HAVE--have, has, had, having
- Modals--can, could, shall, should, will,
would, may, might, must
- Do--do, does, did, done, doing
- Action word, anything you can do
Examples:
I am doing my homework right now.
- am = a form of BE
- doing = an
action word
Hong has been working for 12 hours.
- has = a
form of HAVE
- been = a
form of BE
- working = an
action word
Teresa wrote her paper.
I could have danced all night.
- could = a
modal
- have = a
form of HAVE
- danced = an
action word
Did Pak finish the assignment?
- did = a form of DO
- finish = an action word
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