Morphology

English verbs
Riga Teacher Training and Educational
Management Academy
1SV
Anna Lubimova
Riga
29.04.2017
Morphology
The study of word formation and
word structure. Its task is to
characterize the kinds of things
that speekers need to know about
the structure of the words of the
language in order to be able to
use them to produce and to
understand speech.
Verb
Belongs to open word classes.
Is a part of speech that denotes a
process
Performs the central role in
expression of the predictive functions
of the sentence
Process quite a lot of grammatical
categories
Verb
Describe different processes:
processes of doing, or material processes,
e.g. Mary is writing a letter;
processes of happening,
e.g. The old man is dying;
verbal, e.g. She told me the truth;
mental, or evaluative
e.g. The student did not know the answer; She did not feel the
pain; He hates spiders.
relational, e.g. John is clever; Mary is at home; John has a
new car;
existential, e.g. There is a dog under the table.
Identifying verbs.
It is not always possible to identify a verb by its form. However, some
word-endings (suffixes) can show that the word is probably a verb.
Verbs often also have these typical prefixes.

suffix examples prefix examples

appreciate,
-ate celebrate, adapt, admit,
ad-
congratulate advance
frighten, soften,
-en
widen deceive, deform,
de-
identify, specify, describe
-ify
qualify

realise, recognise, impose, increase,

-ise/-ize* im-/in-
modernize inform

suffix examples perform,

appreciate, per- persuade,
-ate celebrate, perceive
congratulate
frighten, soften, recall, receive,
-en re-
widen reproduce
Identyfying verbs
Verbs related to Verbs related to
nouns: adjectives:
I needed to calm my
Could you hand me
nerves before the
the dictionary? interview.
We should position The government hopes to
the noticeboard slow the growth in road
where everyone can traffic over the next five
years.
see it.
As they get older, most
Ill email Sally to see
peoples hair starts to
if she is free on thin.
Thursday.
 Types of verbs
Type Definition Example
Main verbs Main verbs have meanings related to actions, events and Went,snow, exist
states. Most verbs in English are main verbs
Linking verbs Some main verbs are called linking verbs. These verbs Appear, feel,
are not followed by objects. Instead, they are followed look,seem,sound,
by phrases which give extra information about the be, get,remain
subject.
Auxiliary verbs There are three auxiliary verbs in English: be, do and Does she live
have. They help main verbs locally?
Modal verbs Modal verbs have meanings connected with degrees of He can hear
certainty and necessity the music from
his room
sometimes.
State, event and We can use the simple or continuous form of action I cleaned the room
action verbs verbs. as quickly as
possible.
We can use the simple or continuous form of event verbs Four people died
in the crash.
Its raining again.
We usually use the simple form rather than the I dont know the
continuous form of state verbs name of the street.
Who owns this
house?
Main verbs
Main verbs have three basic forms: the base form, the past
form and the -ed form (sometimes called the -ed
participle):
Main verbs can be regular or irregular.
Some verbs are completely irregular. All 3 forms are different.

Do did done
Am/is/are was/were been
Go went gone
Have had had

base form past simple -ed form

open opened opened
love loved loved
watch watched watched
Auxiliary verbs (Helping verbs)

as an auxiliary
as a main verb
verb
Shes a Hes thinking of
be professional moving to New
photographer. Zealand.
I need to do some Do you like Thai
do
work this evening. food, Jim?
The children have We havent been
have lunch at twelve to the cinema for
oclock. ages.
Modal verbs

The main modal verbs are:

can may must will should
could might shall would

Well be there around 7.30. (speaker is quite

certain)
A new window could cost around 500. (speaker
is less certain)
I must ring the tax office. (speaker considers this
very necessary)
Semi-modal verbs have some meanings related
to the main modal verbs. The semi-modal verbs
are dare, need, ought to, used to
Compound verbs

Compound verbs are two words which combine to make

one meaning. The first word is usually a noun, an
adjective or a preposition, and the second word is a verb.
The words are sometimes written as one word and
sometimes joined by hyphens. A good learners dictionary
will tell you how the compound is normally written:
hand-wash (noun + verb)
highlight (adjective + verb)
overcome (preposition + verb)
Examples:
Sorry, I was daydreaming. What did you say?
Do you have to hand-wash this sweater or can it go in
the washing machine?
The airline upgraded me to business class.
Finite and non-finite verbs
Finite verbs
Finite verb forms show tense,
person and number
Examples:
She was waiting in the
room before he came in.
Does your brother know
my brother?
The night before he had to
leave, they sat on the small
sofa in the living-room and
looked at old family
photos.
Arent you a bit late?
Non-finite verbs
Non-finite verb forms do not show
tense, person or number. Typically
they are:
infinitive forms with and without
to (e.g. to go, go),
-ing forms (e.g going)
and -ed forms (e.g. watched,
gone):
Examples
She tiptoed round the house so as
not to wake anyone.
You need to paint the whole
cupboard, starting from the
bottom.
Verb phrases
A verb phrase consists of a main verb alone, or a main verb plus any modal
and/or auxiliary verbs. The main verb always comes last in the verb phrase:
An apartment [MO]would [AUX]have [MV]cost less than a hotel for four of
us.
Simple verb phrases
A simple verb phrase consists of a main verb. The verb in a simple verb
phrase shows the type of clause (e.g. declarative, imperative):
E.g.Your camera takes fantastic pictures. (present simple, declarative clause)
Complex verb phrases
A complex verb phrase may include one modal verb and one or more
auxiliary verbs before the main verb. A modal verb always comes before
any auxiliary verbs:
E.g. House prices [MO]could [MV]fall during the next six months. (modal
verb + main verb)
Meaning of auxiliary verbs in verb phrases
Auxiliary verbs give different types of meanings to a
verb phrase.
auxiliary verb (+ form
meaning example
of main verb)
I was thinking about
continuous be + -ing form
you all day.
The girls have all gone
perfect have + -ed form
out together.
Vals car was stolen
passive be + -ed form
from outside her house.
do + subject + base Do they sell newspapers
interrogative
form in your local shop?

negative do + not + base form It didnt last very long.

It does annoy me when

do (stressed) + base
emphatic they make so much
form
noise.
Order of verbs in verb phrases
1 2 3 4 5
perfect continuous
subject modal verb passive be main verb
have be
must be must be must be must be
followed followed followed followed
by base by -ed by -ing by -ed
form form form form
Prices rose.
understand
She will
.
The
had arrived.
builders
The show is starting.
Four
were arrested.
people
Seats cannot be reserved.
You could have been killed!
The first verb in a verb phrase
Thefirst verb in a complex verb phrase indicates the
time somebody did something and matches the person
and number of the subject, except when it is a modal
verb.
time person number

He has lost his

present third singular
keys.

We were taken to
past first plural
a big room.

I was hoping to
see Professor past first singular
Jones.
Multi-word verbs
Multi-word verbs are verbs which consist of a verb and
one or two particles or prepositions There are three
types of multi-word verbs: phrasal verbs, prepositional
verbs and phrasal-prepositional verbs.
Phrasal verbs
Phrasal verbs have two parts: a main verb and an adverb
particle.
The most common adverb particles used to form phrasal
verbs are around, at, away, down, in, off, on, out, over,
round, up:
bring in go around look up put away take off
Phrasal verbs often have meanings which we cannot
easily guess from their individual parts. (The meanings
are in brackets.)
The book first came out in 1997. (was published)
Multi-word verbs
Prepositional verbs
Prepositional verbs have two parts: a verb and a preposition which
cannot be separated from each other:
Somebody broke into his car and stole his radio.
I dont like this CD. I dont want to listen to it any more.
Phrasal-prepositional verbs
Phrasal-prepositional verbs have three parts: a verb, a particle and
a preposition. The particle and the preposition cannot be separated.
Many of these verbs are often used in informal contexts, and their
meaning is difficult to guess from their individual parts.
Verb + particle + preposition
Kens just chatting to a friend. Hell catch up with us in a minute.
(reach, join)
English verb forms

Essentially there are two categories of verb forms:

Active verb forms
Passive verb forms
And within these categories there are the sub-
categories:
Simple verb forms
Continuous verb forms
Perfect verb forms
Present verb forms
Past verb forms
Future verb forms
Conditional verb forms
Intransitive and transitive verbs
An intransitive verb has the
structure: N(=noun) + V(=verb):
(John) + (smiled).
A transitive verb has the
structure: N + V + N: (We) +
(had been playing) + (football)
Transitive verbs have both active and
passive forms:
Passive voice
Active voice The passive forms are made up of the verb be
with a past participle
describes a We sometimes use the verb get to form the
sentence passive.
Be careful with the glass. It might get broken.
where the Peter got hurt in a crash.
subject If we want to show the person or thing doing
the action we use by:
performs the She was attacked by a dangerous dog.
action stated The money was stolen by her husband.
We can use the indirect object as the subject
by the verb of a passive verb:
He was given a book for his birthday.
We can use phrasal verbs in the passive
Some verbs very frequently used in the passive
are followed by the to-infinitive:
Verbs - reflexive & ergative

Reflexive verbs
are verbs whose
direct object is
the same as its Peter
Transitive:
subject: closed the
Ergative N +verbs
V+N
door
I am teaching are both
The door Intransitive:
myself to play transitive
closed N +and
V
the piano. intransitive
I boiled a Transitive: N
Be careful with pan of water + V + N
that knife. You
The pan Intransitive:
might cut boiled N+V
yourself.
Thank you for your
attention!

https://seeinggodatworkeveryday.wordpress.com/2015/12/31/on-
being-a-verb-in-2016/
 VERBS In ENGLISH Tutorials
on Youtube

1)https
://www.youtube.com/results?sea
rch_query=english+verbs+
2)https://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAUL
P0Jc5tU
Literature
http://
dictionary.cambridge.org/gramma
r/british-grammar/about-verbs
https://
learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/e
n/english-grammar/verbs
http://
www.universalteacher.org.uk/lang
/engstruct.htm