VerbsWhat are verbs?

Verbs are words that usually express an action.

Examples: run, talk, eat, laugh

But… Do all verbs express actions?

Consider: Sleep, die, be.

So what tests are there for identifying a verb?

How can we identify a verb? If a word can appear here _______, it’s a verb:

1. Should _________

Examples: should be; should think; should ask

2. To _________

Examples: to believe; to wonder; to have

3. Will _________

Examples: will ask; will smile; will rest

Which of the following words are verbs?

(use the tests to determine!)

Go

Stand

Coffee

Disagree

Under

Badly

Still

Sit

Seat

Climb

Beautiful

Plant

Question

Store

Are these words verbs?Eating

Drank

Slept

Throws

Studying

Written

Wore

Seen

Am

Wanted

Had

How can we make these verbs pass our tests?Eating

Drank

Slept

Throws

Studying

Written

Wore

Seen

Am

Wanted

Had

Eat

Drink

Sleep

Throw

Study

Write

Wear

See

Be

Want

have

How can we make these verbs pass our tests?Eat

Drink

Sleep

Throw

Study

Write

Wear

See

Be

Want

have

The Verb Base / The Infinitive Form

The forms of the irregular verb “be”:

Be; Am ; is ; are ; was ; were ; being ; been

The forms of the verb “walk”:

Walk ; walks ; walked; walking

The forms of the irregular verb “eat”:

Eat ; eats ; ate ; eating ; eaten

The forms of the irregular verb “have”:

Have ; has ; had ; having

Identify the verbs and put them in their base form: 1. We met in the restaurant.

2. He is hungry.

3. They had written a letter.

4. We have been going there every day.

5. They were thinking of flying to Italy.

6. Studying math is hard.

7. She thought that she wasn’t thirsty.

8. He believes that God exists.

9. They have been sleeping outside for a week.

10. We loved watching that show.

Homework

-Verbs: 7.1 – 7.2

-The verb base: 8.1 – 8.3

Come up with 3-5 verbs that cannot appear in each of the following sentences:

1. John __________ her / it.

2. John ___________ .

What kind of verbs cannot appear here, and why?

1. John __________ her / it.-Died -Laughed -Smiled -Wept -Went -Arrived-Lied -Sat -Slept

Intransitive Verbs

Intransitive Verbs CANNOT be followed by a noun (phrase):

1. *John died Mary.

2. *The boy laughed Bill.

3. *A nice teacher smiles students.

4. *Politicians lie voters.

What kind of verbs cannot appear here, and why?

2 .John ___________ .

-Bought -Kissed -Sold-Noticed -Touched-Believed -Shoved -Corrected

Transitive Verbs

Transitive Verbs must be followed by something, typically a noun (phrase).

- Otherwise the sentence would be incomplete:

1. *John sold.

2. *They corrected.

3. *He shoved.

4. *The boy hit.

5. John sold a car

6. They corrected him

7. He shoved her

8. The boy hit his sister

If a verb can appear here _________ it is Transitive: 1(a) He/It _________ someone/something.

If a verb can appear here ___________ it is Intransitive:

1(b) He/It ____________.

Tests for Transitivity of a verb:

Are these verbs transitive or intransitive? Whisper Yell ShoutComplain Burp Kick

The wind blew hard.

The movie ended.

John whispered. She yelled “hey”.He shouted all day.They like complaining.Mom burped the baby.The baby kicked.

Are these verbs transitive, intransitive or both?

Use the tests to determine!!

Eat

Drink

Run

Sing

Read

Study

Blow

Open

Close

Leave

Spoil

Break

Cook

Play

Are these verbs transitive, intransitive or both?

Use the tests to determine!!

Linking Verbs

Linking verbs are verbs that link the subject of the sentence to an adjective or a noun (phrase).

Examples:

1. The food tastes excellent. 2. John is a teacher. 3. Plato was a philosopher. 4. Sharon sounds sick.5. John seems happy.

Linking Verbs

Are Linking Verbs also Transitive?

Recall that a transitive verb must be followed by something, typically a noun (phrase). Let’s put the linking verb “be” to the test:

1. *He is.

2. He is a student at QC.

However, linking verbs are DIFFERENT from transitive verbs

Transitive verbs VS. Linking verbs

Transitive verbs CANNOT be followed by just an adjective:

1. *John sold smart. 2. *Mary hugged thirsty.

Linking verbs may be followed by just an adjective: 3. John is smart. 4. Mary feels thirsty.

Transitive verbs VS. Linking verbs – Test

John kissed Mary. The boy ate soup. Jane sold her car.Bill bought a piano.

John is a student. The boy seems smart.Jane sounds nice.Bill appears hungry.

What happened to Mary? What happened to the soup?What happened to her car?What happened to the piano?

*What happened to a student?*What happened to smart?*What happened to nice? *What happened to hungry?

He wrote a book.She kissed him.

The flowers smelled nice. This food tasted great.

What did he write? Who did she kiss?

*What did the flowers smell?*What did the food taste?

Another TEST for transitivity of a verb

Transitive verbs are verbs that ACT upon something, namely their Direct Object.

The direct object answers to the questions: What? or Who?

(linking verbs simply do not act on anything!!)

a. Katie dropped her notebook. b. Katie dropped off the files at the office.

a. Sam took the car. b. Same took off his glasses.

Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal Verbs1. a. John looked at Marry.

b. John looked up a word in the dictionary.

2. a. Steve asked a question.

b. Steve asked for a raise.

3. a. Jane caught a big fish.

b. Jane caught up to the rest of the class.

4. a. Katie dropped her notebook.

b. Katie dropped off the files at the office.

5. a. Sam took the car.

b. Same took off his glasses.

Phrasal Verbs

If a verb + another word have a different meaning from just the verb by itself, then the verb + the word form a Phrasal Verb

Examples: ask out; call off; calm down; check in; chip in; count on; fall apart; get up; get over; hang out; pass away; put off; take off; turn off; work out; break in; watch out; break up; drop by; etc.

Phrasal Verbs

Sometimes the two words that make up a phrasal verb don’t appear next to each other: Examples: 1. John looked the word up. 2. Jane took the decorations off. 3. Steve made it up.

Phrasal Verbs

Challenge Question:

Does a phrasal verb always have a different meaning from that of the same verb, but by itself?

Homework:

• All the exercises in lesson 11.

Verbs – Review

-What tests are there for identifying verbs?

-What test identifies transitive verbs?

-What test identifies intransitive verbs?

-What is the function of linking verbs?

Verbs - Review

Put the verbs below in their base form:

1. wore2. searches3. took 4. bitten5. wandered6. thinking7. retires 8. brought9. hung10. were

1. Getting a cab during rush hour proved difficult.2. Children ask the most innocent questions. 3. His Moroccan trip was beyond expectation.4. After work, his father baked an apple pie.5. George felt wonderful after his workout.

Are the verbs in these sentences linking verbs or action verbs?

Are the verbs in these sentences linking verbs or action verbs?

6. Sally became a famous actress.7. By 11 P.M. he gets tired.

8. Our neighbor got a ticket for speeding.9. Kerry often thinks of her grandmother.10. I feel your pain.

Are these verbs transitive or intransitive?

Make up sentences to determine! 1. skip2. wash3. furnish4. raise5. disappear6. ring7. call8. print9. sneeze10. annoy

What is the phrasal verb in the following sentences?

1. They tore the stadium down.

2. They boarded the windows up before the hurricane.

3. He looked the origin of this word up in the dictionary.

4. I dropped the kids off at school.