I. Pretest

II. Definition of a Verb and Its Importance

Each sentence in English must have a verb. A verb expresses an action or shows a state of existence^[1].

Why are verbs important? There are two reasons:

1. They appear in every sentence in English.
2. Errors in verbs cause serious misunderstanding^[2].

In order to express ideas clearly and accurately, you need to make sure:

1. You have a basic understanding of different types of verbs.  This is the purpose of this unit.
2. A subject and its verb must match each other. For detailed information and practice, please refer to Unit 10 Subject-Verb Agreement. (Open Unit 10 here.)
3. A verb tense and its verb form must match each other. There are detailed explanations and practice in verb tenses and forms from Unit 11 through Unit 14  in this book.  (Open Unit 11 Present Tenses, Unit 12 Past Tenses, Unit 13 Future Tenses, Unit 14 Mixed Tenses here.)

III. “Be” Verbs and “Do” Verbs

“Be” verbs: They look different depending on the subjects and the verb tenses. The most common ones are  “am, is, are, was, were”.  A “Be” verb is often followed by a noun, a pronoun, an adjective, a prepositional phrase, or an expression of age.

1. My neighbor’s pet is a rabbit. Her name is Bonny. (followed by nouns)
2. Bonny is not mine. (a pronoun)
3. Bonny’s tail is short and cute. (adjectives)
4. Bonny is in a cage when my neighbor is at work.  (prepositional phrases)
5. Bonny was two months old when I first met her. (an age)

IV. Action and Non-Action Verbs

Action verbs: They show the action of the subject. All action verbs are “Do” verbs.

1. In the U.S., many pet owners treat their pets as part of the family.
2. Those pets get special food and even regular medical checkups.
3. Some of them sleep in their owner’s bed.
4. They receive toys and often wear festive^[3] outfits^[4] during holidays.
5. Most pets enjoy their good lives.

Non-action verbs: They do not show actions; instead, they show emotional or mental states, five senses, possessions, and others. Non-action verbs are also called stative verbs or non-progressive verbs. “Be” verbs are non-action verbs in most cases.

1. Pets love their owners.
2. Pets understand how much they are loved.
3. Some pets can weigh over fifty pounds.
4. Most pets have animal doctors called vets.
5. Pets are our good friends.

Sometimes, the same verb can be both an action verb and a non-action verb, with different meanings and grammatical structures. Discuss the difference between the underlined verbs below.

1. What do you think of my kitten? It seems that she is always thinking about playing hide and seek with me. (non-action, action)
2. Feel the fur of my kitten. It feels so soft. (action, non-action)
3. My kitten measures twelve inches in length^[5]. I measure her every month to see how much she has grown. (non-action, action)
4. I see some red pots on the kitten’s skin. I am taking her to her vet. We are seeing the vet at 3 pm this afternoon. (non-action, action)

Non-action verbs can be used in different verb tenses except progressive tenses, but action verbs can be used in all tenses.

1. The kitten has been napping for a long time. He looks (is looking) content^[6] in his sleep.
2. Samantha likes (is liking) kittens. She has (is having) two. Right now she is preparing their favorite snacks.

Exercise 2. The following sentences are about color-blindness^[7] of dogs.  Some verbs are bold-faced. Highlight if each bold-faced verb is an action verb or a non-action verb. The first one is an example. When you finish the exercise, you can retry or see all the answers. (To highlight, you position your computer curser on the verbs and right click.)

V. Helping Verbs and Main Verbs

Helping verbs: They are also called auxiliary verbs. These verbs “help” the main verbs to

• show verb tense
• make a negative sentence
• ask a question
• change the meaning or tone
• change the voice (from active to passive or passive to active, not addressed in this course)

Helping verbs must work with main verbs to form complete verbs. Common helping verbs include “do, does, did, have, had, had, will”.

helping verb  +  main verb  =   complete verb

1. Mohamod has always wanted to get his driver’s license. (helping verb “has” + main verb “wanted”)
2. He has prepared for this driver’s test for several months. (helping verb “has” + main verb “prepared”)
3. He does not want to carpool with his friend every day. (helping verb “does” + main verb “want”)
4. He hopes that he will pass the road test. (helping verb “will” + main verb “pass”)
5. Should he celebrate if he passes? (helping verb “should” + main verb “celebrate”)

Modals: Modals are a special type of helping verbs. They mainly show ability, possibility, obligation, advice, and many others. They are followed by the base form of the main verb.

1. Every driver in the U.S. must have a driver’s license. (modal/helping verb “must” + main verb “have”)
2. Should he or she buy car insurance, too? (modal/helping verb “should” + main verb “buy”)
3. Maintaining a car can be expensive. (modal/helping verb “can” + main verb “be”)
4. Life could become difficult without a car. (modal/helping verb “could” + main verb “become”)

For detailed explanations and examples of modals, please refer to Unit 15 Modals. (Open Unit 15 here.)

VI. Twelve Verb Tenses

While verbs show actions or states of being, verb tenses indicate the time of those actions or states of being:

• in the past, in the present, in the future, or from past to present
• happened just once, happened repeatedly, or is still happening.

There are twelve tenses in English:

In this course, you will be focusing on using eight of the above tenses in writing: simple present, present progressive, present perfect, present perfect progressive, simple past, past progressive, past perfect, and simple future tenses. You will learn the rest of the tenses in future courses.

VII. Five Basic Verb Forms

In the above chart, the verb “study” appears in different forms – study, studies, am studying, had been studying, will be studying, and some others. These are called verb forms. Verbs have five basic forms:

VIII. Unit Review Practice