Introduction

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a ‘verb’ is defined as “a word or phrase that describes
an action, condition, or experience”. The Collins Dictionary provides a much more elaborate
definition of a verb. According to them, “A verb is a word such as ‘ sing’, ‘ feel’, or ‘ die’ which
is used with a subject to say what someone or something does or what happens to them, or to
give information about them”.

A verb is used in different ways to indicate the time in which the subject is performing an action.
There are various verb forms that are used to do the same.

This academic article will be talking about Conjunction of Verbs in different tenses which are
discussed by many authors correctly referenced.

The following is the work’s structure:

I. Introduction; II. Work development; III. Conclusion; IV. Bibliographic references.

General objective of that work:

 Talk about Verb tenses;

Specific work objectives:

 Define the concept of verb;

 Explain the use of verb tenses;

 Elaborate example of verbs conjugated in different tenses.

Methodology:

For the design of this work, the bibliographic review was used as methodology, in which the
consulted works will be presented at the end of work.
Verbs in English Grammar

In the English language or any language for that matter, verbs happen to be an essential part of
speech, without which it would be impossible to indicate what the subject is doing. It refers to all
actions, including those related to feelings and emotions. Verbs come in different types and
forms so that they can perform differently in order to provide complete meaning. Before we look
into the types of verbs and the verb forms, let us look at how various dictionaries define the term
‘verb’.

Definition of a Verb

The Oxford Learners’ Dictionary defines a ‘verb’ as “a word or group of words that express an
action (such as eat), an event (such as happen) or a state (such as exist)”. According to the
Cambridge Dictionary, a ‘verb’ is defined as “a word or phrase that describes an action,
condition, or experience”. The Collins Dictionary provides a much more elaborate definition of a
verb. According to them, “A verb is a word such as ‘ sing’, ‘ feel’, or ‘ die’ which is used with a
subject to say what someone or something does or what happens to them, or to give information
about them”.

Verbs Referring to Actions

Verbs referring to action (action verbs) are those that involve the movement of one’s body in one
way or the other. Some examples of verbs referring to actions are as follows: Walk, Run, Talk,
Sit, Read, Write, Jog, Cough, Sleep, Jump, Sing, Drink, Teach, Present, Build, Break, Tow,
Toss, Hug, Fight.

Verbs Referring to Experiences or Feelings

These are verbs that refer to something that you can feel or experience and do not necessarily
involve a movement of any kind. Some examples of verbs referring to feelings and experiences
are as follows: Love, Hate, Envy, Believe, Trust, Feel, Entrust, Experience, Care, Cherish, Sense,
Know, Recognize, Understand, Comprehend, Like, Need, Adore, Loathe, Appreciate.
Verbs Referring to a State or Condition

These verbs are those that refer to situations or the state of being. All forms of ‘to be’ verbs
belong to this category. Some examples of verbs referring to a state or condition are as follows:
Be ( am, is, are, was, were, will be, being, been ), Have ( has, have, had), seem, appear.

Different Categories of Verbs

Verbs can be divided into different categories according to their behavior when used in a context.
Let us look at the categories explained below.

Regular Verbs and Irregular Verbs

As you can see, verbs are used to denote actions, and they can be used in different forms to
indicate when the subject in a sentence is carrying out an action. A regular verb can be
conjugated to show if the action takes place in the past or if the action is taking place
continuously.

In most cases, the past form of the verb is formed by adding an ‘ed’ to the root verb for regular
verbs. On the other hand, there are other verbs that do not follow this rule. They are
called irregular verbs. These verbs have their own unique forms. If you are wondering how to
learn these irregular verbs, read the article on irregular verbs to find out how.

Have a look at the examples given below.

 Dino searched for his white shirt in his cupboard, but he did not find it. (Root verb –
search)

 Did you find the book you were looking for?

In the above examples, the verb ‘searched’ is the past form of the regular verb ‘search’ by adding
an ‘ed’ and the verb form ‘looking’ indicates the continuous form of the regular verb ‘look’ by
adding an ‘ing’ to the end of the root verb.

 Selena read the book on the evolution of life on earth.

 Vina found the keys that went missing yesterday.

In the above examples, the verb ‘read’ stays the same in the past form and when used as a past
participle. ‘Found’ is the past form of the root verb ‘find’.

Transitive Verbs and Intransitive Verbs

Transitive and intransitive forms of verbs are used to denote how a verb acts when used with a
direct object and an indirect object. Let us look at a few examples.

 Vincent gave a box of chocolates to his brother. (Indirect object – his brother, Direct
object – a box of chocolates)

 Garry passed the water bottle to Kevin, who was sitting in the first row. (Indirect object –
Kevin, Direct object – the water bottle)

 The little girl ran around the park for two hours.

 France walked to school every day.

 My mom cleaned the house today. (Direct object – the house)

 Selena did not like the movie. (Direct object – the movie)

In the above examples, the verbs ‘gave’ and ‘passed’ in the first two sentences are seen to take a
direct object and an indirect object, whereas the verbs ‘ran’ and ‘walked’ take no object at all. In
the last two sentences, the verbs ‘cleaned’ and ‘did not like’ take a direct object and no indirect
object.

Verbs that take a direct object alone are called transitive verbs, and those verbs that do not take
either a direct object or an indirect object are called intransitive verbs. There is yet another
category of verbs that take both the direct object and the indirect object, and they are
called ditransitive verbs.

Verb Forms

A verb is used in different ways to indicate the time in which the subject is performing an action.
There are various verb forms that are used to do the same. Let us look at the different verb forms
explained below.
Root Verb

The raw or original form of the verb, how it originally exists in the English language, without
any inflexions or conjugations, is called the root verb.

Some examples of root verbs are as follows:

 Eat

 Sit

 Stir

 Type

 Read

 Fry

 Tick

 Shift

 Trick

 Sing

Simple Present – Third Person Singular

The third person singular form of the verb in the present tense is mostly the verb in the singular
form. When using the third person singular pronouns such as he, she and it, and the nouns that
can be substituted by the third person singular pronouns, the verb is singular (mostly done just by
adding an ‘s’ to the root verb) so that it agrees with the subject in the sentence.

For example:

Kenny likes to have mangoes after every meal. (The noun ‘Kenny’ can be substituted with the
third person singular pronoun ‘he’)
The cat chases every rat it catches sight of. (The noun ‘The cat’ can be substituted with the third
person singular pronoun ‘it’)

She hates going to work on Saturdays and Mondays.

Present Participle

The present participle is used in the continuous form of tenses to indicate an action that is
continuing or in progress at that particular moment or sometime in the past or in the future.
These words are formed just by adding an ‘ing’ to the root verb. For verbs ending with an ‘e’, in
most cases, the present participle is formed by removing the ‘e’ and then adding ‘ing’ to the
remaining portion of the verb.

For example:

Jan is watching a movie along with her cousin. (Present Continuous Tense)

My mother is baking cakes (Present Continuous Tense)

All my brothers were playing dodge ball in the evening. (Past Continuous Tense)

Simple Past

There is a change in the spelling of the root verb when it is used to indicate the simple past
tense form of the verb. There is no one rule to write a verb in the simple past tense; it changes for
each verb – some verbs like ‘give’ and ‘bring’ take a different spelling, and some verbs like ‘cut’
and ‘put’ remain the same when used in the past tense. However, most verbs can be made into
the past tense by adding an ‘ed’ at the end of the root verb.

For example:

 The doctor asked me to take tablets for ten days. (The rook verb here is ‘ask’)

 Nelson bought the car he checked out last week. (The root verbs here are ‘buy’ and
‘check’)

 The baby drank the milk completely. (The root verb here is ‘drink’)
Past participle

The past participle form of the verb is used to denote the perfect tense forms in a sentence. In
some cases, the past tense and the past participle remain the same, but there are a number of
verbs that have different spellings when used as a simple past tense verb and a past participle.

For example:

 I have searched the entire loft for that box, but I did not find it. (The root verb here is
‘search’, ‘have searched’ is the verb in the sentence that indicates the perfect tense and
‘searched’ is the past participle)

 Dylan had read the book already.

In the above example, the root verb here is ‘read’, ‘have read’ is the verb in the sentence that
indicates the perfect tense and ‘read’ is the past participle. In this case, all forms of the verb take
the same spelling but have a different pronunciation.

Gerunds

Any verb can be transformed into a gerund by adding ‘ing’ to the root verb. Gerunds, when it
stands by themselves, can be used as nouns. A gerund can be used as a verb when used with an
auxiliary verb to indicate an action that is continuing at a particular period of time.

For example:

 He is eating an apple.

 Joy will be coming home next week.

 Walking every day is good exercise.

 Drinking and driving is dangerous.

Infinitives

Infinitives, like gerunds, can be used to turn verbs into nouns by adding a preposition ‘to’ in
front of the root verb.
For example:

 Would you like to have something?

 I like to dance in my free time.

 I am going to talk to my friend.

Active Voice and Passive Voice

According to the position of the subject and object in a sentence, the voice of the verb can be
determined. A sentence in which the subject does the action is called the active voice, and a
sentence in which the indirect object or the direct object is switched to make it the subject is
called the passive voice.

For example:

 Active Voice – The doctor checked the patient.

 Passive Voice – The patient was checked by the doctor.

Conjugating Verbs in the English Language – Tense Forms

Verbs can be conjugated to denote the tense you need. There are four tense forms, namely the
simple tense, the continuous tense, the perfect tense and the perfect continuous tense. These
tense forms are used to represent three time periods such as the present, past and future, thereby
forming twelve main tense forms in total.

Verb to be

Present

Present Present continuous Present perfect Present perfect

continuous
I am I am being I have been
I have been being
you are you are being you have been
you have been being
he/she/it is he/she/it is being he/she/it has been
 he/she/it has been being

we are we are being we have been we have been being

you are you are being you have been you have been being

they are they are being they have been they have been being

Preterit

Past simple Past continuous Past perfect Past perfect continuous

I was I was being I had been I had been being

you were you were being you had been you had been being

he/she/it was he/she/it was being he/she/it had been he/she/it had been being

we were we were being we had been we had been being

you were you were being you had been you had been being

they were they were being they had been they had been being

Future

Future perfect Future continuous Future perfect continuous

Future
I will have been I will be being I will have been being
I will be
you will have been you will be being you will have been being
you will be
he/she/it will have be he/she/it will be bei he/she/it will have been bei
he/she/it will be en ng ng

we will be we will have been we will be being we will have been being

you will be you will have been you will be being you will have been being

they will be they will have been they will be being they will have been being
Verb to have

Present

Present Present perfect Present continuous Present perfect continuous

I have I have had I am having I have been having

you have you have had you are having you have been having

he/she/it has he/she/it has had he/she/it is having he/she/it has been having

we have we have had we are having we have been having

you have you have had you are having you have been having

they have they have had they are having they have been having

Preterit

Past simple

I had Past perfect Past continuous Past perfect continuous

you had I had had I was having I had been having

he/she/it had you had had you were having you had been having

we had he/she/it had had he/she/it was having he/she/it had been having

you had we had had we were having we had been having

they had you had had you were having you had been having

they had had they were having they had been having
Future

Future Future perfect Future continuous Future perfect continuous

I will have I will have had I will be having I will have been having

you will have you will have had you will be having you will have been having

he/she/it will have he/she/it will have had he/she/it will be having he/she/it will have been having

we will have we will have had we will be having we will have been having

you will have you will have had you will be having you will have been having

they will have they will have had they will be having they will have been having
Conclusion

English grammar is essential for effective communication in English, as it provides a systematic

structure and set of rules that govern how words and sentences are used to convey meaning.

English grammar plays a vital role in effective communication in English. Its proper use can help
us to convey our ideas clearly, concisely, and precisely, while also enhancing our credibility and
professionalism. Therefore, it is essential to develop strong English grammar skills to be an
effective communicator and to succeed in academic and professional endeavors.

This topic “Verbs” plays a vital role in our daily communication as it is a word or group of
words that express an action (such as “eat”), an event (such as “happen”) or a state (such
as “exist”)”.
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Collins, C. (1993). Student’s grammar. Harare: Harper Collins Publisher.

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