A Quick Guide to Mastering English Verbs | Useful Verb Examples • 7ESL

What is a verb? Learn different types of verbs in English grammar with usefulverbs listand examples. The verb is a very essential type of word in any language and in English, this is no different. You must have a verb in order to create a sentence and so understanding their function is vital to being able to speak the language. In this article, we are going to be looking at what a verb is and how it is used. We will also be looking at some example sentences to further gain an understanding on what the verb is used for.

Table of Contents

What Is A Verb?

Verbs, in theory, are pretty straightforward. But, not everybody would be able to provide a definition, even if they know how to use them within a sentence. There’s also a tendency amongst people to stick to certain verbs that they know, and pushing themselves to use new ones becomes a bit of a challenge. In the interest of giving you some variety, we’ll take a look at what exactly a verb is, we’ll use some examples for you to see how they function as part of a sentence, and we’ll provide you with some lists of verbs by different categories so you can find some that might help you mix things up a little in your writing.

A verb is a word that shows action, occurrence, or a state of being. When written with the particle ‘to’ the verb is in its infinitive form. This is where you would write it like this:

To bake
To clean
To cook
To sing

There are many more verbs of course, but the above list shows you what a verb looks like in its infinitive form, making it slightly easier for you to identify whether or not a word in a sentence is a verb. Remember, a verb should show that something is happening, because an action is taking place in some way or another. Many people when first learning about verbs simply refer to them as ‘doing words’, because they always show that something has been done, is being done, or will be done in the future (depending on the tense that you are writing in).

Verbs are the main part of a sentence and one of the nineparts of speechin English.

Verb Examples in Different Tenses

Let’s look at the examples of the verbs above in a sentence so you can see how they might work. We’ll show them in different tenses too so you can see how they would need to be changed slightly to make sense.

Verb Examples in the Simple Tenses

Ibakeeveryday– here the sentence works as asimple present tensesentence. Let’s change it to past.
Ibakedeveryday– changing it topast simple tensemeans we say ‘baked’ not ‘bake’. This shows that ‘I’ used to bake everyday, but don’t any longer.
Iwill bakeeveryday– again,changing to the futuremeans you need the word ‘will’ between the subject ‘I’ and the verb ‘bake’. There are other tenses that aren’t simple, but we couldn’t possibly explain each one thoroughly here, but take a look at some more examples below and notice the changes that have been made for yourself. We’ll provide a brief explanation to help you slightly.

Examples of Verbs in the Continuous Tenses

Throughout each of these next three sections, thepast tenseversion will be written on top, the middle will bepresent tense, and thefuture tensewill be at the bottom. So that in this case, the top one is written in thepast continuous tense, the middle in thepresent continuous tense, and the third in thefuture continuous tense．It will follow the same pattern in the following two sections, but continuous will be replaced with ‘perfect’ and ‘perfect continuous’ respectively.

The easiest way to remember continuous tense, is that it’s referring to a verb that was happening over time, is still happening now, or will be happening in the future. Take a look at the examples below and see how the sentences change to show what is happening and how the verb looks different from its infinitive form:

Iwascleaningwhen you arrived.
Iam cleaningright now.
Iwill be cleaningwhen you get here.

Verb Examples in the Perfect Tenses

记得完成时,最好的办法是t it is referring to something that was completed, has just been completed, or will be completed in the future. Again notice how the verb looks different this time compared to its infinitive form, and how the surrounding words are different to accommodate the tense:

Ihadcookedeverything when you arrived.
Ihavecookedeverything.
Iwill havecookedeverything when you arrive.

Verbs Examples in the Perfect Continuous Tenses

The simplest way to remember the perfect continuous tense is that it’s the previous two combined. So, it refers to something that was happening but has recently been completed, something that is happening now but will soon stop, and something that will happen and then be completed. Take a look below:

Ihad been singingfor an hour when you arrived.
Ihave been singingfor an hour.
Iwill have been singingfor an hour when you arrive.

Verb examples:Walk,is,seem,run,see,swim, stand, go, have, get, promise, invite, listen, sing, sit, …

HespeaksEnglish
I don’t know how tospellthe word
Shestudieshard

There are many differenttypes of verbsin English grammar: irregular verb, modal verb, dynamic verb, stative verb, auxiliary verb, causative verb,…

Verb Rules

Important Verb Rules

There are many rules surrounding the use of verbs in the English language, let’s take a look at the most important ones.

When talking in the third person, the verb requires an -es or -s form, for example,heusesthe bathroom.
If the verb and the subject have a long phrase between them, the verb has to agree with the original subject and not that of the phrase. For example,Thesweetswhich he gave to his wifewerevery tasty.
If the subject is preceded by the phrase ‘one of’, the following verb should be singular. For example,One ofthe childreniscrying.
If two nouns are within a sentence and refer to the same thing or person, the following verb should be singular. For example,The doctorandthe nurse areworking in the hospital.
If there are two nouns which are synonymous within a sentence, they should be followed with a singular verb. For example, Hispower and might ishuge.
Plural nouns on their own will use a plural verb, for exampleHisshoes aretoo big. IHowever, if the plural noun is preceded by the words ‘a pair of’ then a singular verb is required. For exampleApairs of shoes isquite expensive.
If the noun is uncountable then a singular verb should always follow it, for exampleThepoetrythat he writesis非常浪漫。
When a collective noun is referring to a single entity, it should use a singular verb, for exampleThemilitaryis very strict.However, if it is being used to refer to an individual then a plural verb should be used, for exampleThemilitary arerequesting new members.

Subject Verb Agreement Rules

10subject verb agreementrules in English grammar:

The subject and verb must agree in number. A singular subject takes a singular verb, whereas a plural subject takes a plural verb.
The subject is separated from the verb by “with”，“as well as”，“together with”，“along with”. These words and phrases are not part of the subject. The verb agrees with the subject.
Two subjects joined by “and” are plural.
Two subjects joined by “or/not”，“either…or/neither…nor”，“not only…but also” take the verb that agrees with the subject closest to it.
With collective nouns, the verb might be singular or plural (UK), depending on meaning.
In sentences beginning with “here” or “there”,真正的主题之前版本b.
The verb is singular if the subject is a singular indefinite pronoun. The verb is plural if the subject is a plural indefinite pronoun. And, some indefinite pronouns (some, any, all, most) may be either singular or plural, depending upon their use in a sentence.
Use a singular verb for expressions of measurement, time. money and weight when the amount is considered one unit.
Plural form subjects with a singular meaning take a singular verb.
Titles of single entities are always singular.

10 Subject Verb Agreement Rules in English

Different Types of Verbs with Examples

既然我们已经采取一看动词,有用的动词grammar rules, and all the possible tenses that you can write them in for you to think about, we’re going to provide you with some examples of verbs to help you vary your grammar and vocabulary a little bit.

Learn examples of different types of verbs in English with useful grammar rules.

Irregular VerbsExamples

Irregular verbsare common verbs in English that do not follow the simple system of adding “d” or “ed” to the end of the word to form the past tense (the past simple and/or the past participle).

Fall – fell – fallen
Feed – fed – fed
Feel – felt – felt
Fight – fought – fought
Find – found – found
Fly – flew – flown
Forbid – forbade – forbidden
Forget – forgot – forgotten
Forgive – forgave – forgiven
Freeze – froze – frozen
Get – got – got
Give – gave – given
Go – went – gone
Grind – ground – ground
Grow – grew – grown
Hang – hung – hung
Have – had – had
Hear – heard – heard
Hide – hid – hidden
Hit – hit – hit
Hold – held – held
Hurt – hurt – hurt
Keep – kept – kept
Kneel – knelt – knelt
Know – knew – known
Lay – laid – laid
Lead – led – led
Lean – leant/ leaned – leant/ leaned
Learn – learnt/ learned – learnt/ learned
Leave – left – left
Lent – lent – lent
Lie (in bed) – lay – lain
Lie (not to tell the truth) – lied – lied
Light – lit/ lighted – lit/ lighted
Lose – lost – lost
Make – made – made
Mean – meant – meant
Meet – met – met
Overtake – overtook – overtaken
Pay – paid – paid
Put – put – put
Read – read – read
Ride – rode – ridden
Ring – rang – rung
Rise – rose – risen
Run – ran – run
Saw – sawed – sawn/ sawed
Say – said – said
See – sawed – seen
Sell – sold – sold
Send – sent – sent
Set – set – set
Sew – sewed – sewn/ sewed
Shake – shook – shaken
Shed– shed – shed
Shine – shone – shone
Shoot – shot – shot
Show – showed – shown
Shrink – shrank – shrunk
Shut – shut – shut
Sing – sang – sung
Sink – sank – sunk
Sit – sat – sat
Sleep – slept – slept
Slide – slid – slid
Smell – smelt – smelt
Sow – sowed – sown/ sowed
Speak – spoke – spoken
Spell – spelt/ spelled spelt/ spelled
Spend – spent – spent
Spill – spilt/ spilled – spilt/ spilled
Spit – spat – spat
Spread – spread – spread
Stand – stood – stood
Steal – stole – stolen
Stick – stuck – stuck
Sting – stung – stung
Stink – stank – stunk
Strike – struck – struck
Swear – swore – sworn
Sweep – swept – swept
Swell – swelled – swollen/ swelled
Swim – swam – swum
Swing – swung – swung
…

Common IrregularVerbs Listin English

Modal VerbsExamples

Modal verbsare a small class of auxiliary verbs used to express possibility, obligation, advice, permission, and ability,…

Can: Icanspeak Spanish fluently.
Could:Couldyou pass me the salt, please?
May:MayI borrow your pencil?
Might: Itmightrain later, so bring an umbrella.
Must: Imustfinish this project by tomorrow.
Shall:Shallwe go for a walk after dinner?
Should: Youshouldeat more vegetables for better health.
Will: Iwillhelp you with your homework.

Modal Verb Examples

Modal Verbs To Express Ability

Be able to: Shewas able tocomplete the marathon in just under four hours.
Managed to: Hemanaged tofix the broken printer just in time for the meeting.
Can: Icanplay the guitar.
Could: Shecouldswim when she was just five years old.

Modals for Asking Permissions

Can:CanI borrow your pen, please?
Could:CouldI use your bathroom, please?
May:MayI leave the room for a moment?
Might:MightI ask you a question?
Would:Wouldit be possible for me to leave work early today?
Shall:ShallI open the window?

Perfect Infinitive with Modals

The structure “have + past participle” is called a perfect infinitive.

Could have: Shecould havefinished the project on time if she had worked harder.
Should have: Heshould havearrived at the meeting earlier.
Might have: Theymight havemissed the train if they hadn’t run to the station.
Must have: Hemust haveforgotten his keys at home.
Would have: If she had known it was going to rain, shewould havebrought an umbrella.

Dynamic VerbsExamples

Adynamicverbis a verb that shows continued or progressive action on the part of the subject. This is the opposite of a stative verb.

Run: She runs in the park every morning.
Dance: They danced all night at the party.
Sing: He sings beautifully in the choir.
Jump: The children jumped over the puddle.
Climb: They climbed to the top of the mountain.
Laugh: She laughed at the funny joke.
Play: The kids played with their toys in the room.
Swim: He swam across the lake to reach the other side.
Fly: The birds flew in the sky.
Read: She reads novels before going to bed every night.

Stative VerbsExamples

Stative verbsare verbs that express a state rather than an action. They usually relate to thoughts, emotions, relationships, senses, states of being and measurements.

Love: I love chocolate cake.
Believe: He believes in hard work and perseverance.
Hate: She hates spiders.
Know: They know the answer to the question.
Like: I like playing tennis.
Dislike: She dislikes rainy days.
Remember: He remembers his childhood very well.
Understand: She understands the instructions clearly.
Want: He wants a new car.
Need: She needs a cup of coffee in the morning.

Auxiliary VerbsExamples

We briefly mentioned the auxiliary verb when discussing the verb to be, however other verbs can function as auxiliary verbs and this means that they cannot create a sentence alone but requires the use of another verb and can help it to demonstrate various conditions, states or tenses. Let’s look at some examples of this.

When I got there, she had finished the lesson.
After he arrived home, we had eaten dinner.

Anauxiliary verbis a verb that adds functional or grammatical meaning to the clause in which it appears, such as to express tense, aspect, modality, voice, emphasis, etc. An auxiliary verb is most generally understood as a verb that “helps” another verb by adding grammatical information to it.

Do: Idonot feel like going out tonight.
Have:Ihavejust received his reply.
Be:A model railway mart willbeheld on Friday.
Will:Hewillnot play volleyball.

Causative VerbsExamples

Causative verbsare verbs that show the reason that something happened. They do not indicate something the subject did for themselves, but something the subject got someone or something else to do for them.

Have:Ihad the mechanic checkthe brakes.
Get:I couldn’tget the engine to start．
Make:I like him because hemakes me laugh．
Let:If you accept, pleaselet me know．

PinCausative Verb Examples

Transitive VerbExamples

Atransitive verbis one which has the ability to have a noun directly attached to it. Examples of this might be:

Eat: She ate the sandwich.
Write: He wrote a letter to his friend.
Throw: They threw the ball to each other.
Buy: She bought a new dress for the party.
踢: He kicked the ball towards the goal.
Paint: She painted the picture with watercolors.
Cook: He cooked dinner for his family.
Clean: She cleaned the room thoroughly.
Open: He opened the window to let in fresh air.
Fix: She fixed the broken vase with glue

Intransitive VerbExamples

This type of verb cannot have a noun directly attached to it and requires the use of a preposition in order to help it function. Examples ofintransitive verbsmight be:

Sleep: She sleeps soundly at night.
Laugh: They laughed at the funny joke.
Run: He ran to catch the bus.
Fall: The leaves fell from the trees in autumn.
Dance: She danced gracefully to the music.
Sing: He sang beautifully in the choir.
Swim: They swam in the pool for hours.
Jump: The rabbit jumped over the fence.
Shiver: She shivered in the cold wind.
Smile: He smiled at the children playing in the park

No Action To Be

A no action to be verb means that the verb is not directly referencing an action. The verb to be can function as both an auxiliary verb as well as a main verb. When it is being used as a main verb it will join a subject to an adjective for exampleShe is small．它还可能加入一个话题转到另一个国家臭氧机构n, for exampleJames is King.

However, when to be functions as an auxiliary verb it will form the progressive tense. An example of this would be;

The book is read by the teacher.
He is watching the TV.

Linking VerbExamples

This is a type of verbused to link a subject to a noun, a phrase, or an adjective. For example:

Seem: He seems tired after a long day at work.
Become: She became a successful businesswoman.
Look: He looks happy today.
Feel: She felt nervous before the presentation.
Sound: The music sounds beautiful.
Smell: The flowers smell sweet.
Taste: The soup tastes delicious.
Grow: The plants grow in the garden.
Remain: The problem remained unsolved

Examples of Different Verb Forms

When we are dealing with main verbs, there aredifferent formsin which they can come. We are now going to take a look at each of these forms in a little more detail.

Infinitives

The infinitive form of a verb is that state in which it is originally found. In English, this is often with the word ‘to’ in front of the verb, for example to run, to see, to have, to live.

What is a To-Infinitive?

Ato-infinitiveis a verbal consisting ofto + a verb, and it acts like a subject, direct object, subject complement, adjective, or adverb in a sentence.

We use the infinitive:

To indicate the purpose of an action
As subject of the sentence
As direct object of the sentence
As subject complement
As an adjective
As an adverb
After adjective
After object that is noun or pronoun referring to a person
Used with question word

Verbs Followed by Infinitives

List of commonly usedVerbs Followed by Infinitives

Attempt
Ask
Arrange
Beg
Begin
Care
Choose
Claim
Consent
Continue
Dare
Decide
Demand
Deserve
Dislike
Expect
Fail
Forget
Get
Hesitate
Hope
Hurry
Intend
Learn
Like
Love
Manage
Mean
Neglect
Need
Offer
Plan
Prefer
Prepare
Pretend
Proceed
Promise
Propose
Refuse
Remember
Seem
Start
Stop
Struggle
Swear
Threaten
Try

Zero Infinitive

We use theZero Infinitive when:

After modal auxiliary verbs
After the object after certain verbs, such ashear, see, make, let
After verbal idiomswould ratherandhad better
Used withWHY

Gerunds

What is a Gerund?

Gerundsare verbals that function as nouns and have an–ingending.

The gerund form of verbs is used as follows:

Used as subject of a sentence
Used as direct object of a sentence
Used as a subject complement
Used as an object of a preposition
Used after certain expressions

Verbs Followed by Gerunds

A useful list ofVerbs Followed by Gerundsin English.

Admit
Advise
Anticipate
Acknowledge
Appreciate
Avoid
Bear
Begin
Complete
Consider
Defer
Delay
Deny
Discuss
Dislike
Enjoy
Entail
Finish
Forget
Hate
Intend
Involve
Justify
Keep
Like
Love
Mention
Mind
Miss
Postpone
Practice
Prefer
辞职
Recall
Recollect
Recommend
Regret
Resent
Resist
Risk
Sanction
Start
Stop
Suggest
Tolerate
Try

List of Common VerbsFollowed by Gerunds

Pin Pin Pin

Present and Past Participles

What is a Participle?

A participle is a verbal that is used as an adjective and most often ends in -ing or -ed. They function as adjectives, thus participles modify nouns or pronouns.

Types of Participles

There are two participles in the English language: thepresent and past participle．

Present Participle

This is a very simple concept as to create the present participle one must simply add the letters -ing to the verb stem. This shows that something is happening right now. For exampleI am leaving the houseorThe cat is lying on the rug.

Past Participle

Similarly to the present participle, the past participle shows time, in this case that something has already happened-or has happened in the past. In order to create the past participle, one must add the letters -ed to the verb stem. For example the sentenceI decide what happenswould becomeI decided what happens.

尽管添加连接的regular form of past participle, there are some irregular verbs which do not follow this pattern. Some examples of this are as follows:

to show – shown
to see – seen
to built – built
to feel – felt

Finite and Non-finite Verbs

Another word for the finite form is the conjugated form. This happens when the verb is being used within a sentence. By conjugating the verb you are allowing it to demonstrate tense, number, mood and person. An example of this might be the sentence ‘he won the tournament.’ The conjugated verb here shows us that this is a past tense sentence in the third person singular. LearnFinite and Non-Finite Verb Formsin English.

Finite Verb Forms

A finite verb is controlled by the number of the subject. If the subject is singular, the verb is singular. If the subject is plural, the verb is plural.

Examples:

Theyare studyingreproduction in shellfish.
Isingwith the university chorus.

Non-finite Verb Forms

A non-finite verb is not controlled by the number, person and tense of the subject.