The English Verb

System
English Grammar II
Profesorado de Ingles I.E.S. Aguilares.
Tucumán - Argentina

By Sergio Rojas.
 m:
English verb syste

• Defnition.
• Classifcation.
• Tense.
• Mood.
• Aspect.
• Voice.
• Verb Forms
 What is a
“verb”?

A word used to describe an action, state,

or occurrence, and forming the main part
of a sentence, such as hear, become,
happen.
 THE VERB AND ITS
FEATURES
Mood
Verb
category Tense

verb

Aspect Voice

Form
Verb Categories
 Verb categories

Classified according to..

Function in Its
Semantic
the verb complementati
implications
phrase on

Transitiv
Lexical Stative
e

Intransiti
Auxiliary Dynamic
ve
The Function of the Verb

in the verb phrase.

 Can, may, might, shall,
will, should, would,
Modals could, must, ought to,
need,

Auxiliar
y
Lexical
Be, have, do
auxiliary

Function
in the
verb
phrase Play played
played
Open opened
Regular opened
Close closed closed

Lexical
Go went gone
See saw seen
Irregular
Set set set
 LEXICAL VS

AUXILIARY ENGLISH

VERBS
MODAL
VERBS
 MODAL VERBS
 They have meaning. They are used to indicate
modality. They give additional information about
the function of the main verb that follows it.

 Modals: One word (will, would, shall, should,can,

could, may, might, must) modal verbs are
followed by an infnitive without "to“.

 Semi modals: Two or more words (ought to, going

to, happen to)
Modal Example Uses
Can They can control their own budgets. Ability / Possibility
We can’t fix it. Inability /
Impossibility.

Can I smoke here? Asking for permission.

Can you help me? Request.

Could Could I borrow your dictionary? Asking for permission.

Could you say it again more slowly? Request.
We could try to fix it ourselves. Suggestion.
I think we could have another Gulf War. Future possibility.
He gave up his old job so he could work
for us. Ability in the past.
 May May I have another cup of coffee? Asking for permission.
China may become a major economic Future possibility.
power.

Might We'd better phone tomorrow, they Present possibility.

might be eating their dinner now.
They might give us a 10% discount. Future possibility.
Must We must say good-bye now. Necessity / Obligation.
They mustn’t disrupt the work more
than necessary. Prohibition.
Ought to We ought to employ a professional Saying what’s right or
writer. correct
Shall Shall I help you with your luggage? Offer Suggestion.
(More Shall we say 2.30 then?
common Shall I do that or will you? Asking what to do.
in the UK
than the
US)
Should Saying what’s right or
We should sort out this problem at once. correct.
Recommending
I think we should check everything again. action.

Profits should increase next year. Uncertain prediction.

Will I can’t see any taxis so I’ll walk. Instant decisions.
I'll do that for you if you like. Offer.
I’ll get back to you first thing on Promise.
Monday. Profits will increase next year. Certain
prediction.
Would Would you mind if I brought a colleague
with me? Asking for permission.
Would you pass the salt please?
Would you mind waiting a moment? Request.
"Would three o`clock suit you?" - "That’d be Request.
fine." Making
Would you like to play golf this Friday? arrangements.
"Would you prefer tea or coffee?" - "I’d like
tea please." Invitation.

Preferences.
 Semantic

classification of

English verbs
 ACTIVITY VERBS: eat, drink, throw, read, say, work

PROCESS VERBS: change, grow, mature, widen, slow

down. Usually used in the progressive aspect.
Semantic implications

Dynamic BODY SENSATION: feel, ache, hurt, itch,

Also called “action”

Transitional verbs: arrive, die, fall, leave, lose. The
verbs because they
progressive iimplies an approach to the end.
donote movement,
actions, processes, etc
Momentary verbs: (Little duration) hit, jump, knock.
The progrressive suggests repetitions.

Transitional verbs: arrive, die, fall, leave, lose. The

progressive iimplies an approach to the end.

Inert Perception and cognition verbs: hate, love,

Stative know like, mean, mind, regard, remember, see, smell,
taste, think, understand, etc.
Stative verbs ususally
refer to a state or
Relational verbs: apply to, be, belong to, concern,
condition which is quite
consist of, contain, cost, have, fit, involve, lack,
static or unchanging. matter, seem, resemble, etc
 Stative vs Dynamic verbs

DYNAMIC VERBS:

 describe an ACTION rather than a STATE.

e.g. They are playing football.

 A process dynamic verb in the progressive aspect indicates

incomplete actions: e.g.
He’s reading a book. ( he hasn’t finished it yet)

 Transitional dynamic verbs in the progressive aspect imply

approaching to the transition: e.g. We are arriving …

 Momentary dynamic verbs have little duration. When used in

the progressive, they suggest repetition.
Compare: He knocked at the door (once)
He was knocking at the door. (more than once)
 MONOTRANSITIVE VERBS:
they require one Direct Object:
eg. He caught the ball. ( S + V + DO )

DITRANSITIVE VERBS:
Transitiv
Its complementation

They require two objects, Direct and Indirect Objects.

e e.g. He gave her a book. ( S + V + IO + DO )

COMPLEX TRANSITIVE VERBS: when the DO is

followed a an Object Complement.
Eg. We found the house empty. ( S + V + DO - Co
)

CURRENT COPULA: with stative verbs like: appear,

feel, look, remain, seem, smell, sound, taste.
Intransiti
ve
RESULTING COPULA: with dynamic verbs like:
become, get, go, grow, turn, make.
 MAIN VERBS
 Main verbs have meaning on their own (unlike
helping verbs). There are thousands of main verbs,
and we can classify them in several ways:

 Transitive and intransitive verbs.

 Linking verbs.

 Dynamic and stative verbs.

 Regular and irregular verbs.

 Transitive vs Intransitive verbs
 A transitive verb takes a direct object: Somebody killed the President. An
intransitive verb does not have a direct object: He died. Many verbs, like
speak, can be transitive or intransitive. Look at these examples:

 Transitive: You need to use an object.

I saw an elephant. We
are watching TV. He
speaks English.

 Intransitive: I can use it alone in the verb phrase or with adverbial.

He has arrived. John

goes to school. She
speaks fast.
 TENSE and ASPECT

When and
how?
 Tense Aspect

WHEN the action is HOW the action is

performed performed

“Time” is a physical universal “Aspect” concerns the

concept. “Tense” is a MANNER in which the verbal
grammatical concept. By tense action is experienced or
we understand the relation regarded, for example
between the FORM of the verb COMPLETED, SIMPLE or IN
and our concept of TIME. PROGRESS.
English has:

2 tenses:
• Present “I go..” and
• Past “ I went..”
There is no specifc verb form for the future. (Futurity is formed with the
auxiliary “will” followed by the base form of the verb).” I will go..”

4 aspects:
• Simple: “ I work”
• Progressive: “I am working..”
• Perfective: “ I have worked…”
• Perfect-progressive: “I have been working..”
 The concepts of TENSE and ASPECT cannot be considered
separately. Their combination form different verb tenses.

TENSE ASPECT Example

Present Simple I work
Present Progressive/continuous I am working
Present Perfect I have worked
Present Perfect progressive/continuous I have been working
Past Simple I worked
Past Progressive/continuous I was working
Past Perfect I had worked
Past Perfect progressive/continuous I had been working
Future Simple I will work
Future Progressive/continuous I will be working
Future Perfect I will have worked
Future Perfect progressive/continous I will have been working
 The semantic implications of verb
ASPECT:
Example aspect meaning
 Spiders have eight legs Simple  Fact, timeless situation,
 I live in Madrid.  habitual action, truth.

 I am reading a book  Unfnished, incomplete actions, in

 He is playing football now Progressive progress
 Simultaneous at the time of speaking

 He has lived here for five  Previous to.

years Perfective  Near a present point.
 Dad has just arrived.  Indefnite action.
 We’ve never eaten Chinese
food.

 She has been sitting in the  Action of “sitting” continuous, but the
class all morning. Perfect perfect progressive focuses on the
 He had been waiting until Progressive completed part of the action.
the alam clock rang.  The past perfect continuous stresses
the idea that the action of waiting
was completed.
MOOD
 INDICATIVE VS SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD
What is mood?
The term “mood” is used in grammar to refer to a verb category. In English
there are three verbal moods:

 INDICATIVE MOOD: expresses certainty, factual information and

objectivity.

 SUBJUNCTIVE MOOD: expresses the opposite to certainty. For

instance, doubt, uncertainty, desire, hypothetical

situations, etc.

 IMPERATIVE MOOD: expresses order and commands.

 INDICATIVE SUBJUNCTIVE
 
   
 Certainty  Uncertainty.
 Factual  Unreal situation.
information.  Subjectivity.
 Objectivity.  Wishes
 Desires.
 Condition
 Hypothetical
situation.
Very important!
The Subjunctive in English lacks a
specific verb form (as opposed to
Spanish) of its own.
So, the subjunctive “borrows” some
forms from the indicative.
See the chart in the next slide
 INDICATIVE SUBJUNCTIVE
 
   
We arrived at ten yesterday. I wish I was rich.
She will not come to my If Only we had travelled to
party. Europe.
They are watching a film I hope you pass the exam.
now. The teacher demanded that the
We have already written a students be punctual.
composition.  

He plays hockey. The subjunctive makes use a limited number of verb

forms: -ed, past participle, base form.
 
The indicative makes use of all verb forms : -ed;
base form; -ing, past participle; -s/ - es. 
For example:
 The subjunctive borrows the “past” form to express
“unreal present”

I wish I was a millionaire. (but I am not)

The verb “was” seems like a pass, but here it expresses an “unreal
present”. “Was” is past in “form”, but “present” in meaning.

 The subjunctive borrows the past perfect to express

“unreal past” actions.

I wish I hadn’t said that last night (but I did it)

The “past perfect” hadn’t said is NOT an action before another past action,
but it expresses an “unreal past”.
 MOOD
 indicative mood expresses a simple statement of
fact, which can be positive (affirmative) or
negative.

I like coffee.
I don’t like coffee.

 imperative mood expresses a command.

Sit down!

 subjunctive mood expresses what is imagined or

wished or
possible
 VOICE
ACTIVE OR PASSIVE?

Who does the action? / who receives the

action?
 VOICE
 Voice is the expression of relationships between
the predicate and nominal functions. English has
two voices: active and passive.
 In the active voice, the subject performs the action
of or acts upon the verb and the direct object
receives the action of the verb. In the passive
voice, the subject receives the action of the
transitive verb.
 For example, the sentence I read the book is in

the active voice because the subject "I"

performs the action of reading and the direct
object the book receives the action of
reading.
 The sentence The book was read [by me], on the
other hand, is in the passive voice because the
ACTIVE VOICE

PASSIVE VOICE
FORMS OF VERBS
 Verb Forms
• He plays tennis.

FINITE • We are watching tv.

• She has been studying a lot.

Those forms of the verb that

have TENSE and PERSON
distinction.

• Gerund   working from home is a tendecy.

NON- • Participle   Having Heard the noise, we...
FINITE • Infinitive   to be or not to be.
Those forms of the verb that • Bare infinitive   Turn round the corner .
have neither TENSE nor
• Base Form   Let him go.
PERSON distinction.
References:

 Vince, M. (1994) Advance Language Practice. Heinemann ELT.

 Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.. Longman Pearson.
 Quirk, R & Greenbaum, S. (1978) A University Grammar of English,. Longman Group
Limited.
 Graver, D. (1986) Advanced Grammar Practice. O.U.P.
 Fowler, W.(1977) First Certificate English.( Hong Kong). Nelson.

 Parrot, M. (2000) Grammar for English Language Teachers. Cambridge U. P.

 https://www.grammar.com/
 https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/
 https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/
 https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/intermediate-grammar