Language Notes Unit 3 Verbs

Action Verbs – words that show what the subject does or did

There are 3 types of sentences* that use action verbs:

I.Noun-Verb

Jan painted.

verb

II. Noun-Verb-Noun

Jan painted a picture.

Subject verb direct object

III. Noun-Verb-Noun-Noun

Jan painted Sue a picture.

Subject verb indirect direct object

object

*All of these sentences may have prepositional phrases, adjectives, or adverbs mixed in.

Direct Objects

  • Answer the question who or what (ex: painted what?)
  • Are nouns or pronouns
  • Always come AFTER the action verb

Indirect Objects

  • Answer the question to whom (what) or for whom(what)

(painted picture for whom?)

  • Are nouns or pronouns
  • Always come AFTER the action verb ANDIN FRONT OF the direct object

Transitive Verbs

  • Action verbs that have a direct object

Intransitive Verbs

  • Action verbs that do NOT have a direct object

Main Verbs & Helping Verbs

For this section, a main verb will be the action verb.

Verb Phrase – helping verb(s) + main verb

*Helping Verbs – any of the following words used in front of a main verb:

Language Notes Unit 3 Verbs

Am

Is

Are

Was

Were

Be

Being

Been

Have

Has

Had

Do

Does

Did

May

Might

Must

Can

Could

Will

Would

Shall

Should

Language Notes Unit 3 Verbs

*We will be memorizing this list of helping verbs.

Not is not a verb. It may interrupt a verb phrase, but it is not considered part of the verb.

HV MV

You may not go to the mall.

HV HV MV

They have been singingtoday.

Language Notes Unit 3 Verbs

Verb Tense

  • Present Tense (happening now) has no ending or ends in “s”
  • Past Tense (happened earlier) ends in “ed”
  • Future Tense (is going to happen) has “will” as a helping verb for the plural present tense main verb

Other Verb Tenses

Progressive Tense (is happening, continuing to happen)

Uses am, is, are, was, were + a verb ending in “ing”

Subject / Verb
Mary / Is singing
They / Are laughing
Bob / Was playing
The boys / Were trying
I / Am reading

Note:am, is, are = present progressive (she is singing)

was, were = past progressive (she was singing)

will be = future progressive (she will be singing)

Perfect Tense (has happened in the past, continuing) uses has, have, had + a past tense verb (or past participle if the verb is irregular)

Subject / Verb
Don / Has danced
They / Have helped
Sue / Had* walked (not continuing)
The girls / Have practiced
You / Have traveled

Have, has = present perfect

Had = past perfect

Will have = future perfect

Irregular Verbs

*You cannot add –ed to the end of irregular verbs.

I drawed a picture.

Should be I drew a picture.

*You have to change the spelling to form the past tense and perfect tense.

*To make the perfect tense of irregular verbs, you have to use the past participle form.

Past participle

I write today.********** I wroteyesterday.********** I have written before.

Present / Past / Past Perfect
has, have, had
Do / Did / Done
Go / Went / Gone
See / Saw / Seen
Drive / Drove / Driven
Ride / Rode / Ridden
Take / Took / Taken
Fly / Flew / Flown
Swim / Swam / Swum
Throw / Threw / Thrown
Know / Knew / known
Speak / Spoke / Spoken
Choose / Chose / Chosen
Drink / Drank / Drunk
Wear / Wore / Worn
Teach / Taught / Taught
Blow / Blew / Blown
Break / Broke / Broken
Freeze / Froze / Frozen
Catch / Caught / Caught
Sink / Sank / Sunk
Tear / Tore / Torn
Think / Thought / Thought

Linking Verbs – Link the subject to a noun or an adjective in the predicate.

Some linking verbs* are:

Am / Is / Are
Was / Were
*Appear
*Seem / *Feel / *Smell
*Become / *Taste / *Stay
*Grow / *Look / *Sound

*These words may have endings such as –s or –ed. (seems, stayed)

There are two sentence types that use linking verbs:

IV. Mary is a doctor.

Subject LV predicate noun

V. Mary seems nice.

Subject LV predicate adjective

A predicate noun is a noun in the predicate (comes after the linking verb) that renames or describes the subject.

Mrs. Johnson is a teacher.

A predicate adjective is an adjective in the predicate (comes after the linking verb) that describes the subject.

Pizza is really good.

Subject-Verb Agreement in Present Tense verbs

Singular subjects take singular verbs. (Singular verbs end in S.)

Plural subjects take plural verbs.

Singular subject / Singular verb / Plural Subject / Plural Verb / Singular Helping Verbs / Plural
Helping Verbs
Bob / Runs / They / Walk / Is / Are
Joe / Eats / The students / Play / Was / Were
The cat / Purrs / Cats / meow / Has / Have
She/he / Laughs / Teachers / teach / Does / do
It / smiles / Dogs / bark

Compound Subjects:

Subjects joined by and are plural.

Bob and Suzy laugh.

Subjects joined by or or nor depend on the second subject.

Either Bob or Suzylaughs.

Neither my dog nor my catslike that food.

Common Errors with Subject-Verb Agreement

Prepositional Phrases – When a prepositional phrase comes between the subject and the verb, look at the subject, not the object of the preposition.

The girl on the stairs is my sister.

Sentences that begin with here or there – When a sentence starts with here or there, know that here or there is not the subject. The subject is the item that is here or there.

Here is the answer.

There are my keys.

Compound Subjects:

Joined by AND – always plural

JamesandJohnare brothers.

Joined by OR or NOR – look at the last subject, or the one closest to the verb.

Either Matt orKim is coming.

Neither the teacher nor the students know the answer.

Commas

Commas signal a pause in reading.

Commas are used in:

  • Greetings and closings of letters
  • Dear Sally, Yours truly,
  • Dates
  • January 12, 1983,
  • Between cities and states
  • Laurel, Mississippi,
  • Lists of 3 or more
  • Cookies, cake, andcandy
  • Direct address
  • Sue, did you like the soup?
  • Introductory words
  • No, I did not.
  • Interrupters
  • I did, however, enjoy the salad.
  • Appositives
  • Mandy, my mom’s friend, is very nice.