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Definition
 A
verb expresses an action or a state of being.
Most
statements in speech and writing have a main verb.
EXAMPLES
The
following verbs are expressed in their infinitive form:
to sing
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to eat
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to run
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to travel
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to be
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to have
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to intend
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to feel
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to paint
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USE
Verbs
are traditionally expressed along with the appropriate pronouns
as follows:
Singular
|
Plural
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I run
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We run
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You run
|
You run
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He runs
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They run
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She runs
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–
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It runs
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–
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This
is the conjugation of the verb 'to run'.
Verbs
are expressed in tenses which place the
statement in a point in time. Broadly speaking these are are the
past, present, and future tense:
PAST
|
I ran
|
[yesterday]
|
PRESENT
|
I run
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[today]
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FUTURE
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I shall run
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[tomorrow]
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The
verbs 'to be' and 'to have' are the most commonly used auxiliary
verbs and they work alongside the main verbs in any statement.
Verbs
are doing words. This is a very simple definition, although
it is valid for most normal purposes:
John went to the bank.
My mother arrives on Saturday.
Simple Simon met a pieman.
The
verb is a very important part of the sentence.
It is a necessary part of every fully expressed predicate - the
part of the sentence which normally follows the subject.
The
verb is the grammatical instrument which
gives us information about the person or thing which is the subject.
Consider
the following sentence:
Jane grasped the neckace with joy and placed it in the carved
box.
We
are given essential information here by means of two verbs - 'grasped'
and 'placed'. They express the subject's physical and psychological
attitude, and they also place the action in a temporal context
by the fact that they are verbs in the past tense.
These
verbs in this context are lexical items, even though they are also
doing essential grammatical work. They are lexical in the sense
that they are giving detailed information regarding the actions
of the subject.
In
other contexts, the verb does take a more mechanically grammatical
role, as in the following sentence:
James is absolutely sure that Alice is the right choice
for the executive post.
Here
the verb 'to be' is used twice to express the information. The
verb's function here is almost entirely grammatical rather than
lexical. The lexical information is given by means of the two adverbs 'absolutely'
and 'sure', the adverbial phrase 'right choice', and the phrase
'executive post'.
The
verb 'is' puts the information in the present tense and
facilitates the expression of James' state of mind.
Advertisers
trade on the grammatical dynamism of the verb when space is at
a premium. The following slogans all use the verb in a lexical
mode, which places the focus on the action.
It's good to talk
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British Telecom
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Makes the going easy
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British Rail slogan
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Wash and go
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shampoo ad
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Pick up a Penguin
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chocolate biscuits
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The listening bank
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Midland Bank ad
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Road
signs also need to be succinct, so verbs play a crucial part in
the best known:
All
of these are strong imperatives. The recent 'Kill your speed' is
not only imperative but emotive by the use of the word 'kill',
here applied as a metaphor.
Verbs
are employed to critical effect by poets. The following well known
extracts show the powerful effect of the lexical verb.
My heart aches and a drowsy numbness pains my sense
As though of hemlock I had drunk one moment past
And Lethewards had sunk.
[JOHN KEATS]
Here
'aches' and 'pains' both in the present tense are
strongly evocative of a listless state of being. The next active
verb 'drunk' acts as a clear connection between the state of being
and the possible cause, at the same time as shifting the action
from the present to the hypothetical past. 'Sunk' completes the
sequence by suggesting physical movement as a result of all the
preceding verbal information.
Verbs
can also be transformed into other grammatical functions
and in many cases this results in an increased dynamism.
Adverbs
|
'Thats nice' he said mockingly, as she tried her
best to pick up the broken vase.
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Adjectives
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The moving finger writes, and having writ moves
on.
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Nouns
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He always insisted on doing all his own washing.
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Conversely,
other parts of speech can be used as verbs. American English is
replete with such usages, some of which have been assimilated into
British English.
Young
people now go 'clubbing' on Saturday evenings. 'Parenting' has
now become the term for child-rearing. A recent court case in America
revealed that the defendent had been 'incested'. |
