Contents
What are Verbs
A verb is a word that expresses an action, occurrence, or state of being. Verbs tell us what is happening, has happened, or will happen in a sentence.
Examples
Here are some examples of verbs in action:
Action Verbs
Run – She runs every morning.
Eat – They eat dinner at 7 PM.
Write – He writes a letter.
State Verbs
Be – She is happy.
Seem – The plan seems perfect.
Belong – This book belongs to me.
Occurrence Verbs
Happen – The accident happened yesterday.
Occur – The event occurs every year.
Verb Forms
Base Form (Infinitive) forms
The base form of a verb is the form without any endings.
Examples: walk, run, jump, eat, drink
- We need to eat breakfast before school.
- She likes to run every morning.
Past Simple (Past Tense) forms
The past simple form is used to describe an action that happened in the past.
Examples: walked, ran, jumped, ate, drank
- He jumped over the hurdle in the race.
- I drank a glass of water after exercise.
What are Verbs
Past Participle forms
The past participle form is used to describe an action that started in the past and continues up to the present.
Examples: walked, run, jumped, eaten, drunk
- I have walked 5 miles every day for a week.
- We have eaten dinner at this restaurant many times.
Present Participle forms
The present participle form is used to describe an action that is happening now.
Examples: reading, writing, learning, playing, singing.
- We are learning a new skill in class today.
- They are playing soccer in the park right now.
What are Verbs
Present Continuous forms
The present continuous form is used to describe an action that is happening now.
Examples: watching, cooking, travelling, meeting, studying.
- I am watching a movie on TV.
- He is cooking dinner in the kitchen.
What are Verbs
Past Continuous forms
- The past continuous form is used to describe an action that was happening in the past.
- Examples: watching, meeting, studying, speaking, travelling.
They were traveling to Europe last summer.
He was speaking on the phone when I arrived.
Future Simple forms
- The future simple form is used to describe an action that will happen in the future.
- Examples: will meet, will practice, will learn, will eat, will jump
They will practice their musical instruments every day.
We will meet at 5 pm for the conference.
What are Verbs
Future Continuous forms
The future continuous form is used to describe an action that will be happening in the future.
Examples: will be visiting, will be celebrating, will be attending, will be arriving, will be growing.
- She will be visiting her family next weekend.
- They will be celebrating their anniversary next week.
What are Verbs
Verb Tenses
Present Tenses
- Present Simple uses the base form (e.g. walk).
- Present Continuous uses am/is/are + the -ing form (e.g. am walking).
- Present Perfect uses have/has + the past participle (e.g. have walked).
- Present Perfect Continuous uses have/has + been + the -ing form (e.g. have been walking).
What are Verbs
Examples:
- Present Simple: I walk to school every day.
- Present Continuous: I am walking to school right now.
- Present Perfect: I have walked to school many times.
- Present Perfect Continuous: I have been walking to school for an hour.
Past Tense
- Past Simple uses the past tense form (e.g. studied).
- Past Continuous uses was/were + the -ing form (e.g. were studying).
- Past Perfect uses had + the past participle (e.g. had studied).
- Past Perfect Continuous uses had + been + the -ing form (e.g. had been studying). Examples:
- Past Simple: I studied for the exam last night.
- Past Continuous: You were studying when I called you.
- Past Perfect: It had studied the material before the test.
- Past Perfect Continuous: They had been studying for hours before they took a break.
Future Tenses
- Future Simple: will + base form (e.g. will play)
- Future Continuous: will + be + -ing form (e.g. will be playing)
- Future Perfect: will + have + past participle (e.g. will have played)
- Future Perfect Continuous: will + have + been + -ing form (e.g. will have been playing)
Examples:
- Future Simple: She will play tennis next week.
- Future Continuous: He will be playing guitar at the concert tomorrow.
- Future Perfect: They will have played chess many times by the end of the tournament.
- Future Perfect Continuous: She will have been playing violin for two hours by the time the practice ends.
Common Mistakes with Verbs
What are Verbs
Subject-Verb Agreement:
The verb must agree with the subject in number (singular or plural).
Incorrect: She like apples.
Correct: She likes apples.
Incorrect Verb Tense:
Using the wrong tense can confuse the timeline of events.
Incorrect: I go to the store yesterday.
Correct: I went to the store yesterday.
Misusing Irregular Verbs:
Irregular verbs do not follow standard conjugation rules.
Incorrect: She runned to the park.
Correct: She ran to the park.
What are Verbs
Overusing Passive Voice:
While passive voice is grammatically correct, overusing it can make writing less clear.
Passive: The book was read by her.
Active: She read the book.
Read also: Day 15: Present simple –Do/Does?
Read also: Day 16: Present Continuous Tense
For regular English-speaking course updates, kindly join our Telegram channel
Follow the Sarsa Education channel on Telegram: https://shorturl.at/R5WKa