English Verbs

English Verbs is a word or set of words that shows action (runs, is going, has been painting); feeling (loves, envies); or state of being (am, are, is, have been, was, seem).

• I ran around the block.
• I like my friend.
• He seems friendly

English Verbs

English verbs are either regular or irregular. A regular verb’s simple past tense and past participle are always identical. Not so with irregular verbs. They form the simple past tense and the past participle in any number of unpredictable ways.

Depending on the topics, the time they refer to, and other ideas we want to express, they take on a variety of forms.

State-of-being verbs are called linking verbs. They include all forms of the verb to be (be, being, been, am, is, are, was, were), plus such words as look, feel, appear, act, go, followed by an adjective.

Here are some examples:

• You look happy.
• We feel fine.
• He went ballistic.

Verbs often consist of more than one word. For instance, had been breaking down is a four-word verb. It has a two-word main verb, breaking down (also called a phrasal verb), and two helping verbs (had and been). Helping verbs are so named because they help clarify the intended meaning.

Many verbs can function as helping verbs, including is, shall, must, do, has, can, keep, get, start, help, etc.

You will sometimes hear the word participle, which is the form of a verb used with helping verbs to make verb tenses or is used to form adjectives. For instance, breaking and broken are the present and past participles, respectively, of the verb break. A broken dish is an example of a phrase containing a participle as an adjective.

Verbs often take direct objects, which receive the action of the verb carried out by the subject.

Here are some examples:

• I like cake.
  (cake receives the action, like, done by the subject, I)
• She lifts weights.
  (weights receives the action, lifts, done by the subject, She)

Verbs whose direct objects are the same as their subject are called Reflexive verbs.

Here are some examples:

• John taught himself to play the guitar.
  (Reflexive verb: taught  and The direct object and the subject= himself)

Verbs may also take indirect objects, which receive the direct object. You can spot an indirect object if it makes sense to place to or from in front of it.

Here are some examples:

• I gave Joe the cake.
  (The indirect object, Joe, receives the direct object, cake, given by the subject, I. Note that you could also say I gave the cake to Joe.)
• She did me a favor.
  (The indirect object, me, is affected by the direct object, favor, done by the subject, She. Note that you could also say She did a favor for me.)

Gerund is another verb-related term we’ll mention only briefly. Gerunds are also called verbal nouns, because they are formed when verbs have -ing added to them and are used as nouns.

Example:

Walking is great exercise. (The –ing word, the gerund, is the subject of the sentence.)

The Most Common English Verbs

Here is a list of all common English verbs with their patterns. You should know these verbs to improve your English Language skills.