Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Verb. A verb (from Latin verbum 'word') is a word ( part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action ( bring, read, walk, run, learn ), an occurrence ( happen, become ), or a state of being ( be, exist, stand ). In the usual description of English, the basic form, with or without the particle to, is the infinitive.
In linguistics, conjugation ( / ˌkɒndʒʊˈɡeɪʃən / [ 1][ 2]) is the creation of derived forms of a verb from its principal parts by inflection (alteration of form according to rules of grammar ). For instance, the verb break can be conjugated to form the words break, breaks, broke, broken and breaking. While English has a relatively ...
More examples can be found at Verb patterns with the gerund. English has a number of ergative verbs: verbs which can be used either intransitively or transitively, where in the intransitive use it is the subject that is receiving the action, and in the transitive use the direct object is receiving the action while the subject is causing it.
An example in modern English is the verb to arrive. Verbs that can be used in an intransitive or transitive way are called ambitransitive verbs . In English, an example is the verb to eat ; the sentences You eat (with an intransitive form) and You eat apples (a transitive form that has apples as the object) are both grammatical.
The English modal auxiliary verbs are a subset of the English auxiliary verbs used mostly to express modality (properties such as possibility and obligation). [a] They can most easily be distinguished from other verbs by their defectiveness (they do not have participles or plain forms [b]) and by their lack of the ending ‑ ( e) s for the ...
A typical English verb may have five different inflected forms: The base form or plain form ( go, write, climb ), which has several uses—as an infinitive, imperative, present subjunctive, and present indicative except in the third-person singular. The -s form ( goes, writes, climbs ), used as the present indicative in the third-person singular.
An example is the verb have in the sentence I have finished my lunch. Here, the auxiliary have helps to express the perfect aspect along with the participle, finished. Some sentences contain a chain of two or more auxiliary verbs. Auxiliary verbs are also called helping verbs, helper verbs, or (verbal) auxiliaries. Research has been conducted ...
The first English grammar, Bref Grammar for English by William Bullokar, published in 1586, does not use the term "auxiliary" but says: All other verbs are called verbs-neuters-un-perfect because they require the infinitive mood of another verb to express their signification of meaning perfectly: and be these, may, can, might or mought, could, would, should, must, ought, and sometimes, will ...