Grammar : Verbs - SS1 English Lesson Note

Verbs are words that express action, occurrence or state of being. They are one of the most important parts of speech in English and are essential for constructing sentences. Verbs are often used to show what the subject of the sentence is doing or what is happening to the subject.

Transitive verbs:these are verbs that require objects or complements, examples;

1. Tunde are rice yesterday

2. The boys play football every day.

3. I gave the boy my book. 

4. He bought her a present.

Intransitive Verbs: these are verbs that do not require objects or complements, examples

1. The man laughed.

2. She danced beautifully

Finite Verbs: these are verbs that can be inflected for person, number, tense, etc.  e.g.

1. My friend prays every day.

2. My friend prayed yesterday.

3. My girl eats voraciously.

4. The girls eat voraciously.

5. He attends all classes.

6. They attend all classes.

Non-finite Verbs: the non-finite verb cannot be inflected for person, number and tense. E.g

The –ing form of verb as in going, moving, coming

The –en form of verb as in taken, gone, done etc

To-infinitives as in to go, to see, to dance, etc

Auxiliary verbs: These are verbs that are used to help the main verb express tense, mood, or voice. Examples include "do," "does," "did," "have," "has," "had," "can," "could," "may," "might," "must," "shall," "should," "will," "would," etc

Types of auxiliary verbs

Base form

Finite form

In finite form

1. be

is,are,am,was,were

be, been, being

2. have

has, have, had

have, having

3. do

do, does, did

4. will

will, would

5. can

can, could

6. shall

shall, should

7. may

may, might

8. must

must

9. ought

ought

10. dare

dare

11. need

Need

Auxiliary verbs are of two types: primary and modal auxiliary verbs.  The primary auxiliary verbs are the verbs categorized under the verbs –to be, to have, and to do

Modal auxiliary verbs. These models areauxiliaries in the sense that they assist lexical verbs like “write” “eat”, “look”, etc. which they precede in sentences. In some sentences, the modals ( can, shall, may, must, etc.) can precede verbs be, or have which may themselves precede the lexical verb with – “ing” or     “-ed” endings.

Examples

(i) The boys must come back home.

(ii) They have been going back since last week.

As mentioned earlier, modal auxiliaries are often used in special sense. The modals are thirteen in number:

➢ Can/ could

➢ Shall/ should

➢ Will/ would

➢ May/ might

➢ ought to

➢ dare

➢ need

➢ must

➢ used to.