Verbs

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Verb Forms: Verbs change their form to indicate time distinctions or tense. There are six basic tenses in the English verb system, present, past, future, present perfect, past perfect and future perfect. These six tenses come from the three principle parts of a verb, present, past and present perfect or participle.

The Progressive Form. The progressive form includes the present progressive, the past progressive and the future progressive. The progressive form of a verb is formed by joining the ~to be~ auxiliary to the base tense of the verb + ing.

Every sentence has a verb. Verbs are used to express:

Physical action: Jerry walked out of the room.
Invisible action: I feared for my life.
Possession: She had a problem with her students.
State of being: He seems intelligent enough.

Verb Voice: Verbs have both active and passive voice. A verb is in the active voice when the subject of the verb is doing the action. In the sentence, The boy broke the window, boy is the subject of the verb broke and is the performer, or doer, of the verb. In the passive voice the subject is the receiver of the action. The window was broken by the boy.

Transitive and Intransitive verbs: A transitive verb must have a direct object to complete the meaning of the sentence.

I like pizza.

Pizza is the direct object of the verb like.

An intransitive verb does not require an object.

The man spoke./ The children played.

Subject Verb Agreement: Every verb must agree verb must agree with its subject in number and person. When the subject of a verb is singular, or expressed in the 3rd person singular, the verb should be in its singular form.

A dog eats dog food. (singular)
He, she, it eats people food. (3rdperson singular)

When the subject is in the plural form, or in the first person singular, or second person, or third person plural, the verb should be in its plural form.

Dogs eat dog food.(plural)
I eat people food. (First person)
You eat people food. (Second person)
They, we eat people food. (Third person plural)