noun
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RELATED WORDS
Nearby words
- veranda,
- verandaed,
- verapamil,
- veratridine,
- veratrine,
- verb phrase,
- verb. sap.,
- verbage,
- verbal,
Origin of verb
Grammar note
Understandably, this multitalented part of speech can be analyzed and categorized in any of several ways. For example, this dictionary distinguishes between a transitive verb, labeled “(used with object),” as in The country fought two wars at the same time, and an intransitive verb, labeled “(used without object),” as in He fought in both of them. As we can see with fight, some verbs can be either transitive or intransitive.
Another analysis is offered by the grammarians Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, and Svartvik in their renowned A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. They divide verbs into three categories: (1) modal auxiliary verbs, a short list comprising can, may, will, shall, could, might, would, should, and must, all of which are “helping” verbs, as in Congress will vote tomorrow, and (2) primary verbs, the smallest group— be, do, and have —all three of which can be either auxiliaries ( I am leaving for school now; I did finish my homework; I have studied enough ) or main verbs ( I am happy; I did my best; I have a good teacher ), and (3) full verbs, the largest group by far, containing all the rest.
A third approach differentiates an action verb from one that is stative. An action verb expresses something you can do ( run, study, sit, want ) or something that can happen ( leak, end, appear, collapse ). In contrast, a stative verb expresses an ongoing state or condition ( I know all the answers; we own our house; they fear failure ). Some verbs, like be, are in both camps: In she is careless, the verb is is stative, describing a permanent trait. In she was being careless in losing those documents, the verb was is an action verb, describing a specific act of carelessness. The same mutability is seen in verbs of the senses ( smell, taste, feel ): Mmm, smell that coffee [action]; the coffee smells wonderful [stative].
We can also distinguish the linking verb (more formally known as a copula ) from verbs that can take an object or be modified by an adverb. Linking verbs identify or describe a subject by connecting it with a noun, an adjective, or a prepositional phrase in a following complement ( she is a doctor; they were delighted; we will be at the party ). Other linking verbs, like feel, appear, smell, taste, look, become, and stay perform the same concatenating function. A number of them happen to be stative, but not all; get and act, for example, are both linking and action verbs ( the weather got warmer yesterday; she acted surprised ). As we can see, a single verb can be categorized in more than one way, depending on which type of analysis we subject it to.
And finally, we can look at English verbs in terms of a number of grammatical features that are expressed by changes in their form or changes in the way sentences are constructed. These features are tense2 (such as present and past), voice (active or passive), person (first, second, or third), number (singular or plural), and mood2 (such as indicative and subjunctive)—each defined at its own Dictionary.com entry.
2nd Form Of Verb
Examples from the Web for verb
As with any emergent technology where an action is involved, the brand becomes the verb.
The Zen of Yo|Dale Eisinger|August 2, 2014|DAILY BEASTThe verb shovel is not a figure of speech; a garden shovel actually is used to serve the oysters.
A Briny, South Carolina Oyster Shack|Jane & Michael Stern|March 23, 2014|DAILY BEASTTheir Dutch nickname, putterje, comes from the verb putten, meaning to draw water from a well.
Face to Face With ‘The Goldfinch,’ the Painting from Donna Tartt’s Novel|Malcolm Jones|December 1, 2013|DAILY BEASTOne of my favorite teachers at Choate, Mr. Yankus, had a similar warning against using the verb “to be” in any essay.
Anthony Grafton: How I Write|Noah Charney|July 17, 2013|DAILY BEAST
That was the second term with Mr. Hyde: “Gentlemen, now you will learn to write without the verb to be!”
Anthony Grafton: How I Write|Noah Charney|July 17, 2013|DAILY BEASTEvery Proposition must have a noun and a verb — it must be proposition of Something.
Plato and the Other Companions of Sokrates, 3rd ed. Volume III (of 4)|George GroteShe was the substantive mood of the present tense of the verb to be.
It did not even interest Ollyett that the verb 'to huckle' had passed into the English leader-writers' language.
Formerly a man's own was what he worked for, own being a past participle of a verb signifying to work.
English Grammar in Familiar Lectures|Samuel KirkhamAfter a verb of wishing, the subjunctive is regularly used in the dependent clause.
An English Grammar|W. M. Baskervill and J. W. Sewell
British Dictionary definitions forverb
![Form of verb ser Form of verb ser](https://www.multimediaquran.com/quran/arabic/grammar/form2/akkada.gif)
noun
- a word or group of words that functions as the predicate of a sentence or introduces the predicate
- (as modifier)a verb phrase
Word Origin for verb
Word Origin and History forverb
List Of Verbs
n.late 14c., from Old French verbe 'part of speech that expresses action or being,' from Latin verbum 'verb,' originally 'a word,' from PIE root *were- (cf. Avestan urvata- 'command;' Sanskrit vrata- 'command, vow;' Greek rhetor 'public speaker,' rhetra 'agreement, covenant,' eirein 'to speak, say;' Hittite weriga- 'call, summon;' Lithuanian vardas 'name;' Gothic waurd, Old English word 'word').
Culture definitions forverb
A word that represents an action or a state of being. Go, strike, travel, and exist are examples of verbs. A verb is the essential part of the predicate of a sentence. The grammatical forms of verbs include number, person, and tense. (Seeauxiliary verb, infinitive, intransitive verb, irregular verb, participle, regular verb, andtransitive verb.)
Form Of Verbs For Grade 4
The verb 'to be' is one of the shortest and most important—yet oddest—verbs in the English language. It is an irregular verb; indeed, it is the only verb in English that completely changes form in every tense. The verb 'to be' is probably the most important verb in English. It can be used in simple statements such as:
![Form Of Verb Form Of Verb](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/b5/f0/24/b5f024d54ca9e617fed9c7f9bd517620.jpg)
- How are you?
- It is a beautiful day!
- I am from Italy.
The 'to be' verb can also be used to express complex thoughts: It is the verb at the very core of one of William Shakespeare's most famous plays, Hamlet, where the title character speaks the famous line: 'To be, or not to be.' ('Hamlet,' Act 3, Scene 1) Hamlet was asking whether it is better to be dead or alive, or in other words, whether to exist or not exist.
At heart, that's what the 'to be' verb connotes: a state of being or existence. It's a very common verb, but it's important to learn how to use it properly.
'To Be' as a Linking, Transitive, or Auxiliary Verb
Before conjugating the verb 'to be' in the present and past forms, it's important to understand what this verb does. The verb 'to be' is is a stative verb: It refers to the way things are—their appearance, state of being, and even their smell. 'To be' or 'be' can be a linking verb: It joins the subject of a sentence to a word or phrase that tells something about the subject, such as in these examples:
- Jennifer is my sister.
- That television show is interesting.
- Our house is in the countryside.
'To be' can also be an auxiliary—or helping—verb: It works with the main verb, as in these examples:
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- Kim is making a clay vase.
- Joe had built his first model rocket last year.
- People have admired Michelangelo's sculptures for centuries.
'To be' can also be a transitive verb, which is a verb that takes an object, either a direct or an indirect object. An example would be: 'Sue is talking.' In the sentence, the 'to be' verb, 'is,' takes a direct object, 'talking.'
Present Tense
The present tense of the verb to be, as with any verb, can take several forms: the indicative or simple present, present perfect, and present continuous.
The tables below show how to conjugate to be in these forms:
Indicative Mode | |
Singular | Plural |
I am | We are |
You are | You are |
He/She/It is | They are |
Note that even in the indicative—or simple—present tense, the verb changes in the first, second, and third person uses.
Present Perfect
The present perfect, formed by combining has or have with a past participle, usually a verb ending in -d, -ed, or -n, indicates actions or events that have been completed or have happened in the present.
Singular | Plural |
I have been. | We have been. |
You have been. | You have been. |
He/She/It has been. | They have been. |
Examples of the present perfect include:
- I have been a teacher for many years.
- She has been to France more than 10 times in her life.
To correctly use the verb in the present perfect, just remember that only the third-person singular uses 'has.' All of the other forms in this tense use 'have.'
Present Continuous
The present continuous, also known as the present progressive, is generally used to express something happening at the moment.
Singular | Plural |
I am tensing. | We are tensing. |
You are tensing. | You are tensing. |
He/She/It is tensing. | They are tensing. Movement of small arms, light weapons, ammunition, explosives & CBRN The illicit trafficking and movement of small arms, light weapons, conventional ammunition and explosives, as well as chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) materials and dual-use goods, compounded by changing patterns in the arms trade and the involvement of non-trade actors, presents significant problems that must be addressed by global counter-terrorism efforts. In the hands of terrorists, these munitions and materials become the ingredients for terrorist attacks. Border control uk france. Effective regulation, export controls and border management, including legislative and enforcement measures, can minimize the risk that such items will be either diverted to, or illicitly acquired by non-State actors. Maritime security Over 90 per cent of the total goods traded internationally is transported from source to destination along the world’s main global sea-trading routes. These measures should respect the need to maintain a proper balance between export controls and the facilitation of legitimate trade. |
An example sentence might be: 'That course is being taken by a number of students.' Notice how the 'to be' verb changes depending on the person—first, second, or third—as well as the number, singular or plural.
There's no easy trick to learning which form of 'to be' to use here. Just remember, the first person, singular requires 'am,' second person requires 'are,' and 'third-person singular requires 'is.' Fortunately, all the plural forms use 'are.'
Past Simple
Past simple indicates that something happened at some specific time in the past, such as: 'Her house was built in 1987.'
Singular | Plural |
I was. | We were. |
You were. | You were. |
He/She/It was. | They were. |
Note that the past singular requires 'was' for the first and third person, while 'were' is used with a second-person pronoun. All forms are the same—'were'—for the plural tenses.
Past Perfect
The past perfectindicates actions or events that have been completed or have happened in the past.
Singular | Plural |
I had been. | We had been. |
You had been. | You had been. |
He/She/It had been. | They had been. |
Some examples include:
- Peter had been to the office before they arrived.
- How long had you been in town before he called you?
Peter had been to the post office presumably only once before they arrived, and the person being addressed in the second sentence had 'been in town' for a specific time period before 'he called.'
Past Continuous
The past continuous is usually used to refer to events happening at the same time that something important was occurring.
Singular | Plural |
I was being | We were being |
You were being | You were being |
He/She/It was being | They were being |
An example of the past continuous in a sentence would be: 'The ideas were being discussed while the decisions were being made.' In this case, the past continuous is used twice to highlight how one action was taking place at the same time as another: Ideas 'were being' discussed at the same time decisions 'were being' made.
Other Present and Past Uses
'To be' can also be used in other ways in the present and past tense, such as:
- The comparative or superlative form to make a comparison between people, places, objects, and ideas. Used as such, the 'to be' verb works like an adjective: 'The Mercedes is faster than the Fiat,' or 'The Mercedes is the fastest car on the lot.'
- In the modal form, also known as the present possibility, indicating that something may occur, as in: 'He should be at church waiting for us,' and past possibility indicating that something might have happened in the past, as in: 'He might have been at school or at home.'
A copular verb where 'to be' joins the subject of a sentence or clause to a complement. These complements are generally descriptions that are often adjective or noun phrases, such as 'I am sometimes late for work.'
A copular 'to be' verb is essentially a transitive verb, except that the object is a phrase or clause rather than a single word. In this case, the 'to be' verb, am, links the subject 'I' with the description of the subject, (a person who is) 'sometimes late for work.'