Learn how to find the verb, recognise a complete verb phrase and choose the form that fits the subject and sentence.
A tells us what happens or describes a situation. Every complete sentence needs a finite verb.
Action verbs show what somebody or something does: study, write, improve. Event verbs describe something that happens: begin, change, fall. State verbs describe situations, thoughts, possession or feelings: be, know, need, believe, own. A verb does not need to describe a visible movement.
The main verb carries the central meaning. A helping verb supports it to form a tense, question, negative, passive or other meaning. Compare She studies, She is studying, She has studied and She might study. The complete combination is called a verb phrase.
Be, have and do can be main verbs or helping verbs. In They have two lessons, have is the main verb. In They have finished, it helps finished. Modal verbs—including can, could, may, might, must, should, will and would—are followed by the base form: can improve, not can improves.
The verb must agree with its subject. Compare I study, she studies, the student works and the students work. Words such as everyone, each and neither are grammatically singular. This lesson introduces agreement; the next planned lesson will teach it in detail.
Ask what the subject does, what happens to it or what situation it is in.
In may have been affected, all four words belong to the verb phrase.
The same word can change jobs: record your score uses a verb; keep a record uses a noun.
The past participle follows helpers such as has, have and had. The -ing form follows a form of be in continuous structures.
| Base | He/she/it | Past | Past participle | -ing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| study | studies | studied | studied | studying |
| work | works | worked | worked | working |
| plan | plans | planned | planned | planning |
| use | uses | used | used | using |
| try | tries | tried | tried | trying |
| Base | He/she/it | Past | Past participle | -ing |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| be | is | was/were | been | being |
| write | writes | wrote | written | writing |
| go | goes | went | gone | going |
| take | takes | took | taken | taking |
| speak | speaks | spoke | spoken | speaking |
Regular does not mean unchanged: regular verbs use an -ed past, but spelling may change in forms such as studied, planned and travelling.
Recognise verbs, separate main and helping verbs, choose accurate forms and then analyse mixed real-world sentences.
Recognise action, state and being verbs in complete sentences.
Separate the main verb from auxiliary and modal helping verbs.
Choose forms that agree with the subject and fit common verb structures.
Apply verb recognition, helping verbs, forms and agreement together.
Apply all four verb skills to mostly new words, forms and sentence patterns.
