Types of Verbs

1. Verbs
Ch. 1

2. Verb Types
• Verbs
– Finite [Presence of Tense morpheme on the verb]
– Non-finite [Absence of Tense morpheme on the
verb]
• to-infinitive [to go, to run, to eat, etc.]
• bare infinitive [run, eat, jog]
• Gerunds [v-ing]

3. Finite Verbs
• Verb – traditional definition
– verbs show action (‘action’ does not necessarily mean
‘movement’)
– e.g. clean, cut, drive, eat, fly, go, live make, play, read,
run, shower, trip etc.
– What about verbs such as: think, know, look, hear,
taste, smell, love etc.
• Angela thought about bears.
– A verb is word that expresses action or a state of
being.
• The drivers have just picked up our order.
• Sheila will be late for the meeting.

4. Transitive verbs
• Transitive verbs express an action directed
towards a person or thing.
• Transitive verbs require action objects (nouns and
pronouns) to complete their meaning.
• The government promisedvt new business incentivesobj.
• Janice e-mailedvt meobj. yesterday.
• Steps to identify transitive verb:
• First, identify the main verb
• Find out if the sentence can stand alone without the object.
• Identify the object.

5. Intransitive Verbs
• Intransitive verbs do not require ‘objects’
(nouns or pronouns) to complete their
meaning.
• Maria walks to work every day.
• Katie listened carefully to the deposition.
• Michael left shortly after 9 p.m.
• After dinner, we stayed home and watched TV.

6. Linking Verbs
• Linking verbs link or join to subjects words
that rename or describe the subjects.
• A noun, pronoun, or adjective that renames or
describes the subject is called a ‘complement’.
• Gorden Vespucci is the new CEO.
• Their new album sounds good.
• The called could have been Jeremy.
• Mike felt bad about his e-mail to me.