V erbals

I nfinitive Gerund Participle

Lisa wants to swim. Lisa likes swimming.

Lisa must swim every day.

Present Participle Past Participle

Lisa is swimming now. Lisa has swum a lot today. Notes:

1. Present Participle is formed by adding the suffix –ing to the stem of the verb and the following spelling rules are observed:

   • The final letter ‘y’ never changes when the ending ‘ing’ is added,

e.g. to play + ing = playing; to study + ing = studying

• The final consonant is doubled if it is preceded by a short stressed vowel,

e.g. sit – sitting, to put – putting, to begin - beginning

• The final letter ‘e’ is omitted before the ending ‘ing’,

e.g. to take + ing = taking; to lose + ing = losing

• Exceptions: to lie +ing = lying; to tie + ing = tying; to die + ing = dying

2. Past Participle is formed in two ways:

   1. regular verbs –ed to the stem of the verb and observe the following spelling rules:

      • the final letter ‘y’ changes into ‘i’ if it is preceded by a consonant, and remains unchanged if it is preceded by a vowel,

e.g. to carry – carried; to study – studied; to reply – replied

to enjoy- enjoyed; employ - employed

• a consonant preceded by a short stressed vowel is doubled,

e.g. to stop – stopped; to plan – planned; to omit – omitted

• the final letter ‘r’ is doubled if it is preceded by a stressed vowel,

e.g. to stir – stirred; to occur – occurred; to prefer – preferred

• in British English the final letter ‘l’ is always doubled,

e.g. to travel – travelled; to label - labelled

2. irregular verbs have different ways of formation and must be learnt by heart. See Appendix.

Morphological StructurE of the Verb

Verb

Simple Derivative Compound Composite = Phrasal verb

(one stem) (verb + affixes) (two stems) (verb + post position)

to come; to blacken; to overgrow; to go on; to sit down;

to do to economize to daydream to get up; to take off

Semantic Classification of the Verb

Semantically the verb can be classified from different points of view. All the verbs can fall into several groups:

Group 1: Stative and Dynamic Verbs

Verb

Dynamic Stative

e.g. to run, to walk, to dress (also called “state” or “statal”)

e.g. to be, to see, to know

Most stative verbs describe a state rather than an action and therefore do not normally have continuous tenses.

e.g. Do you know our new neighbours’ name?

Listen! Do you hear anything strange?

Stative verbs include:

1. verbs which express likes and dislikes, wishes and emotions

to like to love to dislike to enjoy to detest to prefer

to adore to hate to want to wish to envy to hope

to fear to care

e.g. Don’t lie to me! I hate when people lie.

What do you feel when you look at your neighbour’s new house? – I envy them

2. verbs of sense perception (verbs of senses )

to see to hear to smell to taste to sense to sound

to feel

e.g. Jim must be at home.

I can see his car parked outside.

2. verbs of mental perception

to know to believe to understand to realize to remember

to forget to notice to recognize to think to seem

to see (= understand) to expect (=think) to imagine to suppose

e.g. I expect they will be late.

Jack now realizes that a job like that was very difficult for him.

Do you believe now that I was right?

2. verbs of possession

to have to belong to own to possess

e.g. Do you know who this pictures belong to?

My uncle owns a hotel.

2. some other verbs such as

to be to contain to include to fit to need to matter

to cost to mean to owe to require to weigh to keep

e.g. Martin owes me 15 dollars.

This dress fits you perfectly.

The bag costs a lot.

Notes:

• Some verbs can be either dynamic or stative according to the context, in which they are used,

e.g. I can’t see anything, it’s too dark here. (a stative verb)

I’m seeing Mary in the morning. (= I’m meeting her. – a dynamic verb)

• The verb ‘to be’ used in indefinite aspect denotes a person’s character, occupation, age, etc, or a permanent state, while used in the continuous aspect means a person’s behaviour, a temporary situation, and is usually used with adjectives such as careful, silly, (im)polite, lazy, etc.)

e.g. What are you doing at the moment? – I’m being lazy, just for a change.

Stop talking back to me. You are being impolite.

• The verb “to enjoy” can be used in the continuous aspect to express specific preference.

e.g. I'm enjoying this party a lot. (specific preference)

I enjoy going to parties. (I enjoy parties in general.)

• The verbs “to look” (when we refer to a person's appearance), “to feel” (= experience a particular emotion), “to hurt” and “to ache” can be used in either the continuous or simple tenses with no difference in meaning.

e.g. You look/are looking great today.

How are you feeling today? = How do you feel today?

**TASK 1. Translate the sentences below into your native language. Say if the verbs in them are stative or dynamic.

1. I think he's lying.

2. I'm thinking about the plan.

3. He is tasting the food.

4. The food tastes delicious.

5. I can see some people.

6. I see what you mean.

7. I'm seeing my doctor tomorrow.

8. Mike is looking out of the window.

9. It looks as if they've finished the job.

10. This perfume smells nice.

11. He is smelling the milk.

12. She is feeling the baby's forehead.

13. The baby's hair feels like silk.

14. Bob has a Porsche.

15. He's having a shower at the moment.

16. The butcher is weighing the meat.

17. The chicken weighs 2 kilos.

18. We are fitting new locks.

19. This dress fits you perfectly.

20. He appears to be nervous.

21. He is appearing in a new play.

22. He is a rude person.

23. He is being rude.

24. I consider Mrs. Green to be a very talented teacher.

25. The bank is still considering your request.

26. Sorry, I can’t leave now, I am expecting a TV repair man.

27. Everybody expected that John would agree with the majority.