VERB

1. A verb is a word which says something about a subject; e.g.,

Ram hit Ravana.
The Girls are dancing Bharatanatyam.
2. There are mainly two types of verbs in English language. They are
(a) Main or Lexical Verb. It is a word which tells the action a subject in a
sentence.
e.g.,
Veena works very hard.
Amar has beaten up Antony.
Arvind went to Delhi to meet his friends.
The words in bold letters are main verb which tells the action of a subject. Without
main verb no sentence can be formed. The main verb is conjugated into four
formation: -
Verb formation No 1- Present
Verb formation No 2 – Past
Verb formation No 3 – Past participle
Verb Formation No 4 - Present Participle
So, all main verbs are changed their formation without losing their original
meaning according to the time; e.g.

Formation 1 Formation 2 Formation 3 Formation 4

Go Went Gone Going
Eat Ate Eaten Eating
See Saw Seen Seeing
Swim Swam Swum Swimming
Draw Drew Drawn Drawing
Throw Threw Thrown Throwing
Steal Stole Stolen Stealing
Hide Hid Hidden Hiding
Take Took Taken Taking
Sing Sang Sung Singing

(b) Auxiliary or Helping Verb. It is a word which helps the main verb and shows
the correct time or tense. They are mainly two kinds of Auxiliary verbs. They are:-
 (i) Primary Auxiliary Verb. The following verbs are considered to be
Primary Auxiliary verbs which are used with the Main verb to show the
correct time and tense: -
Am, is are, was, were, has, have, had, be, been, being
(ii) Modal Auxiliary Verb. The following verbs are considered to be
Modal Auxiliary Verbs which are used with the Main verb to show the correct
time and situation:-
Will, would, shall, should, can, could, may, might, must, used to, ought to,
need (to), dare (to)
3. Main Verbs can be used in two ways:
(a) Transitive Verb. A verb which requires an object in a sentence is called
Transitive Verb; e.g.,
(i) The man killed a snake.
(ii) The hunter shot the tiger.
(iii) The boy lifted the heavy box.
(iv) Teacher teaches children.
(v) He gave me a banana.
In the first sentence, the word snake is called the object of the verb killed.
In the second sentence, the word tiger is called the object of the verb shot.
In the third sentence, the word box is called the object of the verb lifted.
In the fourth sentence, the word Children is called the object of the verb teaches.
In the fifth sentence, the word banana is called the object of the verb gave.
(b) Intransitive verb. A verb which does not require an object in a sentence to
complete its sense, is called Intransitive Verb; e.g.,
(i) Fire burns.
(ii) The girl smiled.
(iii) Birds fly
. (iv) Boys sing.
(v) Hunter hunts.
In the above sentences, the main verbs by themselves make complete sense, and don’t
require objects after them to make complete sense.

4. Read the following sentences carefully:

(a) A cow is an animal.
 (b) The pigeon seems tired.
(c) The thief always lives in fear.
(d) The man becomes sad.
(e) Aditi looks cute.
In the above sentences, the verbs do not make complete sense by themselves.
Something is added to each verb to complete the sense. But these verbs do not require
objects after them to complete their sense. They required other words to complete the
sense.
Such verbs, which do not make complete sense, but require some word or
words after them for this purpose, are called Verbs of incomplete predication. The
word or phrase so added, is called Complement.
Exercise 1
1. Underline the Transitive verb in the sentence given below and bold or circle the
object. One has been done for you.
(a) Aditi received a gift from her uncle.
(b) Mother cooked dinner for all the guests.
(c) She talked to her father on the phone.
(d) Drivers must stop their cars at the red lights.
(e) The asked the nurse to hurry up.
(f) We watched the cricket match on TV.
Exercise 2
2. Underline the verb and circle or bold the word that complete the sense. One has
been done for you.
(a) My sister seemed upset.
(b) The walnuts were delicious.
(c) My father works in a hospital.
(d) The students became angry yesterday.
(e) She is innocent.
(f) The sun sets at six today.
Exercise 3.
3. Pick out the verbs in the following sentences and say in each case whether the
verb is used as a Transitive, Intransitive, or Incomplete verb. Where the verb is
Transitive, name its object:
(a) Sameer opened the window.
 (b) Aditi made a doll.
(c) Aadi saw snake.
(d) Aditya laughed.
(e) The water is boiling.
(f) The poor girl cried bitterly.
(g) The sun sets in the west.
(h) The man died.
(i) The fire burnt the house.
(j) He met a beggar.
(k) The train started.
(l) The hare fell into the well.
(m) He seems innocent.
(n) She became sad.
(o) She looks guilty.
(p) The driver stopped the train.
(q) The bus stopped suddenly.
(r) The sky grew dark.
(s) The little girl hurt her finger.
(t) He dropped the ring into the well.
Exercise 4.
4. From the words in brackets choose the one which fits best. Draw a line under it.
The first one has been done for you.
(a) Sheep (grunt/chatter/bleat)
(b) Cows (cry/snort/low)
(c) Snakes (hiss/hum/murmur)
(d) Wolves (growl/howl/roar)
(e) Sparrows (twitter/chatter/purr)
(f) Mice (chatter/scream/squeak)
(g) Bulls (bellow/trumpet/snarl)
(h) Rabbits (squeak/squeal/screech)
(i) Ducks (roar/quack, crow)
(j) Cocks(caw/quack/crow)
(k) Cats (bark/neigh/snort)
(l) Horses (bark/neigh/snort)
(m) Aeroplanes (buzz/zoom/echo)
(n) Frogs (grunt/bark/croak)
(o) Monkeys (roar/growl/chatter)
(p) Owls (hoot/scream/screech)
(p) Bees (hum/whisper/murmur)
(q) Bears (growl/howl/roar)
(r) Elephants (roar/bellow/trumpet)
(s) Eagles(scream/screech/squeal)
(t) Beetles (hiss/buzz/drone)
(u) Geese (quack/caw/cockle)
(v) Donkeys (neigh/ark/bray)
(w) Pigeons (coo, cluck, chirp)