8/6/2019 Lesson 1 Forms of Main Verbs

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Forms of Main Verbs

Main verbs are also called "lexical verbs".

Main verbs (except the verb "be") have only 4, 5 or 6 forms. "Be" has 9 forms.

V1 V2 V3

infinitive  base pastsimple 

pastparticiple 

presentparticiple 

present simple, 3rdperson singular  

regular   (to) work work worked worked working works

irregular  

(to) sing(to) make(to) cut

singmakecut

sangmadecut

sungmadecut

singingmakingcutting

singsmakescuts

(to) do*

(to) have*

do

have

did

had

done

had

doing

having

does

has

infinitive  base pastsimple 

pastparticiple 

presentparticiple 

present simple 

(to) be* be was, were been being am, are, is

In the above examples:

y  to cut has 4 forms: to cut, cut, cutting, cutsy  to work has 5 forms: to work, work, worked, working, worksy  to sing has 6 forms: to sing, sing, sang, sung, singing, singsy  to be has 9 forms: to be, be, was, were, been, being, am, is, are

The infinitive can be with or without to. For example, to sing and sing are both infinitives. Weoften call the infinitive without to the "bare infinitive".

 At school, students usually learn by heart the base, past simple and past participle (sometimes called V1, V2, V3, meaning Verb 1, Verb 2, Verb 3) for the irregular verbs. Theymay spend many hours chanting: sing, sang, sung; go, went, gone; have, had, had; etc. Theydo not learn these for the regular verbs because the past simple and past participle are alwaysthe same: they are formed by adding "-ed" to the base. They do not learn the presentparticiple and 3rd person singular present simple by heart - for another very simple reason:they never change. The present participle is always made by adding "-ing" to the base, and the

3rd person singular present simple is always made by adding "s" to the base (though there aresome variations in spelling).

* Note that "do", "have" and "be" also function as helping or auxiliary verbs, with exactly thesame forms (except that as helping verbs they are never in infinitive form).

Example Sentences

8/6/2019 Lesson 1 Forms of Main Verbs

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These example sentences use main verbs in different forms.

Infinitive

y  I want to work y  He has to sing.y  This exercise is easy to do.y  Let him have one.y  To be, or not to be, that is the question:

Base - Imperative

y  Work well!y  Make this.y  Have a nice day.y  Be quiet!

Base - Present simple(except 3rd person singular)

y  I work in London.y  You sing well.y  They have a lot of money.

Base - After modal auxiliary verbs

y  I can work tomorrow.y  You must sing louder.y  They might do it.

y  You could be right.

Past simple

y  I worked yesterday.y  She cut his hair last week.y  They had a good time.y  They were surprised, but I was not.

Past participle

y  I have worked here for five years.y  He needs a folder made of plastic.y  It is done like this.y  I have never been so happy.

Present participle

y  I am working.y  Singing well is not easy.

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y  Having finished, he went home.y  You are being silly!

3rd person singular, present simple

y  He works in London.y  She sings well.y  She has a lot of money.y  It is Vietnamese.

Forms of Helping Verbs

All helping verbs are used with a main verb (either expressed or understood*). There are 2

groups of helping verbs:

y  Primary helping verbs, used mainly to change the tense or voice of the main verb, and

in making questions and negatives.y  Modal helping verbs, used to change the "mood" of the main verb.

Study the table below. It shows the prinicipal forms and uses of helping verbs, and explains the

differences between primary and modal helping verbs.

* Sometimes we make a sentence that has a helping verb and seems to have no main verb. Infact, the main verb is "understood". Look at the following examples:

y  Question: Can you speak English? (The main verb speak is "expressed".)

y  Answer: Yes, I can. (The main verb speak is not expressed. It is "understood" from the

context. We understand: Yes, I can speak English.

But if somebody walked into the room and said "Hello. I can", we would understand nothing!

Helping Verbs 

Primary  Modal 

Do(to make simple tenses, and questionsand negatives)

can could

Be (to make continuous tenses, and the passive voice)

may might

Have (to make perfect tenses) will would

shall should

must

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ought (to)

"Do", "be" and "have" as helping verbs haveexactly the same forms as when they are main

verbs (except that as helping verbs they are never 

used in infinitive forms).

Modal helping verbs are invariable. They

always have the same form.

Primary helping verbs are followed by the main

verb in a particular form:

y  do + V1 (base verb)

y  be + -ing (present participle)

y  have + V3 (past participle)

"Ought" is followed by the main verb ininfinitive form. Other modal helping verbs

are followed by the main verb in its baseform (V1).

y  ought + to... (infinitive)y  other modals + V1 (base verb)

"Do", "be" and "have" can also function as mainverbs. Modal helping verbs cannot function asmain verbs.