Name: ________________________________________________
Section: ____
Date: ____________________
6th Grade English
1. A verb is a part of speech that shows action, event, or state of being.
2. For a group of words to be a sentence, it must have a verb.
a. The basic structure of a simple sentence is made up of a subject and a predicate.
b. The subject is what the simple sentence is about.
c. The predicate is the rest of the simple sentence, including the verb and its complement.
d. The complement of a verb completes the verb.
e. A complement may include a direct object, a predicate noun, a predicate adjective. It may also be an object complement, a prepositional phrase, or an adverb, though these things are not necessary to complete the verb.
3. The simple predicate is the verb by itself.
4. State-of-being verbs are also called linking verbs.
a. Common linking verbs are to be, to seem, to feel, and to become.
b. If a verb can be replaced with the word "equals," it is a linking verb.
c. Some linking verbs can also be action verbs, depending on how they are used, such as "to appear."
5. Action verbs show acts. They tell what the subject can do.
6. Verbs have inflection. That is, they change their form to show how they are acting in a sentence.
a. showing the inflection of a verb is called conjugation
b. verbs may be inflected to show many things, including tense, aspect, mood, voice, person, and number.
c. one way to find out if a word is a verb is to conjugate it. That is, put it in the past tense or the future tense.
7. Most verbs change their form very little when they are conjugated, and follow predictable rules.
a. regular verbs are the ones that follow predictable rules.
b. irregular verbs do not follow the rules, and should be memorized or looked up.
8. There are four basic parts of a verb:
i. the root, which is the basic form. This is usually the third person singular simple present. ("It jumps," for instance.)
ii. the infinitive, which is the "name" of the verb. ("to jump")
iii. the present participle, which adds –ing to the root ("jumping")
iv. the past participle, which adds –ed to the root ("jumped")
9. Auxiliary ("helping") verbs are added to show different tenses and voices of verbs
a. Verb phrases are made of up to three auxiliary verbs and the main verb.
b. The auxiliary verbs are:
i. is, am, are, was, were, be, being, and been.
ii. has, have, and had.
iii. shall, will, should, and could.
iv. the modal verbs may, might, must, can, and could.
c. Sometimes contractions are used to show helping verbs. A contraction is a shortening of a word, with missing parts shown by an apostrophe.
d. In questions, the parts of a verb phrase are often separated by another word.
e. In some other sentences, a verb phrase can be separated by an adverb such as not, soon, and rapidly.
f. The adverb not can also be shown by a contraction.
g. Many people will tell you that you can't put any words between the parts of an infinitive phrase (a "split infinitive"). This is untrue but so many people hate it that you should avoid doing it.
10. The three main moods of verbs are the indicative, the imperative, and the subjunctive.
a. The indicative mood is used to make simple statements.
b. The imperative mood is used to give commands, with "you" understood as the subject.
c. The interrogative mood is used to ask questions, and uses word order or interrogative pronouns.
d. The subjunctive mood is used to show wishes, possibility, and other non-fact conditions. It is rarely used in English but is common in some other languages.
11. Verbs may be transitive or intransitive.
a. A transitive verb takes a direct object.
i. A direct object is the thing on which the subject is acting.
ii. A direct object can be a noun or a pronoun, or it can be a phrase acting as if it were a noun or pronoun.
iii. A direct object can be simple or compound.
iv. The object of a preposition cannot be a direct object.
b. An intransitive verb does not have a direct object.
i. All state-of-being verbs (linking verbs, sensing verbs, and state-of-being verbs) are intransitive, even if they are followed by a noun or pronoun, because the verb could be replaced by "equals" so the subject is not acting on an object.
ii. Some verbs may be either transitive or intransitive, depending on how they are used.
iii. If a noun or pronoun completes an intransitive verb, it is called a predicate noun.
iv. If an adjective completes an intransitive verb, it is called a predicate adjective.
c. Transitive verbs may be in active or passive voice.
i. If the subject is the actor in a sentence, the sentence is active.
ii. If the receiver of the action is the subject, the sentence is passive.
1. One way to tell if a sentence is passive is to look for the receiver of the action. If it is in the subject, the sentence is passive.
2. Another way to tell if a sentence is passive is to look for the actor in the sentence. If it is the object of a preposition, the sentence is passive.
3. Passive sentences are formed using the auxiliary verb to be and the past participle of the verb.
iii. You can change a sentence from active to passive and from passive to active.
iv. intransitive verbs cannot be active or passive.
12. Verb tense shows the time of a verb. Verbs are conjugated to show tense.
a. Verb tense may be past, present, or future.
b. In the past, present, or future, a verb may be simple, progressive, or perfect
c. The simple past shows that something started and finished in the past. The simple present shows that something is repeated or usual. The simple future is used for a specific time in the future
d. The progressive form of a verb tense shows that something is ongoing.
e. The perfect form of a verb tense shows that something happened before something else.
f. In writing, it is important not to shift verb tenses without reason. This is one of the most common errors in student writing. Students will start out in the past tense, for instance, and then halfway through their writing will switch to the present tense.
13. Rules for conjugation in regular verbs.
a. simple past: add –ed to the root form.
b. simple present: add –s or –es to the root form for the third person singular subject, but otherwise use the root form.
c. simple future: add the auxiliary verb "will" to the root form.
d. past progressive: add "was" or "were" to the present participle.
e. present progressive: add "am," "are," or "is" to the present participle.
f. future progressive: add "will" to the present participle. At one point the first person singular progressive was formed with "shall." This is no longer common.
g. past perfect: add "was" or "were" to the past participle.
h. present perfect: add "am," "are," or "is" to the past participle.
i. future perfect: add "will have" to the past participle. (This tense is not commonly used)
j. There are other tenses (past perfect progressive, present perfect progressive, and future perfect progressive) but you will generally not be using them in your writing for now.
14. A verbal is a verb form used as if it were another part of speech.
a. Gerunds are used as nouns, and end in –ing (present participles).
b. Participles are used as adjectives, and can end in –ing, –ed, or irregularly.
c. Infinitives can be used as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs.
d. Verbals can occur in phrases, and can have adverbs, take direct objects, or have predicate adjectives or predicate nouns .
e. When you use verbals, as when you use pronouns, be careful to make sure they are clear. A dangling participle is one that is used in an unclear way, and the results can be confusing and sometimes unintentionally funny.
Notes:
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Verb Vocabulary:
action verb....................................... a verb which shows what a subject can do.
active voice...................................... a transitive verb in in a sentence where the direct object is the receiver of the action and the subject is the actor.
auxiliary verb.................................... verbs added to show different tenses and voices of verbs
conjugation....................................... listing the ways a verb can change.
contraction....................................... a shortening of a word, with missing parts shown by an apostrophe.
gerund.............................................. a present participle used as a noun
imperative mood............................... gives an order, a command, or a direct request.
indicative mood................................ sometimes called the declarative mood in English, it declares that something is true.
infinitive............................................ the "name" of a verb, made up of "to" followed by the basic form
infinitive............................................ the name of a verb, with "to" and the base form. It may be used as a noun, adverb, or adjective.
inflection........................................... changing the form of a word to show its job in a sentence.
interrogative mood............................ asks a question or makes a request.
intransitive verb................................. a verb which does not take a direct object.
irregular verb.................................... a verb which does not follow the common regular rules for conjugation
linking verb....................................... a state-of-being verb. It shows what a subject is equal to or what it can be.
modal verb....................................... a verb that changes a basic verb to show possibility, need, or obligation.
participle.......................................... a verb form ending in –ed or –ing. It may be part of a verb phrase or it may be used by itself as a verbal.
passive voice.................................... a transitive verb in which the subject receives the action, and if the actor is shown, it is as an object of a prepositional phrase beginning with "by."
past participle................................... in regular verbs, the root of the verb with –ed added. It can be part of a verb phrase or can be used as a verbal.
predicate.......................................... the part of a sentence which includes the verb and any direct objects, predicate nouns or adjectives, or words that modify the verb, objects, or predicate nouns or adjectives.
present participle.............................. in regular verbs, the root of the verb with –ing added. It can be part of a verb phrase or can be used as a verbal.
regular verb...................................... a verb which is conjugated following common regular rules
root.................................................. the basic form of a verb, usually the third person singular simple present
simple predicate................................ the verb of a sentence, by itself.
subject............................................. the word or group of words that is the topic of a sentence.
subjunctive mood.............................. shows wishes, possibility, and other non-fact conditions
transitive verb................................... a verb taking a direct object.
verb................................................. a part of speech that shows action, event, or state of being.
verbal............................................... a verb form being used as another part of speech.