GRAMMAR I

VERB FUNCTIONS AND CLASSES

Verbs provide the focal point of the clause. The main verb in a clause determines the other clause
elements that can occur and specifies a meaning relationship among those elements. There are
many different classes of verbs: lexical, auxiliary, different semantic classes, single-word verbs
and multi-word verbs (these can be phrasal verbs, prepositional verbs and phrasal-prepositional
verbs). Three of the most important verbs in the English language are be, have and do, these can
function as lexical verbs and auxiliary verbs.
VERB FUNCTIONS AND CLASSES:
Main verb vs. auxiliary verbs
Main verbs play a central role in clauses, they usually occur in the middle of the clause, they are
the most important element because they determine the other clause elements. The pattern of
these clause elements is called a valency pattern. For example, a clause with the verb go / went
cannot take a direct object but it can take an adverbial.
He goes to church every Sunday.
The children went into the abandoned house.
In contrast, a clause with the verb give can take both a direct and an indirect object.
I could give him a message.
They gave Joan a bunch of flowers when the play finished.
Therefore, main verbs can be classified as:
Transitive Verbs and Intransitive Verbs
Transitive and intransitive forms of verbs are used to denote how a verb acts when used with a
direct object and an indirect object. Let us look at a few examples.
Vincent gave a box of chocolates to his brother. (Indirect object – his brother, Direct object – a
box of chocolates)
Garry passed the water bottle to Kevin, who was sitting in the first row. (Indirect object – Kevin,
Direct object – the water bottle)
The little girl ran around the park for two hours.
Francey walked to school every day.
My mom cleaned the house today. (Direct object – the house)
Seena did not like the movie. (Direct object – the movie)
In the above examples, the verbs ‘gave’ and ‘passed’ in the first two sentences are seen to take
a direct object and an indirect object, whereas the verbs ‘ran’ and ‘walked’ take no object at all.
In the last two sentences, the verbs ‘cleaned’ and ‘did not like’ take a direct object and no indirect
object.
Verbs that take a direct object alone are called transitive verbs, and those verbs that do not take
either a direct object or an indirect object are called intransitive verbs. There is yet another
category of verbs that take both the direct object and the indirect object, and they are called
ditransitive verbs.

Auxiliary verbs on the other hand occur before a main verb and qualify the meaning of the main
verb.
The plane could be arriving late.
James has been living in London for a long time.
Lexical, primary and modal verbs: verbs can be grouped into three major classes according to
their ability to function as main verbs or auxiliary verbs:
Lexical verbs: are used only as main verbs. They belong to an open class which means that new
verbs can be formed through affixation, this is very frequent in the English language. Most lexical
verbs have regular endings to form the past and past participle. However most of the most
common verbs in everyday use have an irregular morphology. They also occur as multi-word
units. Lexical verbs are much more common than primary or modal verbs, specially in
conversation and fiction.
John called yesterday and asked for help.
The children ran in the orchard and ate the apples that had fallen on the ground. Peggy turned
on the lights and looked at the mess in the room.
Primary verbs: there are only three primary verbs: be, have and do the most common verbs in
English. They form a separate class because they can function as a main verb or as an auxiliary.
When the verb be is used as a main verb it is termed the copula because of its special ‘linking’ or
‘coupling’ function.
Modal verbs: are used only as auxiliary verbs.

He will probably arrive tomorrow. Will you please shut the window? She could be joking. Must
you make such a lot of noise?
From the Semantic Point of View
Although many verbs have different meanings, we can distinguish seven semantic categories:
activity verbs, communication verbs, mental verbs, causative verbs, verbs of occurrence, verbs
of existence or relationship and verbs of aspect.
1. Activity verbs: bring, get, make, play, buy, give, follow, pay, move, take, go, come, etc. usually
refer to a volitional activity, an action performed by an agent or ‘doer’. They can be transitive
(taking an object) or intransitive. They are sometimes used to express actions that occur without
the volition of an agent.
We gave the dog a bone after lunch.
They bought some coal and put it on the fire.
The glaciers have moved from their original place. (non volitional)
A few calculations will give surprisingly good estimates. (non volitional)
2. Communication verbs: ask, call, claim, describe, offer, say, speak, suggest, talk, tell, thank,
write, etc. are a subclass of activity verbs describing speech or writing.
You said you didn’t have it. ‘Hurry up’, he shouted at her.
3. Mental verbs: believe, find, listen, read, consider, hear, expect, know, feel, like, need, suppose,
see, wonder, remember, understand, etc. They refer to mental states and activities, emotions,
attitudes, desires, perceptions They can be stative or dynamic in meaning.
He decided to study Russian.
We all believe things will be alright.
He hated living in the country he preferred a big city for his home. I didn’t understand a word of
the lecture.
4. Causative verbs: get, have, allow, cause, force, help, let, enable, require indicate that some
person or thing brings about a new state of affairs. They often occur with a derived noun as the
direct object, which reports the action that was facilitated. This case is very common in academic
prose, in other cases these verbs are followed by a complement clause (a dependant clause
controlled by a preceding verb, adjective, noun or preposition).
I got my hair cut at the hairdresser’s down the road. They had the sitting-room painted while we
were awy.
Other rules cause the deletion of elements from the structure. DO
This information enables the formulation of precise questions. DO
What caused you to be ill? Compl. clause
This law would help protect endangered species in the rainforests. Compl. clause
5. Verbs of occurrence: become, grow, change, happen, develop, occur, die, etc. these verbs
report an event without an actor. The subjects of these verbs are affected by the event describe
by the verbs.
The lights changed.
He became old and frail overnight. Antibiotics may develop resistance if misused.
6. Verbs of existence or relationship: appear, contain, exist, include, indicate, involve, live, look,
represent, seem, etc. these verbs report a state of existence or a logical relationship that exists
between entities. Some of the most popular are copular verbs such as seem and appear.
He appeared very calm and collected.
The girl stayed close to her mother all evening. These two elements can exist in close proximity.
The bottles contained different kinds of liquids.
The exercise includes random sentences for correction.
7. Verbs of aspect: begin, continue, keep, start, stop, etc. these verbs characterize a stage or
progress of an event or activity. They usually occur with a complement clause following the verb.
She kept running out of the room.
The water started to trickle out of the broken pipe.
They couldn’t stop talking about the wonderful time they had had. 5

Verbs with multiple meanings: many verbs have more than one meaning, they can belong to
different semantic categories simultaneously. For example, the verbs like hesitate, pretend, raise,
look, etc. can convey different kinds of activities:
She hesitated and then said, ‘Why not?’
The man hesitated before getting into the lift.
She can very well pretend it is her car, but it isn’t.
The man pretended innocent during all the questioning. John raised his arm and knocked the
glass off the table. The subject was raised after a lot of arguments.
I’m very sorry but I can’t follow your explanation.
The little dog followed the boy around wherever he went. I must admit I was wrong.
The patient was in very bad condition when he was admitted to hospital.
Reference
Biber, D., Conrad, S., & Leech, G. (2002). A student grammar of spoken and written English.
Longman.