Verb

Verb is a word class which, in association with a subject, affirms, negates or questions a situation. The situation may be:

Meaning

Prototypical verbs express actions, but in slightly more detail they may express:

1. state; (stative verbs: be, seem);
2. process, (process verbs: change, develop);
3. event (eventive verbs: explode, sneeze);
4. action (action verbs: run, write).

Form

Verb class membership

Verb class membership is quite straightforward.

Verb classes

There are two main types of verb; auxiliary verbs and lexical verbs. Auxiliary verbs (or helping verbs) can be further classified into primary auxiliary verbs, and modal verbs.

Verb formation

Lexical verbs are an open class, and so verbs may be formed through verb formation. This is typically done through suffixation of verb suffixes.

Verb forms

There are several verb forms. Verbs may be have finiteness (finite verbs) or lack finiteness (non-finite verbs); finite verbs have a subject, whereas non-finite verbs don't. Non-finite verb forms can be split into participles and infinitives.

Grammatical properties

All finite verbs have a tense (either present tense or past tense) and grammatical number.

Pedagogy

Verbs are “doing words.”

Further reading

• Chapter 3 in A Student’s Introduction to English Grammar.