“ENGLISH VERBS AND ITS IMPLICATIONS IN THE TEACHING-LEARNING PROCESS: A GLOBAL VIEW.”

“ENGLISH VERBS AND ITS IMPLICATIONS IN THE

TEACHING-LEARNING PROCESS: A GLOBAL VIEW.”

BY HERNAN ARTETA HUERTA

As a student of a foreign language, I have always found English verbs a bit difficult to understand and use due to the fact that we are not taught the world around them. Many people still believe that teaching structural aspects of the language is not really necessary; since most approaches to ELT focus on the communicative trends.  In this article, I am going to be as clear as possible and will attempt to describe, analyze, compare and exemplify them as they are used to help my colleagues understand the importance of what I am proposing here.

KNOWING VERBS. Getting to know verbs and how they work and behave structurally and functionally is a crucial aspect in the teaching-learning process.  If we teach our students to identify them, they will improve their productive skills; I mean they will be able to speak and write more effectively. That is why students need to be trained to recognize each verb by quickly analyzing them in a sentence rather than just memorizing them because a single verb might fit into several patterns, categories or even kinds. For example “have” can be a lexical, an auxiliary, a causative, and even a modal verb.  

·       I have a lot of experience working with kids.       (lexical verb)

·       I have been to Egypt three times this year.           (auxiliary verb)

·       I always have the butcher slice the meat.                          (causative verb)

·       I have to work in the office all weekend long.      (special modal)

Verbs can also be affected by the subject, number (singular or plural), aspect (simple, progressive and perfective); mood (declarative or indicative, imperative, and subjunctive, which can be either present or past); tense (past and present - most grammarians and linguists consider that English does not have the future tense since this can be expressed by using the simple present and the present progressive); voice (active, passive, and mid-voice) and finally by the kind, which will determine the type of complement that is to follow. For example, in the complement position we can find structures like the direct object (DO), indirect object (IO), subjective complement (SC), objective complement (OC), and adverbs of manner, place, direction, time, frequency, reason, purpose, etc.

THE ASPECT is a grammatical category which deals with HOW the event described by the verb is regarded. For instance, whether it is a habit, a repeated or a temporal action, or even if it is in progress (ongoing action.) In spite of the fact that when talking about verb tenses we find names like: simple, progressive, and perfective, English has only two acknowledged aspects PROGRESSIVE, and PERFECTIVE.

·   I am working harder on weekends.             (progressive aspect)

·   I have worked hard all my life.                    (perfective aspect)

THE MOOD expresses, basically, the writer´s or speaker´s attitude to what is being said. English grammar has three moods: The INDICATIVE or DECLARATIVE, which is used in most statements and questions.  The IMPERATIVE used in requests and commands. (imperative statements have an understood subject of “YOU” and therefore take second-person verbs.) The SUBJUNCTIVE mood is found in contrary-to-fact or hypothetical statements. It is also used to express necessity and desire. In your own writing, you must decide which statements should be in the subjunctive. (*If something is likely to happen, use the indicative. If something is purely hypothetical, use the subjunctive.)

·   He walks every day after lunch                   (indicative mood)

·   Do you believe in hard work?                     (indicative mood)

·   [You]  Sit down.                                          (imperative mood)

·   [You] Please take a number.                        (imperative mood)

·   If I were king, you would be queen.           (present subjunctive)

·   If I had been king, you would have been queen. (past subjunctive)

·   I wish I were a doctor to help her.              (expressing desire)

·   It is necessary that she see a doctor.           (expressing necessity)

THE TENSE is the relationship between the FORM of the verb and the TIME of the action or state it describes. In English, verbs tenses are two PRESENT and PAST. There is no FUTURE tense, since this can be expressed by the simple present and the present progressive.

·   The sun rises in the east.                              (timeless expression)

·   Suddenly she falls on the ground.               (past event [descriptive])

·   They are studying in the hall now.              (present [ongoing])

·   The movie begins at 7:30 pm.                     (future [scheduled])

·   I leave / am leaving next week.                  (future [plans])

THE VOICE is the way in which a language expresses a relationship between the verb and the noun, noun phrase or noun clause associated with it. Three sentences can differ in voice and yet have the same basic meaning. However, there might be a change in focus or emphasis and one type would be more appropriate than the other. The voice could be either ACTIVE, MID-VOICE, or PASSIVE.

·   The storm damaged the house.                    (active  voice)

·   The house was damaged by the storm.       (passive voice)

·   The house damaged.        (mid-voice – see ergative verbs)

THE VERB FORM is connected to the way we regard verbs and its relationship with the subject or grammar patterns. They can be: 

·   Base / main / principal / simple form                       work

·   S-form                                                                     works

·   Ed-form                                                                   worked

·   Ing-form                                                                  working

·   Infinitive / To-form                                                 to work

Verbs can also be FINITE where the verb shows tense, person or number. For example, she goes, he went; or NON-FINITE where verb forms have no person, tense or number. For instance, to exercise (verb, verbal noun, and adverb of purpose), exercising (verbal noun and participial adjective [active]), exercised (participial adjective [passive].)

·   My father is fishing by the lake.                  (verb-ing)

·   He has just bought a fishing rod.                (participial adjective)

·   He loves fishing / to fish.                            (gerund[verbal noun])

·   He went to the lake to fish.                         (adverbial[of purpose])

Finally, the KIND OF VERB is also important because by knowing them you might figure out what structure is likely to follow it. That means that if we are familiarized with the verbs we will decide on either using a direct object, an indirect object, a subjective complement, or an adverbial. Through my personal teaching experience, I have found different kinds of verbs, so I will attempt to describe them all.

1.        REGULAR VERBS are the ones that get their past and past participle forms by adding the suffixes “D“  “ED“  or changing the last “Y” into “I” And adding “ED” For example, wanted, asked, claimed, granted, stopped, kicked, locked, etc.

2.        IRREGULAR VERBS are the ones that change slightly, completely or just remain the same to get their past and past participle forms. For example, speak-spoke-spoken, drive-drove-driven, teach-taught-taught, caught-caught, cut-cut, let-let, set-set, hit-hit, do-did-done, go-went-gone.

3. ACTION (DYNAMIC) VERBS are the ones that can be used in continuous tenses. (ing-forms) e.g. drive, teach, write, drink, sing, run, swim, do, etc.

-  My mother is cooking now.                            (present progressive)

-  By 10 o’clock I’ll be dancing.                       (future progressive)

-  Your brother was fighting on the street.        (past progressive)

-  I’ve been teaching grammar for quite long.   (present perfect progress.)

4.   NON-ACTION (STATIVE) VERBS are the ones that cannot be used in continuous tenses. They can be sub categorized into:

n  Mental state verbs are the ones related to the mind. For example: know, think, understand, believe, guess, suppose, forget, remember, imagine.

n  Condition verb are the ones that show state or condition like: have (possess), own, seem, appear, look like, resemble, owe, cost, belong.

n  Perception verbs are the ones related to the senses. For example, hear, feel, see, notice, smell, taste, observe, spot, find, catch (find.)  

Feeling and Emotion verbs: love, hate, like, hope, need, want, prefer, desire, wish, consider, mean.

§  I guess that she is a movie star.                                 (correct)

                        I am guessing that she is a movie star.                      (incorrect)

§  My brother has a beautiful sports car.                       (correct)

                        My brother is having a beautiful sports car.              (incorrect)

          

5. TRANSITIVE VERBS are the ones that are followed by a direct object. The sentences with a transitive verb can be transformed into the PASSIVE VOICE. They can be classified into three categories:

n  Simple transitive verbs are just followed by a direct object. (one object)

e.g.        Mary is writing a letter.                                (verb + D.O.)

n  Ditransitive verbs are followed by a direct and an indirect object.

e.g.        Mary is writing  a letter  to John.                 (verb + D.O. + I.O.)

Mary is writing  John   a letter.                    (verb +  I.O. + D.O.)

Mary is writing  to John.                              (verb +  I.O. (implicit D.O.)

n  Complex transitive verbs are the verbs followed by special structures including an objective complement (O.C.) after the direct object. Some of the most common verbs fitting this structure are:  believe, consider, think, understand, judge, know, proclaim, appoint, elect, vote, name, choose, call, see, feel, hear, notice, spot, find, catch, observe / make, have, get, set, wish, want, need, desire, paint, etc.

e.g.         He judged me  wrong.                       D.O. + O.C.

                        I reported him  dead.                         D.O. + O.C.

                   That man wants his coffee hot.         D.O. + O.C.

                   Sue needs her shoes clean.                 D.O. + O.C.

They painted their car black.             D.O. + O.C.

                    Make her happy.                               D.O. + O.C.

6.- INTRANSITIVE  VERBS are followed by a complement which can be compound by adverbs of manner, time, place, direction or frequency but they cannot contain a direct object.  Among the intransitive verbs we have the verbs showing movement example: go, travel, fly, drive, sail, walk, run, jog, swim, be, etc. The sentence with an intransitive verb cannot be transformed into the passive voice.

e.g.           He was at home.                                (verb  + adverb of place.)

I travel last Monday morning.           (verb  + adverb of time.)

                   We always drive carefully.                (verb  + adverb of manner.)

                   They work on Sundays.                     (verb  + adverb of frequency.)

7.- BITRANSITIVE (AMBITRANSITIVE) VERBS are the ones that can function either as TRANSITIVE or INTRANSITIVE.  This special case is also known as the “DOUBLE GRAMMATICAL ROLE.”  For example:

a.  Peter drove to Denver.          (the verb drive is INTRANSITIVE, because it        

                V    Adv. Place        is followed by an adverb of place.)

b.  Peter drove my car.    (the verb drive is TRANSITIVE, because it is

                      V       D.O.     followed by a direct object.)

c. Peter drove his car to Denver.  (the verb is TRANSITIVE, because of

               V     D.O.  Adv. Place   the  fact  that  it  has  a  direct  object

                                                  despite having an adverbial of place.)

d. I wrote a letter this morning.           (transitive verb)     So it is BITRANSITIVE 

  I wrote a letter to Natty.                  (ditransitive verb)

  I wrote  a lot this morning.                          (intransitive verb)

8.- PHRASAL VERBS are the ones that are compound by two or three words one of them is a verb and the other one is or are prepositions or adverbs.  They can be used as synonyms for other well-known verbs.  We have two kinds of phrasal verbs:

n  Two-word Verbs:

§  Separable.-  You cannot use pronouns after the two parts of the verb, but you can use them in between the two parts. Among the most common ones we have :  turn up, turn down, turn off, turn on, take off, put on, put in, take out, roll up, roll down, speed up, slow down, fill in, fill out, call up, fix up, write down, leave out, etc.

e.g.  Turn  on      it.            (INCORRECT)

       Turn  on  the radio.                                      Take  off  your sweater.       

       Turn the radio  on.                                       Take  your sweater off.

       Turn     it        on.                                         Take          it            off.

§  Inseparable.- You can use pronouns after them, Among the most common ones we have : get in, get on, get off, check into, look at, look for, look into, look like, look after, take care, take off, call on, etc.

e.g. Get  on  the bus.

       Get  on      it.              (CORRECT)

n Three-word Verbs:

§  They are also known as PHRASAL PREPOSITIONAL VERBS and they are always inseparable. Among the most common ones we have: check out of, come up with, cut down on, drop out of, get rid of, look down on, look forward to, look up to, run out of, stick up for, etc.

9.- CAUSATIVE VERBS are special verbs used with another verb to express that one person causes, forces, persuades, obliges, hires, gets another person to do something for him/her. They are HAVE, MAKE and GET.  The grammar of have and make is similar because they are followed by a noun plus a base form; while get is followed by an infinitive form.  You can also use causative-like verbs, such as: cause, drive, hire, persuade, force, oblige, compel, order, convince, bribe, beg, request, suggest, etc. Only HAVE and GET can be used in passive constructions.

e.g.           My mother always has the butcher slice the meat.               (active)

                   I am having the plumber fix the faucet.                              (active)

                   My wife had her suit mended by the tailor.                        (passive)

                   We are going to have our shoes soled.                                (passive)

10.- COMMANDING VERBS are special verbs which express orders, this structures include a that clause with a base-form verb (also known as the SUBJUNCTIVE) Among the most common ones we have : suggest, order, request, urge, demand, insist, require, claim, ask, recommend, prefer, forbid, prohibit, ban, etc.

e.g.           His doctor recommended that he stay in bed for a week.

                 The thief demanded that the vault be opened.

                 We insist that the driver lower the speed.

                 The judge ordered that the suspect be released.

11.- COPULA  VERBS are special verbs that link the subject with the complement. In other words, the complement refers back to the subject describing it. The structure after linking verbs is known as SUBJECTIVE COMPLEMENT (SC).  One way to check whether a verb is linking or not is by replacing the verb using an appropriate form of be (we understand by appropriate number and tense.) Some of the most common linking verbs are: feel, smell, taste, sound, look, appear, seem, resemble, remain, keep, stay, go, turn, get, become, and grow.

e.g.           Vanessa appears tired.                      =   Vanessa is tired.   

                 This soup smells good.

                 Your friend sounded upset.              =   Your friend was upset.

                 The chocolate cake looks delicious.

12.- PERFORMATIVE VERBS are the ones that perform the action itself while saying it or writing it.                

e.g.        I resign.                      (resign performs the action of resignation)

              I named him André.   (named, the action of giving the name)

13.- PERMISSIVE VERBS In this group we consider all the verbs that permit or prohibit us to do something.  We can consider the following verbs: let, permit, authorize, allow, appoint, enable, entitle, prohibit, forbid, ban, bar, etc.

The structure after permissive verbs is usually   S + Permissive + Obj. + V-INF.

The structure for let is as follows:                        Let  +  someone  +  DO  +  Sth.

     e.g. The teacher allowed his students to open their books.         (active voice)

            All of the students were allowed to open their books.         (passive voice) 

            Mr. Bossy appointed my sister to be his secretary.               (active voice)

            My sister was appointed to be Mr. Bossy’s secretary.          (passive voice)

            I let my son play soccer after he finished his homework.

14.- REFLEXIVE VERBS.- We say that a verb is reflexive when we find a reflexive pronoun or a reciprocal pronoun in the predicate.  Some common reflexive verbs are: congratulate, look, enjoy, see, hear, buy, get, find, etc.

e.g.         My father cut himself while shaving this morning.

              They really enjoyed themselves at the party.

              His sister bought a new car by herself.

              I saw her dancing with herself

.

15.- REPORTING VERBS are the verbs used to build up reported structures: reported speech, reported questions and special structures in the passive voice and/or structures including TO BE Such verbs are : say, tell, ask, the structures are : it is said, it is reported, it is known, it is believed, it is thought, it is considered, etc.

     e.g.         They said (to me) that Cecilia is very friendly.            

              They told me that Cecilia is very friendly.

                   It is said that Cecilia is very friendly.   

                   Cecilia is said to be very friendly.

16.- SENSORY (PERCEPTION) VERBS are the ones related to the senses.  The grammar of these verbs is rather complex because they accept a number of patterns which varies one from another.  They can be followed by an adjective (S.C.), noun + infinitive without to, noun + verb ing, noun+ past participle, noun clause (that clause), D.O. + O.C., noun + as if/ as though … ( clause ).       Some of the most common verbs are : feel, smell, see, observe, watch, taste, hear, spot, catch, notice.

e.g.      I feel good.                                            adjective  (S.C.)        

I saw him tired.                                      D.O. +  adjective  (O.C.)

I observe the insect fly.                          noun  (D.O.)  +  BF.

I heard the bell ringing.                        noun  (D.O.)  +  v-ing.

I saw your car  crashed.                        noun  (D.O.)  +  past participle.

I see that he is wrong.                           that clause.

He sounded as if he was tired.             as if … (clause.)

17.- HELPING  VERBS are the ones which help as form tenses, aspects and negative and interrogative sentences. These verbs can be sub classified into three groups.

n   Auxiliary   verbs.-

BE : is, are, am, was, were, been. be, and being. (they help to form continuous tenses and the passive voice.) DO: do, does, did. (they help to form simple tenses.) HAVE: have, has, had, having. (they help to form perfect tenses.) GET: get, gets, got, getting. (they help to form the passive voice).

e.g.    He is painting the door now.             (progressive tense)

         The door is being painted.                 (passive voice)

         My younger sister didn’t study         (simple tense)

         She has travelled for a year.              (perfect tense)

         The car got broken down.                  (passive voice)

n   Modal (defective) verbs.-

They are called defective verbs, because of their defect. They do not have the past participle form and MUST does not have past nor past participle forms. CAN–COULD, MAY–MIGHT, WILL–WOULD, SHALL–SHOULD, MUST.

§  Special Modals: HAVE TO - HAD TO, OUGHT TO, DARE TO, NEED TO.

e.g.     They can swim.                            (modal + verb BF.)

                   He could be tired.                         (modal + BE + adj.)

                   She might be working.                  (modal + BE + V-ing.)

                   You should have studied.             (modal + HAVE + PP.)

                   We must’ve been playing now.    (modal + HAVE + BEEN + PP.)

n   Periphrastic modals (modal-like verbs)

Are special phrases which help us to form tenses and structures. These idioms are very useful and many people use them in daily conversations. The most common idioms are: be to, be able to, be going to, be about to, be supposed to, be used to, be accustomed to, get used to, used to, would rather, had better, etc.

e.g.    You’d better not go.                                     

         That tree is about to fall down.                    

         We are used to eating hot dishes                  

         Weren’t you supposed to be working?         

         My cousin is able to speak five languages.   

 

18.- LEXICAL(PRINCIPAL)VERBS are the ones which express the action in a sentence. In other words, they carry lexical meaning in them. They sometimes work along with a helping verb to form a verbal phrase express aspect, tense, or even mood.

19.- FACTIVE VERBS are verbs followed by a clause which the speaker or writer considers to express a fact.

e.g.           I remember that she was always late.

20.- INCHOATIVE VERBS are the ones used to describe a change.

e.g.           The apples ripened.                (They became ripe)

                 He has aged a lot.                  (He´s become old)

ANOTHER IMPLICATION is that some English verbs require a preposition to be syntactically correct. These prepositions are determined by the verbs which precede them rather than the nouns that follow. Among these verbs we have depend on / upon, grow up to, listen to, look at, pay for, talk to, think about, wait for, work on, etc.

e. g.     Look at the pictures.                                      NO  Look the pictures.

We were listening to the music.        NO  We were listening the music.

Having seen the verb implications described above, I cannot finish the article without talking about VERB PATTERNS. It is also necessary to glance at this last aspect regarding verbs, which is crucial for learners of the language. English verbs are grouped into four major patterns:

I)         Verbs followed ONLY by infinitives:  afford, appear, ask, claim, decide, expect, fail, happen, hope, learn, manage, offer, promise, refuse, seem, tend, want, warn, etc. Inside this category we also have sub categories. For example,

a.- Verb + infinitive                               He asked to go.

b.- Verb + noun + infinitive                  He asked me to go.

c.- Verb + Wh + infinitive                     He asked where to go.

d.- Verb + Wh + noun + infinitive        He asked me where to go.

e.- Verb + infinitive of purpose             We came to visit you.

f.- Verb + noun + inf. of purpose          She bought a magazine to read.

II)      Verbs followed ONLY by gerunds: admit, appreciate, avoid, consider, dislike, delay, deny, detest, doubt, enjoy, fancy, imagine, involve, mind, miss, postpone, prevent, propose, recall, recommend, resist, risk, remind, suggest, etc.

a.- Verb + gerund                                  Vanessa enjoys cooking.

b.- Verb + noun + gerund                     I recommend your arriving early.

c.- Verb + preposition + gerund                        We believe in working hard.

III)     Verbs followed by EITHER infinitives or gerunds (same meaning):

like, love, hate, begin, cease, continue, start, deserve, etc.

Ø  I love listening to music.   =   I love to listen to music.

IV) Verbs followed EITHER by infinitives or gerunds (different meaning):

       stop, try, remember, forget, regret, etc.

Ø  I forgot locking the door. (different from) I forgot to lock the door.

CONCLUSION: Teaching and learning English implies knowing the verbs and its implications in the production of written and oral language; that is why I consider important to help students get familiarized with the world around verbs, which means enabling them to deal with the aspect, the mood, the tense, the voice, and even the different forms and kinds. Finally, we must help them understand that verbs behave in different ways and that some of them might fit into several grammar patterns.

Bibliography:

1. CliffsNotes.com. Moods of the Verb. 21 Jul 2009. .

2. Jack C. Richards, John Platt, Heidi Platt.1992. Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics. Longman 2^nd edition.

3. Marjorie, F., Bonner M, and Westheimer M. 2000.  Focus on Grammar an Intermediate course for reference and practice. Longman 2^nd edition.

4. Fuchs, M., and Bonner M, 2000.  Focus on Grammar a High-Intermediate course for reference and practice. Longman 2^nd edition.

5. Maurer, J., 2000.  Focus on Grammar an Advanced course for reference and practice. Longman 2^nd edition.

6. Collier Macmillan English Program. 1981 A Practical English Grammar  Macmillan Publishing Co. 11^th printing.

7. Praninskas, J., 1975.  Rapid Review on English Grammar. Prentice-Hall 2^nd edition

8. Graver, B.D., 1986.  Advanced English Practice. Oxford 3^rd edition.

9. Spankie, G.M., 1975.  English in Use. Nelson. revised edition 1986.

10. Schrampfer, B., 1989.  Understanding and Using English Grammar. Prentice Hall    Regents 2^nd edition.

                                                                                 

Lima,  January 25^th, 2012.

HERNAN ARTETA HUERTA

LICENTIATE IN EDUCATION.

DIPLOMA EN TEFL

SPECIALIST IN ELT TRAINING

MASTER’S STUDIES IN EDUCATIONAL MANAGEMENT.

LIMA-PERU