Verbs - Categories

This lesson is all about verb categories but verbs can be sorted into several different categories and some verbs can be found in more than one category depending on how we use them the common ones that we’ll look at.

In this lecture are action verbs stated verbs light verbs treasonable verbs conditional verbs Causative verbs factor of verbs and reflexive verbs we’ll look at examples of all of those individually now to action verbs or sometimes known as dynamic verbs.

Describe an active process in all of these examples the verbs that we’re talking about have been put in italics to make them easier to spot the boy talked with his parents about school options he joked for over an hour Peter is driving to work this week maybe read a book about time travel the drummer performed a fantastic solo during the concert Peter swore when he hit his thumb with a hammer.

Now this has got two action verbs in it so too that have been italicized and you also know that they’re not tense dependent they can be past tense present tense future tense is really the verb not the detonation of it that is important the thing

and stated verbs describe a subject state of being Tony looked pleased with himself Debbie sounds annoyed they can also express emotions possessions or qualities Lucy adores her dog he owns five houses the sunset was spectacular

a light verbs have very little meaning on their own and they require other word or words to become meaningful and common examples include do have get make and take you need to do your homework first

granddad’s having his afternoon snooze now I get a lot of emails every day can you make an exception this time please take off your dirty shoes and you’ll see all of these examples.

We need the extra information to give meaning to the verbs that are in italics on their own they tell us nothing

of freeze all verbs combine the verb with other things such as prepositions to make a unique meaning phrase and often used idiomatic way that the plane took off on time are you going to give up so easily

Jane now looks after her mother

slow down I can’t keep up with you and in all these examples the preposition has also been put in italics to make it easier to spot

conditional verbs are used in conditional sentences to describe a result that depends on a condition but if you heat ice it will melt

I will do the dishes if you cook the meal if I had studied harder I would have passed the exam now we have a whole section on conditionals where we look at all the different conditional types individually so please refer to that section if you need more information on conditionals Causative verbs show that something is causing something else to happen and they usually followed by a noun or a pronoun and an infinitive verb and this infinitive is the action that was caused and common Causative verbs are make let and have and my parents are making me take violin lessons my uncle let me taste his whiskey

Peter had the house painted last week

infective verbs indicate a condition or state that results from the action of the verb and they help us to answer the question of how something was changed or how something happened last year the members elected him president of the club the jury judged the defendant not guilty good for him the coach made Tom the team captain committee appointed Jane club treasurer and reflexive verbs are those where the subject is also their own direct object so the action is both committed by and received by the same person we often use reflexive pronouns here and the accidentally burnt himself while cooking so the reflexive pronoun here is himself and this shows us that he was the one who got burned and not somebody else if it wasn’t the reflexive pronoun would be and the accidentally burnt him while cooking and the him would refer to somebody else Jun pointed to herself in the mirror and again herself as the reflexive pronoun and it was June that June pointed to and not somebody else

I usually shave in the bathroom I hear the myself as in brackets because it’s fairly clear that I mean myself and so it can be admitted and in a similar way I wish the children would calm down a bit the calm themselves down as implied and therefore not necessary.