Topic 2 (session A) - Being creative with words and phrases > More on word classes > Verbs

More on word classes - Verbs

(a) Meaning

Verbs are often described as 'doing words', and it is certainly true that they prototypically 'refer' to actions and processes (e.g. 'run', 'hammer', 'escape, 'ooze', 'trickle'). So, we could invent a character to contrast with Mr Solid, our noun, who we might call 'Mr Shift'.

But meaning is again rather unreliable as a way of defining verbs. The most common verbs in English, 'is' (the verb 'to be') and 'have' do not describe actions or processes, and the same can be said of (a) 'linking' verbs like 'become', and 'seem' and (b) psychological verbs like 'believe' and 'see' as well as stative verbs like 'stand' and 'remain'.

(b) Internal Form

1. In their finite form verbs are marked for tense. Hence the present tense verb 'talk' can be converted to the past tense by adding the '-ed' morpheme ('talked'). The other tense markers in English are supplied by auxiliary verbs, not morphological suffixes (cf. 'had talked').

2. Verbs can also be marked for person concord with the subject of a sentence, although in English (unlike many other languages) distinctive person markings are now restricted to third person present tense concord:

   Present	Past
   I talk	I talked
   you talk	you talked
   he/she/it talks	he/she/it talked
   we talk	we talked
   you talk	you talked
   they talk	they talked

   
   

3. Finally, verbs can carry markings in relation to what is usually called 'aspect'. Aspect has to do with whether an action is perceived as being something which happens in a moment (is punctual) or is spread over a longer period of time (is continuous). Compare:

   	Punctual	Continuous
   Past tense	He tapped his teeth	He was tapping his teeth
   Present tense	He taps his teeth	He is tapping his teeth

(c) Function

Verbs always function inside verb phrases, either as the main (head) verb, or as an auxiliary to it, as in: has been drinking might have been being drinking In both these cases, 'drinking' is the main (head) verb and the other words are all auxiliary verbs of different kinds.

The participial forms (those ending in '-ing', 'Ed' or '-en') are ambiguous formally between verbs and adjectives, but their differing functions in context remove the ambiguity:

Verb	Adjective
has been drinking	a drinking cup
was pressed	a pressed man

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