verb

«verb» in Mova's school dictionary: a word that tells what someone or something does, like… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a verb, verbs)

meaning for a pupil

1) A verb is a word that tells what someone or something does, like «run», «eat» or «think». tree →

2) A verb can also tell what someone or something is or has, like «is», «seem» or «have». tree →

3) Every full sentence needs a verb; it is the word that changes for time, like «walk», «walked». tree →

sense in the lessons

In English grammar lessons pupils find the verb in a sentence, change its tense (past, present, future) and match it to the subject («she runs», «they run»). Teachers call verbs «doing words» and «being words». Phrases: «action verb», «helping verb» (also «auxiliary verb», like «is», «have», «will»), «irregular verb» («go – went»), «verb tense», «modal verb» («can», «must»). In stories, strong verbs («dashed», «whispered») make writing lively.

examples

• «Jump» is a verb because it is something you can do. tree →
• In «The dog barked», the verb is «barked». tree →
• Underline the verb in each sentence. tree →
• «Is» is a verb too, even though nothing moves. tree →
• Choose a stronger verb than «went», like «raced» or «crept». tree →
• Irregular verbs change in odd ways: «swim, swam, swum». tree →
• A sentence without a verb is not a full sentence. tree →
• In «She can sing», «can» is a helping verb and «sing» is the main verb. tree →
• The verb okostenyet', to grow numb, describes the state into which a skazka represents the realm of the "Sleeping Beauty," as being thrown by Koshchei. tree →

note

Countable: one verb, two verbs. Some words can be a verb or a noun: «a run» (noun), «I run» (verb) — look at the job the word does in the sentence. Regular verbs make the past with «-ed» (walked); irregular ones do not (ran, ate, went). A verb must agree with its subject: «he plays», «they play». The adjective is «verbal», which also means «spoken» («a verbal warning»).

In the corpora

• Mandarin doesn't: you answer by repeating the verb of the question, so the «yes» changes every time.
• Listen to the question, catch its verb, and give it back: that is the whole trick.
• Many very common verbs ignore -ed altogether: swim, swam; run, ran; go, went; catch, caught.
• Irregular verbs do not add -ed: swim/swam, run/ran, go/went, catch/caught.
• Adding -tion often turns a verb into a noun: inform, information.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «verb» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.