Guide to English grammar

8
The verb phrase

57 Summary

Verb forms • 58
Verbs have the following forms: a base form (e.g. look), an s-form (looks), a past form (looked), an ing-form (looking) and a past/passive participle (looked).

Finite and non-finite verbs • 59
A finite verb phrase is one that can be the main verb of a sentence. A non-finite verb is an infinitive, gerund or participle.

The structure of the verb phrase • 60
A finite verb phrase can be an ordinary verb on its own.
Your hair looks nice.
There can be one or more auxiliaries before the ordinary verb.
I have looked everywhere.
We are looking for the key.
You should have looked in the drawer.

Meaning in the verb phrase • 61
The choice of tense and auxiliaries depends on meaning - what happens and how we see it.

Action verbs and state verbs • 62
There are action verbs (e.g. walk, make) and state verbs (e.g. own, like). State verbs are not normally continuous.

58 Verb forms

MODERN CRIME DETECTION
If you leave valuable articles in a changing room, it is quite likely that someone will steal them while you are playing tennis or whatever. A few years ago, police in a Yorkshire town were informed by a local sports club that all kinds of things kept disappearing from the men's changing room, and the club were anxious to stop it. “This has gone on for too long,” said the club chairman.
The police took immediate action. They installed a secret video camera so that they could find out what was happening, and a few days later they played back the video at police headquarters, eager to see the thief filmed in the act. All it
showed, however, was a naked policeman, a member of the club, looking for his clothes, which had been stolen.
1 Verbs have the following forms.

Base form S-form Past form Ing-form Past/passive participle

Regular verbs play, work plays, works played, worked playing, working played, worked

Irregular verb steal, find steals, finds stole, found stealing, finding stolen, found

2 Some of the verb forms have more than one use.

Base form S-form Past form Ing-form Past/passive participle

Imperative Present tense Infinitive Present tense (3rd person singular) Past tense Gerund Active participle Past participle Passive participle