English Verbs
Verbs constitute one of the main word classes in the English language. Like other types of words in the language, English verbs are not strongly inflected – generally the only inflected forms are a third-person singular simple present in -s, a simple past form, a past participle, and a present participle and gerund form in -ing. Most verbs inflect in a simple regular fashion, although there are a few hundred irregular verbs, mostly with irregular simple past and past participle forms. The copula verb be has a larger number of different inflected forms, and is highly irregular.
The majority of tenses, aspects, moods and voices are expressed periphrastically, using constructions with auxiliary verbs and modal verbs.
Read more about English Verbs: Use of Verb Forms, Objects and Complements, Phrasal Verbs
Famous quotes containing the words english and/or verbs:
“Sir Walter Raleigh might well be studied, if only for the excellence of his style, for he is remarkable in the midst of so many masters. There is a natural emphasis in his style, like a man’s tread, and a breathing space between the sentences, which the best of modern writing does not furnish. His chapters are like English parks, or say rather like a Western forest, where the larger growth keeps down the underwood, and one may ride on horseback through the openings.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“He crafted his writing and loved listening to those tiny explosions when the active brutality of verbs in revolution raced into sweet established nouns to send marching across the page a newly commissioned army of words-on-maneuvers, all decorated in loops, frets, and arrowlike flourishes.”
—Alexander Theroux (b. 1940)