Verb Types and Verb Forms English Grammar

Verb

Verb - A word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence, and forming the main part of the predicate of a sentence, such as hear, become, happen.

Types of verb

Main verbs - Transitive and intransitive verb

A verb can be either transitive or intransitive. A transitive verb needs an object (in sentence) to give complete meaning while intransitive verb does need an object (in sentence) to give complete meaning.  

Transitive verb:

He sent a letter.

(Send is a transitive verb and it needs an object i.e. letter to express full meaning.)

Intransitive Verb:

He laughs. 

(Laugh is an intransitive verb and it does not need object for expressing full meaning.) 

Sleep, go, reach, sit, die, are examples of intransitive verbs.

Helping verbs – 

Helping verbs are used to convey additional information regarding possibility (can, could, etc.) or time (was, did, has, etc.) of the main verb. 

EXAMPLES: Ram is (helping verb) going (main verb) to Ayodhya.

His trip might (helping verb) be (main verb) fruitful.

Modals -

The following helping verbs are called as modals-

Can, may, must, shall, will, could, might, ought to, should, would

EXAMPLE: She could learn how to fly helicopters. (Could helps the main verb, learn)

Objective English Verb Question

1. 
   

   The children were ....................... going to the movies, but the rain played spoilsport.

1. A. set to     
2. B. set about      

2.  

   
   

   The girl didn't take even five minutes to ......................... the train set.

1. A. set out     
2. B. set up        Correct Answer

3.  

   
   

   What sets him ................... from his colleagues is his commitment to his work.

1. A. out     
2. B. off      



4.  

   
   

   She set ................. the novel and started doing her homework.

1. A. off     
2. B. apart      

5.  

   
   

   She has faced many ................... in life.

1. A. set offs     
2. B. set backs     
3. 
   

Example of verbs (simple, past and past participle forms)

Simple Present	Simple Past	Past Participle
arise	arose	arisen
awake	awoke	awoken
be	was, were	been
bear	bore	borne
beat	beat	beaten or beat
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
bend	bent	bent
bet	bet	bet
bite	bit	bitten
bleed	bled	bled
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
bring	brought	brought
build	built	built
burn	burned or burnt	burned or burnt
burst	burst	burst
buy	bought	bought
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
cling	clung	clung
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
creep	crept	crept
cut	cut	cut
deal	dealt	dealt
dig	dug	dug
dive	dived or dove	dived
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
dream	dreamed or dreamt	dreamed or dreamt
drink	drank	drunk
drive	drove	driven
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feed	fed	fed
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
fit	fit, fitted	fit, fitted
flee	fled	fled
fling	flung	flung
fly	flew	flown,
forbid	forbade or forbad	forbidden or forbade
forget	forgot	forgotten
forgive	forgave	forgiven
forgo	forwent	forgone
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	gotten or got
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grind	ground	ground
grow	grew	grown
hang	hung or hanged	hung or hanged
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
keep	kept	kept
kneel	knelt or kneeled	knelt or kneeled
knit	knitted or knit	knitted or knit
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
leap	leapt or leaped	leapt or leaped
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
lie (down)	lay	lain
light	lit or lighted	lit or lighted
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
pay	paid	paid
prove	proved	proved or proven
put	put	put
quit	quit	quit
read	read	read
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
saw	sawed	sawed or sawn
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
seek	sought	sought
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
set	set	set
sew	sewed	sewn or sewed
shake	shook	shaken
shave	shaved	shaved or shaven
shear	sheared	sheared or shorn
shine	shone or shined	shone or shined
shoot	shot	shot
show	showed	shown or showed
shrink	shrank or shrunk	shrunk or shrunken
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sink	sank	sunk
sit	sat	sat
slay	slew	slain
sleep	slept	slept
slide	slid	slid
sneak	sneaked or snuck	sneaked or snuck
speak	spoke	spoken
speed	sped	sped
spend	spent	spent
spill	spilled or spilt	spilled or spilt
spin	spun	spun
spit	spat or spit	spat or spit
split	split	split
spread	spread	spread
spring	sprang	sprung
stand	stood	stood
steal	stole	stolen
stick	stuck	stuck
sting	stung	stung
stink	stank or stunk	stunk
strew	strewed	strewn
strike	struck	struck or stricken
strive	strove or strived	striven or strived
swear	swore	sworn
sweep	swept	swept
swim	swam	swum
swing	swung	swung
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
thrive	thrived or throve	thrived or thriven
throw	threw	thrown
undergo	underwent	undergone
understand	understood	understood
upset	upset	upset
wake	woke or waked	woken or waked
wear	wore	worn
weave	wove	woven
weep	wept	wept
win	won	won
wind	wound	wound
withdraw	withdrew	withdrawn
wring	wrung	wrung
write	wrote	written
bear	bore	borne
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
bite	bit	bitten
break	broke	broken
bring	brough	brought
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
come	came	come
do	did	done
drink	drank	drunk
drive	drove	driven
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feel	felt	felt
fly	flew	flown
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	got or gotten
go	went	gone
Know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
lend	lent	lent
lose	lost	lost
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
set	set	set
shake	shook	shaken
sing	sang	sung
sink	sank or sunk	sunk
sit	sat	sat
sleep	slept	slept
speak	spoke	spoken
steal	stole	stolen
swim	swam	swum
take	took	taken
throw	threw	thrown
wear	wore	worn
win	won	won