verb phrases
The verb phrase in English has the following forms:
1) a main verb:
| Verb | ||
|---|---|---|
|
We I Everybody We |
are like saw. laughed. |
here. |
The verb may be in the present tense (are, like) or the past tense (saw, laughed). A verb phrase with only a main verb expresses simple aspect
2) an auxiliary verb ("be") and a main verb in –ing form:
| Auxiliary "be" | Verb (-ing) | |
|---|---|---|
|
Everybody We |
is were |
watching laughing |
A verb phrase with "be" and –ing expresses continuous aspect.
3) an auxiliary verb ("have") and a main verb with past participle:
| Auxillary "have" | Verb (past participle) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
They Everybody He |
have has had |
enjoyed worked finished |
themselves. hard. work. |
A verb with "have" and the past participle expresses perfect aspect. A verb with have/has expresses present perfect, and a verb with had expresses past perfect.
4) an auxiliary verb ("have" + "been") and a main verb in the –ing form:
| Auxiliary "have" + "been" | Verb (-ing) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
Everybody He |
has been had been |
working singing |
hard |
A verb with "have" and "been" and the present participle expresses perfect continuous aspect. A verb with have/has expresses present perfect continuous, and a verb with had expresses past perfect continuous.
5) a modal verb (can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would) and a main verb:
| Modal Verb | Main verb | |
|---|---|---|
|
They He |
will might |
come. come. |
6) We can use modal verbs with the auxiliaries "be", "have", and "have been":
| Modal | Auxiliary | Verb | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
They He She |
will might must |
be have have been |
listening arrived listening |
| Activities |
|---|
Active and passive:
Transitive verbs have a passive form as well as an active form:
The hunter killed the lion. (active) <> The lion was killed by the hunter. (passive)
Someone has cleaned the windows <> The windows have been cleaned.
The passive forms are made up of the verb "be" with a past participle:
| "be" | Past participle | ||
|---|---|---|---|
|
English The windows Lunch The work They |
is have been was being will be might have been |
spoken cleaned served finished invited |
all over the world
|
| Decide if the verbs are active or passive | |||
English Grammar
- Pronouns
- Determiners and quantifiers
- Possessives
- Adjectives
- Adverbials
- Nouns
- Verbs
- irregular verbs
- question forms
- verb phrases
- present tense
- past tense
- perfective aspect
- continuous aspect
- active and passive voice
- to + infinitive
- -ing forms
- talking about the present
- talking about the past
- talking about the future
- verbs in time clauses and if clauses
- wishes and hypotheses
- the verb be
- link verbs
- delexical verbs like have, take, make and give
- Modal verbs
- double object verbs
- phrasal verbs
- reflexive and ergative verbs
- verbs followed by to + infinitive
- verbs followed by -ing clauses
- verbs followed by that clause
- Clause, phrase and sentence
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I was wondering why, in the 6th question of the third test, is just "has" the auxiliary verb and not the both "has" and "been"?
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