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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hello every people and all the admins ! it's me again ! first of all, i want to say thank you so much to all the helps ,that is, all the answers you replied me all the time ! :) in the moment, i have a question for this sentence :
" Hold on ! Let me go get change "
i don't know the structure go + get! i'm wondering why it's not " go to get ! i think V + V with this case . could you explain it for me ? it's informal , isn't it ? how can i understand the difference between these structures ? Thank you a lot !
the best wishes !
team
Hello louder!
Thanks for your kind words! Glad you appreciate our help!
In answer to your question, go get changed is spoken and informal, and more common in American English than British English. It is not really grammatical, but a shorter form of go and get changed, which just a normal V and V structure. In British English, we would normally say go and get changed.
Hope that helps!
Jeremy Bee
The LearnEnglish Team
thank you ! by the way, i think "change " here is a noun !is it ok ? the whole sentences :
A : come on ! let's go out and do some shoping
B : ok ! hold on ! let me go get change !
the best wishes !
Hi, now I have a doubt here.
I don't understood how to use the modal verbs as "have been". Also, I didn't manage understand the mean of the phrase "She must have been listening". It is the same that "She did would be listening"?
In the phrase "He has been working very hard lately.", why the auxiliary verb is "has" and not "been"?
I am thankfull for your replies! ;)
hi
i have a big problem of read and write in English could you please tell me the best way to improve my skills in English
thinks
team
Hello dakdoka03!
Well, you've come to the right place for help! You should see this website as a library – just borrow whatever interests you! A good place to start is our Elementary Podcasts. These are short radio shows about different topics. To help your listening, vocabulary and grammar, you can listen to them, read the transcripts, and do the exercises. You can talk to other learners in the comments, too. This will help your writing.
Don't forget that we also have a search box. Put a topic you're interested in into the box – like 'meeting people' or 'the present simple' - and you'll get a list of pages about that topic.
We have a lot of different levels on the site, so don't worry if something is too hard – find something easier, and come back to it later. Just try to look at something every day!
Hope that helps,
Jeremy Bee
hi
The use of pharse in english i think its showing the qulity of strongness of the sentense so please you tell me the more skill how to use pharse
Like this
very helpful me
Hi The LearnEnglish Team!
I've been studying English since I was in grade school. I came to the UK nine years ago, went to school and improved my English even more. However, I'm still confused about some aspects of the language. Like if you use the phrase "must have heard" in a sentence to make a deduction or a logical conclusion, what then is the inverse or negative of this? "Musn't have heard" doesn't sound grammatical. Do we use "can't have heard" in this instance? Also, how do you ask the question to verify that somebody "must have heard" something?
Thanks.
team
Hi,
Congratulations on making so much progress with your English.
As for your first question, you are right that 'can't have heard' is usually a good negative form of 'must have heard'. I've heard people use 'mustn't have', but it doesn't sound as good to me.
You could ask a question by saying 'Must she have heard it?', but it's much more likely that someone would just ask 'Would she have heard it?' or 'Did she hear it?'
Best wishes,
Adam
The LearnEnglish Team