Verbs and Verb Phrases

An analysis of the sentences in Activity 20 shows us that numerous factors are involved in choosing the verb form for a particular sentence in English.  Native speakers of English learned all of these forms intuitively and do not think about them as they speak.  Non-native speakers, however, must learn all the forms as well as the factors to use in choosing which of the many forms to use.  The English verb system is extremely difficult, and it is not unusual for even very advanced non-native speakers to make mistakes.

Key factors that affect the grammaticality of the verb form include: 1) the subject of the sentence, 2) the sentence type (statement, question, negative, short answer), 3) the mood of the sentence (whether it is providing information, presenting a hypothetical, giving a command), 4) the time that is being referenced, 5) and the relationship of the action of the sentence to other events, including the utterance of the sentence itself, 6) the verb chosen, its subcategory, and its principal parts, 7) the key focus of the sentence and its semantic role in relationship to the action.  This is not an exhaustive list, but it will serve to show how daunting the English verb system is to a non-native speaker.  There are literally hundreds of possible points to consider for each verb in English.

Grammar Muscle Heads might want to do the math to get to the hundreds of possible points for consideration.  Here they are: Subject-verb agreement: 3 persons (1st, 2nd, 3rd) x 2 numbers (singular, plural) = 6 possibilities Sentence type: 4 types x 6 subject possibilities = 24 possibilities 24 subject/sentence types x 3 time references (past, present, future) = 72 possibilities 72 subject/sentence/times x 4 aspect combinations = 288 possibilities 288 subject/sentence/time/aspect combinations x 2 voices (active, passive) = 576 possibilities 576 subject/sentence/time/aspect/voice combinations x 2 verb subcategories (regular, irregular) = 1152 possibilities And this calculation doesn’t even include mood yet or the fact that irregular verbs have more than one variation from regular verbs!

Clearly, there must be built-in rules that create regularity or even native speakers wouldn’t manage to do anything other than calculate verb choice.  And so there are rules.  In spite of the great variety of forms, the verbs are systematized, and the more meaningful a teacher can make those rules, the easier they will be to learn.

We turn now to a discussion of the factors involved and how they fit into the larger system.

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