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VERB TYPES

EPC 423: DESCRIPTION OF ENGLISH SYNTAX

DR LIM PECK CHOO

TOPIC OUTLINE
1. Intransitive verbs

2. Linking verbs

3. Transitive verbs

4. Two-place transitive (Vg) verbs

5. Two-place transitive (Vc) verbs

1. ‘BE’ verbs

GRAMMAR
• Grammar is a system that puts words together into
meaningful units.
• Studying these units and their relationship is called
parsing- to understand how sentences are
constructed out of words, phrases and clauses.

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SYNTAX DEFINITION
What is a syntax in English language?

• Syntax is a form of grammar.

• It is concerned primarily with word order in a
sentence and with the agreement of words when
they are used together.

In linguistics, syntax is the set of rules, principles, and

processes that govern the structure of sentences in a
given language, specifically word order and
punctuation. The term syntax is also used to refer to
the study of such principles and processes.

PARTS OF SPEECH
A sentence comprises parts of speech.

1. Noun
2. Pronoun
3. Proper Noun
4. Verb
5. Adverb
6. Adjective
7. Preposition
8. Conjunction
9. Interjection

VERB
• A verb is 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.
• A verb is important because sentences are put
around verbs.
• There are 6 verb types which define the core
sentences.
• Identify a verb by the constituent that follows
immediately to the right and its relationship to
that constituent.

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INTRANSITIVE VERB (VI)

• An intransitive verb does not have an object.
Examples: cry, work, laugh, and talk
• It can end a sentence. or can be followed by a adverb.
Example:
 The Dean spoke (VI).
 The earthquake occurred (VI)..

• It can be followed by a adverb.

Example:
 The Dean spoke (VI) convincingly.
 The earthquake occurred (VI) at 10 am this morning.

LINKING VERB (VL)

• Linking verbs connect the subject of a sentence to nouns or
adjectives that renames or describes the subject. The
nouns or adjectives are called subject complement.
Example:

 Nina became a famous chef (PredN).

The verb became links the subject, Nina, to its
complement, a famous chef.

 The students seem happy (PredAdj).

The verb seem links the subject, The students, to its
complement, happy (describing The students)

LINKING VERB (VL)

Common linking verbs:
• Other verbs may be linking verbs in some cases and
action verbs in others:
appear feel look turn stay taste
seem grow prove sound smell remain

LINKING: Liza appear depressed. (Appear links Liza to the

subject complement depressed)
ACTION: The guard suddenly appeared. (Appeared is an
intransitive action verb.)

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TRANSITIVE VERB (VT)

• A transitive verb always has a noun, phrase or a
pronoun that receives the action of the verb, called the
direct object.
Example:

Maryam wrote the report.

Verb direct object

(VT) (NP: DObj)

TRANSITIVE VERB (VT)

• Sentences with transitive verb can be turned into passive
sentences.

Example:

Active: Maryam wrote the report.

Passive: The report was written by Maryam.

TWO-PLACE TRANSITIVES (Vg)

• Transitive verb sometimes have indirect objects, which
name the object to whom or for whom the action was
done.
Example:
Maryam gave Siti the report.
Verb Indirect object Direct object
(Vg) (NP:IObj) (NP:DObj)

-The direct object is the report. (What did she give? The report)
-The indirect object is Siti (To whom did she gave the report?
To Siti).
Vg verbs are followed by both direct and indirect object.

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TWO-PLACE TRANSITIVES (Vg)

• Sentences with Vg verbs have an alternate form.
Example:
Sentence: Maryam gave Siti the report.
Alternative: Maryam gave the report to Siti.

Formula for Vg verb sentence.

NP Vg NP: IObj NP:DO

bj
NP Vg NP:DObj to NP:
for IObj

TWO-PLACE TRANSITIVES (Vc)

• Sentences with Vc verbs are followed first by a noun phrase
that functions as a direct object, then by another noun
phrase, an adjective, or an infinitive phrase (function as
object complements)
Example:
The Dean found Amira a responsible student.
Formula for Vc verb sentence.
The Dean found Amira a responsible student.
The Dean found Amira to be a responsible student.
NP Vc NP: DObj InfPh:ObjComp

Example Vc: consider, think, found, believe

‘BE’ VERB
• The ‘be’ verb has 8 forms (be, am, is, are, was, were, been and
being)
• ‘Be’ verb can be followed by an adjective, a noun or an adverb
of place.
Formula:
The plants are healthy.
NP ‘be’ Adj: PredAdj
Burj Khalifa is the tallest building in the world.
NP ‘be’ NP:PredN

My office was in that building.

NP be’ PrepPh:Adv-place
(Adv: PredAdv)

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