Forms of Main Verbs
Main verbs (except the verb "be") have only 4, 5 or 6 forms. "Be" has 9 forms.
Main verbs are also called "lexical verbs".
present simple, 3rd person singular
am, are, is
In the above examples:
The infinitive can be with or without to. For example, to sing and sing are both infinitives. We often call the infinitive without to the "bare infinitive".
At school, students usually learn by heart the base, past simple and past participle (sometimes called V1, V2, V3, meaning Verb 1, Verb 2, Verb 3) for the irregular verbs. They may spend many hours chanting: sing, sang, sung; go, went, gone; have, had, had; etc. They do not learn these for the regular verbs because the past simple and past participle are always the same: they are formed by adding "-ed" to the base. They do not learn the present participle and 3rd person singular present simple by heart—for another very simple reason: they never change. The present participle is always made by adding "-ing" to the base, and the 3rd person singular present simple is always made by adding "s" to the base (though there are some variations in spelling).
* Note that "do", "have" and "be" also function as helping or auxiliary verbs, with exactly the same forms (except that as helping verbs they are never in infinitive form).
These example sentences use main verbs in different forms.
Base - Imperative
Base - Present simple
(except 3rd person singular)
Base - After modal auxiliary verbs
3rd person singular, present simple
All helping verbs are used with a main verb (either expressed or understood*). There are 2 groups of helping verbs:
Study the table below. It shows the prinicipal forms and uses of helping verbs, and explains the differences between primary and modal helping verbs.
* Sometimes we make a sentence that has a helping verb and seems to have no main verb. In fact, the main verb is "understood". Look at the following examples:
But if somebody walked into the room and said "Hello. I can", we would understand nothing!
(to make simple tenses, and questions and negatives)
(to make continuous tenses, and the passive voice)
(to make perfect tenses)
"Do", "be" and "have" as helping verbs have exactly the same forms as when they are main verbs (except that as helping verbs they are never used in infinitive forms).
Modal helping verbs are invariable. They always have the same form.
Primary helping verbs are followed by the main verb in a particular form:
"Ought" is followed by the main verb in infinitive form. Other modal helping verbs are followed by the main verb in its base form (V1).
"Do", "be" and "have" can also function as main verbs.
Modal helping verbs cannot function as main verbs.
Now try a simple little quiz. Just click on the website below.
Thank You http://www.englishclub.com