Definition of a verb

A verb is a word we use to describe an action, state or occurrence. Every subject in a sentence must have a verb:

Jenny is a teacher. She lives in London with her husband, Bill, and their two children. Bill is a musician. He plays the guitar in a band. Their daughter goes to school and their son is studying medicine at King's College.

When we put all these together, we can get verbs of many parts:

Jenny should have been picking up the children from school but she was in the kitchen drinking tea. Bill ought to have realised that Jenny was forgetful and got them himself but he was too distracted and felt quite tired. He sat in the garden for a few hours before he became aware of a lack of cooking going on in the kitchen and a lack of homework being done in the study.

A bare infinitive is the infinitive of a verb without 'to'.

The bare infinitive is used:

1.  after the object following feel, have, hear, let, listen to, make, see and watch. [You might see this referred to as the 'causative'.] 

Jenny hears the children laugh as they play.

I saw him leave five minutes ago.

My boss lets me finish early on Fridays.

You can't make him do it if he doesn't want to. 

However, not in the passive voice where the infinitive is used.

       He's seen to leave at 5.00 every day.

He can't be made to do it. 

2.  after modal auxiliary verbs:   

We must go to the airport now or we'll be late.

Jeremy can take the minutes of the meeting; he is good at shorthand.

I can't come to the cinema; I have to baby sit.

You should stay at home and rest when you are sick.

3.  after 'needn't' but not 'need':   

You needn't go to Paris after all; Mary is going instead.

You need to go to Paris; Mary can't go in your place.

4.  after expressions such as 'would rather' and 'had better': 

I'd rather have coffee than tea, thank you.

You'd better come in and sit down; I have some bad news.

Sometimes we can choose between the infinitive and the bare infinitive.

The verbs 'to be', 'to have', and 'to do' can be used as main verbs with specific meanings:

I do my e-learning when I'm at work and I have some free time.

We can also use them as auxiliaries with a second, main verb:

Note that

1.     Sometimes the auxiliary verb happens to be the same as the main verb.

2.     Unlike modal auxiliary verbs, these do not have a specific meaning but are necessary to form these structures.

Here are some more examples:

Stative verbs are different from active verbs because they describe a state, feelings or emotions. They are also used to refer to the senses, counting or measuring.

Most of the time, we avoid using continuous tenses with stative verbs:

I know a lot of Japanese people. [not 'I'm knowing']

He believes in God.                       [not 'He's believing']

I'm a teacher.                                 [not 'I'm being']

It tastes lovely.                               [not 'It's tasting']

It weighs 3kg.                                 [not 'It's weighing']

although there are some exceptions which are discussed below.

Note that

1.     Some verbs have a stative meaning and an active meaning. When we use the active meaning, we can use a continuous tense.

     2.     We can use the stative verb 'to be' in the present continuous if we're talking about unusual or temporary behaviour:

She's usually difficult to work with but, today, she's being really kind and considerate - I don't know why!

We can only do this if we are talking about behaviour or pretence:

He's being polite.       He's being hungry.  

3.     Verbs like taste, see, hear, smell, sound etc. are more commonly used with simple tenses:

It tastes delicious.

It smells good.

It sounds lovely.

It feels soft.

It looks wonderful.

However we can also use the continuous when talking about current situations:

You look nice today.          = You're looking nice today

Are you feeling better today?

The garden is looking lovely now that spring is here. 

It's feeling much softer now that I've washed it with Lenor.

4.     Verbs related to counting and measuring such as 'contain', 'cost', 'hold', 'measure' and 'weigh' are usually used with simple tenses but some of these can also have an active meaning.

Compare the following:

In the above examples where both the present simple and present continuous are correct, the difference is just the usual one for these tenses - facts and routines or something happening at the moment.

* These verbs have a transitive meaning but some similar verbs don't have an alternative transitive meaning. For example:

                The height of the building equals the length.    [not 'is equalling']

London consists of 25 boroughs.                       [not 'is consisting']

See also transitive and intransitive verbs below.

5.     In informal English, we sometimes break the rules of stative verbs:

                 She's in Italy at the moment and she's loving it. 

And sometimes, native English speakers break the rule in songs, poetry etc. or because they enjoy playing with the language:

"I'm lovin' it."                           [McDonald's slogan]

"I'm needing a cup of tea."     [used especially by some Irish speakers of English]

6.     The rules above all use the present simple and present continuous in the examples but the same rules apply when we choose between the past, perfect and future tenses. Here are some examples:

I was considering his behaviour very rude.

I considered his behaviour very rude.  [opinion] 

She's starting a new job next week; I'm sure she'll be loving it.

I'm sure she'll love her new job.  [feelings and emotions]  

We've measured the desks and found that some are wider than others. [transitive]  

We've been measuring the desks and cabinets all morning - let's take a break.  [transitive] 

Here are some more examples:

English verbs are either transitive or intransitive. In dictionaries, they are often marked with 'i' or 't' to indicate this.