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Concourse 2

Types of verbs and clauses

fractal This is an overview.  For more detail on any of this, follow the links in the table at the end.

Verb types in English are complicated.  In her book, English Verb Classes and Alternations: A Preliminary Investigation, Beth Levin considers some 3000 English verbs and classifies them in a bewilderingly complex way, identifying over 80 types based on their functions in sentences.  Note, too, that this is subtitled A Preliminary Investigation.

This is a site for language teachers, not theoretical linguists, so the following will not be quite so comprehensive.  In fact, we'll focus on just six types.

This guide considers lexical verbs only.  There is a separate guide to primary auxiliary verbs and modal auxiliary verbs get a whole section to themselves.
So, what is considered below are verbs which are not:

  1. acting to form a tense or aspect (the role of primary auxiliary verbs)
  2. not signalling the speaker's view of an event or state is in terms of its likelihood, necessity, desirability etc. (the role of modal auxiliary verbs)
6

6 types of verb

Here are six examples of verbs performing various functions in English.

  1. The police officer became angry.
  2. She is a doctor.
  3. They gave the man some money.
  4. I cooked the dinner competently.
  5. Peter arrived late at the party.
  6. They elected her president.

These six types have been chosen because distinguishing between them is one of the most difficult things for learners of English to do.  Partly, this is because languages vary a lot in how verbs can be characterised and what they do.

two

Subjects and predicates

The six examples above represent six of the most common clause forms in English.  We can analyse them like this:

However, the predicates are more complicated.  There are six different sorts.  Here are the example sentences again with the predicates in red.  Your task, should you accept it, is to identify what makes up the predicates (type of verb, word class, types of phrase etc.)
When you have done that, click here.

  1. The police officer became angry.
  2. She is a doctor.
  3. They gave the man some money.
  4. I cooked the dinner competently.
  5. Peter arrived late at the party.
  6. They elected her president.

It's important that you are sure about these clause structures so try this short matching test before we go on.

notice

Four things to notice
  1. Nominalised object clauses
    Direct objects of verbs can also be clauses acting as nouns, introduced with that, which is why they are called nominalised that-clauses.  For example:
        He told me a lie
    has the direct object a lie and the indirect object me but:
        He told me that he was hungry
    Has the structure: Subject–Verb–Indirect Object–Direct Object
    but here the Direct object is the nominalised clause that he was hungry.
    Nominalised that-clauses cannot act as indirect objects.  Indirect objects are mainly noun clauses or pronouns, never that-clauses.
    Nominalised that-clauses cannot be moved as indirect noun-phrase or pronoun objects can, so, while we allow:
        He told a lie to me
    we do not allow:
        *He told that he was hungry to me
  2. Object complements
    There is a variant of the Subject–Verb–Direct Object–Adverbial structure which deploys a complement (usually an adjective or a non-finite verb form).  For example:
            He kept the people happy
        She left her mother wondering what happened
    We could make this the seventh structure but in fact, it follows the structure of the final category above.  It is, functionally, Subject–Verb–Object–Object Complement or SVOCO.
  3. Optional and obligatory adverbial complements
    Adverbial complements are usually considered optional elements of sentences so we can have:
        I made the beds
    which is Subject–Verb–Direct Objector SVOD
    and
        I made the beds immediately
    which is Subject–Verb–Direct Object–Adverbial or SVODA
    However, a few transitive verbs (notably, put, place, stand and treat) insist on an adverbial complement so while we can have
        I put it down
        He treated her badly
        I placed the table in the corner
        I stood the lamp over there
    we do not allow simply SVOD, in these meanings of the verbs:
        *I put it
        *He treated her     (except in a medical sense)
        *I placed the table
        *I stood the lamp
    The normally intransitive verbs lie and live (the latter in the sense of abide rather than exist) also demand an adverbial complement so do not allow the pattern of simple Subject–Verb or SV as most intransitive verbs do.  So, for example, we can accept
        He lay on the bed
    or
        She lived in London
    but not:
        *He lay
    or
        *She lived
  4. Elision of the object or conversion
    Some transitive verbs which would normally demand the structure Subject–Verb–Direct Object–Adverbial or SVODA allow us to suppress or make implicit the object and can appear in Subject–Verb–Adverbial or SVA structures (or simply SV, of course):
        She's reading at the moment
    implies an object, as does
        They are smoking outside
        They washed before lunch
        She drank     quickly
    etc.
    In other words, the SVODA exists by implication but not in the overt structure of the sentence.
    Many other transitive verbs do not allow this object elision so we do not permit:
        *He used
        *They made
        *The children liked
    etc.
    There are two views of this:
    1. That the object is implicit and suppressed so, e.g.:
          He is eating
      implies an object (some kind of food).
    2. That the verb has been converted from a transitive to an intransitive version so, e.g.:
          He is eating breakfast
      is SVOD
      but
          He is eating
      is SV
confused

But all that is about clause structures.
I thought this guide was about verb types!

OK, and so it is.  Bear with us.
A moment's consideration will reveal that verbs can be classified according to the types of clauses they appear in.  In fact, certain classes of verbs require certain clause structures.
In the following some abbreviations have been used, as they have above.  Here they are explained:

Code Expands to ... Example
S Subject noun phrase Mary and her sister came home
Mary and her sister is the subject
V Verb phrase They put her up for the night
put up is the verb phrase with the object embedded
CS Subject complement John is a doctor
a doctor is the subject complement co-referential with the subject, John.  It is not the object of the verb because it is the same as the subject.
CO Object complement They made her happy
the object complement is happy because it applies to her, the object of the verb make.
A Adverbial phrase She suddenly disappeared
the adverbial is suddenly.  Even though the adverbial comes before the verb, a sentence of this sort can be described as SVA because the adverbials can often follow the verb (She disappeared suddenly last night)
O Object noun phrase If only one object is present, we can use O to denote it.
In He broke the window, the object is the window.
When there is a possibility of two objects being present (even though one may not be) we use the following.
OD Direct object He paid the money
the direct object is the money.
OI Indirect object He paid her the money
the indirect object is her.

Now we have the mechanics of how clauses work, we can identify which kinds of verbs work with which kinds of clauses.

happy

Intensive verbs
she seems happy  

Intensive verbs take subject complements rather than objects and appear in clause structure SVCS.  For example:

  1. I am a nurse
  2. Peter is running to fat
  3. She is getting aggressive
  4. He is growing old
  5. He seemed even more delighted
  6. John fell ill
  7. She turned aggressive

When they are used as copular verbs they cannot be used dynamically (*They are being doctors, *He was appearing happy etc.).  Examples 1, 5, 6 and 7 are copular verbs taking the SVCS structure.
When such verbs are used dynamically, the sense is usually a change of state rather than a consistent attribute of the subject.  Examples of the SVCS structures with these verbs used dynamically are 2 (a change of state from thin to fat), 3 (a change of state from peaceable to aggressive) and 4 (a change of state from younger to older).
You can see that the example
    She turned aggressive
is copular rather than dynamic use because it represents the end point of the change of state, not the process.
Similarly,
    He fell ill
is a copular use for the same reason but
    He is falling ill
is a dynamic use describing the change of state.  Both uses differ from the more common intransitive use of the verb as in:
    He fell over

Intensive verbs do not take objects – they take complements.

In the sentences above we have the following types of complement:

  1. a nurse (a noun complement co-referential with the subject)
  2. to fat (an adverbial complement, in this case a prepositional phrase)
  3. aggressive (an adjective complement)
  4. old (an adjective complement)
  5. even more delighted (an adjective phrase complement)
  6. aggressive (an adjective complement)
field

Extensive verbs
it extended for miles  

Extensive verbs form all the other sorts of clause structures we have looked at.  They are intransitive, monotransitive or ditransitive and they appear in different clause structures.  (If you aren't fully sure about these terms, check out the guide to subjects and objects.)

wait

Intransitive
he waited  

Intransitive verbs include, e.g., appear, arrive, come, disappear, rain, snow, work etc.  Obviously, they can have no truck with any clause structure which contains an object.
Think about what sorts of clauses they can form and then click here.

Some verbs can be transitive and intransitive (sometimes with a change in meaning).  For example:
    She ate at one o'clock
is intransitive and SVA, but
    She ate lunch at one o'clock
is transitive and SVODA
An alternative way to analyse this is to suggest that the object in the first example has been elided but is implied (see Note 4 above).
An example of a verb which changes meaning when used in the two ways is:
    I can manage on $50 a week (intransitive and SVA)
vs.
    She manages two shops (transitive and SVO)
When they are transitive, these sorts of verbs follow one of the patterns below.
See also Note 3, above concerning the verbs lie and live which insist on the inclusion of an adverbial and cannot be merely SV.

share

Monotransitive only
they shared an umbrella  

Monotransitive verbs include, e.g., attend, believe, describe, enjoy, find, join, share, take, use, watch etc.
What kinds of clauses do they demand?  Click here when you have an answer.

ask

Ditransitive
she asked the man a question  

Ditransitive verbs include, e.g., ask, bring, find, give, offer, pay, save, teach etc.  What clause structures do ditransitive verbs demand?  Click here when you have an answer.

An alternative ordering is to introduce the indirect object with either to or for.

to + the indirect object
suggests the object is affected by the action so, for example:
    She sent the money to her father
    I threw the ball to her
for + the indirect object
suggests that the object is the beneficiary of the action so, for example:
    She baked a cake for me
    She saved a bit for me

A list of ditransitive verbs with the to / for distinction noted, along with the uncommon ones that can take neither structure, is available via a link in the related guides list at the end.

By their semantic nature, most indirect objects are animate or represent a corporate body so we get, for example:
    He left the charity his money
    She gave her mother some flowers
etc.
That is not a universal rule because we can also have:
    I gave the house a good clean
    I gave it a thump with a hammer and it started working again
    I found the car a servicing agent
etc.

tree

Parsing the clauses
tree diagrams

For classroom presentation purposes, and to get the structures clear in your own head, parsing the clauses is a visual way of understanding the structures we have considered.
Here's a set of examples of all six clause structures:

sv sva svoco 
svod svoda svoiod 

two-faced

Verbs which can have more than one nature

Some verbs, such as break, drive, finish, manage, smoke, turn and write etc., are two-faced and can be transitive or intransitive.
There are three sorts of these:

Those in which the meaning remains whether transitive or intransitive
For example:
    He only smokes in the garden
    He smokes a pipe
    I drove for hours
    I drove my father's car
    I flew to Nice
    I flew the helicopter
    I ate at 6
    I ate dinner at 6
The verb call is slightly anomalous because intransitively it means visit or telephone and transitively it only means telephone:
    I called at 5 but you were out
    I called at six but you didn't answer
    I called him repeatedly but he didn't answer
The verb also has a transitive-only use meaning name:
    We called the cat George
Those is which there is a variably significant difference in meaning depending on how they are used
For example:
    I shone the light on the desk
    The sun shone brightly
    The child grew quickly
    It grew dark
    I grow potatoes on my allotment
    She left early
    She left the keys on the table
    I walked to London
    I walked the dog
(There is another pseudo-transitive use of the verb walk as in, e.g.:
    We walked six miles
    We walked a good hour
but these are better seen as reduced prepositional phrases for for six miles and for a good hour respectively.
The verb word as in:
    I worked an hour
may be considered similarly as an intransitive use with a reduced propositional phrase.)
Those in which the nature of the subject alters depending on how they are used (usually the choice is animate for transitive uses and inanimate in intransitive uses):
For example:
    The glass fell and broke
    I broke my glasses
    I dropped the subject
    The rain dropped on my head
    The bomb exploded
    I exploded the bomb

Here's a list of some common verbs categorised by transitive nature and the clause structures they demand.
If you would like this list as a PDF document, click here.

generally transitive usually intransitive transitive and intransitive can be ditransitive
SVOD, SVODA or SVOCO SV or SVA ← as appropriate → SVOIOD
ask
attend
believe
buy
consider
contact
describe
discuss
emphasise
enjoy
find
join
lay
like
lose
love
make
need
raise
receive
resemble
take
telephone
use
want
watch		 appear
arrive
behave
come
cough
die
disappear
fall
happen
hesitate
lie
live
rain
rise
sit
sneeze
snow
stand
wait
walk
work

Some of these can be used with a reflexive pronoun object (behave, lie, sit, stand, walk + oneself),
some combine with adverbs to form inseparable transitive phrasal verbs.  For example: live on, stand for, come across etc.
and some take prepositions with the same effect:
snow on, wait for, happen to, work for etc.

 break
close
drive
drop
eat
end
enter
explode
finish
fly
leave
manage
call
read
smoke
turn
type
*wake/awake/waken/awaken
win
write

These verbs often have a slightly different meaning in the two uses and take different sorts of subjects.  Compare, e.g.:
She broke the chair
vs.
The chair broke.
He called at six
vs.
He called his mother.

 ask
bring
buy
charge
find
give
hand
leave (bequeath)
lend
make
offer
owe
pay
promise
read
save
send
serve
show
teach
tell
wish
write

* These four verbs are deeply confusing because they all mean roughly the same thing although some are used with increasing formality and rarity.  For example:
    I woke early today
    I woke Mary early today
    I wakened early today
    I wakened Mary early today
    I awoke early today
    I awoke Mary early today
    I awakened early today
    I awakened Mary early today
are all possible although some are rare and literary.
The verbs wake and awake are both irregular (although AmE usage is often to regularise them).  The a-adjective, awake, derives from the third of these.
Only wake is regularly used with the adverb particle up.
The verbs awaken and waken are often used metaphorically as in, e.g.:
    It awakened unhappy memories
    That's loud enough to waken the dead

fox

Passive and ergative forms of verbs

It is sometimes suggested that all transitive verbs can form passive structures.  For example:

However, semantically, some verbs resist the passive even though they are transitive.  So, for example, we do not allow:
    *His father is resembled by him
    *She is fitted by that coat
    *A pint is held by this bottle
For more on these restrictions and a fuller list, see the guide to the passive, linked below.

A slightly peculiar set of verbs in English can be used in what is called the ergative case.  That simply means that what we normally understand to be the object of the verb is, semantically, the subject of the verb.  Structurally, they appear intransitive but semantically we can disentangle the object and the subject.  So, for example, we find:
    The kettle boiled
    The window opened
    The shirts sold well
    The garden flooded
etc.
These are effectively transitive uses of the verb with the subject understood or implied which allows the object to be raised to the subject position.  In the terms of this guide, they are verbs whose normal clause structure is SVOD but which appear to take an intransitive SV(A) structure.  Grammatically, they do, semantically, they don't.

A limited set of verbs in English are conventionally used in the ergative case and they include: break, close, change, cook, grow, move, start and stop along with a number of synonyms and semantically related verbs like split, tear, shatter, shut, increase, enlarge and boil.

teacher

So what?  Classroom implications

So quite a lot.
Think for a moment about how our awareness of the fundamental types of verbs and clause structures should inform our practice and then click here.

irregular

Irregular verbs

Most verbs in English are regular, taking the past tense and past participle ending with either -d or -ed.
There are over 650 irregular verbs in English, otherwise called strong verbs, but many are obsolete and some very rarely used.  Most of these verbs make a change internally to a vowel or consonant, a process known as mutation.

Here, for pedagogical use, is a list in memorable groups which share characteristics rather than alphabetically (which is the way most commercial teaching materials do it).

English irregular verbs
Verbs with no changes   Verbs with one change   Verbs with two changes
BID BID BID DIG DUG DUG BE WAS BEEN
BURST BURST BURST BLEED BLED BLED DO DID DONE
CAST CAST CAST BREED BRED BRED EAT ATE EATEN
COST COST COST FEED FED FED BID BADE BIDDEN
CUT CUT CUT HAVE HAD HAD BITE BIT BITTEN
HIT HIT HIT *DREAM DREAMT DREAMT HIDE HID HIDDEN
HURT HURT HURT *LEAN LEANT LEANT FORBID FORBADE FORBIDDEN
LET LET LET *SMELL SMELT SMELT GIVE GAVE GIVEN
PUT PUT PUT *SPELL SPELT SPELT GO WENT GONE
QUIT QUIT QUIT GET GOT ‡GOT(TEN) SEE SAW SEEN
SET SET SET *SPOIL SPOILT SPOILT SHAKE SHOOK SHAKEN
SHUT SHUT SHUT HEAR HEARD HEARD TAKE TOOK TAKEN
SLIT SLIT SLIT HOLD HELD HELD *(A)WAKE (A)WOKE (A)WOKEN
SPLIT SPLIT SPLIT LOSE LOST LOST BEGIN BEGAN BEGUN
SPREAD SPREAD SPREAD MAKE MADE MADE BEAR BORE BORNE
UPSET UPSET UPSET PAY PAID PAID DRINK DRANK DRUNK
  READ /ı:/ READ /e/ READ /e/ RING RANG RUNG
RUN RAN RUN HIDE HID HIDDEN
SAY SAID SAID SING SANG SUNG
SELL SOLD SOLD SINK SANK SUNK
SHINE SHONE SHONE SHRINK SHRANK SHRUNK
SIT SAT SAT STINK STANK STUNK
SPIT SPAT SPAT SWIM SWAM SWUM
STAND STOOD STOOD BREAK BROKE BROKEN
TELL TOLD TOLD CHOOSE CHOSE CHOSEN
WIN WON WON FREEZE FROZE FROZEN
CLING CLUNG CLUNG SPEAK SPOKE SPOKEN
HANG HUNG HUNG STEAL STOLE STOLEN
FLING FLUNG FLUNG ARISE AROSE ARISEN
SLING SLUNG SLUNG DRIVE DROVE DRIVEN
STING STUNG STUNG DIVE †DOVE DIVED
STRIKE STRUCK STRUCK RIDE RODE RIDDEN
SWING SWUNG SWUNG RISE ROSE RISEN
FIND FOUND FOUND WRITE WROTE WRITTEN
GRIND GROUND GROUND BLOW BLEW BLOWN
BIND BOUND BOUND FLY FLEW FLOWN
WIND WOUND WOUND GROW GREW GROWN
BECOME BECAME BECOME KNOW KNEW KNOWN
COME CAME COME THROW THREW THROWN
BRING BROUGHT BROUGHT SWEAR SWORE SWORN
BUY BOUGHT BOUGHT TEAR TORE TORN
CATCH CAUGHT CAUGHT *PROVE PROVED PROVEN
FIGHT FOUGHT FOUGHT *SAW SAWED SAWN
SEEK SOUGHT SOUGHT DRAW DREW DRAWN
TEACH TAUGHT TAUGHT FALL FELL FALLEN
THINK THOUGHT THOUGHT FORGET FORGOT FORGOTTEN
BUILD BUILT BUILT TREAD TROD TRODDEN
*BURN BURNT BURNT WEAVE WOVE WOVEN
*LEARN LEARNT LEARNED LIE LAY LAIN
BEND BENT BENT *SHOW SHOWED SHOWN
LEND LENT LENT SWEAR SWORE SWORN
SEND SENT SENT WEAR WORE WORN
SPEND SPENT SPENT Verbs marked * are regular in many varieties.
† dove is confined to AmE.
‡ gotten is common in but not confined to AmE.
CREEP CREPT CREPT
DEAL DEALT DEALT
FEEL FELT FELT
KEEP KEPT KEPT
*KNEEL KNELT KNELT
*LEAP LEAPT LEAPT
LEAD LED LED
LEAVE LEFT LEFT
MEAN MEANT MEANT
MEET MET MET
SLEEP SLEPT SLEPT
WEEP WEPT WEPT
*LIGHT LIT LIT
*SPILL SPILT SPILT

This is not a complete list, of course, and excludes some very rare or obsolete words.  The list also does not include prefixed verbs whose irregularity can be surmised such as, e.g., misspend, unlearn, rebuild, withstand, underlie and so on.

Click here to download a version of this list as a PDF document.

There are some oddities
odd


Related guides
copular verbs for more on what are called linking verbs in some sources
stative and dynamic uses for more on verbs used in these ways and the role of aspect
subjects and objects for more on case in English
the passive voice for more on verb patterns and restrictions on the use of the passive in English
primary auxiliary verbs for more on how verbs like these function to make tenses and signal aspects
modality for more on the range of uses of modal auxiliary verbs and other ways to signal modal meaning
verbal processes for an alternative view of what verbs do from a functional perspective
ditransitive verbs for a list in PDF format of the most common ditransitive verbs in English
irregular verb list for a PDF formatted list of the most common English irregular verbs

If you want to take a test on all this, click here.

References:
Chalker, S, 1984, Current English Grammar, London: Macmillan
Levin, B, 1993, English Verb Classes and Alternations: A Preliminary Investigation, Chicago: University of Chicago Press
Quirk, R, Greenbaum, S, Leech, G & Svartvik, J, 1972, A Grammar of Contemporary English, Harlow: Longman