The World of Words: Vocabulary for College Success ... - eLibrary

Parts of Speech 3The rumor spread more rapidly than we had expected. (More, anadverb, modifies rapidly, another adverb. Rapidly, in turn, modifiesspread, a verb.)A Closer Look at VerbsVerbs can be divided into two categories: transitive and intransitive. Atransitive verb has an action that is directed toward someone orsomething. A transitive verb needs a direct object to make a sentencecomplete. In contrast, an intransitive verb does not need a directobject.Transitive verb: Bong-Chol bought a computer. (Computer isthe direct object.)Intransitive verb: The garbage smelled. (No direct object isneeded.)Some verbs can be used both transitively and intransitively. Forexample, smelled is a transitive verb in “The bears smelled thegarbage.”Verbs can express past, future, or present action. Past-tense verbsare usually formed by adding the ending -ed.Armando rented an apartment last year.However, some past-tense verb forms are not regular. For example, thepast-tense form of the verb is is actually was; the past tense of ride is rode.The future tense of a verb is often expressed by using the helpingverb will. This is often shortened to ’ll.I will shop tomorrow. I’ll shop tomorrow.Copyright © Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.When we use the present tense, we add an s to a third-person singularverb. Examples of subjects that need third-person singular verbs areshe, Joe, and the door.The musician plays the piano and the violin.The city of Tucson grows rapidly each year.Sometimes a third-person singular subject can be more than oneperson. For example, “The team expects to win today.” In this case, theteam is a collection of individuals. Verbs that have the subject I, you, we,they, or words that stand for they are not third-person singular.We often express actions that started in the past and are still takingplace by using a form of the helping verb to be and adding -ing to the endof the main verb. This is called the present progressive tense, and the -ingform is called a present participle.I am waiting for a reply to my text message.The sun is shining.