oxford_guide_to_english_grammar

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The verb phrase
57 Summary
Verb forms • 58
Verbs have the following forms: a base form (e.g. look), an s-form (looks), a past
form (looked), an ing-form (looking) and a past/passive participle (looked).
Finite and non-finite verbs • 59
A finite verb phrase is one that can be the main verb of a sentence. A non-finite
verb is an infinitive, gerund or participle.
The structure of the verb phrase • 60
A finite verb phrase can be an ordinary verb on its own.
Your hair looks nice.
There can be one or more auxiliaries before the ordinary verb.
I have looked everywhere.
We are looking for the key.
You should have looked in the drawer.
Meaning in the verb phrase • 61
The choice of tense and auxiliaries depends on meaning - what happens and how
we see it.
Action verbs and state verbs • 62
There are action verbs (e.g. walk, make) and state verbs (e.g. own, like). State verbs
are not normally continuous.
58 Verb forms
MODERN CRIME DETECTION
If you leave valuable articles in a changing room, it is quite likely that someone
will steal them while you are playing tennis or whatever. A few years ago, police
in a Yorkshire town were informed by a local sports club that all kinds of things
kept disappearing from the men's changing room, and the club were anxious to
stop it. 'This has gone on for too long,' said the club chairman.
The police took immediate action. They installed a secret video camera so that
they could find out what was happening, and a few days later they played back
the video at police headquarters, eager to see the thief filmed in the act. All it
showed, however, was a naked policeman, a member of the club, looking for his
clothes, which had been stolen.