Week Two: Verbs!

<---back to Week 1: Nouns!

What is a verb?

Easy, a verb is a word that describes the action or what is taking place in the sentence. Verbs signal an action, an occurrence, or a state of being. They are very important because in the English language you cannot have a sentence without a verb!

Here are some examples of verbs:

to cry

to hug

to punch

Practice! Find all the verbs in the sentence below:

"I solemnly swear that I am up to no good" - Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Answer: "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

• To swear is to take an oath or make a promise
• Am is the singular form of the verb to be.

This brings us to our next topic...

Types of Verbs:

1. Physical Verbs: describe specific physical action i.e. punch, hug, stroll, jog, kick
2. Mental Verbs: refers to a cognitive state or action i.e. know, recognize, believe, think
3. State of Being Verbs: describe situations or conditions that exist i.e. I am, We are, It is

Example: "The narrow path had opened suddenly on to the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers." - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Active vs. Passive Verbs:

• Verbs can be either active or passive.
• When the verb is active, the subject preforms the action.
• Hermione punches Draco in the third book.
• Harry kills Lord Voldemort in the end. 
• Bellatrix kills her cousin Sirius
• When the verb is passive, the subject undergoes the action rather than does it. 
• Draco was punched by Hermione in the third book.
• Lord Voldemort will be killed by Harry in the end.
• Sirius is killed by his cousin Bellatrix.

Practice! Rewrite the following sentences in either active or passive form:

Professor Trelawney has a prediction that Harry will die. (change to active)

Dobby will be freed by Harry. (change to active)

Fred and George disrupt the OWL testing with fireworks. (change to passive)

Answers: 

Professor Trelawney predicts Harry will die. 

Harry frees Dobby.

The OWL testing is disrupted with fireworks from Fred and George.

Finite vs. Non-finite Verbs:

• Finite verbs change according to the subject of the sentence. They're called finite verbs because they have limited (or finite) power in the sentence. Here are some examples: 
• Professor Snape does not care for Harry's troublemaking.
• Ron was excited when he won the position of keeper on the Gryffindor quidditch team.
• Ginny Weasley is a very powerful witch.

• Types of finite verbs:
• Transitive: a transitive verb always has an object
• To help you figure out if the verb is transitive, ask "who" or "what" it is receiving the verb. It is transitive, if the verb is directly attached to the "who" or "what" 
• Neville enjoyed the Yule ball.
• Neville is the subject, enjoyed is the verb, and what is being enjoyed? the Yule ball

• Intransitive: an intransitive verb does not have an object that directly follows. 
• Hagrid weeps when he learns Buckbeak is sentenced to death.
• Hagrid is the subject, weep is the verb, and there is no direct object

• Practice: identify whether each sentence is using transitive or intransitive verbs
• Remus takes wolfsbane potion because he is a werewolf.
• The door to Dumbledore's office slowly opened.
• Everyone raised their wands in a salute to their fallen headmaster.

• Answers:
• Remus takes wolfsbane potion because he is a werewolf.
• what did he take? wolfsbane potion which is the object so transitive
• The door to Dumbledore's office slowly opened.
• what opened? the door which is the subject so intransitive
• Everyone raised their wands in a salute to their fallen headmaster.
• what did they raise? their wands which are the object so transitive

• Non-finite verbs: these types of verbs do not change according to the subject of the sentence. However, they cannot stand alone in a sentence as the main verb. They are usually not the main action in the sentence. There are three kinds of non-finite verbs: infinitives, gerunds, and participles.
• Infinitives are really easy to identify because they always have "to" in front of them
• "to" + verb = infinitive
• they function as verbs, nouns, adverbs, or adjectives depending on the sentence.
• Example: Dumbledore sought to defeat Voldemort.
• Gerunds are verbs that are being used by nouns but can act on a direct object.
• verb + "-ing" = gerund (if it acts like a noun!)
• Example: 
• Working to aid the fight against Voldemort, Lee Jordan ran a radio show called Potterwatch.
• While running from snatchers, Hermione fired a curse over her shoulder.

• Participles are words formed from a verb that can be used as an adjective. There are three kinds of participles:
1. Present Participles: a verb ending in "-ing" that functions as an adjective.
• Example: 
• The visiting witches and wizards filled the stands of the Quidditch World Cup!
• Professor Snape was truly amazing at occlumency.
2. Past Participles: a verb in past tense that acts like an adjective, these are easy to spot because most end in "-ed" or just "-d"
• Example: 
• Draco placed an apple into the cabinet, it vanished immediately.
• Seamus and Dean argued over their favorite quidditch teams.
3. Perfect Participles describe an action that has been completed. They are usually formed by putting "having" in front of the past participle.
• Example:
• Having read the Marauder's Map, Harry knew Pettigrew was alive.
• Having finished with his homework, Ron decided to play a game of wizard chess.

Wow that was a lot!! Here is a chart to help you organize all that information in your brain!

Lastly, let's talk about Subject-Verb Agreement.

Remember when we went over Verb-Noun agreement here? This is just like that, but now we're going to make sure our verb form agrees with our subject. If the subject of your sentence is singular, you need a singular verb. If the subject is plural, you need a plural verb.

• Try to identify this concept in the examples below, which verb form would you use for each?
• Many pure-blood witches and wizards (hate/hates) muggle-born witches and wizards.
• The Death Eaters (do/does) Voldemort's bidding.
• Voldemort (was/were) conceived under a love potion, which is why he cannot feel love.
• It is rumored that Snape (keep/keeps) applying for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, but Dumbledore refuses to give it to him.

• Answers: 
• Many pure-blood witches and wizards (hate/hates) muggle-born witches and wizards.
• The Death Eaters (do/does) Voldemort's bidding.
• Voldemort (was/were) conceived under a love potion, which is why he cannot feel love.
• It is rumored that Snape (keep/keeps) applying for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, but Dumbledore refuses to give it to him.

Assess Your Understanding:

Pick 8 out of the 12 options below to write one sentence for. Bonus points if you make it Harry Potter themed!

1. Mental verb:
2. Physical verb:
3. State of being verb:
4. Active:
5. Passive:
6. Transitive:
7. Intransitive:
8. Infinitive:
9. Gerund:
10. Past Participle:
11. Present Participle:
12. Perfect Participle:

Great job this week!

On to Week 3: Adjectives! --->