Verbs | Class 8 English Grammar Notes | Primary School English

Verbs are doing words. They are used to represent actions. There are regular and irregular verbs.

They form their past tenses by adding ‘ed/d’.Examples are:

Present Tense	Past Tense
Accept	Accepted
Add	Added
Agree	Agreed
Swallow	Swallowed
Count	Counted
Guard	Guarded
Happen	Happened
Harm	Harmed
Interest	Interested
Join	Joined
Judge	Judged
Mine	Mined
Move	Moved
Mark	Marked
Plant	Planted
Plant	Planted

- They form past tense in different ways, and not by adding of ‘ed/d’ to the word. - Some form past tense by changing the vowel, while others do not change at all.

Present Tense	Past Tense
Arise	Arose
Breed	Bred
Go	Went
Know	Knew
Put	Put
Grow	Grew
Run	Ran
Write	Wrote
Strike	Struck
Begin	Begun

Modal verbs are used to express ideas as:

• Probability
• Ability
• Permission
• request, Offers and invitations
• Suggestions and obligations

Examples of modal verbs are can, will, shall, would, should, did and more.
They can be in positive (affirmative) or negative such as:

Positive (Affirmative)	Negative
Can	Cannot (Can't)
Should	Should not (Shouldn't)
Ought	Ought not
Will	Will not (Won't)
Could	Could not (couldn't)
Might	Might not (mightn't)

a) Asking, Giving or Refusing Permission

We can use can or may or might when asking for or giving permission.
Examples
1. Can we go home now?
2. May I go to the bathroom?.
3. Students may travel for free.

We can use can't or may not when refusing permission.
Examples
1. You can't go home now.2.
You may go to the bathroom.

b) Suggestions and Obligations

We can use should and must to show suggestion or obligation
Examples
1. To save lives, drivers should not drink and drive.2.
You must stop when the traffic light turns red.

c) Express Desire in the Future

We can use shall, should, will and would to express future desire or aspiration.
Examples
1. In order to succeed, I shall always work hard.2.
I will be joining the football team next term.

d) To Show Probability

We can use may, might, could and can to express probability.
Examples
1. I can comfortably see take the exam.2.
The team might practise ahead of tomorrow's game.

e) To Show Conditional Expression

We can use should to show that one action is dictated entirely by another.
Examples
1. Should you fail the exam, you will repeat it.2.
Should it rain, the team will not practise ahead of tomorrow's game.

There are many types of verbs including action verbs, compound verbs, auxiliary verbs, helping verbs, linking verbs and more. We will discuss them in other topics.