The semantic verb is also called the lexical or main verb. This term describes an important member of a sentence. This is usually a predicate that shows the action or condition of the subject. The semantic verbs in the English language can function and fulfill the role of the subject both separately and together with an additional verb. The latter is also called auxiliary. The most famous auxiliary English verbs are do, to be, have / has.
Bit of theory
The term "auxiliary verb" is very speaking, since it is this type of verb that "helps" the main one. How exactly? It can “support” the main semantic verb in different ways, giving it additional characteristics. For example, they can show the time (in order to clarify when the action occurred).
With their help, it is easy to determine the person and number of the subject, the ability, intention or probability of something. If to be, to do and to have are the most popular auxiliary verbs, and semantic verbs convey a specific action or state. Let's look at the examples below in order to better understand how auxiliary verbs and semantic verbs work together.
I am driving to the beach. - I'm going to the beach
Here, the auxiliary verb am (the to be for the singular) informs the reader or listener that the semantic verb in the sentence - in this case driving - is happening at the moment, in the present tense. Among other things, this action is long - perhaps the driver has been operating the machine for several hours.
As an auxiliary verb, various forms of the to be verb can be used to explain when driving occurs (for example, was driving - will drive a car, will drive - will drive a car, will be driving - will drive a car), and which person performs the action (is driving - he / she / it drives a car, were driving - they / we drove a car).
I did empty the trash. “I really took out the trash.”
In this sentence, the auxiliary verb did (the form to do in the past tense) emphasizes the semantic verb to empty - “empty” or, in this context, “take out the garbage”. Suppose your mother instructed you to take out the trash, and you already did it, and in order to emphasize the completed action, instead of I emptied the trash you say I did empty the trash !.
I had seen the movie before. - I already saw the movie before.
Here, the auxiliary verb had (the form to have in the past tense) is used to express the past perfect tense. It indicates that one action occurred earlier than another time in the past. For example, if someone told you I saw the movie - we can interpret it as "I just finished watching it." If you use auxiliary and semantic verbs in the form I had seen the movie, it will mean that you went to the cinema until some point in the past.
Bound Verbs
As mentioned earlier, semantic verbs do not always express action. Sometimes they simply display the status of the subject. In these cases, they are referred to as bundle verbs, since they allow you to associate the subject and information describing its state. Let's look at some examples below:
As a toddler, Susan was adorable. “As a toddler, Susan was charming.”
Note that the main verb was was not expressing an act performed by Susan, but her adorable state.
Jennifer is a nurse at the local hospital. “Jennifer is a nurse at a local hospital.”
Here the main verb is (the form to be for the third person singular in the simple present tense) connects the subject (Jennifer - Jennifer) with its complement (nurse - nurse). That is, Jennifer is a nurse. We cannot say this sentence grammatically correctly without a bunch to be. Indeed, in the English sentence there is a fairly clear word order - the subject, and then the predicate. If the predicate in the sentence is missing, it is replaced by a bunch.
Since the Russian translation of the verb to be in the present tense is “lost” and not translated due to the grammatical features of the language, take note of the following advice on the use of the verb-connective: it is useful to consider the connecting verb as an equal sign. If you can replace the verb with an equal sign, and the general meaning of the sentence does not change, then the semantic verb acts as a connected verb.
Transitive and intransitive verbs
The main verbs can be transitive or intransitive. The transitions are followed by an addition - thus, we get a full-fledged offer. Intransitive verbs, in turn, do not need to be supplemented in order to make sense in the sentence. Intransitive verbs can express an action without direct completion and as a result are able to complete a sentence, but this will not sound incomplete. Consider the following examples of sentences using these two types of verbs in English.
Transitive verbs
Examples of using transitive verbs in sentences.
- They attended the party (they attended the party)
- Jenny fed the cat.
- Fred loves cakes.
In all of the above sentences, after the transitive verb, an addendum follows: attended (at what?) At the party, fed (whom?) The cat, loves (what?) Cakes.
Intransitive verbs
Examples of using intransitive verbs in sentences.
- The wind blew.
- John laughed (John laughed).
- The keys disappeared.
Since intransitive verbs are not followed by a complement, they are often found at the end of a sentence. However, in many cases, the intransitive verb may be followed by another part of speech, such as a circumstance or a prepositional group. Take a look at the sentences below that illustrate the described case:
The wind blew fiercely. - The wind blew violently.
Here “fiercely” is an adverb that describes how hard the wind blew. Note that in the English dialects, the -ly ending is often found.
John laughed for what seemed like an hour. - John seemed to laugh for an hour.
In this sentence, for what seemed like an hour, a prepositional group that explains how long John laughed.
The keys disappeared yesterday. “The keys were missing yesterday.”
Here, the adverb yesterday acts as a circumstance that describes when the keys disappeared, pointing to Present Simple.
Take note
Some semantic verbs can be transitive or intransitive, depending on how they are used. Take a look at the suggestions below.
- The teenage boy eats voraciously (teenager eats insatiable).
- The teenage boy eats five meals a day (teen eats five times a day)
In the first sentence, eats acts as an intransitive verb, but it is followed by the adverb “insatiable” - a circumstance that describes how a teenager eats.
In the second sentence, eats acts as a transitive verb, since it is followed by the addition “five times a day,” which explains how often a teenager eats.
Understanding the different types of basic verbs and how they function makes identifying them in a sentence less difficult.
Regular and irregular verbs
So, with what a semantic verb is, we figured it out. However, it is also important to remember that such verbs can be right and wrong. The latter are those that, when conjugated in past times, do not follow the standard conjugation pattern and change in a special way. Practice shows that these are the most commonly used verbs in English. Therefore, it is simply necessary to learn them for English learners.
So, we know that in Past Simple regular verbs accept the ending -ed. For example, “walk”: walk → walked. Irregular verbs, in turn, do not obey this rule. For example, “buy”: buy → bought. The table of irregular verbs is quite large. Her study begins with elementary school.