Monday, August 31, 2026
Welcome back to Grammar that you need to know part II, the sequel (with quality in the vein of The Godfather part II not other disappointing follow ups) where we impart a few more grammar nuggets to tide you over until the next academic course rolls around, at least here in the northern hemisphere. Just a reminder that the reason for this blogpost is to help experienced and inexperienced teachers alike with grammar guidance that is likely to be of use come class time. The more you know, the more effective your teaching should be, in theory. So, to start off let’s dive right in with a little bit of terminology like last time and use that as a springboard for the rest of the blog. Verbs here we come!
To simplify things, this word class is often described to students as action words and for the most part they are, but what about the others you might come across? I have 2 dogs. I am older than you. Did you hear that? I would have if I hadn’t been distracted. All the words in bold are undeniably verbs but they are not the action words we were led to believe, so the classification of verbs runs much deeper than the simple catch-all term action words. And as a teacher, it’s obviously important to be aware of all the different verb classifications such as modals, auxiliaries, state and phrasal verbs and how/why they are used because that is what you will no doubt be covering in class. Added to that, there is everything that comes after a verb to worry about too, by this we mean prepositions, objects (or not!) infinitives or gerunds (verb patterns) and complements – more terminology to get familiar with but absolutely necessary to teach verbs effectively.
To start with, there is a group of verbs whose ‘action’ isn’t dynamic like running or driving (things you can clearly ‘do’) and instead these verbs relate to a ‘state’ of being, hence the name state or stative verbs. They also include thoughts, feelings and possession, which are typically permanent, and this is why they are rarely used in the continuous form because that indicates a temporary nature, something that state verbs are clearly not. Two of the sentences mentioned earlier, I have 2 dogs and I am older than you, demonstrate this through ownership and how someone is, neither being a dynamic ‘doing’ verb. Other typical state verbs include believe, love, hate, know, and the senses when experiencing something passively. However, it is important to be aware that some verbs can be used both ways such as I think he’s wrong (think used to give an opinion, therefore a state) compared to I’m thinking of going (think = dynamic, the action of thinking, therefore it is able to be used in the continuous form).
Another typical verb category is auxiliary verbs and these are verbs which “help” another verb express certain meanings. For example, Do you like it? It didn’t work and I do believe you show how do is used for questions, negatives and emphasis but these are extra to the main verb’s core meaning, the sidekick if you will. The typical auxiliaries are be, do and have although you will often see modals included too and this group is used to add meaning that relates to a speaker’s attitude towards something but more on that below!
As mentioned above, modal auxiliary verbs give meaning related to attitude, essentially how one perceives an action or event. This covers such functions as expressing obligation, ability or possibility plus myriad others. Within this group you will find verbs like can, could, might and more, all of which support the following (main) verb which is, importantly, in its base form. He must leave indicates that the following action (leave) is compulsory whereas He can leave assures us that he has permission to go. But remember it’s all about perception, and this of course is in the eye of the beholder, so while I think that you will read this sentence, perhaps by the time you get down to here, your willingness level might be such that you might read it.
While we’re agreeing to disagree over how an action can be perceived, this segues nicely onto the topic of subject-verb agreement. Now this is not a pact per se between subject and verb but in fact a grammar term referring to the verb form and its dependence on the number and person of the subject and that they must “agree” to be grammatically correct. This is why *He swim every day and *They doesn’t watch TV are considered wrong because the subjects, He/They, don’t agree with their verbs. Funnily enough, for a few subjects it can also come down to perception again, and there are a few instances where you can choose to see the subject as a single entity (an ‘it’ in other words) or as a group but made up of individuals (a ‘they’), giving us the option The audience was/were full of anticipation for the show.
Seeing as this grammar blogpost looks to be focussed purely on verbs, something would definitely be amiss were we not to mention the notorious phrasal verb. A solo blogpost worthy topic if ever there was one. Phrasal verbs are verbs which consist of a verb and a preposition and/or an adverb like wake up, get on with, hence they are also called multi-word verbs. Their difficulty often lies in the fact that their meaning comes from the combination of words, not the main verb itself, and which may not be obvious at first glance (or ever!). Take He can dish it out but he can’t take it for example, would you automatically realise that it means to criticise others? Or that crack up refers to laughing uncontrollably? Fortunately, some are much clearer like She picked up the pen, so there is usually a continuum from literal to metaphorical to help decipher them, as well as by analysing the preposition used.
Lastly, a little note on the passive construction to wrap up this verb blogpost. Here, we are referring to how instead of saying somebody or something (the subject) is doing an action, it is flipped around to describe someone/thing receiving an action or being affected by one. The difference between I broke the window (active) and The window was broken (passive). In class, what is important for students to know is why we use the passive and the passive “ingredients” which are the verb to be (in whatever form) and the past participle of the main verb. But keep in mind that not all verbs take objects, some are intransitive, so not everything can actually be expressed in a passive manner, try it with I slept 8 hours last night. Doesn’t work right?!
And there you go, a brief collection of some tasty grammar morsels to snack on before questions appear from all directions in class. Remember, teaching is journey where the learning never stops, both for the student and the teacher, and grammar (especially verbs!) is an area where the more you investigate the more you realise the deeper the rabbit hole goes. But for now, here at London School of Languages we wish you a wonderful summer (or winter if you’re reading in the southern hemisphere) and look forward to joining you again next academic course!
