Verbs have 8 main characteristics: they describe actions or events, can indicate tense, mood, voice, and must agree with their subject. Verbs can also function as gerunds, infinitives, or auxiliary verbs. Additionally, verbs can be combined with prepositions or adverbs to form phrasal verbs with unique meanings.

1. CHARACTERISTICS OF
VERBS
8 Characteristics of Verbs:
1. Form 5. Agreement
2. Tense 6. Gerunds and Infinitives

2. Action – Verbs are words that describe actions or events that can be done by
someone or something.
Example: I ran a marathon yesterday.
I run every morning for exercise
Tense – Verbs can show the time of the action – present, past or future – through the
use of tense
Examples:
Present Tense – I walk to school everyday.
Past Tense – I cooked rice yesterday.
Future Tense – John will attend a party tomorrow.

3. Mood – Verbs can also indicate the speaker’s attitude or intent, such as a command, a
request, or a statement of fact, through the use of mood.
Example: Ostriches cannot fly.
Can you get my pen?
Voice – Verbs can be either the active or passive voice, depending on whether the
subject is doing the action or receiving it.
Example:
Active Voice – Robots milk these cows.
Passive Voice – These cows are milked by robots.

4. Agreement - Verbs must agree in the number and person with the subject of the
sentence.
Example: The child becomes happier.
The author analyzes the text
Gerunds and Infinitives - Verbs can also function as gerunds or infinitives when they
are used as nouns or modifiers.
Example:
Gerunds - Running every morning helps me stay in shape.
Infinitives - She likes to read books before bed.
Gerunds and Infinitives - He enjoy playing basketball and hopes to join a
team soon.

5. Auxiliary Verbs - Verbs can be used as auxiliary or helping verbs to form compound
tenses, questions and negatives.
Example: They have been working hard all day.
I am studying for my exam.
Phrasal Verbs - Verbs can also be combined with prepositions ir adverbs to create
phrasal verbs, which have different meanings than te individual words.
Example: She always puts on makeup before going out.
He turned off the lights before leaving the room.

6. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING
Prepared by: Wenafe G. Rañola