Conditional Sentence

As is typical for many languages, full conditional sentences in English consist of a condition clause or protasis specifying a condition or hypothesis, and a consequence clause or apodosis specifying what follows from that condition. The condition clause is a dependent clause, most commonly headed by the conjunction if, while the consequence is contained in the main clause of the sentence. Either clause may appear first.

Different types of conditional sentences (depending largely on whether they refer to a past, present or future time frame) require the use of particular verb forms (tenses and moods) to express the condition and the consequence. In English language teaching the most common patterns are referred to as first conditional, second conditional and third conditional; there is also a zero conditional and mixed conditional.

Humor

Humor is subjective, but at least the author tried.

Subject–auxiliary Inversion

Subject–auxiliary inversion involves placing the subject after a finite auxiliary verb, rather than before it as is the case in typical declarative sentences (the canonical word order of English being subject–verb–object).

Note that forms of the verb be are included regardless of whether or not they function as auxiliaries in the sense of governing another verb form.

A typical example of subject–auxiliary inversion is given below.

• Sam has read the paper. - Statement
• Has Sam read the paper? - Yes–no question formed using inversion

Here the subject is Sam, and the verb has is an auxiliary. In the question, these two elements change places (invert). If the sentence does not have an auxiliary verb, this type of simple inversion is not possible. Instead, an auxiliary must be introduced into the sentence in order to allow inversion:

• Sam enjoys the paper. - Statement with the non-auxiliary verb enjoys
• *Enjoys Sam the paper? - This is idiomatically incorrect; simple inversion with this type of verb is considered archaic
• Does Sam enjoy the paper? - The sentence formulated with the auxiliary does now allows inversion. For details of the use of do, did and does for this and similar purposes.

For exceptions to the principle that the inverted verb must be an auxiliary, see below.

It is also possible for the subject to invert with a negative contraction (can't, isn't, etc.). For example:

• He isn't nice.
• Isn't he nice? - The subject he inverts with the negated auxiliary contraction isn't.

Compare this with the uncontracted form Is he not nice? and the archaic Is not he nice?.

Subject–verb Inversion in English

Subject–verb inversion in English is a type of inversion where the subject and verb (or chain of verbs, verb catena) switch their canonical order of appearance, so that the subject follows the verb(s), e.. A lamp stood beside the bed → Beside the bed stood a lamp. Subject–verb inversion is distinct from subject–auxiliary inversion because the verb involved is not an auxiliary verb.

Irregular Verbs

The English language has a large number of irregular verbs, approaching 200 in normal use—and significantly more if prefixed forms are counted. In most cases, the irregularity concerns the past tense (also called preterite or the past participle.

The other inflected parts of the verb—the third person singular present indicative in -[e]s, and the present participle and gerund form in -ing—are formed regularly in most cases. There are a few exceptions: the verb be has irregular forms throughout the present tense; the verbs have, do, go and say have irregular -[e]s forms; and certain defective verbs (such as the modal auxiliaries) lack most inflection.

The irregular verbs include many of the most common verbs: the dozen most frequently used English verbs are all irregular. New verbs (including loans from other languages, and nouns employed as verbs) usually follow the regular inflection, unless they are compound formations from an existing irregular verb (such as housesit, from sit).

Irregular verbs in Modern English typically derive from verbs that followed more regular patterns at a previous stage in the history of the language. In particular, many such verbs derive from Germanic strong verbs, which make many of their inflected forms through vowel gradation, as can be observed in Modern English patterns such as sing–sang–sung. The regular verbs, on the other hand, with their preterites and past participles ending in -ed, follow the weak conjugation, which originally involved adding a dental consonant (-t or -d). Nonetheless, there are also many irregular verbs that follow or partially follow the weak conjugation.

For information on the conjugation of regular verbs in English, as well as other points concerning verb usage, see verbs.

Strong Verbs

A large number of the irregular verbs derive from Germanic strong verbs, which display the vowel shift called ablaut, and do not add an ending such as -ed or -t for the past forms. These sometimes retain past participles with the ending -[e]n, as in give–gave–given and ride–rode–ridden, but in other cases this ending has been dropped, as in come–came–come and sing–sang–sung. This verb group was inherited from the parent Proto-Germanic language, and before that from the Proto-Indo-European language. It was originally a system of regular verbs, and in modern German the system remains more or less regular; however in Modern English relatively few verbs continue to follow such a pattern, and they are classed as irregular.

Verbs that retain a strong-type inflection in modern English and add -[e]n in the past participle include bear, beat, beget, bite, blow, break, choose, cleave, draw, drive, eat, fall, fly, forbid, forget, forsake, freeze, give, grow, know, lie, ride, rise, see, shake, shear, slay, smite, speak, steal, stride, strive, swear, take, tear, throw, tread, wake, weave, and write.

Those that do not add -[e]n in the usual past participle include become, begin, bind, burst, cling, come, drink, fight, find, fling, get (but with past participle gotten in American English), grind, hang, hold, let, ring, run, seek, shed, shine, shit, shoot, shrink, sing, sink, sit, slide, sling, slink, slit, spin, spring, stand, sting, stink, strike, swim, swing, win, wind and wring.

The verbs sow and swell are now usually regular in the past tense, but retain the strong-type past participles sown and swollen. Other verbs retain participles in -n for certain adjectival uses, such as drunken and sunken. The verb crow is now regular in the past participle, but the strong past tense crew is sometimes used.

Some originally weak verbs have taken on strong-type forms by analogy with strong verbs. These include dig, dive (when dove is used as the past tense), hide, mow, prove (when proven is used as the past participle), saw (past participle sawn), sew (past participle sewn), show (past participle shown), spit, stick, strew, string, and wear (analogy with bear).

Weak Verbs

Some other irregular verbs derive from Germanic weak verbs, forming past tenses and participles with a -d or -t ending (or from originally strong verbs that have switched to the weak pattern). The weak conjugation is also the origin of the regular verbs in -ed; however various historical sound changes (and sometimes spelling changes) have led to certain types of irregularity in some verbs. The main processes are as follows (some verbs have been subject to more than one of these).

• Some weak verbs with long vowels in their present tense stems (such as keep) took a short vowel in the past tense and past participle (kept).
• In some weak verbs ending in a final -t or -d, this final consonant coalesced (contracted) with the weak past ending to leave a single -t or -d in the past forms.
• Some verbs ending in l or n had their past ending irregularly devoiced to -t, and in a few verbs ending with a v or z sound (leave, lose), both that sound and the past ending were devoiced. (The regular ending -ed is also devoiced after voiceless consonants in regular verbs, as described under, but this is not now shown in the spelling – for example, the -ed in blessed and whipped is pronounced as a t, and these words were formerly written blest and whipt. The spelling -t following a voiceless consonant is retained for verbs that display an irregularity, as in kept and cost.)
• Some weak verbs continue the vowel shift called Rückumlaut ("reverse umlaut"); those with -gh- in the spelling were also affected by the Germanic spirant law.
• A few weak verbs have undergone additional contractions or vowel shortenings in their past or present tense forms.
• A few verbs are regular in their spoken forms, but have irregular spelling.

The irregular weak verbs (being in normal use) can consequently be grouped as follows:

For weak verbs that have adopted strong-type past tense or past participle forms, see the section above on strong verbs.

More information on the development of some of the listed verbs can be found at List of irregular verbs.

• Verbs with vowel shortening: creep, flee, hear, keep, leap, shoe (when shod is used), sleep, sweep and weep. (Of these, creep, flee, leap, sleep and weep derive from verbs that were originally strong.)
• Verbs with vowel shortening and devoicing of the ending: deal, dream, feel, kneel, lean, leave, lose (originally strong) and mean. Some of the verbs in this and in the preceding group have alternative regular forms, such as dreamed and leaped.
• Verbs with coalescence of consonants: bet, bid, cast, cost, cut, fit, hit, hurt, knit, put, quit, rid, set, shed, shut, split, spread, thrust, wed and wet. Some of these verbs have alternative regular forms, such as wedded and wetted. (The verb hoist behaves similarly to verbs in this group, but this was originally itself a past form of the now obsolete verb hoise; similarly clad was originally – and sometimes still is – a past form of clothe.)
• Verbs with coalescence of consonants and devoicing of the ending: bend, build, lend, rend, send, spend.
• Verbs with coalescence of consonants and vowel shortening: bleed, breed, feed, lead, light, meet, read (past tense and past participle also spelt read, but pronounced with a short vowel), and speed.
• Verbs with devoicing of the ending and no other irregularity: burn, dwell, learn, smell, spell, spill and spoil. Most of these have regular -ed forms as alternatives.
• Verbs continuing the Rückumlaut pattern: bring–brought, buy–bought, seek–sought, sell–sold, teach–taught, tell–told, and think–thought. The borrowed verb catch (caught) has also fallen into this pattern as a result of analogy.
• Verbs with additional contractions and shortenings: have–has–had, make–made, say–says–said (where says and said are pronounced with a short vowel ). (The verb do has a similar vowel shortening in does and done)
• Verbs irregular only in spelling: lay–laid, pay–paid (although in the meaning "let out", of a rope etc., pay may have the regular spelling payed).

Anomalous Cases

The following verbs do not fit exactly into any of the above categories:

• The modal verbs, which are defective verbs – they have only a present indicative form and (in some cases) a preterite, lacking nonfinite forms (infinitives, participles, gerunds), imperatives, and subjunctives (although some uses of the preterites are sometimes identified as subjunctives). Moreover, they do not add -s in the third person singular – this is because they derive either from preterites, or from Germanic preterite-present verbs, which were conjugated using the (strong-type) preterite form with present tense meaning. (Additional "true" preterites with past tense meaning were formed with the addition of dentals in the manner of the weak verbs.) The chief verbs of this class are can–could, may–might, shall–should, will–would, and must and ought (These last two have no preterites. They were originally preterites themselves). There are also dare and need, which follow the same pattern (no -s) in some contexts: "Dare he jump? She needn't worry" (dare derives from a preterite-present verb, but need is from an Old English regular verb).
• Two verbs (be and go) that contain suppletive forms, i.e. one or more of their parts came from an entirely different root. With go this applies to the past tense went, which is originally from the verb wend. With be it applies to a number of different forms. Derived from be is the defective verb beware, which does not inflect in normal use and which appears only in those forms in which the plain form of be would be used, namely the infinitive, the imperative, and the subjunctive.
• The verb do, which has the reduplicated form did for its past tense (an irregularity that can be traced back to Proto-Germanic). Its past participle done can be compared to typical strong participles in -[e]n; however both this and the third person present tense does feature a short vowel in modern pronunciation.

Verbs With Irregular Present Tenses

Apart from the modal verbs, which are irregular in that they do not take an -s in the third person, the only verbs with irregular present tense forms are be, do, have and say (and prefixed forms of these, such as undo and gainsay, which conjugate in the same way as the basic forms).

The verb be has multiple irregular forms. In the present indicative it has am in the first person singular, is in the third person singular, and are in the plural and second person singular. (Its present subjunctive is be, as in "I suggest that you be extremely careful", though that is not irregular, as all verbs use the infinitive/imperative form for the present subjunctive.) It also has two past tense forms: was for the first and third persons singular, and were for the plural and second person singular (although there are certain subjunctive uses in which were can substitute for was). The past participle is been, and the present participle and gerund forms are regular: being.

As mentioned above, apart from its other irregularities, the verb do has the third person present indicative does pronounced with a short vowel.

The verb have has a contracted third person present indicative form: has. This is formed similarly to the verb's past tense had.

The verb say displays vowel shortening in the third person present indicative (although the spelling is regular): says . The same shortening occurs in the past form said . (Compare the diphthong in the plain form say .)

Coincident Forms

In regular English verbs, the past tense and past participle have the same form. This is also true of most irregular verbs that follow a variation of the weak conjugation, as can be seen in the list below. Differences between the past tense and past participle (as in sing–sang–sung, rise–rose–risen) generally appear in the case of verbs that continue the strong conjugation, or in a few cases weak verbs that have acquired strong-type forms by analogy—as with show (regular past tense showed, strong-type past participle shown). However, even some strong verbs have identical past tense and participle, as in cling–clung–clung.

In some verbs, the past tense, past participle, or both are identical in form to the basic (infinitive) form of the verb. This is the case with certain strong verbs, where historical sound changes have led to a leveling of the vowel modifications: for example, let has both past tense and past participle identical to the infinitive, while come has the past participle identical (but a different past tense, came). The same is true of the verbs listed above under as having undergone coalescence of final consonants (and without other irregularities such as vowel shortening or devoicing of the ending): bet, bid, etc. (these verbs have infinitive, past tense and past participle all identical, although some of them also have alternative regular forms in -ed). The verb read has the same spelling in all three forms, but not the same pronunciation, as it exhibits vowel shortening.

In a few cases the past tense of an irregular verb has the same form as the infinitive of a different verb. For example, bore and found may be past tenses of bear and find, but may also represent independent (regular) verbs of different meaning. Another example is lay, which may be the past tense of lie, but is also an independent verb (regular in pronunciation, but with irregular spelling: lay–laid–laid). In fact lay derives from a causative of the verb from which lie derives. The two verbs are sometimes confused, with lay used in the intransitive senses prescriptively reserved for lie.

Prefixed Verbs

Nearly all of the basic irregular verbs are single-syllable words. (Their irregular inflected forms are normally single-syllable also, except for the past participles in -en like chosen and risen.) However many additional irregular verbs are formed by adding prefixes to the basic ones: understand from stand, become from come, mistake from take, and so on. (These prefixed forms are generally omitted from the list below, but a large number appear in the table at List of English irregular verbs.) As a general rule, prefixed verbs are conjugated identically to the corresponding basic verbs; for example, we have understand–understood–understood and become–became–become, following the patterns of stand–stood–stood and come–came–come. However, there are occasional differences: in British English, for instance, the past participle of get is got, while that of forget is forgotten.

Only a few irregular verbs of more than one syllable cannot be analyzed as prefixed compounds of monosyllables. The only ones in normal use are begin–began–begun and forsake–forsook–forsaken (these both derive from prefixed verbs whose unprefixed forms have not survived into Modern English). There is also beseech–besought–besought (this is from Old English besēcan "to seek or inquire about", making it equivalent to be- + seek, but it has moved away from seek in both form and meaning); however the form besought is now archaic, the verb normally being conjugated regularly (beseeched).

List

The following is a list of 204 irregular verbs that are commonly used in standard modern English. It omits many rare, dialectal, and archaic forms, as well as most verbs formed by adding prefixes to basic verbs (unbend, understand, mistake, etc.).

It also omits past participle forms that remain in use only adjectivally (clad, sodden, etc.).

The list that follows shows the base, or infinitive form, the past tense and the past participle of the verb.

• a- : for abide, arise, awake, see bide, rise, wake
• be (am, is, are) – was, were – been
• be- : for become, befall, beset, etc. see come, fall, set, etc.
• bear – bore – borne spelt born in passive and adjectival uses relating to birth
• beat – beat – beaten
• beget – begot – begot(ten) [Biblical past tense: begat]
• begin – began – begun
• bend – bent – bent
• bet – bet – bet [past tense and participle also sometimes betted]
• beware – defective verb [see anomalous cases above]
• bid – bid – bid [as in an auction]
• bid – bade/bid – bidden/bid [meaning "request"]
• bide – bided/bode – bided/bidden [but abide mostly uses the regular forms only]
• bind – bound – bound
• bite – bit – bitten
• bleed – bled – bled
• blow – blew – blown
• break – broke – broken
• breed – bred – bred
• bring – brought – brought
• build – built – built
• burn – burnt/burned – burnt/burned
• burst – burst – burst
• buy – bought – bought
• can – could [defective; see anomalous cases above]
• cast – cast – cast [prefixed forms broadcast, forecast, etc. sometimes take -ed ]
• catch – caught – caught
• choose – chose – chosen
• clad – clad/cladded – clad/cladded [clad is also sometimes used as past form of clothe]
• cleave – clove/cleft – cloven/cleft [but regular when meaning "adhere"]
• cling – clung – clung
• come – came – come
• cost – cost – cost [but regular when meaning "calculate the cost of"]
• creep – crept/creeped – crept/creeped
• crow – crowed/crew – crowed [crew normally used only of a cock's crowing]
• cut – cut – cut
• dare – regular except for possible third person singular present dare (see anomalous cases above)
• deal – dealt – dealt
• dig – dug – dug
• dive – dived/dove – dived [the form dove is chiefly American]
• do (does ) – did – done
• drag – *dragged/drug – *dragged/drug* [the form drug is chiefly dialectal]
• draw – drew – drawn
• dream – dreamed/dreamt – dreamed/dreamt
• drink – drank – drunk
• drive – drove – driven
• dwell – dwelt/dwelled – dwelt/dwelled
• eat – ate – eaten
• fall – fell – fallen
• feed – fed – fed
• feel – felt – felt
• fight – fought – fought
• find – found – found
• fit – fit/fitted – fit/fitted
• flee – fled – fled
• fling – flung – flung
• fly – flew – flown [the form flied is common in the baseball sense]
• for(e)- : for forgo, foresee, etc. see go, see, etc.
• forbid – forbade/forbid – forbidden
• forget – forgot – forgotten
• forsake – forsook – forsaken
• freeze – froze – frozen
• get – got – gotten/got* past participle got in British English, gotten in American, but see *have got*
• gild – gilded/gilt – gilded/gilt
• give – gave – given
• go) – went – gone see also [have been]
• grind – ground – ground
• grow – grew – grown
• hang – *hung/hanged – *hung/hanged* the form hanged is more common in the sense of [execution by hanging]
• have (has) – had – had
• hear – heard – heard
• hew – hewed – hewn/hewed
• hide – hid – hidden
• hit – hit – hit
• hoist – hoist/hoisted – hoist/hoisted
• hold – held – held
• hurt – hurt – hurt
• in- : for inlay, input, etc. see lay, put, etc.
• inter- : for interlay, interweave, etc. see lay, weave, etc.
• keep – kept – kept
• kneel – knelt/kneeled – knelt/kneeled
• knit – knit/knitted – knit/knitted
• know – knew – known
• lay – laid – laid
• lead – led – led
• lean – leaned/leant – leaned/leant
• leap – leaped/leapt – leaped/leapt
• learn – learned/learnt – learned/learnt
• leave – left – left
• lend – lent – lent
• let – let – let
• lie – lay – lain [but regular when meaning "tell an untruth"]
• light – lit/lighted – lit/lighted
• lose – lost – lost
• make – made – made
• may – might [defective; see anomalous cases above]
• mean – meant – meant
• meet – met – met
• mis- : for misspeak, mistake, etc. see speak, take, etc.
• mow – mowed – mowed/mown
• must – defective [see anomalous cases above]
• need – regular except for possible third person singular present need (see anomalous cases above)
• off- : for offset see set, etc.
• ought – defective [see anomalous cases above]
• out- : for outbid, output, etc. see bid, put, etc.
• over- : for overbid, overdo, etc. see bid, do, etc.
• pay – paid – paid [but sometimes spelt regularly when meaning "let out" (rope etc.)]
• plead – pleaded/pled – pleaded/pled
• pre- : for prepay, preset, etc. see pay, set, etc.
• prove – proved – proved/proven
• put – put – put
• quit – quit – quit
• re- : for redo, remake, etc. see do, make, etc.
• read – read – read
• rend – rent – rent
• rid – rid/ridded – rid/ridded/ridden
• ride – rode – ridden
• ring – rang – rung
• rise – rose – risen
• run – ran – run
• saw – sawed – sawn/sawed
• say (says ) – said – said
• see – saw – seen
• seek – sought – sought
• sell – sold – sold
• send – sent – sent
• set – set – set
• sew – sewed – sewn/sewed
• shake – shook – shaken
• shall – should [defective; see anomalous cases above]
• shear – sheared/shore – shorn/sheared
• shed – shed – shed
• shine – shone/shined – shone/shined
• shit – shat/shit/shitted – shat/shit/shitted
• shoe – shoed/shod – shoed/shod
• shoot – shot – shot
• show – showed – shown/showed
• shrink – *shrank/shrunk – *shrunk*
• shrive – shrove – shriven
• shut – shut – shut
• sing – sang – sung
• sink – sank – sunk
• sit – sat – sat
• slay – slew/slayed – slain/slayed
• sleep – slept – slept
• slide – slid – slid
• sling – slung – slung
• slink – slunk – slunk
• slit – slit – slit
• smell – smelled/smelt – smelled/smelt
• smite – smote – smitten
• sneak – *sneaked/snuck – *sneaked/snuck* [snuck is chiefly American, is regarded as informal and is only cited from 1887 ]
• sow – sowed – sown/sowed
• speak – spoke – spoken
• speed – sped/speeded – sped/speeded
• spell – spelled/spelt – spelled/spelt
• spend – spent – spent
• spill – spilled/spilt – spilled/spilt
• spin – spun – spun
• spit – spat/spit* – *spat/spit* [the form spit rather than spat is common in America]
• split – split – split
• spoil – spoiled/spoilt – spoiled/spoilt
• spread – spread – spread
• spring – *sprang/sprung – *sprung*
• stand – stood – stood
• stave – staved/stove – staved/stove
• steal – stole – stolen
• stick – stuck – stuck
• sting – stung – stung
• stink – stank – stunk
• strew – strewed – strewn/strewed
• stride – strode – stridden/strode
• strike – struck – struck/stricken
• string – strung – strung
• strive – strove/strived – striven/strived
• swear – swore – sworn
• sweat – sweated/sweat – sweated/sweat
• sweep – swept – swept
• swell – swelled – swollen/swelled
• swim – swam – swum
• swing – swung – swung
• take – took – taken
• teach – taught – taught
• tear – tore – torn
• tell – told – told
• think – thought – thought
• thrive - thrived/throve - thrived/thriven
• throw – threw – thrown
• thrust – thrust/thrusted – thrust/thrusted
• tread – trod – trodden/trod
• un- : for unbend, unweave, etc. see bend, weave, etc.
• under- : for underlie, undergo, understand, etc. see lie, go, stand, etc.
• up- : for upset see set, etc.
• wake – woke – woken
• wear – wore – worn
• weave – wove – woven
• wed – wed/wedded – wed/wedded
• weep – wept – wept
• wet – wet/wetted – wet/wetted
• will – would [defective; see anomalous cases above]
• win – won – won
• wind – wound – wound [but regular in the meanings connected with air and breath]
• with- : for withdraw, withhold, withstand, see draw, hold, stand
• wring – *wrang/wrung – *wrung*
• write – wrote – written

Object

Traditional grammar defines the object in a sentence as the entity that is acted upon by the subject. There is thus a primary distinction between subjects and objects that is understood in terms of the action expressed by the verb, e.g. Tom studies grammar—Tom is the subject and grammar is the object. Traditional theories of sentence structure divide the simple sentence into a subject and a predicate, whereby the object is taken to be part of the predicate. Many modern theories of grammar (e.g. dependency grammars), in contrast, take the object to be a verb argument like the subject, the difference between them being mainly just their prominence; the subject is ranked higher than the object and is thus more prominent.

The main verb in a clause determines whether and what objects are present. Transitive verbs require the presence of an object, whereas intransitive verbs block the appearance of an object. The term complement overlaps in meaning with object: all objects are complements, but not vice versa. The objects that verbs do and do not take is explored in detail in valency theory.

Types

Various object types are commonly acknowledged: direct, indirect, and prepositional. These object types are illustrated in the following table:

The descriptions "entity acted upon" and "entity indirectly affected by the action" are merely loose orientation points. Beyond basic examples such as those provided in the table, these orientation points are not much helpful when the goal is to determine whether a given object should be viewed as direct or indirect. One rule of thumb for English, however, is that an indirect object is not present unless a direct object is also present. A prepositional object is one that is introduced by a preposition. Despite the difficulties with the traditional nomenclature, the terms direct object and indirect object are widespread.

The term oblique object is also employed at times, although what exactly is meant varies from author to author. Some understand it to be an umbrella term denoting all objects (direct, indirect, and prepositional), whereas others use the term to denote just a prepositional object.

Syntactic Category

While the typical object is a pronoun, noun, or noun phrase, objects can also appear as other syntactic categories, as illustrated in the following table:

Identification

A number of criteria can be employed for identifying objects, e.g: The object follows the subject. Languages vary significantly with respect to these criteria. The first criterion identifies objects reliably most of the time in English, e.g.

Fred gave me a book.

• a. A book was given (to) me. — Passive sentence identifies a book as an object in the starting sentence.
• b. I was given a book. — Passive sentence identifies me as an object in the starting sentence.

The second criterion is also a reliable criterion for isolating languages such as English, since the relatively strict word order of English usually positions the object after the verb(s) in declarative sentences.

The third criterion is less applicable to English, though, since English lacks morphological case, exceptions being the personal pronouns (I/me, we/us, he/him, she/her, they/them).

Verb Classes

Verbs can be classified according to the number and/or type of objects that they do or do not take. The following table provides an overview of some of the various verb classes:

Ergative and object-deletion verbs can be transitive or intransitive, as indicated in the following table:

The distinction drawn here between ergative and object-deletion verbs is based on the role of the subject. The object of a transitive ergative verb is the subject of the corresponding intransitive ergative verb. With object-deletion verbs, in contrast, the subject is consistent regardless of whether an object is or is not present.

Transitive Verb

A transitive verb is a verb that requires one or more objects. This contrasts with intransitive verbs, which do not have objects. Transitivity is traditionally thought a global property of a clause, by which activity is transferred from an agent to a patient.

A verb that is followed by an object is called a transitive verb. Transitive verbs can be classified by the number of objects they require. Verbs that require only two arguments, a subject and a single direct object, are monotransitive. Verbs that require two objects, a direct object and an indirect object, are ditransitive, or less commonly bitransitive. An example of a ditransitive verb in English is the verb to give, which may feature a subject, an indirect object, and a direct object: John gave Mary the book. Verbs that take three objects are tritransitive. In English a tritransitive verb features an indirect object, a direct object, and a prepositional phrase – as in I'll trade you this bicycle for your binoculars – or else a clause that behaves like an argument – as in I bet you a pound that he has forgotten. Not all descriptive grammars recognize tritransitive verbs.

In contrast to transitive verbs, some verbs take zero objects. Verbs that do not require an object are called intransitive verbs. An example in English is the verb to swim.

Verbs that can be used in an intransitive or transitive way are called ambitransitive verbs. In English, an example is the verb to eat; the sentences You eat (with an intransitive form) and You eat apples (a transitive form that has apples as the object) are both grammatical.

The concept of valency is related to transitivity. The valency of a verb considers all the arguments the verb takes, including both the subject and all of the objects. In contrast to valency, the transitivity of a verb only considers the objects. Subcategorization is roughly synonymous with valency, though they come from different theoretical traditions.

Traditionally, transitivity patterns are thought of as lexical information of the verb, but recent research in construction grammar and related theories has argued that transitivity is a grammatical rather than a lexical property, since the same verb very often appears with different transitivity in different contexts.

Consider:

• Does your dog bite? (no object)
• The cat bit him. (one object)
• Can you bite me off a piece of banana? (two objects)
• The vase broke. (no object; anticausative construction)
• She broke the toothpick. (one object)
• Can you break me some toothpicks for my model castle? (two objects)
• Stop me before I buy again. (no object; antipassive construction)
• The man bought a ring. (one object)
• The man bought his wife a ring. (two objects)

In grammatical construction theories, transitivity is considered as an element of grammatical construction, rather than an inherent part of verbs.

Examples

The following sentences exemplify transitive verbs in English.

• We're gonna need a bigger boat.
• You need to fill in this form.
• Hang on, I'll have it ready in a minute.
• The professor took off his spectacles.

Intransitive Verb

In grammar, an intransitive verb does not allow a direct object. This is distinct from a transitive verb, which takes one or more objects. The verb property is called transitivity. Intransitive verbs can often be identified as those which can't be followed by a "who" or a "what".

Examples

In the following sentences, verbs are used without a direct object:

• "Rivers flow."
• "I sneezed."
• "My dog ran."
• "Water evaporates when it's hot."
• "You've grown since I last saw you!"
• "I wonder how old I will be when I die."

The following sentences contain transitive verbs (they take one or more objects):

• "We watched a movie last night."
• "She's eating popcorn."
• "When I said that, my sister smacked me."
• "Santa gave me a present."
• "He continuously clicked his pen and it was incredibly annoying to me."

Some verbs allow for objects but do not always require one. Such a verb may be used as intransitive in one sentence, and as transitive in another:

In general, intransitive verbs often involve weather terms, involuntary processes, states, bodily functions, motion, action processes, cognition, sensation, and emotion.

Valency-changing Operations

The valency of a verb is related to transitivity. Where the transitivity of a verb only considers the objects, the valency of a verb considers all the arguments the verb takes, including both the subject of the verb and all of the objects.

It is possible to change the transitivity of a verb, and in so doing to change the valency.

In languages that have a passive voice, a transitive verb in the active voice becomes intransitive in the passive voice.

In this sentence, hugged is a transitive verb taking Mary as its object. The sentence can be made passive with the direct object Mary as the grammatical subject as follows:

This shift is called promotion of the object.

The passive-voice construction cannot take an object. The passivized sentence could be continued with the agent:

It cannot be continued with a direct object to be taken by was hugged. For example, it would be ungrammatical to write Mary was hugged her daughter in order to show that Mary and her daughter shared a hug.

Intransitive verbs can be made passive in some languages. In English, intransitive verbs can be used in the passive voice when a prepositional phrase is included, as in, The houses were lived in by millions of people.

In the context of a nominative–accusative language like English, this promotion is nonsensical because intransitive verbs don't take objects, they take subjects, and so the subject of a transitive verb (I in I hug him) is also the subject of the intransitive passive construction (I was hugged by him).

Verb

A verb is a word that expresses an action, a state, or an occurrence — and it's the engine of every English sentence. Understanding how verbs work is foundational to everything else in English grammar, from forming questions to building complex sentences.

Verb Forms

Most English verbs have five inflected forms:

• Base form (go, write, climb) — used as an infinitive, imperative, present subjunctive, and present indicative in all persons except third-person singular.
• -s form (goes, writes, climbs) — used for the present tense, third-person singular (she writes).
• Past tense (went, wrote, climbed) — also called the preterite.
• Past participle (gone, written, climbed) — identical to the past tense for regular verbs, but often different for irregular verbs.
• -ing form (going, writing, climbing) — serves as the present participle and gerund.

The verb be is a special case with more forms than any other English verb (am, is, are, was, were, been, being). Modal verbs like can, must, and should have fewer forms than typical verbs.

Main Verbs and Auxiliaries

Verbs in English often appear in combinations: one or more auxiliary verbs paired with a main verb.

• The dog was barking very loudly.
• My hat has been cleaned.
• Jane does not really like us.

The first verb in the combination is the finite verb (it carries tense and agrees with the subject). The rest are nonfinite (infinitives or participles). Notice that these verbs don't always sit next to each other — as in does not really like.

Tense, Aspect, and Mood

English expresses tense (time reference), aspect (how an action unfolds over time), and mood (the speaker's attitude toward the action) mostly through verb combinations rather than word endings. That's why you'll encounter labels like "present progressive" or "conditional perfect" — these are specific tense–aspect–mood combinations built with auxiliaries.

Self-check: If you can change the time of a sentence by swapping one word (She runs → She ran), that word is the verb.

Keep Practising

To build your verb skills from the ground up, try these challenges: Basics. "To be" in Present Tense, Basics. Common Uses of Auxiliary Verbs, and Transitive and Intransitive Verbs.

Vocabulary

Vocabulary in English language can be thought of as a toolbox that you use to express yourself and understand others. It's important to continue expanding and refining it. This means learning new words, phrases, and idiomatic expressions and understanding how to use them in different contexts. The more tools you have in your toolbox, the more effectively you can communicate and understand others. Having a broad vocabulary also allows you to understand and engage with more complex texts and ideas, giving you access to new information and opportunities. Additionally, having a strong vocabulary is essential for academic and professional success, as it allows you to express yourself clearly and persuasively in writing and speaking. Like a carpenter who continues to learn new tools and techniques to improve their craft, expanding your vocabulary is an ongoing process that will help you improve your communication skills.

B2 | Upper Intermediate

B2, or Upper Intermediate, is the fourth level on the CEFR scale. It marks the point where you move from "getting by" to genuinely comfortable communication — handling complex topics, expressing nuanced opinions, and understanding most of what you read or hear in real-world contexts.

What a B2 user can do

At this level, you're expected to:

• Understand complex texts on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in your own field.
• Follow extended speech and lectures, even when the structure isn't entirely clear, as long as the topic is reasonably familiar.
• Interact fluently and spontaneously enough that conversations with native speakers flow naturally — without strain on either side.
• Produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects, using connectors and cohesive devices to build well-structured arguments.
• Explain and defend a viewpoint on a topical issue, weighing the advantages and disadvantages of different options.
• Recognize implicit meaning — reading between the lines in demanding, longer texts.

What B2 grammar looks like in practice

B2 is where grammar stops being about isolated rules and starts being about flexibility and precision. You're expected to control structures like:

• Advanced conditionals and mixed conditionals — moving beyond simple if-clauses to express hypothetical and counterfactual meaning.
• Passive voice in varied tenses and contexts, not just present and past simple.
• Reported speech with correct sequence of tenses, including backshifting and reporting verbs.
• Participle clauses and the distinction between participles and gerunds.
• Comparative and superlative structures beyond basic -er/-est, including double comparatives and qualifying expressions.

Errors still happen at B2, but they rarely cause misunderstanding. The goal is controlled, flexible use of language across social, academic, and professional settings.

How B2 fits in the CEFR progression

B2 builds directly on the foundations of B1 (Intermediate) and prepares you for C1 (Advanced). Many university entrance exams, professional certifications, and immigration requirements target B2 as the minimum standard.

Self-check: If you can read a newspaper editorial, follow most of a TED talk without subtitles, and write a clear essay arguing a position — you're likely operating at B2.

Ready to test yourself? Try Is your English level B2/Upper Intermediate? or practise specific B2 grammar with challenges like Basics. Advanced Conditionals And "wish", Basics. Passive Voice, and Sequence of Tenses in Indirect Speech.

Difficulty: Medium

Medium difficulty. Difficulty levels represent author's opinion about how hard a question or challenge is.