Verb types

There are four verb types. These are-

1. Intransitive Complete Verbs

These guys are action verbs, so we know that they show action.

This type of verb does not transfer its action to anyone or anything. These verbs make sense without having to transfer action anywhere.

Examples:
Cats drink.
Clocks tick.
Buses move.

2. Transitive Active Verbs

These action verbs transfer their actions to someone or something.

That means that something or someone is always being acted upon. In our example sentence, Jen is receiving the action kicked – even though she probably doesn’t want to be receiving it.

The receiver of the action in this kind of verb is called the direct object. In our example sentence, Jen is the direct object.

Every single transitive active sentence must have a direct object, and the direct object always receives the action.

Examples:
Cats drink milk.
Clocks make noise.
I lost my ticket. 

Milk is receiving the action of drink. It is what cats drink. It is the direct object.

Noise is receiving the action of make. It is what clocks make. It is the direct object.

Ticket is receiving the action of lost. It is what I lost. It is the direct object.

These verbs are written in the active voice.

3. Transitive Passive Verbs

These verbs also show action, and they also transfer their action to a receiver.

In transitive active verbs, the receiver was the direct object. In transitive passive verbs, the receiver of the action is the subject!

Examples:
John was kicked.
The house was demolished.

Who is receiving the action in those sentences?

John received the action of kick and house received the action of demolished. John and house are the subjects of those sentences.

Notice that we may not actually know who initiated the action. (Who kicked John?) Sometimes we find this out in a prepositional phrase.

John was kicked by Jen.
The house was demolished by the storm.

These verbs are written in the passive voice.

4. Intransitive Linking

Linking verbs differ from the three other verb types because they are the only verb type that does not express any action.

What do linking verbs do? It’s pretty simple. Linking verbs tell us about the state or condition of the subject.

They link the subject of a sentence with either a noun that renames the subject or an adjective that describes the subject.

Nouns that rename the subject are called predicate nouns.
Adjectives that describe the subject are called predicate adjectives.

Examples:
Milk tastes delicious.
Clocks are helpful.
I am the bus driver!

It may help you to think of linking verbs as an equal sign between the subject and a predicate noun or a predicate adjective.

Subject Sentence

The subject of a sentence is the person, place, thing, or idea that is doing or being something. You can find the subject of a sentence if you can find the verb. Ask the question, “Who or what does the action?” and the answer to that question is the subject. For instance, in the sentence “The computers in the Learning Center must be replaced,” the verb is “must be replaced.” What must be replaced? The computers. So the subject is “computers.”
A simple subject is the subject of a sentence stripped of modifiers. The simple subject of the following sentence is issue:

The really important issue of the conference, stripped of all other considerations, is the morality of the nation.

Sometimes, though, a simple subject can be more than one word, even an entire clause.

In the following sentence —

What he had already forgotten about computer repair could fill whole volumes,

—the simple subject is not “computer repair,” nor is it “what he had forgotten,” nor is it “he.” Ask what it is that “could fill whole volumes.” Your answer should be that the entire underlined clause is the simple subject.

In English, the subject of a command, order, or suggestion — you, the person being directed — is usually left out of the sentence and is said to be the understood subject:

• [You] Step lively here or I’ll leave you behind!
• Before assembling the swingset, [you] read these instructions carefully.

For purposes of sentence analysis, the do-er or the initiator of action in a sentence is referred to as the agent of the sentence. In an active sentence, the subject is the agent:

• The Johnsons added a double garage to their house.
• The jury returned a verdict of manslaughter.

In a passive sentence, the agent is not the subject. In fact, sometimes a passive sentence will not contain an agent.

• The dean’s report was reviewed by the faculty senate.
• Three cities in the country’s interior were bombed.

Subject-Verb Inversion

The normal English order of subject-verb-completer is disturbed only occasionally but under several circumstances. Burchfield* lists about ten situations in which the subject will come after the verb. The most important of these are as follows (subjects in red):

1. In questions (routinely): “Have youeaten breakfast yet?” “Are you ready?”
2. In expletive constructions: “There werefour basic causes of the Civil War.” “Here is the book.”
3. In attributing speech (occasionally, but optionally): “‘Help me!’ cried Farmer Brown.”
4. To give prominence or focus to a particular word or phrase by putting the predicate in the initial position: “Even more important isthe chapter dealing with ordnance.”
5. When a sentence begins with an adverb or an adverbial phrase or clause: “Seldom hasso much been owed by so many to so few.”
6. In negative constructions: “I don’t believe a word she says, nor doesmy brother. Come to think of it, neither does her father.”
7. After so:“I believe her; so does my brother.”
8. For emphasis and literary effect: “Into the jaws of Death, / Into the mouth of Hell / Rodethe six hundred

Exercise 

1. Why is letter writing said to be an essential skill set?
2. List and explain the three types of letters.
3. How many types of verbs do we have in English Language? List and explain them.
4. Explain what you understand by the subject-verb inversion.