Grammar in EAP

Verbs and Verbal Groups

Introduction

Verbal Group

A verbal group is typically a group with a verb as its Head. That verb is likely to be modified either before the verb (pre-modification) with auxiliary verbs or after the verb (post-modification or qualification) or both. An example is "has been eaten".

Verbal Groups can be finite or non-finite. Possible finite verbal groups are - not all are common in EAP:

	Negative ±	Past ±	Modal ±	Phase ±	Aspect ±	Voice ±	Lexical VERB +	Verbal Group
0	-	-	-	-	-	-	take	take
1	+	-	-	-	-	-	take	do not take
2	-	+	-	-	-	-	take	took
3	+	+	-	-	-	-	take	did not take
4	-	-	+	-	-	-	take	will take
5	+	-	+	-	-	-	take	will not take
6	-	+	+	-	-	-	take	would take
7	+	+	+	-	-	-	take	would not take
8	-	-	-	+	-	-	take	have taken
9	+	-	-	+	-	-	take	have not taken
10	-	+	-	+	-	-	take	had taken
11	+	+	-	+	-	-	take	had not taken
12	-	-	+	+	-	-	take	will have taken
13	+	-	+	+	-	-	take	will not have taken
14	-	+	+	+	-	-	take	would have taken
15	+	+	+	+	-	-	take	would not have taken
16	-	-	-	-	+	-	take	is taking
17	+	-	-	-	+	-	take	is not taking
18	-	+	-	-	+	-	take	was taking
19	+	+	-	-	+	-	take	was not taking
20	-	-	+	-	+	-	take	will be taking
21	+	-	+	-	+	-	take	will not be taking
22	-	+	+	-	+	-	take	would be taking
23	+	+	+	-	+	-	take	would not be taking
24	-	-	-	+	+	-	take	have been taking
25	+	-	-	+	+	-	take	have not been taking
26	-	+	-	+	+	-	take	had been taking
27	+	+	-	+	+	-	take	had not been taking
28	-	-	+	+	+	-	take	will have been taking
29	+	-	+	+	+	-	take	will not have been taking
30	-	+	+	+	+	-	take	would have been taking
31	+	+	+	+	+	-	take	would not have been taking
32	-	-	-	-	-	+	take	is taken
33	+	-	-	-	-	+	take	is not taken
34	-	+	-	-	-	+	take	was taken
35	+	+	-	-	-	+	take	was not taken
36	-	-	+	-	-	+	take	will be taken
37	+	-	+	-	-	+	take	will not be taken
38	-	+	+	-	-	+	take	would be taken
39	+	+	+	-	-	+	take	would not be taken
40	-	-	-	+	-	+	take	have been taken
41	+	-	-	+	-	+	take	have not been taken
42	-	+	-	+	-	+	take	had been taken
43	+	+	-	+	-	+	take	had not been taken
44	-	-	+	+	-	+	take	will have been taken
45	+	-	+	+	-	+	take	will not have been taken
46	-	+	+	+	-	+	take	would have been taken
47	+	+	+	+	-	+	take	would not have been taken
48	-	-	-	-	+	+	take	is being taken
49	+	-	-	-	+	+	take	is not being taken
50	-	+	-	-	+	+	take	was being taken
51	+	+	-	-	+	+	take	was not being taken
52	-	-	+	-	+	+	take	will be being taken
53	+	-	+	-	+	+	take	will not be being taken
54	-	+	+	-	+	+	take	would be being taken
55	+	+	+	-	+	+	take	would not be being taken
56	-	-	-	+	+	+	take	have been being taken
57	+	-	-	+	+	+	take	have not been being taken
58	-	+	-	+	+	+	take	had been being taken
59	+	+	-	+	+	+	take	had not been being taken
60	-	-	+	+	+	+	take	will have been being taken
61	+	-	+	+	+	+	take	will not have been being taken
62	-	+	+	+	+	+	take	would have been being taken
63	+	+	+	+	+	+	take	would not have been being taken

+(do) not

+ed

+ M

have +en

be +ing

be +en

VERB

± = you have a completely free choice whether or not to choose this
Modal = will, may, can, shall
Modal+ed = would, might, could, should
+en = + past participle (third form)
+ing = + present participle (-ing form)be = be, is, are
be+ed = was, were
be+en = been
be+ing = being
have = have, has
have+ed = had
have+en = had

Exercise

Try this exercise: Verbal Group Exercise

And these exercises: Identifying Verbal Groups: Exercise & Correcting Verbal Group