Main Verb is used in Verb1, Verb2, Verb3, Participle (ing/ed) and s/es form in sentences. The forms are used according to the subject and tense of the sentence. You would have a basic idea about this let's take a few examples to revise it:
V1 V2 V3 ing-form S/es form.
Know Knew Known Knowing Knows
Drink Drank Drunk Drinking Drinks
Forget Forgot Forgotten Forgetting Forgets
Click for List of 1000 forms (for reading only, don't need to mug up)
It is expected that you must be having a basic idea about Verb1, Verb2, Verb3 forms of the main verbs.
's\es' form is discussed in the Subject Verb Agreement section of this course.
Here we will discuss participles only.
Participle form of the verb is used in a sentence to modify noun or verb, it is similar to an adjective or adverb. It can work as an adjective, noun, or verbs. eg sitting, walking, running, tired, worked etc.
- I saw him sitting there. (correct) [here, ‘sitting’ is acting as verb]
- Sitting idly is not my habit. (correct) [here, ‘sitting’ is acting as noun] [Gerund]
There are two types of Participles:- Present Participles & Past Participles.
1) Present Participles express an action going on and not yet completed. They are formed by adding ‘ing’ to the Verb like walking, playing, dancing etc.
2) Past Participles express a completed action. They are formed by adding – ‘ed’, ‘d’, ‘t’, ‘en’, ‘ne’ or ‘n’ to the Verb like worked, sent, eaten, done, known etc.
Note: A gerund is a present participle (verb + ing) that works as a noun in a sentence hence all the gerunds are present participles to be exact. But not all participles are gerunds. [see the usage of sit in the above sentence]
Participles can be used in the form of Conjunction for joining two or more sentences. Like
-Diya was walking in the forest. Diya saw a lion.
Here, we can see that the subject in both the sentences is common i.e. Diya, therefore we can use participle at the beginning for joining the sentences. We can rewrite it as
-Walking in the forest, Diya saw a lion. (Walking is participle here)
Rules to be learned:
a) While using participle for joining sentence we should find which action is occurring first and accordingly participle is used. It is incorrect to write:-
Seeing a lion, Diya walks in the forest. (incorrect) [Questions are asked in the competitive exam using wrong order]
b) For every participle a Subject Reference is used means for placing the participle used in joining the sentence we should analyze the common subject as in above the common subject was ‘Diya’, accordingly, we joined the sentence. Like it is wrong to write:-
walking in the jungle, a lion crossed the way. (incorrect)
as if we break the above sentence, it will be like this- A lion was walking in the jungle, A lion crossed the way. However, in actual the sentences were like this- He was walking in the jungle, A lion crossed the way. Since the subjects are not common correct way of using participle should be like this:-
while he was walking in the jungle, a lion crossed the way. (Questions are framed in exams using incorrect placing of participles).
Previous year exam Questions for clearing doubts if any: -
Being a fine day, he went out for a walk. (incorrect)[if you place he, before being it will not make sense]
It being a fine day, he went out for a walk. (correct)
Being a beautiful painting, it charmed all of us. (correct) )[if you place it, before being it will make sense]
Note: whenever you find any question where it is starting with a participle, analyze the sentence by putting common subject before the participle. Like in the above example -Walking in the forest, Diya saw a lion, analyze it by placing Diya before walking, if the sentence is meaningful it is correct. Else in example walking in the jungle, a lion crossed the way, analyze it by placing Lion before walking, the sentence will not make sense, therefore it is incorrect.
The infinitive of a verb is the basic form (v1) like play, walk, eat, do, be etc. The infinitive is usually formed by using to before the verb, it may be formed without to also (zero infinitives).
Usage (not much important)
► To indicate the purpose of action. Eg:- I am reading Scorekhel to score well in exams. (purpose of reading scorekhel-> Score well in exam (action))
► As a subject of the sentence. Eg:-To walk in the morning is good exercise. (To walk is subject)
► As a direct object of the sentence. Eg:- I like to write in Hindi. (used directly)
Rules (rule 5 is imp rest you may or may not learn for competitive exams):-
1) List of Verbs followed by some object + infinitive (Object + to + verb1) :: ask, advice, allow, command, cause, force, forbid, invite, encourage, compel, choose, threaten, beg, order, imagine, instruct, permit, persuade, tell, require, remind, teach, etc. [in active voice]
- She begged to leave her. (incorrect) Here, after beg there should be usage of an object before using infinitive.
- She begged him to leave her. (correct) [him is object here]
- The teacher advised me to read from ScoreKhel. (correct)
2) List of Verbs followed by Infinitive directly (without any object):: appear, seem, attempt, try, arrange, endeavor, begin, decide, desire, remember, forget, stop, fail, happen, hurry, refuse, promise, prove, etc. [in active voice]
- Shyam failed to score well in SSC CGL Exam. (correct) [after fail there is direct usage of infinitive]
3) List of Verbs that can take infinitive directly or can take object then followed by an infinitive. :: want, wish, promise, etc.
- I want to read from ScoreKhel. (correct)
- I want everyone to read from ScoreKhel. (correct)
4) Infinitive is used by adding ‘know’ after how, where, when, why.
-They know where/why/when to read Scorekhel.
Zero Infinitive (omission of to):-
5) After Modal Auxiliaries like:- can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, dare not, need not, etc.
- She might finish tomorrow. (correct)
- You need not work late hours (correct)
6) After words let, bid, watch, behold, see, feel, make, etc. in active voice.
- Let him go.
7) After Conjunction ‘than’.
- He should better read than play.
8) After preposition ‘but’ if there is the usage of any form of the verb ‘do’.
- He did nothing but play.