The Main Verbs
The Main Verbs :
The Main verb is also called The Lexical Verb or The Principal Verb. As the name indicates, this verb is the very important verb in the sentence. The verb indicates the action of the main clause is called the main verb.
1. The man, sitting on the table, asks me to get him a candy.
There are three verbs in the above sentence. SITTING, ASKS and TO GET. The phrase, in which the verb is SITTING ON THE TABLE, is not the main clause of the above sentence. That is adjectivial phrase. The part of the sentence in which another verb located is TO GET HIM A CANDY. Here, the verb is in infinitive form TO GET. So, this could not be the main verb. So, obviously the last verb ASKS is the main verb which lets us know what the subject (THE MAN) wants to do in this sentence.
The main Verb can stand alone without the help of other verbs like helping verb and linking verb.
1. The students, playing in the ground, will not come to the class-rrom by 4 pm.
2. My father, living in Chennai, has asked us to send him this parcel by courier.
3. He, studying 9th standard, is a student of this school.
4. This city, created few hundred years ago, is still vibrant with modernity.
5. The oldest man, aged 104 years, lives with his grand-children.
6. We are going to the cinema directed by Mani Rathnam.
7. My parents, affected by sugar and high-blood-pressure, are not bothered about the side-effects of eating candies.
You can identify the main verbs in the above sentences which have subordinate-clauses.
Main Verbs can further divided into Transitive Main Verbs and Intransitive Main Verbs.
Transitive Main Verbs : These verbs do take direct objects. Without the direct objects, these verbs could not convey the meanings of the sentence.
1. He ate an apple.
2. They confused my sister.
3. The school paid the fees for my daughter.
4. We took our lunch with us.
5. They signed the papers before 2nd of this month.
Intransitive Main Verbs : These verbs do not take direct object. Even without the direct objects, these verbs could deliver ther meanings of the sentences in a clean style.
1. They came to the hotel.
2. He laughed when we entered the room.
3. They prepared before 10 am.
4. The wind was blowing in high speed.
5. They ran fast as soon as they reached their office.
The Main Verbs
The Grammar Index
