Page 48 - Grammar Glow - 6

Principal Verbs

A principal verb expresses an action, a fact or a happening independently, i.e. without the help of
any auxiliary verb.
Study the following sentences carefully.

1. Our school starts at 7:00 a.m.

2. He never tells a lie.
3. Our cricket team won the series.

4. It rained cats and dogs yesterday.

The words in colour in the above sentences are verbs. Each of them denotes an action or a fact or a
happening separately, i.e. without the help of any auxiliary verb. So each of them is a principal verb.

Forms of Principal Verbs
There are four forms of principal verbs.

1. Intransitive Verbs 2. Transitive Verbs

3. Ditransitive Verbs 4. Verbs of Incomplete Predication

Intransitive Verbs
An intransitive verb expresses an action which stops with its subject and does not pass on to any
other noun or pronoun.

Study the following sentences carefully.
1. The boy laughed aloud.

2. She slept very soundly at night.

3. The toad kept hopping in the compound.
4. It rained heavily all the night long.

5. Birds fly to their nest after sunset.
The words in italics in the above sentences are subjects—doers of actions. They are—man, she,
toad, It, birds.

The words in colour in the above sentences—laughed, slept, kept, rained, fly—are verbs. The
action expressed by each of these verbs stops with the subject. It does not pass on to any other
noun or pronoun. So such verbs are called intransitive verbs.

Transitive Verbs

A transitive verb denotes an action which does not stop with its subject but passes on to its object.
Study the following sentences carefully.

1. The boy kicked the football very hard.

2. He hired a taxi to carry his luggage.
3. I called the barber for a hair-cut.

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