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Latest post Wed, Sep 23 2009 8:59 AM by Cool Breeze. 2 replies.
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Anonymous  +  914002 Wed, 23 Sep 09 04:57 AM
Are gerunds verbs? are infinitives verbs? If I have a sentence, ' She is swimming'  are both 'is' and 'swimming' the verb or only 'is'?  or 'That could be fun' are the verbs 'could' and 'be', or just 'be'?  Can you have multiple verbs running consecutively in a sentence?  Please be advisable as possible. Thank you.
Anonymous, 59 days ago
He works hard - Work  is the verb, simple enough!

Has has worked hard all his life. The main verb is  "worked" (in past participle form) but "has" (acts as a modal) now made the tense present perfect.

So when you are talking about a present progressive sentence as in "she is swimming", "is" functions as a modal or auxilary word and swimming is the main vern in progressive form.

Cool Breeze  +  914243 Wed, 23 Sep 09 08:59 AM
Terminology varies a little from country to country and ven from grammarian to grammarian. My opinion:


Anonymous
“Are gerunds verbs?”

No, but a gerund can take an object and may occur in the passive voice like a verb. I consider a gerund neither a verb nor a noun but a little bit of both.


Anonymous
“are infinitives verbs?”

Yes.


Anonymous
“' She is swimming'  are both 'is' and 'swimming' the verb or only 'is'?”

Both are verbs. Swimming is a present participle.


Anonymous
“'That could be fun' are the verbs 'could' and 'be', or just 'be'?”

Both a verbs. Could is a defective auxiliary (also known as a modal auxiliary) and be is a present infinitive. All infinitives are verb forms.


Anonymous
“Can you have multiple verbs running consecutively in a sentence?”

No problem. He would have liked to speak Japanese.

The underlined words are verbs. Would is a defective auxiliary [verb], have is an auxilary used to form the perfect infinitive have liked. Liked itself is a past participle. To speak is a complete present infinitive. 'Complete' means that it is complete with to, which is omitted in some cases. Here's one of them: He can speak Japanese.


CB

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