Verb Phrase

Definition of Verb Phrase
A verb word is a syntactic unit inclusive of an auxiliary (assisting) verb preceding the main verb. It regularly incorporates a head verb, complements, items, and modifiers as its dependents.

Helping verbs may appear as: is, are, be, such as, become, had been, been, being, have, had, has, do, did, does, can, could, will, would, shall, should, may, must, might, etc. In generative grammar, a verb phrase may include simply a unmarried verb. However, typically it includes a major verb, an auxiliary verb, non-obligatory specifiers, compliments, and adjuncts. For instance, “Tomorrow goes to be a great day with this current” (The Old Man and the Sea, through Earnest Hemingway). Here ‘is’ an auxiliary, while ‘going’ is the main verb.

Types of Verb Phrase
There are two forms of verb word:

Finite Verb Phrase
If a sentence has just one verb phrase, it is a finite verb word. The head verb is finite and both comes in gift or beyond form. For instance:

I visit college inside the morning.

Nonfinite Verb Phrase
In this form of verb word, the head verb is participle, gerund, or infinitive. For instance:

She is hearing a person crying for assist.

Common Use of Verb Phrase
Despite his knee injury, he did visit gym.
Here “did go” is a verb word.

Mary goes with me to school.
“Is coming” is a verb word. “Coming” is the primary verb, while “is” the supporting verb.

Sara might need our help for her car.
“Might need” is a verb word.

Her favorite hobby is reading approximately history.
Here “is reading” is a verb word, and “about history” is a topic compliment.

He is involved in playing new games.
In this sentence, the verb phrase, “is fascinated,” is functioning as an objective phrase compliment “in playing new games.”

Examples of Verb Phrases in Literature
Example #1: A Tale of Two Cities (through Charles Dickens)
“It became appointed that the water ought to be locked in an eternal frost, while the mild was gambling on its surface, and I stood in ignorance on the shore. My pal is dead, my neighbor is dead, my love, the darling of my soul, is dead …”

In this instance, the verb terms are underlined. Dickens has used three verb terms, among which the second verb phrase is a nonfinite verb word using “ing,” and followed by means of its object “on its surface.”

Example #2: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (with the aid of James Joyce)
“He turned into caught inside the whirl of a scrimmage and, afraid of the flashing eyes and muddy boots, bent down to look through the legs. The fellows were struggling and groaning and their legs had been rubbing and kicking and stamping … It turned into vain to run on …”

Joyce has used 4 verb phrases on this example. He has added objects and modifiers within the first and the thirds terms, which give additional information, making the sentences true predicates.

Example #3: Heart of Darkness (by using Joseph Conrad)
“The day turned into finishing in a serenity of nevertheless and exceptional brilliance. The water shone pacifically; the sky, without a speck … It became widely wide-spread in silence. I became deliberating very vintage times, while the Romans first came here, nineteen hundred years ago – the opposite day … “

This is another exact excerpt comprising verb phrases. The first verb word “turned into ending,” and the third verb phrase “turned into thinking,” are nonfinite verb phrases.

Example #4: Pride and Prejudice (by means of Jane Austen)
“Do you do not forget the forms of introduction, and the stress this is laid on them, as nonsense? I can not quite trust you there … I am sorry to listen that; but why did not you inform me that before? If I had called a lot this morning I surely would no longer have known as on him.”

In this example, topics and modifiers appear inside the phrases. In the first verb word, “do” is a supporting verb, while “don't forget” is a chief verb. “You” is a pronoun working as a topic, but no longer a part of this word.

Function
There are various capabilities verb terms perform. They serve as word heads, as predicates, modifiers, compliments, and gadgets. Verb phrases additionally feature as noun word modifiers, containing a word and phrase, and describing noun or noun phrase. They also paintings as adjective word complements, and verb word complements. In traditional grammar, verb terms feature as predicates, adding that means to sentences. In fact, verb phrases make a sentence semantically clear and comprehendible for readers.

Verb Action Verb