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Base Form: Been and Being. On The Other Hand

The document discusses the forms and uses of verbs in English. It notes that do, say, and have have irregular third person singular present tense forms. The verb be is highly irregular with forms like is and are. Modal verbs like can and must are defective verbs used in a limited number of forms. The base form of a verb is not marked by inflection and serves as the bare infinitive, simple present tense form (except third person singular), imperative, and subjunctive. Exceptions are noted for the copula verb be and modal verbs.

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20 views1 page

Base Form: Been and Being. On The Other Hand

The document discusses the forms and uses of verbs in English. It notes that do, say, and have have irregular third person singular present tense forms. The verb be is highly irregular with forms like is and are. Modal verbs like can and must are defective verbs used in a limited number of forms. The base form of a verb is not marked by inflection and serves as the bare infinitive, simple present tense form (except third person singular), imperative, and subjunctive. Exceptions are noted for the copula verb be and modal verbs.

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juck
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The verbs do, say and have additionally have irregular third person singular present tense forms

(see below). The copular verb be is highly irregular, with the forms be, am, is, are, was, were,
been and being. On the other hand, modal verbs (such as can and must) are defective verbs,
being used only in a limited number of forms. For details on the forms of verbs of these types,
see § Copular, auxiliary and defective verbs below.

Base form

The base form or plain form of an English verb is not marked by any inflectional ending. There
are certain derivational suffixes that are frequently used to form verbs, such as -en (sharpen),
-ate (formulate), -fy (electrify), and -ise/ize (realise/realize), but these are considered to create
distinct verbs. Many verbs also contain prefixes, such un- (unmask), out- (outlast), over-
(overtake), and under- (undervalue).[5] Some verbs are formed from nouns and adjectives by
conversion, as with the verbs snare, nose, dry, and calm.

The base form is used in the following ways:

 It serves as the bare infinitive, and is used in the to-infinitive (e.g. to write); for uses see
§ Non-finite forms below.
 It serves as the simple present tense, except in the third person singular: I/you/we/they
write regularly (and except for the copula).
 It is used as an imperative: Write these words.
 It is used as a subjunctive: I suggested that he write a novel.

For the verb be, which uses different forms for the simple present, and modal verbs, which are
not used in the infinitive, imperative or subjunctive, see § Copular, auxiliary and defective verbs
below

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