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  • ESL Recipe Lesson Plan: Practice the Imperative Mood
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    ESL Recipe Lesson Plan: Practice the Imperative Mood

    Many English language learners hope to function fully and completely in the English language. Learning to follow and write recipes is one such function of the language. ESL teachers can use the following lesson plan to teach ESL students about recipes in English as well as to practice the imperative mood. The following sections outline […] More

  • English Auxiliary Verbs
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    English Auxiliary Verbs

    Auxiliary verbs are a subcategory of English verbs that provide additional semantic or syntactic information about the main verb in the verb phrase such as tense, aspect, modality, and voice. The seventeen auxiliary verbs in English grammar are have, be, do, nine modal verbs, and five quasi-modal verbs. Perfect Have The first auxiliary verb in […] More

  • Grammatical Forms of English Verb Phrases
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    Grammatical Forms of English Verb Phrases

    A verb phrase is a phrase in which a verb functions as the head of the phrase plus any auxiliaries (modals, operators, perfects, progressives, passives), modifiers, complements, objects, particles, and determinatives. The six grammatical forms that appear within the internal structure of English verb phrases are: Auxiliary verbs P-words Prepositional phrases Verb phrases Adverb phrases […] More

  • Using Auxiliary Verbs as Operators
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    Using Auxiliary Verbs as Operators

    Verbs are traditionally defined as words that “described an action or a state.” Auxiliary verbs are a subclass of verbs that add functional or grammatical meaning to the main verb. Auxiliary verbs differ from prototypical verbs in that auxiliary verbs perform a limited set of grammatical functions. In grammar, an operator is a word that […] More

  • The Operator in English Grammar
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    The Operator in English Grammar

    Operators are words that facilitate the expression of a negation, interrogatives, and emphasis in the English language. Operators function within verb phrases functioning as predicates. Only one grammatical form can perform the function of operator in English. The one grammatical form that can function as the operator is the verb. Only the verb do, sometimes […] More

  • Common English Verbs
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    Common English Verbs

    The English verb system is often considered the most complex system of the English language. The following sections list the five conjugations — base, simple present, simple past, present participle, past participle — of the three auxiliary and twenty most common verbs in English and list the nine full modal verbs and five quasi-modal verbs. […] More

  • Grammatical Functions of English Auxiliary Verbs
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    Grammatical Functions of English Auxiliary Verbs

    English verbs and verb phrases perform four primary and six nominal functions within English grammar. Auxiliary verbs, however, differ from prototypical verbs in that auxiliary verbs perform a limited set of grammatical functions. The auxiliary verbs in English include the modal verbs and quasi-modal verbs, the do-operator, perfect have, progressive be, and passive be. The […] More

  • The Imperative Mood of English Verbs
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    The Imperative Mood of English Verbs

    The imperative mood is one of three grammatical moods in the English language. As a grammatical mood, the imperative expresses modality, which is the grammaticalized expression of the subjective attitudes and opinions of the speaker including possibility, probability, necessity, obligation, permissibility, ability, desire, and contingency. In the English language, the imperative mood is a verb […] More

  • English Irregular Verbs: Simple Past and Past Participles
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    English Irregular Verbs: Simple Past and Past Participles

    Irregular English verbs are verbs whose conjugations differ from the conjugation patterns of regular verbs. Many common English verbs are irregular in the simple past and the past participle. Irregular verbs are verbs in Germanic languages that express the simple past tense by means of changes to the stem vowel (ablaut). Irregular verbs are also referred […] More

  • Past Participles of Irregular English Verbs
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    Past Participles of Irregular English Verbs

    Past participles, or -en participles, are a nonfinite verb form in English that perform verbal and adjectival functions. The following sections explain how to form past participles of irregular English verbs including anomalous and how to use past participles in English and include examples to illustrate form and function. Past participles are also referred to […] More

  • Grammatical Functions of Verbs in Predicate Verb Phrases
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    Grammatical Functions of Verbs in Predicate Verb Phrases

    A predicate is defined as a word or phrase that expresses the action performed by the grammatical subject or the state of the grammatical subject. Within the predicate, individual verbs perform specific grammatical functions. The six grammatical functions performed by verbs within the predicate are: Predicate Progressive Perfect Passive Modal Operator The following sections explain […] More