17/07/2022, 22:03 Module 5: Verb Tenses

Module 5: Verb Tenses

Language Basics - Verb Tenses 

Site: TEFL Fullcircle

Course: Advanced 160 Hour TEFL Course
Book: Module 5: Verb Tenses
Printed by: Anastasia Ushakova
Date: Sunday, 17 July 2022, 9:03 PM

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17/07/2022, 22:03 Module 5: Verb Tenses

Table of contents
Introduction
Unit 1: Summary of Verb Tenses and Video 16
Unit 2: Present Structures
Unit 3: Past Structures
Unit 4: Future Structures
Unit 5: Other Verb Structures

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17/07/2022, 22:03 Module 5: Verb Tenses

Introduction
In Module 5, we
will examine all the verb tenses in the English language, ensuring you are able
to
teach the structure, meaning and use of the tense.

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17/07/2022, 22:03 Module 5: Verb Tenses

Unit 1: Summary of Verb Tenses and Video 16

03:40

English Tenses Table

There are 12 Main

Tenses in the English Language. We will discuss other verb structures in a
later part
of this Module. 

When you teach

Verb Tenses you teach Meaning and Usage, Form (construction)
and Pronunciation (how to say it). We will consider these tenses in
more detail in the following
sections. For the moment, let's focus on a summary
table. 

Present  Past  Future

Present Simple Past Simple Future Simple

Present Continuous Past Continuous Future Continuous

Present Perfect Past Perfect  Future Perfect

Present Perfect Past Perfect Continuous Future Perfect

Continuous Continuous

Tense  Form Use  Examples 

Present

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Present Subject + Facts, Water boils at

Simple Present Form of the Generalisations 100 degrees
Verb  and Universal Celsius.
Truths

Habits and He leaves for

Routines  school every
morning at
6am.

Events that are I live in

certain  Chiang Mai.

Arrangement-like The train

timetables leaves at 3pm.

Negative 

Don't and
Doesn't + I don't live in
verb  London.

The train
doesn't leave
at 3pm.

Questions

Do/Does Does the train

leave at 3pm?

Do you live in
Chiang Mai?

Present Subject +
Present of Present Actions Jack is talking
Continuous 'to be' + Present with friends.
Participle of Verb or
'ing'

Temporary Jack is
Actions working as a
waiter in the
summer
holidays.

Future We are going

arrangements and to Vietnam
plans  next week.

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Trends  Thailand is
getting
wealthier each
year.

Irritations  Jack is always

speaking
negatively.

Negative 

Is not/Isn't
and Are Thailand isn't
not /Aren't  getting
wealthier each
year.

Questions 

Is/Are  Are you going

away next
week?

Present Subject+
Present of Actions which I have eaten
Perfect 'to have' + Participle happened at an my dinner.
of Verb unknown time

Actions in the He has

past which have finished his
an effect on the shift.
present

Actions that He has worked

begin in the as a teacher
past and continue for 10 years.
into the present

Negative 

Has
not/Hasn't  He hasn't
worked for 2
years.

Questions

Has/Have  Have you

eaten dinner
yet?
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Present Subject+ Actions that He has been

Perfect Present form 'to started in past writing a book
Continuous have' + been and continue for 2 years.
+ Present to the present
Participle of Verb or
'ing'

Actions that
have I have been
recently stopped  waiting for
you for about
an
hour. I
thought you
said 3 pm. 

Temporary We have been

situations  living in
Penang for a
month.

Negative 

Has not/Hasn't
and He hasn't been
Have not/Haven't  waiting for an
hour; he
only
got there a
minute ago.

Questions 

Have/Has  Have you been

living here
long?

Past Subject + Events in the

past We ate dinner
Simple  Past form of the which are now about an hour
Verb  finished ago.

Something that We lived in

happened in the Penang last
past year.

A series of
events He boarded
that happened the plane and
in the past sat in Business
Class. 

Negative 

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Did
not/Didn't  He didn't learn
any Thai in the
first few
months.

Question

Did  Did you work

there long?

Past Subject + Duration in the I was having a

Continuous Past form of 'to be' Past  sleep when the
+ Present telephone
Participle of Verb or rang.
'ing'

Actions in I was cleaning

progress at the the kitchen
same time in the while my wife
past was washing
the car.

Irritation She was

always talking
negatively
about
people. 

Polite Question I was

wondering
whether you
could help
me. 

Negative 

Was not /
Wasn't The teacher
and Were not / asked why he
Weren't  wasn't working
on
his project. 

Question 

Was/Were  Were you

always good at
running?

Past Subject + Completed

action I had finished
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Perfect  Past form of 'to before another my work

have' + Past action in the past before I went
Participle of Verb  running. 

Reported speech He asked me

whether I had
run the
marathon
last
year. 

Unhappy about I wished I had

the previous act  eaten more
before the
test. 

Third If Jack had

Conditionals  worked harder,
he would have
passed the
exam.

Negative 

Had not/ Hadn't I hadn't read

anything
before the test.

Question 

Had  Had she ever

swum before
the
competition?

Past Perfect Subject + Duration of a

past They had been
Continuous Past form of 'to action up to a waiting for
have'+ been certain point nearly an hour
+ Present in the past before the bus
Participle or 'ing'  arrived.

Looking at the The road was

cause of an slippery
action  because it had
been
raining
and it was hot.

Third
conditional If I had been
Sentences waiting in the
right place,
I
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would have
caught the
right bus. 

Reported Speech He said that he

had been
waiting for
ages
before
she arrived for
the date.

Negative 

Had not /
Hadn't  They hadn't
been waiting
long for the
bus.

Question

Had  How many

years had you
been waiting
to get
her into
that school? 

Future Subject + will

+ Promises I promise I will
Simple  Present form of the cook you lunch
Verb  tomorrow.

Unplanned I will close the

Actions  door, it's
getting
cold. 

Predictions  It will rain

later if it stays
this hot.

Habits  He will always

move his
eyebrow if he
has
something
to hide. 

Negative 

Will not/won't  He will not run

if he hasn't
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trained.

Questions 

Will  Will he run

today? 

Future Subject + will

+ be Future actions
in In one hour, I
Continuous + Present progress  will be
Participle or 'ing' running
through the
rice paddies. 

Making a guess I bet she will

about the future be having a
baby very
soon. 

Negative 

Will not/won't  I bet she won't

be getting up
early
tomorrow;
she
went to bed
very late last
night.

Question

Will  Will she be

coming to the
party next
week? 

Future Subject + will

have Completion of
an Jack will have
Perfect  + Past Participle action before a finished all the
specified point in food by
the
time in the future time everyone
has arrived. 

Actions that
will Jack will have
last in the future lived in
Chiang Mai
for 5
years in
2015

Negative 
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Will not/won't  Jack will not

have learnt
anything if he
doesn't go to
class. 

Question

Will  Will he have

eaten all the
pizza before
everyone else?

Future Subject + will

have Duration of a By next year,
Perfect been + Present specific moment Bob and Kathy
Continuous Participle of verb or of time in the will have been
'ing' future living together
for 50 years

Cause of a
future In ten minutes
situation you will have
been driving
for 12 hours;
your eyes are
looking tired.

Negative 

Will not /Won't

+ He won't have
have been +present been driving
participle for that
long. 

Question 

Will  Will he have

been writing
for that many
years?

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Unit 2: Present Structures

Present
simple: 

Remember: 's' and

'es' for the he / she / it form 

The
Present Simple is used for: 

I) Actions that
are repeated or habitual

ii) States

iii) Statements
that are always true

For example:

I get up at 8am.

I like coffee.

Negative:

Do not / don't
and Does not / doesn't 

The negative part

of the present simple is a little more complicated because you have
to add 'do' and
'do not'  before the main
verb.

For example: 

I / you / they / we do like ... 

I / you / we / they do not like or don't

like ...

He / she / it does like ... 

He / she / it does not like or doesn't like

...

Question:

Do

For example: 

What do they like?

What don't they like?

What doesn't he like?

Present
Continuous 

Remember: 'to be'

+ 'ing'

I am / he is /
she is / we are / you are / they are + 'ing'

The Present
Continuous is used for actions that have begun but are not finished. It
can also be used to
talk about future arrangements. The
present continuous describes what's happening now. 

Negative:
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Is not / isn't
and Are not / aren't

For example:

Thailand isn't getting wealthier each year.

Question: 

Is / Are

For example:

Are you going away next week? 

Present
Perfect:

You will
use the Present Perfect for unfinished past actions and for past
actions when the time is not
specified. 

Present of 'to
have' + past participle.

I / you / we /
they have + past participle

He / she / it has
+ past participle

I have eaten all the cheesecake again!

I have forgotten your name.

Negative:

Has not /
hasn't 

For example:

I have not or haven't ...

She has not or hasn't ...

Question:

Has / have 

For example:

Has she forgotten your name?

Have they forgotten to pick you up?

Present
Perfect Continuous:

Present of 'to
have' + 'been' + 'ing'

I have been eating cheesecake all day.

The Present
Perfect Continuous is used to emphasise the duration of a recent past
activity. It can also
be used for actions that began in the past and
are still going on now.

For example:

I / you / they / we have been running all

day.
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He / she / it has been running all day.

Negative:

Has not or hasn't

Have not or
haven't

For example:

He hasn't been waiting for an hour.

Question:

Have / has 

For example:

Has he been running all day?

Have they been running all day?

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Unit 3: Past Structures

Past Simple:

The
past simple is used for actions that happened either at a specific time
and can be given a time
phrase like 'yesterday' or 'last night' or understood
from the context. 

Regular verbs end
in 'ed' or 'd' and irregular verbs have many different forms.

Regular:

I watched the
match.

I cleaned my teeth.

Irregular:

I ate an apple.

Negative:

Did not / didn't 

For example:

He didn't learn any Thai in the first few

months.

Question:

Did 

For example:

Did you work there long?

Past
Continuous:

The past
continuous is used for actions going on in the past.

All continuous
tenses are made from 'to be' and 'ing'

I was / he was /
she was / it was / we were / you were / they were + ing

He was watching
the match.

He was cleaning
his teeth.

Negative:

Was not /
wasn't 

Were not /
weren't 

For example:

The teacher asked why he wasn't working on

his project.

Question:

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Was / Were 

For example:

Were you running yesterday?

Past Perfect:

You will use the

past prefect simple for an action that happened in the past but
before something
happened in the past. 

Past of 'to have'

+ past participle

I / you / we / they had eaten everything

before he arrived.

He / she / it had eaten everything before he

arrived.

Negative:

Had not or hadn't

For example:

I hadn't read anything before the test. 

Question:

'Had' comes
before the subject.

For example: 

Why hadn't she eaten before the test?

Past Perfect
Continuous:

This is where 2
actions happened in the past but one happened before the other. 

Past of 'to have'

+ 'been '+ 'ing'

I had been sleeping for hours when the phone

rang.

Negative:

Have not or
haven't

For example: 

They haven't been waiting long when the bus

arrived.

Question:

Had 

For example:

How many years had you been waiting to get

her into that school? 

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Unit 4: Future Structures

Future Simple:

The future simple
always includes 'will' + the 'infinitive' without the 'to' (the base form of
the verb).

Often you will

use it in conjunction with 'next week', 'month', 'year' or 'tomorrow' and 'later'. 

I / he / she / it / we / you / they will go. 

It's always 'will',

even in the plural form.

Negative:

Will not or won't

For example:

He will not run if he hasn't trained.

Question:

Make it into a
question by putting 'will' before the subject word.

For example:

Will he run today? 

Future
continuous:

'will'+ 'to be' +

'ing'

An action that's
in progress in the future.

He will be having dinner at 9pm until 10pm,

if you want to see him.

Negative:

Will not or won't

For example:

I bet she won't be getting up early

tomorrow.

Question:

'Will' before the

subject.

For example:

Will she be coming to the party next week?

Future
Perfect:

'will have' +
past participle

It is used for
describing an action that will finish by a certain time in the
future. 

For example:
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I will have finished the TEFL course by February

and plan to travel by March. Yippee!

Most of the
sentences will have a time reference.

Negative:

Will not or won't

For example:

Jack will not have learnt anything if he

doesn't go to class.

Question:

Put 'will' before

the subject pronoun.

For example:

Will he have eaten all the pizza before

everyone arrives?

Future Perfect
Continuous:

Usually used for

duration of a specific moment of time in the future.

'will have' + 'been'

+ 'ing'

I will have been working for 3 months by the

time I finish.

Negative:

Will not

Won't 

For example:

He won't have been driving for that long.

Question:

'Will' before the

subject.

For example:

Will he have been writing for that many

years?

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Unit 5: Other Verb Structures

Let's consider
the remaining grammar structures, which you will come across when you teach.
Just
like the 12 main tenses we have looked at, the following structures can be
taught using the right
activities. Let's have a go.

Modal Verbs:

Modal verbs are

used in a variety of ways to enable the speaker to express feelings about, for
example,
the probability of an event, or the ability of a person to carry out a
certain action or the level of an
obligation - but seldom the actuality of it
happening.

Other uses of
modals are to express one's attitude, politeness, or advice; modals are also
used for
making requests or giving permission.

The verbs in this

category, although there are different views on this, are:

can could may might will

would must shall should ought to

Modals are complex

and challenging for teachers to present and complex and challenging for
students
to learn, both conceptually and formally.

Modals are a further set of auxiliary verbs

and are often called modal auxiliary verbs.

For example:

Can you speak French?

He could speak it well if he studied more.

He will speak German once he feels

confident.

He should pass the exam.

You must act
quickly.

Can you
speak Spanish?

I would buy a
ticket if I could afford it.

I ought to
visit my Uncle Jim.

We should arrive
before noon.

May I come in?

Here's what you need to know about modals:

Modal
form - key points:

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1. Modals do not
change their form at any time. Must
remains must however you use it.
There is no
musted or musting. They have no infinitive or past
or present participle. There is no infinitive to can or
to must. There
are no participles such as canning,
musting, canned or musted.

Just plain and

simple must, can, should etc. at all
times.

2. A modal verb is
always the first word in the verb phrase. After a modal verb we put the base
form
of the verb (i.e. the verb stem - without to).

For example:

It will be windy.

You should
look after your money.

You could go on Saturday.

3. Like the other

auxiliary verbs (be, have, and
do), modal verbs are
important in negatives, questions,
tags, and so on. A modal verb can have not
after it and it comes before the subject in questions.

For example:

Positive: Your room should be

tidier.

Negative: Your room shouldn't be untidy.

Question: How should I organise my room?

Question tag: You should tidy it each Saturday, shouldn't you?  I suppose I should.

We do not use do
with a modal. NOT: How do I should organise my work?

4. Modal verbs do
not take -s in the third person.

For example:

She should be
here by now. (no -s)

He must
try again. (no -s)

5. Will and would

have the written short forms 'll and 'd.

For example:

I'll
call her now.

I wouldn't
do that.

6. Many modal verbs

cannot be used in the past tenses or the future tenses.

For example: 

She musted
travel there last year. (Incorrect)

She will
can travel with us. (Incorrect)

7. We can stress a
modal if we want to put emphasis on its meaning.

For example:

You really must

be quiet. (Meaning: It
is very necessary.)
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8. A modal verb
does not usually have a tense. It can refer
to the present or the future.

For example:

Present: We must
act now. The instructions might be in my desk.

Future: We must act soon. The

instructions might arrive tomorrow.

For the past we use

had to, was able to etc. or we use a modal verb + have:

Past: We had
to know then. The instructions might have arrived yesterday.

But in some
contexts could, would, should and might are past forms of can,
will, shall and may:

I can't remember
the password. (present)

I couldn't remember
the password. (past)

9. A modal verb can

go with the perfect, the continuous, or the passive.

Perfect: I may
have told you this before.

Continuous: They
may be waiting at the station.

Passive: We may
be shown the figures later.

Perfect +
continuous: You must have been sleeping.

Perfect + passive: The

castle must have been destroyed.

10. We cannot
use two modals together. NOT: You will
must come soon.

How do you
teach Modal Verbs?

Degree of
Probability:

In order to
successfully teach Modal Verbs you must give each one a
function. 

For example, 'can't'/'must'/'may'/'might'/'could'

can be used to represent degrees of probability.

Let's explore the

word 'guilty' in a courtroom. 

He must be guilty. This sentence gives a sense of certainty,

perhaps 95% certain that he is guilty. For
example, he was caught with the gun
in his hand, he must be guilty.

He might be guilty. This sentence gives us the sense of less

certainty, perhaps 60% certain, but not
sure.

He may be guilty. This sentence gives us the sense of less

certainty, perhaps 60% certain, but not sure.

He could be guilty. This sentence gives us the sense of even

less certainty, perhaps 40% certain.

He can't be guilty. This is the opposite of must and it gives a

sense of 95% certain that he is not guilty.
He had a very strong alibi, he
can't be guilty.

Will:

'Will' expresses
a future event. It can also be used to express a habit. 

Giving
permission and asking for permission:

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You can use 'could'

and 'may' to ask and give permission. For example: May I use your bathroom?
Could I use your bathroom, please?

When you want

to offer something to someone:

Would you like tea or coffee?

Ability:

Expressing your
ability to do something. For example: I
could play golf better if I practised more.

Obligation:

Obligation gives
a sense of whether a person has a choice or not. You can use 'must' and its
negative form of 'mustn't' to express an obligation.

For example: You must get to the bus station at 3pm or

you'll miss the bus. 

Would:

The modal verb 'would'

is used to express an imaginary or hypothetical situation that has not
happened.

For example: I would like to go on holiday next year to

Japan. 

Phrasal Verbs:

We have saved the

biggest verb structure challenge for learners till last. Phrasal verbs present
learners
with a huge challenge as there are thousands of phrasal verbs, all
with different meanings.

They are so
prevalent in everyday speaking and informal writing that students must learn
them and
learn how and when to use them, otherwise they will have difficulty in
communicating fully.

Phrasal verbs also

present a challenge to teachers, who need to decide how best to present these
to the
students.

What are Phrasal Verbs?

Phrasal verbs are a

construction which consists of a verb and
a preposition or adverb, or both,
e.g.

Hopefully, they'll put us up for the night.

I'll pick
up some coffee when I'm out.

If we all chip in, we'll finish it soon.

These items exist

in many languages in different shapes and forms although inexperienced teachers
of
English often give students the impression that they only exist in English.

Many languages have

composite verbs with similar constructions acting like phrasal verbs in
English.

English language phrasal

verbs have increased significantly over the years. They continue to increase.
Lots of them can be replaced with other single word verbs, e.g. sort out by resolve, carry on by
continue, put up by erect. 

So, why do people use

them?  There's something about phrasal
verbs that makes a speaker feel happier
with them as they are often less formal
(but not always) and more colloquial than previously
established single words.

Also, they often convey

more emotion and promote images more so than single words. 

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A definition of a
phrasal verb would be something like this: a phrase that consists of a verb with a
preposition or adverb or both,
the meaning of which is different from the meaning of its separate parts,
e.g.
pick up, look at

Example 1: the verb to come

This
is an everyday common verb that students will learn pretty quickly.  The main meaning they will
learn is something
to do with moving forwards to something or moving to a particular place:

Come here.

She came to her house.

Now
notice that if we add a selection of tiny words to this verb, the meaning we
now have bears
no relation whatsoever to the meanings of come above.

·I've been looking for

this for ages. I've just come across it. (found)

·My bag has come apart. (broken up)

·I think she has come up with a good idea. (thought of)

·I hear you've been

chosen. How did that come about? (transpire)

·I had no idea who he

was. Then it came back to me. He was
my first boyfriend. (remembered)

·He doesn't want to play

soccer. I'll talk to him. I'm sure he'll come
around. (change his mind)

·What a reaction. He came down on us like a ton of bricks. (scold/punish verbally)

·I think she's about to come down with something. (be ill)

·The police have reported

that two witnesses have come forward. (reported in willingly)

·She comes from Seoul.

(hails from)

There
are more variations.

Thus,
the meaning of the phrasal verb come down
cannot be construed from joining together the
meanings of its separate parts: come and down

Example 2: the verb to look

Let's try another

one - the verb look. This
verb has several meanings; here are some of them:

To
direct your eyes in order to see: Look! There's grandpa.

To try
to find something or someone:I looked
everywhere but I couldn't find her. Perhaps we'll
meet again.

To
seem: You look well. You look nice in that dress.

To show
direction: The garden looks south.

To give
a warning or strong reminder: Look where you're going!

This is another
example of the dilemma facing students of English. They may come across the
verb
look early in their learning,
probably from their classroom studies: Look
at Page 27. There's nothing
particularly difficult with that.

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However, the more

they explore the language, the more they will come across these constructions

  ·look after -  meaning to take care of

someone or something

·look ahead - meaning to think about and plan the future

·look at -  meaning to read something

quickly and not very thoroughly

·look at - meaning to investigate or think carefully about a problem or

situation

·look back -  meaning to think about

something that happened in the past

·look down on - meaning to think something or someone is

inferior

·look for - meaning try to find something lost or that you need

·look forward to - meaning to feel excited and happy about

something that is going to happen

·look into - meaning to examine a problem or situation

There are even more

than these.

The Difficulty with Phrasal Verbs:

The learner needs

to get to grips with all these subtle meanings. One problem is that there are
few, if
any, clues as to the meaning of each construction. Some will argue that
there are but this can confuse
the students further.

For example, let's

imagine that we tell students that in gives a clue to the meaning of
the phrasal verb,
an idea that you're delving inside something or going inside
somewhere, e.g. I had a look in the book,
I had a look in the shop.

However, look in is often used for dropping in to

see someone, often unplanned, often for a short time,
to make
sure the person is OK: I looked in on old Mrs Brown. This is
a totally different meaning, and
proves the point that some clues may be more
of a hindrance than a help.

Another problem is
that some constructions can be the same but have different meanings:

I looked
at your drawing. It seems fine to me.

Oil prices are rising swiftly again. We need

to look at that.

Clearly these are

different. The first gives the impression of a fairly quick look. The second
gives the
impression of a longer enquiry/investigation into the effects.

Yet another issue

is that learners of English soon find that although English has a wide and
varied
vocabulary, some constructions just have to be learned:

The curtain went up. The show began!

Even where a
curtain in a theatre is opened from the middle to the sides (as can happen in a
cinema or
school production), we almost always say the curtain went up.

A few people may

say the curtain was raised but most
would say the curtain went up. We do
use raise
but this is usually before
the actual event:

It was time to raise the curtain. The

curtain went up. The show began!

No wonder learners
get confused!

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We never think of
phrasal verbs when we acquire our native language. But, for all L2 learners,
these
present tough challenges. There's virtually no learning strategy you can
present to them so that they
learn these.

You need to explain

these individually in a meaningful context when they come up in the classroom
and encourage them to rote learn other examples as much as possible.

Phrasal verbs can

be difficult to understand because they often have meanings that are idiomatic.
The
meaning cannot be deduced from the elements of the verb.

They can also be

difficult to use because of variations in the placement of the particle. In
phrasal verbs
the particle is the word tagged on to the verb to give the
specific meaning of the phrasal verb , e.g. on,
back but it has little or no meaning in itself when it is tagged on. It has
a grammatical purpose but no
meaning.

In some cases the

particle can be put in more than one position in the sentence; in other cases
the
particle usually appears in only one position.

Example

Form 1: You can

say: I put my coat on.

Form 2: You can

also say: I put on my coat.

Form 1: You can

say: She gave it back.

Form 2: But you wouldn't say: She gave

back it. This is a non-standard construction. (The fortunate
thing is
that the learner would likely communicate his meaning but when we focus on form
we would
say this is an incorrect form.)

And very many

phrasal verbs have three components. Such verbs are often particularly difficult
to
understand because the learner hears a string of words, each of which she
knows very well, but which
in combination do not make any sense.

Here are some

common 3 part phrasal verbs with their meaning and an example:

get up to - What have you been getting up to since we last met? (doing)

go in for - I don't really go in for cooking programmes on the TV. (like)

come out with - Jane's always coming out with outrageous comments.  (saying)

The Characteristics of Phrasal Verbs:

Here's what you need

to know:

1. A phrasal verb
is a combination of words (a verb + a preposition or verb + adverb) that, when
used
together, typically take on a different meaning to that of the original
verb.

2.
They are a very important aspect of everyday English. There are thousands of
them.

3. Students
need to learn many of them if they wish to communicate successfully.

4. Phrasal verbs
are idiomatic, meaning that the meaning of a phrasal verb cannot be determined
by
combining the meanings of the verb and preposition or adverb but must be
learned as a single lexical
item.

5. Students need to
think of each phrasal verb as a separate verb with a specific meaning.

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6. When we use
phrasal verbs, we use them like normal verbs in a sentence, regardless whether
it's a
regular or irregular verb. These are irregular verbs:

Lisa tore
up the Valentine Day's card and threw it in the bin.

The bus broke down.

Did you deal with the complaint?

7. Phrasal verbs are

confusing. One main verb may have many combinations. Also, one phrasal verb
may
have more than one meaning.

8. Phrasal verbs tend to be more informal and are used

more often in spoken than
written English, although they're
used frequently in informal written communication like emails to
family or
friends and on internet blogs.

But note that some

will still pop up in formal communications.

9. Phrasal verbs can
also be transitive/intransitive and separable and inseparable

Let's examine
each of these words:

a) Transitive:

A transitive verb
always has an object.

For example: The son fell out with his father.

b) Intransitive:

For example: The machine broke down.

An intransitive
verb does not have an object.

c) Separable:

The object is
between the verb and the preposition.

For example: I looked the number up in the

directory.

d)
Inseparable: 

The object is
placed after the preposition.

For example: I will look into the matter

tomorrow. 

Take the Quiz: Verbs 

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