PARTS OF SPEECH: VERB

A verb is a word or word group which can show tense or mood e.g. She has driven to Penang island but might fly to Langkawi island. If you see these endings (suffixes) on a word, then you know they are probably verbs:

-en at the end of a word are often verbs formed from adjectives and mean to make ‘X’ e.g. brighten i.e. bright + en means to make bright; soften i.e. soft + en means to make soft.

-ise / -ize at the end of a word means to to cause to become, resemble; make into ‘X’, or to act in the manner of e.g. publicize i.e. public + ize means to make public or to make the public aware of; authorize; sympathize.

-ate are verbs derived from some Latin forms. At the end of a word, means to have or be characterized by ‘X’ e.g. activate i.e. active + ate means to make active; differentiate i.e. different + ate means to make or show a difference.

-ify / -fy at the end of a word means to cause to become or to make ‘X’ e.g. simplify i.e.
simple + ify means to make simple or simpler; liquefy.

-ed at the end of a word forms the simple past and past participle of regular verbs e.g. walked i.e. walk + ed means has walked; landed i.e. land + ed means has landed.

-s / -es [-ss, z after a vowel sound or voiced consonant] at the end of a word forms the third person singular of the present tense e.g. sews i.e. sew + s means ‘X’ is being described as a person who sews; walks, runs.

-er at the end of a word are often verbs with a habitual or repeated action e.g. stutter; canter.

-ing at the end of a word are often present participle and part of progressive tenses e.g. walking; is walking.