Verbs show actions, feelings, or states of being.

• Actions: I swim in the sea. She ate seven apples. You have been driving for an hour.
• Feelings; Rosie likes music. The rabbit wanted more food-He has hated onions ail his life.
• States of being: The teacher is sick. Dan became a dancer.

• I saw a movie yesterday.

The auxiliary verbs—those words which may be added to the principal parts to form verb phrases — belong to a specific and limited group. The verb forms listed below are those which can be used to begin a verb phrase:

do            can          am           have

does        could       are           has

did           shall        is             had

may         should     was

might       will          were

must        would

The verbs in the Jirst two columns combine only with the naming form of the verb: e.g., go, break, freeze, see, take:

• She didn't go to the party.
• It may break any minute.
• You will freeze without a coat.
• We could see the distant mountains.
• I can take another passenger.

State verbs are verbs which do not normally have continuous tenses because they describe a state rather than an action. These include:

• verbs which express likes and dislikes: like, love, hate, dislike, enjoy, pre etc
  e.g. Cathy likes romantic films
  
• verbs of perception: believe, know, notice, remember, forget, recognize, understand, realize, seem, think, etc.
   e.g. I don't believe a word he's saying.
  

Some common rules for advance learners.