146 Verb Phrases
Or the past time can be defi ned by some other event as expressed in a past-tense subordinate
clause. For example:
past
progressive past tense
We were watching TV when the lights went out.
past past
tense progressive
When you called, we were working in the garden.
past past
progressive tense
They were driving to Richland when they had the accident.
The past progressive can also be used for a past-time action or event that spans a defi ned
period of past time. For example:
All last week, my boss was meeting with the sales reps.
From noon on, I was raking leaves in the backyard.
All the time he was talking, I was looking at my watch.
Exercise 9.7
Examine each verb in italics in the following sentences. Rewrite the verb as a past progressive.
At midnight, I sleep.
At midnight, I was sleeping.
1. The chef bake the pie when the guests came.

2. As she walk down the street yesterday, she noticed the stray dog.

3. All last month, the teacher grade tests.

4. At the time of the hurricane, they live on the west side of the city.

5. The police control the rioters when the convention began.

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Verb Tenses 147
Future progressive
The future progressive (F Prog) consists of the future tense (FT) of the verb be (will be) followed
by a verb in the present participle form. The present progressive describes some activity that will
be carried out at some future time. The future time can be a specifi c moment or period in time.
For example:
At noon, I will be fl ying to Houston.
Next week, the kids will be staying with their grandparents.
During the school year, she will be living in a dorm.
Or the future time can be defi ned as taking place during some future-time event that is
expressed in a present-tense subordinate clause. For example:
PT F Prog
While you are in California, I will be working on my thesis.
F Prog PT
He will be arranging more interviews while you enter the data.
F Prog FT
I will be working from home when they repaint my offi ce.
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148
10
Simple Verb Complements
In this chapter we cover basic verb complement terminology and examine simple complements—
verbs with no complements (a zero complement) or only a single complement.
Overview of basic verb complement terminology.
Verb complements are conventionally classifi ed according to the following hierarchy:
VERBS
Action verbs Linking verbs

Transitive Intransitive

The distinction between action verb and linking verb is determined solely by the nature of
the subject-verb-complement relationship. If the complement describes the subject, the verb is a
linking verb. If the complement does not describe the subject, then it is an action verb. By far the
most common linking verb is be. Here are two examples of be used as a linking verb:
Mary’s new car is a Prius.
Mary’s new car is red.
The term linking verb refers to the fact that linking verbs connect (link) the words following
the linking verb back to the subject. In the two examples above, is links the noun phrase a Prius
and the adjective red back to the subject (Mary’s car). Clearly, the subject, Mary’s car, is perform-
ing no action in these two examples. The subject in linking-verb sentences is the topic of the sen-
tence rather than the doer of any action.
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Simple Verb Complements 149
In this book, we will use the term complement to refer collectively to any and all grammati-
cal structures that are required by a verb to make a grammatically complete sentence. For exam-
ple, consider the complement in the following sentence:
Thomas put his car in the garage.
This complement contains two components: an object noun phrase (his car) and an adverb
expression of place (in the garage). Both of these components are required by the verb put to make
a grammatical sentence. If we delete either component, the sentence becomes ungrammatical:
X Thomas put his car.
X Thomas put in the garage.
In other words, when we use the verb put, we have to put something somewhere. Consequently,
we would describe the complement of put as noun phrase ϩ adverb of place.
Linking verbs have a special terminology for their complements. Consider again our previ-
ous examples:
Mary’s new car is a Prius.
Mary’s new car is red.
The noun phrase a Prius is called a predicate nominative, and the adjective red is called a predi-
cate adjective. Note that the term object is not used for noun phrases that are the complements

of linking verbs.
Since almost all verbs are classifi ed as action verbs, it is hard to fi nd any very helpful defi -
nition of action verbs except negatively: action verbs are those verbs that are not linking verbs.
While many action verbs do indeed express action as their name suggests, some so-called action
verbs express no action at all. For example, compare the following pair of sentences:
Jackson bought a new car.
Jackson has a new car.
In the fi rst sentence, Jackson is clearly the performer or doer of an action: he has engaged in the
action of buying a new car. In the second sentence, however, Jackson is not engaged in any action
at all. He is not doing anything. The sentence is more a statement about Jackson rather than an
expression of what Jackson is doing. Nevertheless, both verbs are classifi ed as “action” verbs since
they are not linking verbs.
The second distinction in verb terminology is between transitive and intransitive verbs.
(This terminology is normally applied only to action verbs. We do not use these terms in refer-
ence to linking verbs.) The term transitive is derived from a Latin word meaning “to go across.” A
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150 Verb Phrases
transitive verb “goes across” to an object. In other words, a transitive verb controls or “takes” an
object. An intransitive verb does not control or take an object. For example, compare the follow-
ing sentences:
Transitive: The cat killed the birds.
Intransitive: The birds died.
The verb kill is a transitive verb that requires an object. That is, when we kill, we have to kill
something. Leaving off the object would make the transitive verb kill ungrammatical (in the way
that the verb is normally used):
X The cat killed.
The verb die is an intransitive verb that does not take an object. As this pair of examples shows,
transitive verbs typically describe what a subject is doing to an object (killing it in the case of our
example), while intransitive verbs typically describe what is happening to the subject (dying in
the case of our example).

When you look up a verb in the dictionary, you will notice a little vi or vt right after the
pronunciation guide and the origin of the word but before the defi nitions begin. vi means that
the verb is intransitive, and vt means that the verb is transitive. It is striking that most verbs can
be used both transitively and intransitively. If a verb is used both ways, the dictionary will give all
the defi nitions for the most common use fi rst (either vi or vt) and then give a second set of defi ni-
tions associated with the other use.
This chapter and the next one are organized according to the number of complements that
verbs require. In this chapter we will address the verbs that take no complements at all (zero-
complement verbs) and verbs that take only a single complement. The following chapter will
address verbs that take multiple complements.
Zero-complement verbs
Verbs that take no complement are called intransitive verbs. (All zero-complement verbs are
action verbs. Linking verbs are always used with a single complement.) Here are some examples
of sentences with intransitive verbs:
The old cow died.
My knee hurts.
The kids are sleeping.
Most of the time we use intransitive verbs with various kinds of optional adverb expressions.
For example:
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Simple Verb Complements 151
The old cow fi nally died during the night.
My knee hurts whenever it rains.
The kids are sleeping at my cousin’s house tonight.
It is important to realize that these adverb expressions are not part of the complement. In other
words, these verbs do not require these adverb expressions for the sentences to be grammatical.
Exercise 10.1
The verbs in the following sentences are in italics. If the verb is intransitive, write vi above it. If it
is transitive, write vt above it. If the verb is intransitive, confi rm your answer by deleting all the
material that follows the verb.

vi
My nephew just smiled when I asked him what he was doing.
1. The window broke with a loud crash.
2. The kids broke the window playing baseball.
3. The cheese sandwich fi nally melted in the toaster oven.
4. The leaky faucet dripped all night long.
5. The candidates for city council spoke at the meeting.
6. The football team was practicing on the athletic fi eld.
7. My ears rang for several days after the accident.
8. The head of our company will retire at the end of next year.
9. The thin cardboard tore when I tried to bend it.
10. Only votes cast before the deadline counted in the election.
11. The committee counted the ballots.
12. Their application succeeded despite all of our misgivings.
13. Real wages have declined over the past decade.
14. The kids laughed uproariously at the cartoons.
15. The spilled milk spread slowly across the fl oor.
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152 Verb Phrases
Single-complement verbs
Both action verbs and linking verbs can take a single complement. We will address the two types
of verbs separately.
Action verbs
The complement of a transitive action verb is called an object or direct object. The word object
normally implies direct object. (There is also an indirect object, which we will encounter in the
next chapter.) An action verb followed by a single object is by far the most common of all types of
complements. All objects are either noun phrases or pronouns. (Compound nouns and pronouns
are counted as single complements.) Here are some examples, fi rst with noun phrases, and then
with pronouns. Verbs are in italics and objects are in bold.
Noun phrase objects

John saw Mary.
Theo washed his new car.
Lois cashed her check.
The bright lights frightened the birds
We met Susan and her friends.
Pronoun objects
I watched them.
Ralph cut himself.
Someone called you.
The children saw us.
The noun phrase can be any structure that can be replaced by a third-person pronoun: noun
clauses, infi nitives, or gerunds. Here are some examples:
Noun clauses
it
I loved what they proposed in the new budget
it
I loved that they accepted most of our ideas.
it
I loved where we went out for dinner.
Infi nitives
it
I love to go for long walks in the fall.
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