Verb

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1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Verb offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Verb at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.

2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about

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4. Questions - Got a question about Verb then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....

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6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Verb wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.

7. Feedback - happy with your Verb then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.

8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Verb site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site

9. Contact - got a question about Verb, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.

10. Payment - ready to pay for your Verb, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.

In syntax, a verb is a word belonging to the part of speech that usually denotes an action (bring, read), an occurrence (decompose, glitter), or a state of being (exist, stand). Depending on the language, a verb may vary in form according to many factors, possibly including its grammatical tense, grammatical aspect, grammatical mood and grammatical voice. It may also agree with the grammatical person, grammatical gender, and/or grammatical number of some of its arguments (subject (grammar), object (grammar), etc.).

Valency The number of arguments that a verb takes is called its valency or valence. Verbs can be classified according to their valency:

Intransitive verb (valency = 1): the verb only has a subject (grammar). For example: "he runs", "it falls".
transitive verb (valency = 2): the verb has a subject and a direct object. For example: "she eats fish", "Mike hunts deer".
Ditransitive verb (valency = 3): the verb has a subject, a direct object and an indirect or secondary object. For example: "I gave her a book," "She sent me flowers."

It is possible to have verbs with zero valency. Weather verbs are often impersonal verb (subjectless) in null-subject languages like Spanish language, where the verb llueve means "It rains". In English, they require a dummy pronoun, and therefore formally have a valency of 1.

The Tlingit language features a four way classification of verbs based on their valency. The intransitive and transitive are typical, but the impersonal and objective are somewhat different from the norm. In the objective the verb takes an object but no subject, the nonreferent subject in some uses may be marked in the verb by an incorporated dummy pronoun similar to the English weather verb (see below). Impersonal verbs take neither subject nor object, as with other null subject languages, but again the verb may show incorporated dummy pronouns despite the lack of subject and object phrases. Tlingit lacks a ditransitive, so the indirect object is described by a separate, extraposed clause.

English verbs are often flexible with regard to valency. A transitive verb can often drop its object and become intransitive; or an intransitive verb can take an object and become transitive. Compare:

I turned. (intransitive)
I turned the car. (transitive)

In the first example, the verb turn has no grammatical object. (In this case, there may be an object understood - the subject (I/myself). The verb is then possibly reflexive, rather than intransitive); in the second the subject and object are distinct. The verb has a different valency, but the form remains exactly the same.

In many languages other than English, such valency changes aren't possible like this; the verb must instead be inflected for voice in order to change the valency.

Copula A copula is a word that is used to describe its subject, or to equate or liken the subject with its predicate. In many languages, copulas are a special kind of verb, sometimes called copulative verbs or linking verbs.

Because copulas do not describe actions being performed, they are usually analysed outside the transitive/intransitive distinction. The most basic copula in English is to be; there are others (remain, seem, grow, become, etc.).

Some languages (the Semitic language and Slavic languages families, Chinese language, Sanskrit language, and others) can omit or do not have the simple copula equivalent of "to be", especially in the present tense. In these languages a noun and adjective pair (or two nouns) can constitute a complete sentence. This construction is called zero copula.

Verbal noun and verbal adjective Most languages have a number of verbal nouns that describe the action of the verb. In Indo-European languages, there are several kinds of verbal nouns, including gerunds, infinitives, and supines. English has gerunds, such as seeing, and infinitives such as to see; they both can function as nouns; seeing is believing is roughly equivalent in meaning with to see is to believe. These terms are sometimes applied to verbal nouns of non-Indo-European languages.

In the Indo-European languages, verbal adjectives are generally called participles. English has an active voice participle, also called a present participle; and a passive voice participle, also called a past participle. The active participle of give is giving, and the passive participle is given. The active participle describes nouns that perform the action given in the verb, e.g. a giving person. The passive participle describes nouns that have been the object of the action of the verb, e.g. given money. Other languages apply tense and aspect to participles, and possess a larger number of them with more distinct shades of meaning.

Agreement In languages where the verb is inflected, it often agrees with its primary argument (what we tend to call the subject) in person, number and/or gender. English only shows distinctive agreement in the third person singular, present tense form of verbs (which is marked by adding "-s"); the rest of the persons are not distinguished in the verb.

Spanish inflects verbs for tense/mood/aspect and they agree in person and number (but not gender) with the subject. Japanese language, in turn, inflects verbs for many more categories, but shows absolutely no agreement with the subject. Basque language, Georgian language, and some other languages, have polypersonal agreement: the verb agrees with the subject, the direct object and even the secondary object if present.

References

Gideon Goldenberg, "On Verbal Structure and the Hebrew Verb", in: idem, Studies in Semitic Linguistics, Jerusalem: Magnes Press 1998, pp. 148-196 translation; originally published in Hebrew in 1985.