Verb Patterns

Verb Patterns

Here's a list of Verb Patterns in English:

• Causative Verbs
• Transitive and Intransitive
• Ergatives and Unaccusative Verbs
• Embedded Questions in statements
• Indirect Questions
• Inversion

Causatives (Have and Get)

We use a causative verb when we want to talk about something that someone else did for us or for another person. It means that the subject caused the action to happen, but didn't do it themselves. Maybe they paid, or asked, or persuaded the other person to do it. For example, we can say:

• I cleaned my house. (This means I cleaned it myself).

If I paid someone to clean it, of course I can say:

• A cleaner cleaned my house.

But, another way is to use a causative construction. So I can also say:

• I had my house cleaned.

In a sense, using a causative verb is similar to using a passive. The important thing is that the house is now clean. We don't focus on who did the cleaning.

Have + object + past participle (have something done)

We usually use 'have something done' when we are talking about paying someone to do something for us. It's often used for services. The form is 'subject + have + object + past participle'.

• I had my car washed.
• John will have his house painted.

Get + object + past participle (get something done)

We can also use 'subject + get + object + past participle'. This has the same meaning as 'have', but is less formal.

• The students get their essays checked.
• I'll get my hair cut next week.
• He got his washing machine fixed.

Have someone do something (have + person + infinitive)

We can also use the construction 'subject + have + person + infinitive'. This has a very similar meaning to 'have something done', which we've already talked about, but this time we say who did the thing - we talk about the person who we asked to do the thing for us.

• I had the electrician look at my broken light.
• The doctor will have the nurse call the patients.
• The teacher had the students write the answers on the whiteboard.

Get someone to do something (get + person + to + infinitive)

Finally, we can also use the construction 'get + someone + to + infinitive'. Again, this means that you cause the other person to do the action, maybe by paying them to do it, or by asking them to do it, or by persuading them to do it.

• She gets her son to do his homework by promising him ice cream when he's finished.
• I got the cleaner to clean under the cupboards.

Sometimes, this construction has the feeling that we needed to convince someone to do something, while the other constructions on this page are neutral.

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

Transitive verbs must have a direct object:

• I enjoyed the party (NOT: I enjoyed).

(The subject is 'I', the verb is 'enjoyed' and the direct object is 'the party'.)

• William likes chocolate (NOT: William likes).

(The subject is 'William', the verb is 'likes' and the direct object is 'chocolate'.) Intransitive verbs can't have a direct object. Intransitive verbs also can't make a passive.

• They arrived.

(The subject is 'they' and the verb is 'arrived'. There's no object.)

• The children are sleeping.

(The subject is 'the children' and the verb is 'are sleeping'. There's no object.)

Many verbs have a transitive and an intransitive form:

• John ate the pizza (transitive).
• John ate (intransitive).

Also, some verbs that have more than one meaning can be transitive or intransitive depending on which meaning is being used.

• I see the mountains (see = see with your eyes, transitive).
• I see (see = understand, intransitive).

Ergative and Unaccusative Verbs

(Before you start this lesson, make sure that you understand transitive and intransitive verbs.)

Usually, when we think about the subject of a verb in English, we think about a person who does the action of the verb. For example, in the sentence 'John ran' or 'Lucy ate the cake', John and Lucy do the eating and running. They decide to run or eat and then they run or eat by themselves. However, sometimes the grammatical subject is not the person who does the verb. We can make sentences like:

• The door opened.
• The ice melted.

In both of these sentences, something else (not the subject) caused the action. Maybe a person pushed the door and that made it open. It wasn't the door that decided to open and then opened by itself. In the same way, the ice didn't decide to melt. Something else (the sun, maybe, or a high temperature) caused the ice to melt. This kind of verb is called an ergative verb (or sometimes an 'alternating unaccusative'). They can be confusing, because it's easy to mix them up with the passive. But 'the door opened' and 'the ice melted' are active sentences and the verbs here are intransitive.

'Melt' and 'open' also have a transitive active form (which can make a normal passive form) as well as the intransitive form that I've already talked about. So, we have three possibilities:

• David opened the door (active, transitive).
• The door was opened (by David) (passive, transitive).
• The door opened (active, intransitive, ergative).

It's important to remember that 'the door opened' is grammatically active, not passive. So we can't say 'the door opened by David'. Here are some more examples:

• The dog broke the vase (active).
• The vase was broken by the dog (passive).
• The vase broke (ergative).

• The pilot landed the plane (active).
• The plane was landed by the pilot (passive).
• The plane landed (ergative).

• The sun is melting the chocolate (active).
• The chocolate is being melted by the sun (passive).
• The chocolate is melting (ergative).

There are a few situations when it's natural to choose the ergative form. These include:

• When the cause of the action is irrelevant. (The film began.)
• When we want to create a feeling of mystery. (The curtains opened and ...)
• When the subject is very easily broken or changed, so that it seems like it can change without a person doing anything. (The bubble burst.)
• When change usually happens in this case. (In the spring, the snow melted.)
• When there are many possible causes for the change. (Wages increased.)

(This list is based on one from 'The Grammar Book' by Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman).

In some cases, it's much more natural to use an ergative than a passive. For example, if you say 'wages were increased' (passive) then we get the idea that somebody decided to increase wages. However, this might not be true. It might be the case that lots of different things (for example, the economy, a lack of skilled workers, demonstrations by trade unions, ...) caused the wages to increase. So, in this case, it's better to say 'wages increased'. However, it's also important to be careful! Not all verbs that talk about change can be used ergatively. For example, we can't use 'demolish', 'destroy' and 'build' like this:

• The builders demolished the house (active).
• The house was demolished by the builders (passive).
• NOT: The house demolished.

• The child built the tower (active).
• The tower was built by the child (passive).
• NOT: The tower built.

There are a few situations when it's natural to choose the ergative form. These include:

As well as ergative verbs, we also have some intransitive verbs that have something that doesn't cause the action as a subject. For example:

• The accident happened.

This is an active sentence. However, the subject of the sentence doesn't do the action of the verb. The accident didn't decide to happen. Instead, something else caused the accident. These verbs can also be confusing. It's easy to use them in the passive by mistake. But, these verbs are intransitive. They can't make a passive. It's not possible to say 'the accident was happened'.

Verbs like this:

• Appear: The sun appeared (NOT: the sun was appeared).
• Arrive: The plane arrived (NOT: the plane was arrived).
• Die: The plant died (NOT: the plant was died).
• Disappear: The fog disappeared (NOT: the fog was disappeared).
• Emerge: A pattern emerged (NOT: a pattern was emerged).
• Fall: The apple fell (NOT: the apple was fallen).
• Happen: The events happened (NOT: the events were happened).
• Occur: The problem occurred (NOT: the problem was occurred).
• Rise: The bread rose (NOT: the bread was risen).
• Vanish: The path vanished (NOT: the path was vanished).

Embedded Questions

Sometimes we want to use a question as part of another question or a statement. This is called an embedded question.

1. We can use embedded questions as part of other questions. This is sometimes called an indirect question and is often used to be polite.

• Normal question: Where is the station?
• Indirect question (that includes an embedded question): Could you tell me where the station is?

2. We can also use embedded questions as part of statements. The embedded question is a noun clause and can be used in a similar way to a noun. For example, we can use it as the subject or the object of the main clause.

• Normal question: Where does she work?
• Embedded question in a statement: I don't know where she works. (Here 'where she works' is the object.)

• Normal question: Where does she work?
• Embedded question in a statement: Where she works is very far. (Here 'where she works' is the subject.)

Forming embedded questions

We use the same rules with embedded questions in statements as we do with embedded questions in indirect questions.

• If there is a question word, we keep it.
• If there is no question word, we use 'if' or 'whether'.
• We use normal sentence grammar (so we don't need 'do / does / did').
• We use normal sentence word order (subject + verb, not the opposite).
• We use a full stop and not a question mark at the end of the sentence.

Here are some examples of verbs that we often use with embedded questions:

• Wonder: I wonder why she said that.
• Know: They don't know what they're doing.
• Remember: We don't remember where the house is.
• Be sure: I'm not sure when we're going to arrive.
• Find out: Let's find out what time the show starts.
• Think about: She's thinking about how she's going to do it.
• Forget: I've forgotten why I started this.

Subject questions

If you start with a subject question, you don't need to change the grammar much, because it is already similar to a statement.

• Normal subject question: Who loves Julie?
• Embedded subject question: I don't know who loves Julie.

• Normal subject question: What happened?
• Embedded subject question: We are trying to find out what happened.

Indirect Questions

Have a look at this conversation.

• Me: Excuse me. Could you tell me where the nearest station is?
• Person in the street: Certainly. It's along that road on the right.
• Me: Thank you. And do you know if there's a supermarket near here?
• Person in the street: Yes, there's one next to the station.
• Me: Thank you very much for your help.

I use indirect questions when I'm asking for help in the street, because they are very polite. Indirect questions start with a phrase like 'could you tell me...' or 'do you know...'. For example:

Direct question: Where is the bank?

Indirect question: Could you tell me where the bank is?

Notice that in the indirect question I put the verb ('is') after the subject ('the bank'), in the same way as I do with a normal positive sentence ('the bank is over there'), but in the direct question I put the verb 'is' before the subject 'the bank'. This is called inversion, and it is used to make direct questions in many verb tenses in English, but we don't use inversion in indirect questions. This is very similar to the grammar of reported questions. However, we use indirect questions in a different way from reported questions. Indirect questions are a way of being polite. They are very, very common in English, especially when you're talking to someone you don't know.

'Yes / No' Questions

To make an indirect 'yes / no' question, we use 'if' and the word order of a normal positive sentence. This is the same as for reported 'yes / no' questions. On the other hand, we don't usually need to 'backshift' (change the tense of the verb) as we do with reported questions.

Of course, most tenses make questions by using 'inversion' (changing the word order). To change from a direct 'yes / no' question with inversion to an indirect question, you add 'if' and change the word order back to a normal positive sentence. You don't need to use inversion.

'Yes / no' questions for tenses with inversion:

'Yes / no' questions with tenses that use 'do / does / did':

Sometimes you want to make an indirect question using the present simple of any verb except 'be' or the past simple of any verb except 'be'. These tense make direct questions by using 'do / does / did'. When we want to make indirect 'yes / no' questions using these tenses, we need 'if' and we don't need 'do / does / did'.

'Wh' Questions

In the same way as with reported 'wh' questions, we use the question word and the word order of a normal positive sentence to make indirect 'wh' questions. We don't need to use inversion. Again, we also don't usually need to 'backshift' (change the tense of the verb) as we do with reported questions.

To change a direct question to an indirect question for tenses that make questions using inversion, you just add 'if' and change the word order back to a normal positive sentence.

'Wh' questions for tenses with inversion:

'Wh' questions for tenses with 'do / does / did':

Sometimes you want to make an indirect 'wh' question using the present simple of any verb except 'be' or the past simple of any verb except 'be'. Usually these tenses make questions by using 'do / does / did'. However, when we want to make indirect 'wh' questions using these tenses, we don't need 'do / does / did'. Instead, we use a question word and then normal positive sentence word order.

Inversion

We use inversion in several different situations in English. Inversion just means putting the verb before the subject. We usually do it in question forms:

• Normal sentence: You are tired. (The subject is 'you'. It's before the verb 'are'.)
• Question form: Are you tired? (The verb 'are' is before the subject 'you'. They have changed places. This is called inversion.)

In most English verb tenses, when we want to use inversion, we just move the verb to before the subject. If there's more than one verb, because a verb tense has auxiliary verbs for example, we move the first verb.

With two verb tenses where we just change the places of the verb and subject:

• Present simple with 'be': am I / are you / is he
• Past simple with 'be': were you / was she

With other verbs tenses, we change the place of the subject and the auxiliary verb (the first auxiliary verb if there is more than one). We don't move the other parts of the verb:

• Present continuous: am I going / are you going
• Past continuous: was he going / were they going
• Present perfect: have we gone / has she gone
• Present perfect continuous: has she been going / have they been going
• Past perfect: had you gone
• Past perfect continuous: had he been going
• Future simple: will they go
• Future continuous: will you be going
• Future perfect: will they have gone
• Future perfect continuous: will she have been going
• Modal verbs: should I go / would you go

There are two tenses where we need to add 'do / does / did' to make the question form. We also need to change the main verb back to the infinitive. This is usually still called inversion.

• Present simple with any verb except 'be' (add 'do' or 'does'): do you go / does he go
• Past simple with any verb except 'be' (add 'did'): did we go / did they go

When do we use inversion? Of course, we use inversion in questions. You can read more about this here. But we also sometimes use inversion in other cases, when we are not making a question.

1. When we use a negative adverb or adverb phrase at the beginning of the sentence.

Usually, we put the expression at the beginning of the sentence to emphasise what we're saying. It makes our sentence sound surprising or striking or unusual. It also sounds quite formal. If you don't want to give this impression, you can put the negative expression later in the sentence in the normal way:

• Seldom have I seen such beautiful work. ('Seldom' is at the beginning, so we use inversion. This sentence emphasizes what beautiful work it is.)
• I have seldom seen such beautiful work. ('Seldom' is in the normal place, so we don't use inversion. This is a normal sentence with no special emphasis.)

Here are some negative adverbs and adverb phrases that we often use with inversion:

In the following expressions, the inversion comes in the second part of the sentence:

We only use inversion when the adverb modifies the whole phrase and not when it modifies the noun: Hardly anyone passed the exam. (No inversion.)

2. We can use inversion instead of 'if' in conditionals with 'had' 'were' and 'should'. This is quite formal:

• Normal conditional: If I had been there, this problem wouldn't have happened.
• Conditional with inversion: Had I been there, this problem wouldn't have happened.

• Normal conditional: If we had arrived sooner, we could have prevented this tragedy!
• Conditional with inversion: Had we arrived sooner, we could have prevented this tragedy!

3. We can use inversion if we put an adverbial expression of place at the beginning on the sentence. This is also quite formal or literary:

• On the table was all the money we had lost. (Normal sentence: All the money we had lost was on the table.)
• Round the corner came the knights. (Normal sentence: The knights came round the corner.)

4. We can use inversion after 'so + adjective...that':

• So beautiful was the girl that nobody could talk of anything else. (Normal sentence: the girl was so beautiful that nobody could talk of anything else.)
• So delicious was the food that we ate every last bite. (Normal sentence: the food was so delicious that we ate every last bite.)