Complete Verb

What Is a Complete Verb?

How do I know if I am using a complete verb? A complete verb encompasses not only the main verb, but any helping verbs that are attached to it. For example: I have been working on my homework for three hours. In this sentence, the complete verb is made up of three verbs: 'have been working.' 'Have' and 'been' are both helping verbs for the main verb 'working.' Let's learn more about complete verbs.

Criteria for Complete Verbs

For a verb to be considered complete, it must meet the following criteria:

1. A verb indicates when the action happens based on its tense.

For example:

• I will have eaten my sandwich by the time the bus arrives.
• I ate my sandwich.

Tense indicates the time that something happened (past, present, or future). The first sentence explains that the event will take place in the future, while the second sentence explains that the event has already happened.

2. A complete verb includes the main verb and any helping verbs.

The following is a list of helping verbs:

• be
• am
• is
• are
• was
• were
• been
• have
• has
• had
• do
• does
• did
• can
• could
• may
• might
• will
• would
• shall
• should
• must
• ought to

For example:

• The boys are eating a lot of candy.
• The boat sped through the water.

In the first sentence, the main verb is 'eating,' while the helping verb is 'are.' The second sentence only has the main verb 'sped.'

A complete verb may consist of anywhere between one and four verbs.

3. A verb either indicates action or condition.

For example:

• Charlie is up at bat.
• Charlie swings the bat.

The first sentence explains Charlie's condition, while the second sentence describes Charlie's actions.

4. A verb that indicates condition is called a linking verb and links the subject to another word.

For example:

• Tommy is exhausted.
• Tommy is in his room.

In the first sentence, 'is' links the subject 'Tommy' to his state of being exhausted. In the second sentence, 'is' links the subject 'Tommy' to his condition of being in his room.

5. A verb does not follow the word 'to.'

For example:

• Steve likes to play golf.
• It hurts to run after my injury.

In these sentences, play and run are words that are traditionally used as verbs, but in these sentences they are part of an infinitive (to + verb in its base form) that functions as a direct object.

6. A verb that ends in '-ing' must be preceded by an auxiliary verb (helping verb) that indicates its tense.

For example:

• I am buying a new car this weekend.
• My old car has been running on borrowed time.

Examples of Complete Verb by Tense

Let's go through some examples of complete verbs by tense. We'll use the word 'bake' as our example. The present tense, of course, is the verb itself: 'bake.' Then we have the present perfect tense, which is 'have baked.' Next, we have 'am baking' in the present progressive tense and 'baked' for the past tense. Our past perfect is 'had baked' and the past progressive is 'was baking.' 'Will bake' is the future tense. 'Will have baked' is our future perfect tense. And, finally, the future progressive of 'bake' is 'will be baking.'