Joanna, who still can't post to the list, sends the following discussion of defining a verb:
I still can't post to the list. Post this if you like.
It is important to find ways for students to identify the part of
speech of a word in a particular sentence, because the K-12 grammar
books often do this. In your phrase, for example:
"The couple taking a walk in the park"
"Walk" can be recognized as a noun because it immediately follows "a".
A word that can follow "a" all alone ("a walk") is a noun (or a gerund,
as in "a beating").
The "-ing" on "taking" clearly is a verb marker, so it indicates that
the root "take" is a verb, but of course it is a participle in this
phrase, and it has adjectival function. So this example is not a good
starting point for a lesson on identifying word class in context. Such
an example should be tackled only after the functions of verb forms
like participles have been discussed.
As to finding verbs in sentences rather than phrases, there are couple
of tricks.
1. Change the meaning of the sentence from present to past or vice
versa.
a. The couple took a walk in the park.
b. The couple takes a walk in the park. (add "every day" if you need
the sentence to sound natural)
2. Change the sentence from positive to negative; usually, the word
after "not" will be the main verb.
a. The couple took a walk in the park.
b. The couple did *not* TAKE a walk in the park.
In sentences with auxiliary verbs, the one that changes tense will be
the auxiliary, and the one in either -ing or -ed/-en form will be the
main verb. "Not" will usually be placed between them:
a. The couple is taking a walk in the park.
b. The couple WAS taking a walk in the park.
c. The couple is *not* TAKING a walk in the park.
d. The couple has taken a walk in the park.
e. The couple has *not* TAKEN a walk in the park.
Obviously, the sentences used for this kind of work cannot be too
complicated. For instance, adverbs placed within the verbal element can
complicate things:
a. The old couple was slowly walking through the park.
One either has to start with sentences that don't have complicating
structural elements, or "transform" the sentence to a more "normal"
order, then do the identifying:
a. The old couple was slowly walking through the park.
b. The old couple was walking through the park SLOWLY.
c. The old couple is WALKING through the park slowly.
d.The old couple was *not* WALKING through the park slowly.
I suppose that, if you are stuck with dealing with a phrase like your
"The couple taking a walk in the park",
you could show them how to add an auxiliary, then the word following
that would be a verb (in participle form):
"The couple IS taking a walk in the park",
"The couple WAS taking a walk in the park".
If you try these, please do let me know how they work.
It is very hard to use spontaneously-generated sentences (e.g., in
students' essays) for this kind of work, because they so often have
complicated structure -- structure that is beyond what they have
studied in their grammar lessons so far. Hence the need for
"transforming" or starting with sentences structured with the purpose
of the lesson in mind. Once students gain ease with the uncomplicated
structures, they can then begin looking at what the naturally-occurring
sentences add.
Dr. Johanna Rubba, Associate Professor, Linguistics
Linguistics Minor Advisor
English Department
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Tel.: 805.756.2184
Dept. Ofc. Tel.: 805.756.2596
Dept. Fax: 805.756.6374
URL: http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
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