English Verb Phrases

Author: Indigo Curnick

Date: 2026-08-22

#grammar   #linguistics   #english  


In a previous blog we learned about verbs. Verbs are "doing words" - they describe actions, events or states of being. Verbs are generally considered to be the most important part of a sentence. It's easy to think about verbs in simple sentences, like:

However, due to English having a limited number of tenses, we need to introduce more complex structures to express many different kinds of action ideas. The complex structure we introduce is the verb phrase - a phrase which has a verb as the main word.

A verb phrase consists of a main verb preceded by optionally up to four auxiliary verbs (and no more). There are four subclasses of auxiliaries

  1. Modal auxiliary, such as can, may, will
  2. Perfect auxiliary, have
  3. Progressive auxiliary be
  4. Passive auxiliary be

And they must appear in that order e.g. 1+2+3 allowed; 2+4 allowed; but 3+1 not allowed. The final auxiliary verb determines the form of the main verb which follows:

  1. Modal, followed by base form e.g. may phone
  2. Perfect have, followed by -ed participle e.g. have phoned
  3. Progressive be, followed by -ing participle e.g. was phoning
  4. Passive be followed by -ed participle e.g. was phoned

Gaps are normal for example:

The follow table presents all possible combinations of auxiliary verbs in the phrase:

Subject Modal Auxiliary _to have_ Progressive _be_ Passive _be_ Main Verb
I walk
I can walk
I had walked
I was walked
The dog being walked
I might have walked
I will be walking
The dog can be walked
I have been walking
The dog has been walked
The dog was being walked
I might have been walking
The dog might be being walked
The dog might have been walked
The mice have been being killed
She might have been being interviewed

For the last two, you notice I needed to change the subjects and verbs as "I might have been being walked" and "the dog has been being walked" are very strange indeed. For some full sentences of the last two to show off how they might be used:

Realistically, those final two forms a very rare, and you could rephrase them to be less confusing:

Which raises a good point: just because something is grammatically correct, does not mean we should necessarily always use it!

The sequence does not take into account the dummy operator do, which we use when there are no other auxiliaries in the verb phrase. Should you need a recap on the dummy operator, you can view my blog here. Just a few examples:

There are also phrasal auxiliaries, which are intermediate between auxiliaries and main verbs. You can think of these more as idioms rather than a strict grammatical structure. While they are in common use, they certainly do not fit into the above table structure. Equally, they often fail nice grammatical analysis or categorisation. Some common phrasal auxiliaries are:

These occupy the main verb slot, even though semantically they behave like auxiliaries. If we consider:

In the above sentence have is not the same as the to have column in the table. In the above, have is acting more as a lexical verb with an infinitive clause to leave. Contrast

Only the first word in a phrasal auxiliary is a true auxiliary, since only that word functions as an operator, for example, in forming questions:

The phrasal auxiliaries may come together to make a long string of verbs:

From the perspective of style, such phrases are complex and can be difficult to parse and read. We could try breaking them down into easier to parse sentences.

Verb Phrase are either finite or non-finite. A finite verb is a verb which can change form to indicate whether the sentence is past or present tense. It may also be marked for person and number.

In a finite verb phrase the first or only verb is finite, and the other verbs (if any) are non-finite. In a non-finite verb phrase, all verbs are non-finite.

Play and played are finite verbs in these sentences:

On the other hand, in the following sentence, will is the finite verb and play is now non-finite:

Verbs come in five "forms", but there are only two which are finite:

  1. -s form e.g. phones
  2. past e.g. phoned

The three which are non-finite are:

  1. The infinitive e.g. to phone
  2. The -ing participle e.g. phoning
  3. The -ed participle e.g. phoned

The fact that the past form and the -ed participle form are usually the same but serve different grammatical functions can be a source of confusion.

Some examples of finite verb phrases in sentences, with the finite verb marked (f) with the whole verb phrase in italics:

While some non-finite verb phrase examples, with the whole verb phrase in italics

As a matter of style, finite verb phrases tend to be easier to understand and parse. In non-fiction writing, it's usually better to use a finite verb phrase where possible as it makes it clearer who is doing the action. Non-finite verb phrases are a little more poetic, and are more at home in fiction writing.

To review, a verb phrase consists of a main verb and any combination of the following optional auxiliaries:

  1. Modal auxiliary, such as can, may, will
  2. Perfect auxiliary, have
  3. Progressive auxiliary be
  4. Passive auxiliary be

Using this framework, you ought to be able to easily identify any complex verb phrase you happen across!

References

Murray, L. (1859 (1795)) English Grammar Adapted to the Different Classes of Learners. With an Appendix, Containing Rules and Observations, for Assisting the More Advanced Students to Write with Perspicuity and Accuracy. John Murphy & Co.

Greenbaum, S., Nelson, G. (2002) An Introduction to English Grammar. Pearson Education Limited

Quirk, R., Greenbaum, S., Leech, G., Svartik, J. (1985) A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language. Longman.