47a Build verb phrases.

47a
Build verb phrases.

Verb phrases can be built up out of a main verb and one or more helping (auxiliary) verbs.

Immigration figures are rising every year.

Immigration figures have risen every year.

Verb phrases have strict rules of order. If you try to rearrange the words in either of these sentences, you will find that most alternatives are impossible. You cannot say Immigration figures rising are every year.

Modal Perfect Have Progressive Be Passive Be Main Verb
Sonia has been invited to visit a family in Prague.
She should be finished with school soon.
The invitation must have been sent in the spring.
She has been studying Czech.
She may be feeling nervous.
She might have been expecting to travel elsewhere.
The trip will have been planned for a month by the time she leaves.

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LearningCurve > For multilingual writers: Verbs and verb phrases