What is a verb?
A verb is a word that describes an action or a state of being. Together with nouns, verbs make up a significant portion of the meaning in a sentence.
Action Verbs
When you think of verbs, you probably think of ‘doing’ words, or words that describe physical actions. These are known as action verbs (also refered to as dynamic verbs) and are usually quite easy to act out with your body, with pictures, videos, etc.
Let’s look at some example sentences with action verbs.
Peter walks to school.
They sang beautifully.
The dog swam across the river.
Stative Verbs (State Verbs)
Stative verbs differentiate themselves from action verbs in that they describe the static condition of the subject. They typically are not used in the continuous (-ing) form and can express thoughts, emotions, relationships, states, qualities, and measurements.
Let’s look at some example sentences with stative verbs.
I believe you. (I am believing you.)
We know the answer. (We are knowing the answer.)
The package weighs a lot. (This package is weighing a lot.)
Linking verbs, like be and sense verbs (e.g. smell, sound) are a subset of stative verbs. These verbs express states of being and provide more information about the subject in the complement. Linking verbs are like virtual equals signs that equate two ideas. A handy test to see if a verb is a linking verb is to replace it with an appropriate form of be. If the sentence still makes sense, it is a linking verb.
Let’s look at some example sentences with linking verbs.
The plates are on the table.
The verb are is a form of be, and be is a linking verb.
They looked tired.
The sentence still makes sense if you replace looked with were, which is a form of be. (They were tired.)
That sounds great!
Replacing sounds with is still makes sense, so sounds is a linking verb. (That is great!)
How do I identify verbs in sentences?
Is it a noun or a verb?
One of the problems with English is that some words can be different parts of speech depending on how they are used. This makes both learning and teaching English a little more difficult. Consider the following two sentences:
Doctors help sick people.
I need all the help I can get.
The word help is used in both sentences. One represents an action, and the other represents a noun. Can you see the difference?
In the first example, the word help is a verb because it describes the action that is done. It is what doctors do.
In the second example, the word help is a noun because it is the thing that is needed.
Finding the verb
Correctly identifying the verb of a sentence or a clause can be a challenge for many people, including native speakers! Incorrectly identifying the verb can cause confusion and frustration.
To help with this task, all you need to do is read the sentence and ask yourself two questions:
Question 1: What is the subject doing?
Question 2: What word or words are functioning as an equals sign?
Let’s look at some example sentences and try to identify the main verbs.
The brave captain took the wheel and steered the ship away from the rocks.
The subject is “the brave captain”. If you ask yourself “What is the brave captain doing?” Your answer should be took and steered. Took and steered are action verbs.
If you ask yourself “What word or words are functioning as an equals sign?” You should answer none, because there are no linking verbs.
The fourth grade class will be in class until noon.
The subject is “the fourth grade class”. If you ask yourself “What is the fourth grade class doing?” Your answer should be nothing because there is no action verb.
If you ask yourself “What word or words are functioning as an equals sign?” You should answer will be, because will be is a linking verb (i.e. The fourth grade class = in class until noon.)
Watch out for auxiliary verbs
Some verbs can be single words, others can be made up of several words. If you think you have found the verb, be sure to look around because you may find other verbs that make up the entire verb. The main verb is known as the lexical verb, and the other verbs are auxiliary verbs. Auxiliary verbs help main verbs to make tenses, interrogatives, negatives, passives, and more.
Let’s look at some example sentences with auxiliary verbs and see if we can identify the main verbs.
Peter is walking to the market.
The auxiliary verb is and the lexical verb walking form the present continuous tense.
The CEO didn’t attend the meeting.
The auxiliary verb didn’t and the lexical verb attend form a negative in the past simple tense.
The record has never been broken.
The auxiliary verbs has and been are used with the lexical verb broken to form a sentence in the past present perfect simple tense in the passive voice
Learn more about different types of verbs
Learning about different kinds of verbs can enhance your understanding of English.
Verb
(run, think, was)
Regular Verb
(wanted, play, loved)
Irregular Verb
(eat, seen, lain)
Auxiliary Verb
(did, have, are)
Phrasal Verb
(give up, go through, look after)
Modal Auxiliary Verb
(might, should, could)
Infinitive
(to see, to fly, to run)
Bare Infinitive
(see, fly, run)
Let us know what you think!
Need further clarification? Do you have any suggestions on how to improve our examples or explanations? We look forward to seeing your comments below.