Verbs

What is a verb?

Verbs are the action words in a sentence that describe what the subject is doing. Along with nouns, verbs are the main part of a sentence or phrase, telling a story about what is taking place. In fact, without a verb, full thoughts can’t be properly conveyed, and even the simplest sentences, such as Maria sings, have one. Actually, a verb can be a sentence by itself, with the subject, in most case you, implied, such as, Sing! and Drive!

As you can see from the examples above, one clue to help you recognize a verb is its location compared to the subject. Verbs almost always come after a noun or pronoun. These nouns and pronouns are referred to as the subject. The verb thought comes after the noun Jack, so the action Jack (subject) was taking was thinking (verb).

Mark eats his dinner quickly.
We went to the market.
You write neatly in your notebook.
They thought about all the prizes in the competition.

types of verbs

There are many types of verbs. In addition to the main categories of physical verbs, mental verbs, and state of being verbs, there are several other types of verbs. In fact, there are more than ten different types of verbs that are grouped together by function.

Action Verbs :

Action verbs express specific actions and are used any time you want to show action or discuss someone doing something. It’s important to remember that the action does not have to be physical.

Action verb examples:

Run
Dance
Slide
Jump

Transitive Verbs :

Transitive verbs are action verbs that always express doable activities that relate or affect someone or something else. These other things are generally direct objects, nouns or pronouns that are affected by the verb, though some verbs can also take an indirect object, such as show, take, and make. In a sentence with a transitive verb, someone or something receives the action of the verb .

Transitive verb examples:

Love
Respect
Tolerate
Believe

Intransitive verbs:

Intransitive verbs are action verbs that always express doable activities. They are different from transitive verbs because there is no direct object following an intransitive verb.

Intransitive verb examples:

Walk
Laugh
Cough
Play

Auxiliary verbs:

Auxiliary verbs are also known as helping verbs and are used together with a main verb to show the verb’s tense or to form a question or negative. Common examples of auxiliary verbs include have, might, will. These auxiliary verbs give some context to the main verb, for example, letting the reader know when the action took place .

Auxiliary verb examples:

Would
Should
Do
Can

Modal verbs :

Modal verbs are auxiliary verbs that are used to express abilities, possibilities, permissions, and obligations .

Modal verb examples:

Can
Must
May
Should

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