English Grammar: Verbs

Study Notes

Verbs are words that express action, thinking, feeling, or link a subject to a state of being.
Every sentence must have a verb.

Action Verbs: Express physical or mental action, such as walk, sleep, wave, push, cry, whisper, and think.
Saying Verbs: Express speaking, such as talk, cried, and whispered.
Thinking and Feeling Verbs: Express mental states, such as thought, considered, and see.
Linking Verbs: Express states of being, linking the subject to a state of being, such as is, feels, was, and are.
Helping Verbs: Cannot be used by themselves, but help other verbs, providing more information about action verbs, such as can, will, and were.

Verbs are words that express action, thinking, feeling, or link a subject to a state of being.
Every sentence must have a verb.

Action Verbs: Express physical or mental action (e.g. walk, sleep, wave, push, cry, whisper, think).
Saying Verbs: Express speaking (e.g. talk, cried, whispered).
Thinking and Feeling Verbs: Express mental states (e.g. thought, considered, see).
Linking Verbs: Express states of being, linking the subject to a state of being (e.g. is, feels, was, are).
Helping Verbs: Cannot be used by themselves, but help other verbs, providing more information about action verbs (e.g. can, will, were).

Linking Verbs: "The work is typed at their desks" (is), "Jackie feels comfortable in her house" (feels), "After a long day, Eric was tired" (was), "The boys are friends" (are).
Action Verbs: "Kim talked to her friend" (talked), "Jim fixed his red mountain bike" (fixed), "Celso thought carefully about his trip" (thought).
Helping Verbs: "He will play football" (will), "The girls were playing in the park" (were).