Identifying Verbs

Verbs Defined

Two essential components of a sentence are the subject and the verb. As we have seen, the subject is simply what the sentence is about. The verb tells what the subject

did

(or

does

or

will do

) or indicates the

state of being

of the subject

Actions Verb: What the subject is doing

Action verbs express

an action

- that is, anything a subject can do, even if no motion is involved : run, walk, go, jump, eat, study, sleep, think.

The child ran across the road.

Under the waterfall, the boys sat and ate their lunches.

He wanted the chocolate pie for dessert.

For many years, the women in the neighborhood arranged block parties.

Linking Verbs: State of Being

These verbs do not express an action; they express a state of being. They serve to link the subject with a word which describes or identifies the subject.

The most common example of linking verbs is the verb be, which has the following forms in English: is, am, are, was, were, be, been, being Other linking verbs are act, appear, seem, become, feel, grow, look, The woman was hungry after her long climb up the mountain.

The woman acted hungry after her long climb up the mountain.

The woman appeared hungry after her long climb up the mountain.

The woman became hungry after her long climb up the mountain.

The woman felt hungry after her long climb up the mountain.

Action and Linking Verb Practice

He wants a guitar for Christmas.

His head hurt from the car crash.

Jane and Bob hiked and camped throughout the Sierras.

Under the bridge, the man ate his lunch.

He was certain the ball would come back.

Jerry appeared nauseous after the ride.

Although he was sick and tired of television, he felt obligated to watch Survivor.

Helping Verbs: Give a Hand to the Main Verb

The following words can be used as helping verbs: be (am, is, are; was, were; be, been, being) do (did, do, does) have (had, has, have)

can, could shall, should will, would may, might, must

The dog was chasing its tail. All of the work has been completed. Her accomplishments will never be forgotten.

Special Exceptions

Certain words or phrases may look like verbs but are not.

A word ending in ing is not a verb (going, seeing, being) unless it has a helper in front of it (was going, am seeing, are being). Also, a verb preceded by the word to is an infinitive, not a verb (to go, to see, to be). Do not confuse an infinitive (to plus a verb: to go, to run) with a prepositional phrase (to plus a noun or pronoun: to Ottawa, to me).

Practice

1. This morning, Mark and I are working on our research projects for English. 2. We have been surfing the Net for two hours. 3. At this point, Mark has found only two web sites with useful information. 4. I am unhappy with the results of my search, too. 5. We will go to the library during the afternoon for more research material.

6. The library has a lot of different reference materials on all kinds of topics. 7. We will have no trouble finding information on the topic of euthanasia. 8. Once, our English instructor assigned that topic to another class. 9. Unfortunately, one student did not understand the teacher. Instead of euthanasia, she wrote on youth in Asia!