Most of us learn about verbs in elementary school. And, what we learn is that verbs are action words. Run, jump, eat, sing, sleep … These are all verbs. You might also have learned that a verb completes the sentence I can _____. Easy. To the point. Yet not even close to the whole story about verbs. We’ll show you what we mean by starting with the familiar and moving on to new territory.
Verbs are action words
Yes. A verb is an action word. It describes things that someone or something can do. So, a dog can run. A person can eat. A class can recite a poem. All of these action words are verbs.
Verbs complete this sentence
If you can use a word to complete the sentence, I can _____, you’ve found a verb. I can jump. I can eat. I can sleep. I can read. It’s important to recognize a verb in a sentence because other parts of the sentence depend on it. For instance, I can read a book is a sentence because it has both a subject (I) and a predicate (can read a book). And, the predicate includes the verb can read.
Verbs have tense
When you say that you can run, or that you ran, or that you will be running, you are talking about an action that takes place in the present, past, or future, respectively. If you are running now, you’d say I’m running now. If you were running last week, you would say I ran last week. If you plan to run during the coming weekend, you would say I will run this coming weekend.
Verbs agree with the subject
Actually, it’s that a verb must agree with the subject in person and number. This is a complicated way of saying that I is the person and is singular in number. As a result, the noun must be in the singular form. For instance, you wouldn’t say I works for a pony. Instead, you would say I work for a pony. You wouldn’t say They works for a pony. You’d say They work for a pony, but you’d say She works for a pony. It all has to do with the way a verb is conjugated, which is probably familiar to you if you’ve studied a second language.
Verbs of being
Verbs of being are forms of the verb to be. You’ll recognize them as the words you’ve likely seen in a sentence when you’re concerned that there is no verb in that sentence. For example, I am tall. You can see the subject is I. You can see that the adjective is tall. By process of elimination, the verb must be is. And, that’s correct because the verb to be is conjugated as I am, You are, He/She/It is, We are, They are. It’s all about the state of the subject and not the action.
Verbs link
Linking verbs function in the same way as verbs of being, except that they are not forms of the verb to be. You’ll recognize them because, once again, they link the subject to a noun or an adjective. You can imagine them as an equal sign, as in Sara seems disappointed. Sara = disappointed.
Bottom Line
Verbs are far more than words that indicate an action. The ability to recognize them and their function is fundamental to writing well.