Verbs

What are Verbs?

Verbs are part of speech which includes words denoting action, activities or state of being.

Some of the examples of Verbs are:

Is, am, are, play, eat, think, sleep, watch, imagine, write, was, were, publish, pay, type, doze etc.

Why are Verbs important?

Verbs are important because we cannot form sentence without Verbs. Verbs exist in all types of sentences or questions and are therefore integral components.

How many forms of Verbs are there?

There are five main forms of Verbs construction. It includes Past and Present forms but avoids Future form as a combination of these forms can be used to represent Future forms.
Example:

eat (base form)

ate (Past Tense)

eaten (Past Participle) 

eating (Continuous Tense)

eats (Present Tense)

Functions of Verbs

Verbs tell the reader or listener what the subject (noun or pronoun) is doing. They also tend to describe subjects themselves. Verbs work as subject and at times also work as direct object too.

Into how many types have Verbs been categorized?

Verbs have been categorized in multiple ways. Some of the common divisions of Verbs are as follows:

  • Main Verbs/Action Verbs vs Auxiliary Verbs/Helping Verbs/Linking Verbs
  • Mental Verbs / Physical Verbs / The state of being Verbs
  • Regular Verbs / Irregular Verbs
  • Transitive Verbs / Intransitive Verbs

Main Verbs/Actions Verbs

Main verbs are Verbs that show the major actions carried out by the subjects (I, we, you, he, she, it, they). Main Verbs are also known as Lexical Verbs.

Eat, sleep, play, dance etc.

Auxiliary Verbs/Helping Verbs/Linking Verbs

Helping Verbs are also called Auxiliary Verbs and their main task is to provide us information about the time referred in sentence. We can use up to three Helping Verbs in a sentence.

Is, am are, has, have, do etc.

Mental Verbs

Mental Verbs refer to cognitive (that deals with logic) state in which actions are mostly abstract. Mental Verbs are also known as Static Verbs.

Think, decide, wish, pray etc.

Physical Verbs

Physical refers to any activity related to the body and Verbs are words which show visible actions. Hence, Physical Verbs are those activities which take place due to the movement of our body parts.

Eat, break, make, play, jump etc.

The State of being Verbs

State of being Verbs are also called Inactive or Linking Verbs as they explain the situation i.e. the way they are and changes in those situations.

Has, have, am, is etc.

Regular Verbs

The Majority of English Verbs which rarely change their form are called Regular Verbs. Regular Verbs are those verbs whose Past Tense and Past Participle is formed by adding –d or –ed.

Play, dance, clean  etc.

Irregular Verbs

Verbs which do not have fixed ending of Past and Past Participle forms are called Irregular Verbs. Sometimes, even whole word can be different.

Eat, sleep, choose etc.

Transitive Verbs

Transitive means which can pass further and Verbs are words which show actions. Hence, verbs which require objects are called Transitive Verbs. These verbs need objects to give complete meaning.

Played,  choose, roasted, cooked etc.

Intransitive Verbs

Intransitive means which cannot pass further and verbs are words which show actions.
Therefore, those verbs which do not have a direct object and denote doable activities are called Intransitive Verbs. Intransitive verbs are also called Action Verbs.

Stand,  sleep, rest etc.

Always Remember

  • One of the most important things about Verbs is that they tell us if something has already happened, is happening or will happen. They are all related to time.
  • A Verb can be a single word or sometimes a group of words known as Verb phrase.