Verb

Verbs

What is a verb?

A verb is one of the main parts of a sentence or question in English.
In fact, you can’t have a sentence or a question without a verb! That’s how important these “action” parts of speech are.

The verb signals an action, an occurrence, or a state of being. Whether mental, physical, or mechanical, verbs always express activity.

Types of Verbs

How many types of verbs are there? 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 by function.

Action Verbs

Action verbs express specific actions, and are used any time you want to show action or discuss someone doing something.

Transitive Verbs

Transitive verbs are action verbs that always express doable activities. These verbs always have direct objects, meaning someone or something receives the action of the verb.

Intransitive Verbs

Intransitive verbs are action verbs that always express doable activities. No direct object follows an intransitive verb.

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.

Stative Verbs

Stative verbs can be recognized because they express a state rather than an action. They typically relate to thoughts, emotions, relationships, senses, states of being, and measurements.

Modal Verbs

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

Phrasal Verbs

Phrasal verbs aren’t single words; instead, they are combinations of words that are used together to take on a different meaning to that of the original verb.

Irregular Verbs

Irregular verbs are those that don’t take on the regular spelling patterns of past simple and past participle verbs.

Practice