The Parts of Speech Verbs

A verb tells what people or things do. More generally, a verb tells the action a noun or pronoun does. Mrs. Ellis read a book about a green snake to us. read Every sentence should start with a capital letter. start

A verb can also express state of being or tell something about the condition of its subject. Mrs. Ellis is our teacher. Mrs. Ellis has blue eyes. Mr. Smith appears tired. Julie seems sick. These verbs are also called linking verbs.

Linking Verbs Linking Verbs explain the connection between the subject and its complement or that which completes the subject's description. The most common linking verb is "to be." Some other linking verbs are: appear, feel, remain, sound, become, grow, seem, stay, continue, look, smell, taste,

Examples: Opera seems overly dramatic to the music novice. “Overly dramatic" describes the subject "opera," but it does not express an action that "opera" performs. He appeared happy at the news of the inheritance. Appeared links “He” to “happy.” “Happy” describes the condition or state-of-being of “He.”

I am pathetically inept in such situations. He is a doctor of medicine. Note: while "a doctor" answers the question "what?" the verb is not an action verb, but rather a "state of being" verb. Therefore; it links the subject (he) with his state of being (doctor).

Remember, however, if what follows the verb can provide an answer to the question "what," then the verb is not a linking verb. Compare: He tastes the soup as he cooks it. “Tastes” is an action verb. The fruit tastes rotten. “Rotten" describes or the state of the fruit, and therefore tastes links the subject (fruit) and its condition (rotten).

State of being or condition verbs are often a form of the verbs to be: am, is, are, were. Verbs like to seem and to appear are often used as being or condition verbs, as are: feel, remain, sound, become, grow, stay, continue, look, smell, taste,

A verb can be classified according to a number of categories: The person indicates who or what is doing the action, whether the speaker, the addressee, or someone or something else.person The number indicates how many people or things are doing the action, whether one or many.number The tense indicates the time of the action, which can be past, present, or future.tense The voice indicates whether the subject of the clause is acting or being acted upon.voice

The basic tenses of verbs are quite simple: past, present, and future. However, each tense can take one of four forms: simple, progressive, perfect, and perfect progressive. Tense determines time. Verbs can take one of twelve forms. See the chart and examples below and note the verbs required to determine form. Note that the auxiliary (helping) verb for most forms is that which determines the tense of the whole verb (is, was, will be; has, had, will have).

PRESENT TENSE Simple present (action or situation exists now): I dance. He dances. They dance. Present progressive (action is in progress): I am dancing. He is dancing. We are dancing.

Present perfect (action begins in the past and leads up to and includes the present): I have danced. She has danced. You have danced. Present perfect progressive (action begins in the past, continues in the present, and may continue into the future): I have been dancing. He has been dancing. They have been dancing.

PAST TENSE Simple past (actions or situations are complete and completely in the past): They danced. We danced. She danced. Past progressive (actions in the past occurred over a period of time): She was dancing. They were dancing. I was dancing.

Past perfect (an action that has been completed before another action or situation): She had danced. We had danced. You had danced. Past perfect progressive (an ongoing action in the past has ended): She had been dancing. We had been dancing. They had been dancing.

FUTURE TENSE Simple future (actions will occur in the future): I will dance. She will dance. You will dance. Future progressive (future actions will continue for some time). I will be dancing. She will be dancing. They will be dancing.

Future perfect (actions will be completed by or before a specific future time): I will have danced. She will have danced. They will have danced. Future perfect progressive (actions are ongoing up to a specific future time): I will have been dancing. You will have been dancing. He will have been dancing.