The Most Important Part of Speech… Every Sentence Must Have One. Verbs… The Most Important Part of Speech… Every Sentence Must Have One.

Verbs make or break the sentence When most people think of “descriptive writing”- they think adjectives. However, it is VERBS that do the creative work. Verbs are the engine of a sentence Verb choice is the key to “good” writing

What is a verb? The most basic verb is the action verb… The action verb (aka transitive) expresses a physical or mental action. It is the verb that we all recognize. i.e. Run, jump, study, looked, saw, heard

Action verbs in action Ed threw the ball. = physical Mike imagines great things. = mental Billy rode the yellow bus to school.

Auxiliary Verbs Aka helping verbs come before the main verb Common forms: to be, to have, to do And can function as “main” verbs

Auxiliary verbs 1. Show state of being: Am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been are being verbs. The vampire was at the door. The being verbs plus have, has, had, shall, will, should, would, may, might, must, can, and could are helping verbs. He should have flown through the window.

Linking Verbs Link (connect) the subject of a sentence to a noun or an adjective in the predicate: ─ The dark man at the prom was a vampire. ─ The vampire had been attractive, in a ghoulish sort of way.

Linking Verbs Common linking verbs: is, am, are, was, were, has been, might have been, etc become, seem, appear, feel, look, sound, taste, etc.