Page 18 - Basic English Grammar Student Textbook short

Study Section 3: Verb Basics

3.1 Connect

A verb gets a sentence going somewhere. It conveys an action, an occurrence, or a state of being.
It is the main part of a sentence; every sentence has to have a verb. In English, verbs may change if
the action took place in the past compared to the same action taking place in the present. That
makes things a bit more difficult. Yuk!

3.2 Verb Types

A verb is a word that shows action, expresses a state of being, links a word to the subject, or helps
another verb. There are two main types of verbs: 1) action and 2) linking.
Action Verbs

An action verb expresses physical (e. g. run, jump, teach) or mental (e.g. love, think, learn) action.

Practice: Make a list of the things that you did yesterday?

Remember that every sentence contains a subject (the who or what of the sentence) and a predicate (tells
something about the subject). Can you find the action verb in each of the following sentences?
Practice 3A: Verbs. Underline the action verb.

1. Th e l arg e fi s h s w a l lo w e d J o n ah .
2. Th e m a n le ft th e h o r s e.
3. N at h an p la y s t h e p ian o v e r y w e ll.
4. G o d p e r fo rm e d m ira c le s .
5. T hi s m a n pe r s u a d e d m a n y m e n.
6. J o s e p h s e t M a r y o n t h e d o n k e y .
7. Th e i n n k e ep er t o l d th e m th e b a d n ews .
8. T h e s h e p h e r d s s a w t h e s h i n i n g s t a r .
9. Th e me n fo llo w ed th e s t a r .
10 . T h e w i s e m e n f r o m t h e ea s t c a m e to J e r u s a l em .

17