Identifying Verbs

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Identifying Verbs
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Verbs DefinedTwo essential components of a
sentence are the subject and the verb. As we
have seen, the subject is simply what the
sentence is about. The verb tells what the
subject did (or does or will do) or indicates the
state of being of the subject
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Actions Verb What the subject is doingAction
verbs express an action - that is, anything a
subject can do, even if no motion is involved
run, walk, go, jump, eat, study, sleep,
think.The child ran across the road.Under
the waterfall, the boys sat and ate their
lunches.He wanted the chocolate pie for
dessert.For many years, the women in the
neighborhood arranged block parties.
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Linking Verbs State of BeingThese verbs do not
express an action they express a state of being.
They serve to link the subject with a word
which describes or identifies the subject.
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The most common example of linking verbs is the
verb be, which has the following forms in
Englishis, am, are, was, were, be, been,
beingOther linking verbs are act, appear,
seem, become, feel, grow, look, The woman was
hungry after her long climb up the mountain.The
woman acted hungry after her long climb up the
mountain.The woman appeared hungry after her
long climb up the mountain.The woman became
hungry after her long climb up the mountain.The
woman felt hungry after her long climb up the
mountain.
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Action and Linking Verb PracticeHe wants a
guitar for Christmas.His head hurt from the car
crash.Jane and Bob hiked and camped throughout
the Sierras.Under the bridge, the man ate his
lunch.He was certain the ball would come
back.Jerry appeared nauseous after the
ride.Although he was sick and tired of
television, he felt obligated to watch Survivor.
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Helping Verbs Give a Hand to the Main VerbThe
following words can be used as helping verbsbe
(am, is, are was, were be, been, being)do
(did, do, does) have (had, has, have)can,
couldshall, shouldwill, wouldmay, might,
mustThe dog was chasing its tail. All of the
work has been completed.                Her
accomplishments will never be forgotten.
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Special ExceptionsCertain words or phrases may
look like verbs but are not. A word ending in
ing is not a verb (going, seeing, being) unless
it has a helper in front of it (was going, am
seeing, are being). Also, a verb preceded by
the word to is an infinitive, not a verb (to go,
to see, to be). Do not confuse an infinitive
(to plus a verb to go, to run) with a
prepositional phrase (to plus a noun or pronoun
to Ottawa, to me).
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Practice1. This morning, Mark and I are working
on our research projects for English. 2. We
have been surfing the Net for two hours. 3. At
this point, Mark has found only two web sites
with useful information. 4. I am unhappy with
the results of my search, too. 5. We will go to
the library during the afternoon for more
research material.
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6. The library has a lot of different reference
materials on all kinds of topics. 7. We will
have no trouble finding information on the topic
of euthanasia. 8. Once, our English instructor
assigned that topic to another class. 9.
Unfortunately, one student did not understand the
teacher. Instead of euthanasia, she wrote on
youth in Asia!