Verbs Definition. A verb is a doing word that shows an action, an event or a state. A sentence may either have a main verb, a helping verb or both. In other words, a verb is a word that informs about an action, an existence of something or an occurrence. The verb is the main word in a sentence. No sentence can be completed without a verb. This page contains just one section of the FREE 47-page Giant Verb List PDF found here. The PDF version. The Simplest Fact in all of Grammar: There are just 23 helping verbs. Let's take a look at one final example.

This list of verbs will help you understand verbs a little better. For a more in-depth look at verbs, see the verb page.

Verbs are words that show action or state of being. There are three major categories of verbs.

1. Helping Verbs (Auxiliary Verbs)

Freddie gibbs madlib shame ep zip codes list. 2. Action Verbs

3. Linking Verbs

These do just what their name implies. They help the main verb in the sentence by telling us more about its tense and the subtleties of its meaning. The main verb will be either an action verb or a linking verb. You'll find more on those verbs below.

The helping verb(s) and the main verb come together to form a verb phrase. Here is a list of 24 common helping verbs. Use the list of verbs and this lovely song to memorize them. (Listen to me sing the song in the video!)

Will is a helping verb. It is helping the main verb (love), which is an action verb. The verb phrase is will love.

be	am	is	are
was	were	been	being
have	has	had	could
should	would	may	might
must	shall	can	will
do	did	does	having

When you see how to diagram these, it's easy to see that they help other verbs.

Action Verbs

As their name implies, action verbs show action. Keep in mind that action doesn't always mean movement. In that example, the verb thought doesn't show movement, but it is still an action verb. There are many, many action verbs. Here's a small list of verbs that show action.

clean	cut	drive	eat
fly	go	live	make
play	read	run	shower
sleep	smile	stop	sweep
swim	think	throw	trip
walk	wash	work	write

If you've checked out this site much, you know that I think sentence diagramming rules when it comes to teaching and learning grammar. Sentence diagramming is a way to visually show how all of the words in the sentence are related to each other.

All verbs are diagrammed on a horizontal line after the subject. A vertical line separates the subject from the verb, and the rest of the sentence depends on the type of verb you are diagramming. Let's look at the different kinds of action verbs!

1. Transitive Active

Certain action verbs called transitive active verbs transfer action to something called a direct object. Kicked and ate are transitive active verbs. Ball and cake are direct objects.

2. Transitive Passive

This type of action verb transfers its action to the subject. Isn't that crazy?

3. Intransitive Complete

This type of action verb does not transfer action to anyone or anything. It is diagrammed in the same way that a transitive passive verb is diagrammed.

List of Verbs
Linking Verbs

You can call these either linking verbs or intransitive linking verbs.
They link the subject of a sentence with a noun or adjective. If you count all of the forms of to be as one word, there are 13 linking verbs. Memorize these!

Forms of be	be, am, is, are, was, were, been, being
Other Linking Verbs	appear, become, feel, grow, look, seem, remain, smell, sound, stay, taste, turn

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