What Is A Verb?
Verbs are words that express a state of action, thought, or being.
Or to put it another way: Verbs tell us what the subject of a sentence is doing, thinking, or that it exists.
Verbs come in many varieties and tenses. You don’t need to memorize the names of the types of verbs as long as you can recognize them in sentences, you can match them with singular and plural nouns/pronouns, and can identify whether they are past, present, or future tense (we’ll talk about verb tense later).
Examples:
Let’s use the verb “run” (action):
- Bill runs along the road, toward town.
- My boss often runs late on Thursdays.
- The river ran dry, since it hasn’t rained. (past tense).
- The battery will run down if we keep using it. (future tense).
Let’s use the verb “decide” (thought):
- I decided that getting up early gives me more time to work out.
- My brother decides the opposite to be true.
- Jimmy decided that an early workout helps him stay awake throughout the day (past tense).
- Coaches will decide if team members have done enough exercise (future tense).
Now let’s use the verb “to be” (being):
- I am not afraid of ghosts.
- My cousins are all convinced ghosts live in their house.
- Ghosts have been making noise in their attic every night.
- We will be staying up all night to try to contact them this Saturday.