Transcript Identifying Verbs - College of the Redwoods Home

Identifying Verbs
Verbs Defined
Two 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
Actions Verb: What the subject is doing
Action 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.
Linking Verbs: State of Being
These 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.
The most common example of linking verbs is the verb be,
which has the following forms in English:
is, am, are, was, were, be, been, being
Other 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.
Action and Linking Verb Practice
He 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.
Helping Verbs: Give a Hand to the Main Verb
The following words can be used as helping verbs:
be (am, is, are; was, were; be, been, being)
do (did, do, does)
have (had, has, have)
can, could
shall, should
will, would
may, might, must
The dog was chasing its tail.
All of the work has been completed.
Her accomplishments will never be forgotten.
Special Exceptions
Certain 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).
Practice
1. 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.
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!