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Verbs

Most verbs describe actions, so they are called action verbs. Action verbs tell what people or things are
doing. Here are some common action verbs.

drink look jump swim fall
eat shout walk throw climb
laugh run sit catch dance

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs
Some verbs have an object. The object of a verb is the person or thing that is affected by the action of
the verb. Look at this sentence:

Alice eats a banana for breakfast.

The subject of the verb is Alice. She is the person who does the action: she eats. The object of the verb is
a banana. A banana is affected by the action of the verb. So in this sentence, the object of the verb eat
is a banana. Verbs that have objects are called transitive verbs.

Here are some sentences with transitive verbs. The verbs are printed in bold and their objects are
printed in colour.

John likes apples.
Sam knows the answer to the question.
My sister cooks all our meals.
My brother rides his bike in the street.
Dad buys tea at the market.
Mom writes stories in her spare time.

Some verbs dont have an object. A verb that does not have an object is called an intransitive verb. Here
are some sentences with intransitive verbs.

In China, lots of people walk to work.
The boys play in the yard after school.
Mr Carter always drives very carefully.
Doris is a very successful businesswoman.
Michael and I both entered the race. He won but I lost.

Some verbs can be either transitive or intransitive. Notice that the transitive meaning and the
intransitive meaning are sometimes different.

Transitive verbs Intransitive verbs
The pilot flies the plane very well. Eagles fly high in the sky.
The boys play football on weekends. The boys play in the yard on weekends.
My mom runs her own company. My mom runs in the park for fun.
We walk the dog every evening. We walk on the beach every evening.
Linking Verbs
Do not express an action they link sentence parts together.
Forms of to be: was, were, am, are, is be, been, being (these standalone)
Express Condition: look, smell, feel, sound, taste, grow, appear, become, seem, and remain

--Some verbs can be action or liking.

Action Linking
We felt the seat cushions. They felt dry.
We tasted the popcorn. It tasted salty.

Helpful Hint: If you can substitute =, is, are, was, or were for a verb, you know it is a linking verb.

Helping Verbs
(Also called auxiliary verbs) are combined with other verbs to form verb phrases. A verb phrase may
contain one or more helping verb with an action verb. Some helping verbs dont even have an action
verb withthey indicate that an action is directed at the subject.

Reminder of the 23 helping verbs! Dont forget to memorize your list!

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

Examples:

Sandra has a pair of Conga Drums at home. (helping verb acts as the main verb)
She has practiced her drumming all summer. (helping verb plus action verb)

Note: Be careful of adverbs that interrupt verb phrasesdo not include them in your verb phrases.
Words like not, never, always, sometimes, rarely are called adverbs because they modify the verb
phrasethey are NOT part of the verb phrase.

Examples:

Susie does sometimes go to dance
Susie rarely goes to dances

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