Terminology
Verb: a word that expresses action or a state of being
Action Verb: a word that expresses physical or mental action; the most common
Helping Verb a word that is used together with the main verb of the sentence to express the action
Linking Verb: a word that connects the subject with an adjective or a noun that describes it
Examples
Michelle hit the ball into the stands. (action)
She thought about the home run. (action that cannot be seen or heard)
Michelle raced around the bases and slid in to home base. (more than one action verb)
Michelle was excited about the game. (The helping verb helps express the action)
She is a new member of the team. (state of being; the linking verb expresses what is or what seems to be)
Types of Verbs
Helping verbs
Some of the helping verbs can be used alone as the main verb. However, they’re called helping verbs because they can be used to help main verbs.
There are twenty-three (23) helping verbs that should be memorized since they are used so often. If you will memorize them, it will make knowing and understanding verbs much easier. They are usually grouped in the following six groups:
Group 1: is, am, are, was, were (linking verbs when used alone)
Group 2: be, being, been (action or linking verbs when used alone)
Group 3: has, have, had (action verbs when used alone)
Group 4: do, does, did (action verbs when used alone)
Group 5: shall, will, should, would (cannot be used alone)
Group 6: may, might, must, can, could (cannot be used alone)
(The information in this helping verbs section was taken from http://www.dailygrammar.com/Linking-vs-Helping-Verbs.html . Click on the link to see verbs explained in a different way. There are also a few practice questions on the page, with answers you can check.)
Verb phrases
A verb with more than one word is called a verb phrase. Verb phrases can be two, three, or four words. Verb phrases are made by using helping verbs with the main verb.
| Helping verb + (not) + | main verb | means…. |
| present tense form of to be (am, is, are) | present participle (-ing) | continuing action in the present I am driving home now. |
| past tense form of to be (was, were) | present participle (-ing) | continuing action in the past I was driving home then. |
| Have, has, had | past participle (-d, -ed, -n, -en) | action completed in the past I have driven home before. |
| Do, does, did | main verb (plural form) | questions, with the word not, for emphasis I do drive home. |
| Can, could, may, might, must, should, would | main verb (plural form) | change the meaning of the sentence I can drive home. |
| Will, shall | main verb (plural form) | action or being that will occur in the future I will drive home. |
Linking verb – the most common
The most common linking verb is the verb to be. It might show up in form of the present or past tenses.
| Present tense | Singular | Plural |
| 1st person | am | are |
| 2nd person | are | are |
| 3rd person | is | are |
| Past tense | Singular | Plural |
| 1st person | was | were |
| 2nd person | were | were |
| 3rd person | was | were |
Verbs that can link and perform action
| act | feel | remain | sound |
| appear | grow | seem | stay |
| become | look | smell | taste |
Linking: Their father appeared angry. (not performing action)
Action: The singer appeared in a play. (performing action)
Linking: I looked sad. (not performing action)
Action: I looked at the page. (performing action)
Linking: The runner grew tired. (not performing action)
Action: The man grew a beard. (performing action)
Subject–Verb Agreement
The verb must agree with the subject in number and person. For regular verbs, only 3rd person singular ends with an s.
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1st person | I walk a lot. | We walk a lot. |
| 2nd person | You walk a lot. | You walk a lot. |
| 3rd person | He (she, it) walks a lot. | They walk a lot. |
Past tense
Past tense verb forms show action or being that has already happened. Many past tense verb forms are made by adding –d or –ed to the present tense verb form. (There are some exceptions to this rule. Here’s a link to a list of common irregular verbs in the past tense. Note: This page also links to more complete list and practice exercises at the bottom of the page.)
| Present Tense | Past Tense |
| Today, they work hard. | Yesterday, they worked hard. |
| Today, they share their work. | Yesterday, they shared their work. |