1. ENGLISH GRAMMAR
EASY TO UNDERSTAND; EASY TO LEARN
Class I to XII
By Gopal Krushna Panda
“Verbs”

2. Verbs
What is a Verb?
• A verb is a kind of word (part of speech) that tells about an
action or a state.
• It is the main part of a sentence: every sentence has a verb.
• In English, verbs are the only kind of word that changes to
show past or present tense.
Examples: go, is
• An action verb expresses a physical or mental action.
Example: He paints.
We thought about it.

3. Verbs
The word verb originally comes from *were-, a Proto-Indo-
European word meaning "a word". It comes to English
through the Latin verbum and the Old French verbe.
There are sixteen verbs used in Basic English.
They are:
be, do, have, come, go, see, seem, give, take, keep, make,
put,
send, say, let, get.

4. Verbs

5. Types of Verbs

6. Types of Verbs

7. Action Verbs
• An action verb is a word that names an action. It may contain
more than one word.
• Notice the following action verbs.
• Sports experts write about the football player Jim Thorpe
even today. Thorpe blocked like a tank. He tackled like a
tornado. In every game Thorpe attacked his opponents with
all his might. He caught the ball skillfully and charged
ahead fearlessly. Experts still remember and honor
Thorpe’s greatness.
• Most verbs are action verbs. Some action verbs refer to
physical action that can be seen by other people.
• Others refer to mental action that cannot be seen.
• Physical Action: The gardener feeds the ducks.
• Mental Action: She likes the migrating birds best.

8. • An action verb can express physical actions, such as writing
and running, or mental activities such as thinking and
honoring.
Physical
write
block
tackle
catch
charge
Mental
remember
honor
prefer
excel
regarded
Action Verbs

9. Being Verbs
• Other verbs express a state of being.
• These verbs do not refer to action of any sort.
They simply tell what the subject is.
• Burt is the gardener’s assistant.
• He seems afraid of the swans.
• One swan looks angry.
• In fact, swans are hungry.

10. The most common being verbs are
forms of be itself.
• Am
• Is
• Are
• Was
• Were
• Be
• Being
• Been

11. Other being verbs:
• Appear
• Become
• Feel
• Grow
• Look
• Seem
• Remain
• Smell
• Sound
• Stay
• taste

12. Identify each verb in the sentences
below. Does it express action or being?
1. We parked and locked our bicycles in the rack at the library.
2. Many, many resources were available there.
3. I considered several books about wild animals.
4. All of the books looked interesting.
5. Finally, I decided on one about tropical birds.
6. The book described many birds from countries in Central and
South America.
7. I especially liked the photographs in the book.
8. The pictures of the birds are very colorful.
9. Some of the birds’ feathers are pink, orange, red, and green.
10. I carried the book home in my backpack.

13. Linking Verbs

14. Linking Verbs

15. Linking Verbs and Predicate Words
A linking verb connects the subject of a sentence with
a noun or an adjective in the predicate.
John McGraw was the engineer.
Linking verbs tell what the subject is or is like.
Linking Verb
Subject Predicate Noun

16. Common Linking Verbs
be become
grow
seem turn
appear taste
look feel
smell sound
Many of these linking verbs can also be used
as action verbs.
Chandra turned thirteen. (Linking Verb)
The car turned the corner. (Action Verb)

17. Predicate Nouns
Sam is a pitcher.
Susan was our best player.
Will you be my friend?
A predicate noun follows a linking verb. It tells what
the subject is.

18. Predicate Adjectives
Samantha is beautiful.
Susan was bored with sports.
Will the game be interesting?
A predicate adjective follows a linking verb. It
describes the subject by telling what it is like.

19. Which sentence in each of the following
pairs contains a linking verb.
• A monkey appears from behind a tree. It appears excited.
• The young deer grew taller. The male deer grew antlers.
• The koala baby looks cute. It looks for its mother.
• The koala tastes a leaf. Does it taste good?
• We smell the eucalyptus tree. It smells pleasant.
• We feel the tree’s bark. It feels smooth.

20. List the verbs in the sentences below. Label
each verb action or being.
• Photographs, television, and movies show us a variety of
unusual creatures.
• We can see animals in their natural habitat in national parks,
nature sanctuaries, or even city parks.
• Few animals look strange to us today.
• Some animals still seem unusual, however.
• The anteater is one example.
• The head and snout of this animal form a long tube.
• A giant anteater becomes six feet long.
• It grows a coarse coat of hair.
• The front toes and claws of the anteater fold under.
• The animal actually walks on its knuckles.

21. List the verbs in the sentences below.
Label each verb action or being.
• The giant anteater usually appears shy.
• It enjoys dark, wet tropical forests.
• Ants and termites appear in this animal’s
diet.
• The anteater is a peaceful animal.

22. Helping Verbs

23. Main Verbs and Helping Verbs
Verbs have four principal parts that are used to form all tenses.
The chart below show how the principal parts of most verbs are
formed..
Principal Parts of Verbs
Base Form Present
Participle
Past Form Past
Participle
jump jumping jumped jumped
The principal parts of verbs are often combined with
helping verbs to form verb phrases.

24. Helping Verbs Defined
A helping verb is a verb that helps the main verb tell about an
action or make a statement.
is have should shall
was has could will
were had would do
are did
am may does
be might can
been, being must
A verb phrase consists of one or more helping verbs
followed by a main verb.

25. Helping Verbs and Verb Phrases
In the sentence above, the word are is the helping verb, and
the present participle jumping is the main verb. Together
they form a verb phrase.
A verb phrase consists of one or more
helping verbs followed by a main verb.
The students are jumping rope now.

26. Transitive And
Intransitive
Verbs

27. Linking ….

28. Transitive Verbs
Transitive verbs have direct objects.
Direct objects receive the action of a verb. It answer
the question whom?
or what? after an action verb.
The quarterback throws the football.
what?
Action Verb
Direct Object

29. Intransitive Verbs
Sometimes an action verb does not
have a direct object. Then the verb
is intransitive.
The singer sang well.
In the above sentence , well does
not answer the question whom? or
what?.
Action Verb

30. Verbs with Indirect Objects
An indirect object answers the question to
whom? or for whom? an action is done
Michael Jordan shows his teammates new
shots.
Action Verb
what?
Direct Object
to whom?
Indirect object

31. Verb Tense

32. A present tense of a verb names an action that happens
regularly. It can also express a general truth.
Present, Past, and Future Tenses
The tense of a verb tells when an action takes place.
Present Tense Forms
Singular
I race.
You race.
He, she, or it races.
Plural
We race.
You race.
They race.

33. A past tense of a verb names an action already happened.
The tense of a verb tells when an
action takes place.
Past Tense Forms
Singular
I raced.
You raced.
He, she, or it raced.
Plural
We raced.
You raced.
They raced.
The past tense of many verbs is formed by adding –ed to the
base form of the verb.

34. A future tense of a verb names an action
that will take place in the future.
Future Tense Forms
Singular
I will (shall) go.
You will go.
He, she, or it will go.
Plural
We will (shall) go.
You will go.
They will go.
In the future tense the word will is used with the verb.
Sometimes shall is used when the pronoun I or we is the
subject.

35. Helping Verbs Tense
Present
am – is - are
Past
was -were
Past Participle
have – has - had
Combine with the present
participle form of the verb.
Combine with the past
participle form of the verb.

36. Write the Present Participle, Past, and Past
Participle form of the following verbs.
Make 4 columns.
1. dance 2. fly 3. score 4. run 5. adjust
6. Break 7. sing 8. bounce
9. profit 10. drive
Activity

37. Helping Verbs – Past Participle Using
Have, Has, Had
Singular Plural
I have jumped.
You have jumped.
She has jumped.
We have jumped.
You have jumped.
They have jumped.
Singular Plural
I had jumped.
You had jumped.
She had jumped.
We had jumped.
You had jumped.
They had jumped.

38. COMING UP NEXT…
“ADJECTIVE”
By Gopal Krushna Panda