What is Verb?

In a sentence, verbs are used as action words to tell us or describe the activities of the subject. They are the central part of a sentence, indicating what is happening or taking place. Without putting verbs in a sentence, it is not possible to convey complete thoughts and hence the sentence stays incomplete. Verbs are mainly words that throw insight into 'action' in a particular sentence. Like, She eats ice cream. However, not all verbs could be easily detectable as action verbs because the list of non-action verbs are big too. For example, I know his name. These non-action verbs describe a state of emotion.

Here in this article, we will talk about verbs in detail, what they are, and their various types with examples.

How to Recognize a Verb?

One of the best ways to detect a verb in a sentence could be by seeing its location. Verbs are usually placed after the noun or pronoun, which is the subject of the sentence. Check out the sentences below.


•    She eats her meals real quick.
•    My mother went to the market.
•    He thought of all the books in the fair!

In all the above sentences, check the verb coming after a noun or pronoun that's the subject in the sentence.

Types of Verbs: The Complete List

1: Action verbs: These verbs indicate definite action and are applied anytime when the speaker describes an action and speaks about someone doing something. Some examples of this type are dance, run, go, go, jump, stand, listen, and so on.

Examples of Action Verbs in Sentences
•    She walks faster than her brother.
•    She solves mathematical questions well.
•    She talks about flowers every time.

2: Transitive Verbs: These are action verbs that describe doable actions that further affect someone or something else. By 'else', we mean, direct objects nouns, or pronouns that the verbs affect. Precisely, in a sentence with this verb kind, someone or something is receiving the verb action. Some prominent examples are: Tolerate, maintain, love, and so on.

Examples of Transition Verbs in Sentences
•    They sold the fruits.
•    He kicked the ball.
•    She cooked me food.

3: Intransitive Verbs: These are action verbs that indicate doable activities. There's no direct object that comes following the Intransitive verb and this is where they differ from the transitive verb. Some examples include: run, play, laugh, and so on.

Examples of Intransitive Verb in Sentences:
•    The kid sat away from his friends.
•    I eat before leaving for my office.
•    He came at the eleventh hour.

4: Auxillary Verb: These are helping verbs that come together with the main verb to indicate the Verb tense or create a question or negative. Some common examples are: have, has, will, might, would, could, and so on.

Examples of Auxillary Verb in Sentences
•    She might dance with the team later.
•    She has given the final speech today.

5: Stative Verbs: These verbs express a state and not action, particularly relating to thoughts, emotions, measurements, and state of being. Precisely, these are verbs that describe non-action things. Some examples of this kind are, disagree, doubt, want and so more.

Examples of Stative Verbs in Sentences:


•    You should go home.
•    It must not delay.
•    She might be late.

6: Phrasal Verbs: These are not single words, but rather a combination of words that come together to take on a different meaning to that of the actual verb. Some examples are, face-up, think-through, hand-out, bring-out, and so on.

Examples of Phrasal Verbs in Sentences:


•    She makes up stories all time.
•    The teacher pointed out the students' mistakes.
•    She brings up the same topic again and again.

7: Irregular Verbs: These are the verbs that don't follow the regular spelling patterns of past simple and past participle verbs. Some of the common ones include bring, eat, think, lay, catch, and so on.

Examples of Irregular Verbs in Sentences
•    I take my time to write a script.
•    She makes tiffin for her brother.
•    He saw a dolphin in the sea.

8: Modal Verbs: This is a type of Auxillary Verb that expresses possibility, ability, obligation, or permission. These are basically, the combination of Auxillary verbs and prepositions. Examples of modals and semi-modals include: can/could/be able to, must/have to, may/might, will/would.

Examples of Modal Verbs in Sentences
•    She can write scripts very well.
•    The customer care service will be able to help you with this.
•    I wasn't able to go to class yesterday because of being ill.

To sum up, verbs are the most intricate part of sentence composition without which a sentence can't be completed and the proper thought behind the sentence can't be expressed. The types of Verbs largely vary and the usage depends on the sentence structure and need.

Some more verb examples:


•    She runs very fast.
•    I came home yesterday.
•    They are having a good time today.
•    She enjoys her company.
•    The cat is taking a nap.
•    They are playing on the ground.
•    I will be able to do the task by tomorrow.

Wrapping Up

Verbs are the action words that tell the readers about the action taking place in the sentence. Or, in simpler words, verbs are doable words that suggest what the subject in the sentence is doing. There are different kinds of verbs and we have made a list of the same in this article along with suitable examples. While understanding different parts of speech, the verb is the most crucial part to learn as anything less can't help the individual form the basic idea of grammar and sentence construction.

A sentence without a verb is just like an airport without an airplane. Hence, it's important to learn and know about the verb usage properly in a sentence. Without being able to use a verb, one will fail to express the real idea behind a sentence he is writing or trying to convey.
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