There are three major categories of verbs:

1. Helping Verbs (Auxiliary Verbs) – help the main verb in the sentence by telling us more about its
tense and the subtleties of its meaning. The main verb will be either an action verb or a linking
verb. The helping verb(s) and the main verb come together to form a Verb Phrase.
Greta will love (verb phrase) those sausages.
Auxiliary verbs are: be, was, have, should, must, do.
2. Action verbs (Intransitive – no receiver of the action. The lion roared. Intransitive verbs are
frequently verbs of motion, they do not need a complement (direct object or a subject
complement. Ex.: come, go, walk, run, arrive. He came home. Tom sleeps.).
Transitive Active – direct object receives the action. They do need a complement. They need a
direct object to finish the predicate. Example of the words: bake, hit, answer, ask, cut, set, lay.
She baked a cake. The students answered the questions. Transitive Passive – subject receives
the action. Rex’s car was stolen.).
3. Linking Verbs – link the subject of a sentence with a noun or adjective. They need a complement
to complete their predication. They act like an equal sign between the subject and the noun or
adjective that comes after them. This noun or adjective either renames or modifies the subject;
the noun or adjective after a linking verb is called a subject complement. Ex: be, appear,
become, feel, grow, look, seem, remain, smell, sound, stay, taste, turn.