Professional Documents
Culture Documents
1. Action verbs
2. Stative verbs
3. Transitive verbs
4. Intransitive verbs
5. Linking verbs
6. Helping verbs (also called auxiliary verbs)
7. Modal verbs
8. Regular verbs
9. Irregular verbs
10. Phrasal verbs
11. Infinitives
1. Action verbs
Action verbs, as their name says, are used to refer to actions. These can refer
to physical actions that are performed with bodies or objects, such
as jump, hit, or sing, or mental actions that we use our brains to perform, such
as think, consider, or memorize. Most verbs you will find are action verbs.
List of action verbs
run
swim
help
ignore
believe
Examples of action verbs in a sentence
Each of these sentences uses action verbs. You’ll see that each verb is
referring to a physical or mental action.
I work at a factory.
Cats chase mice.
We listened to the woman’s amazing story.
2. Stative verbs
Unlike action verbs, stative verbs refer to conditions or states of being.
Generally speaking, we use stative verbs to describe things like qualities,
states of existence, opinions, beliefs, and emotions. When used in a
sentence, stative verbs do not refer to actions. It is important to know that
some verbs can be used as either action or stative verbs depending on their
meaning in the sentence. We are less likely to use stative verbs in the
continuous verb tenses.
List of stative verbs
love
want
own
have
resemble
Get to know the stative verb have even better with this examination
of has vs. have.
Examples of stative verbs in a sentence
These sentences all use stative verbs. You’ll notice that none of these verbs
refer to actions.
Airplanes fly.
The children slept while the adults worked.
The terrified monkeys hid in the trees after they saw the gigantic hungry
snake.
5. Linking verbs
Linking verbs are a special type of stative verb whose name gives a big clue
as to what they do. Linking verbs are used to link a subject with a subject
complement. A subject complement describes or identifies the subject of the
sentence or clause. Linking verbs can function as intransitive verbs, which do
not take direct objects.
List of words used as linking verbs
be
become
seem
appear
grow
Examples of linking verbs in a sentence
In each of the following sentences, linking verbs are used to link a subject with
a subject complement.
be
have
do
can
will
Examples of helping verbs in a sentence
Each of the following sentences uses a helping verb. Take a moment to
consider what each sentence is saying and how a helping verb contributes to
the meaning of the sentence.
can
may
might
must
would
Examples of modal verbs in a sentence
The following sentences all use modal verbs to express a certain tone. You’ll
see that each sentence would have a different meaning (or wouldn’t make
sense) without the modal verb.
jump becomes jumped
slip becomes slipped
try becomes tried
sleep becomes slept
lend becomes lent
Examples of regular verbs in a sentence
Each of the following sentences use regular verbs in either their past tense
form or as a past participle.
be becomes am, is, are, was, were, be, being, and been
eat becomes ate, eaten
fly becomes flew, flown
catch becomes caught, caught
set becomes set, set
Examples of irregular verbs in a sentence
The following sentences use irregular verbs. Despite being used in the past
tense or as a past participle, none of these verbs end in -ed, -d, or are a -
t variant verb.
Cindy knew all of the right answers.
This junky computer has given me nothing but headaches since
I bought it.
The workers took the furniture out of the moving truck.
10. Phrasal verbs
Phrasal verbs are combinations of a verb with prepositions and/or adverbs
that have a different meaning from the individual words used to form them.
For example, the verb shut means “to close,” and the adverb down means
“not up” or “in a descending direction.” However, the phrasal verb shut
down means to stop the operation of something.
List of phrasal verbs
ask for
put up with
talk down to
lock up
cut across
Examples of phrasal verbs in a sentence
The following sentences show how we can use phrasal verbs. Sometimes, we
can separate out the words of a phrasal verb and the sentence is still
grammatically correct.