[Update] 11 Common Types Of Verbs Used In The English Language | verb2 – NATAVIGUIDES

On an average day, a lot of things can happen: people go to work. Kids study in school. Animals hunt for food. Friends talk to each other. All of these sentences express basic ideas about everyday events. However, we can also use sentences to express more complicated ideas: citizens can own property. People will chase their dreams to get what they want. Both our simple sentences and complex sentences have something in common: they all use verbs.

Verbs are very important in grammar, and we actually use many different types of verbs when we talk about what things do or how things are. Because they do so much for us, it is only fair that we take the time to learn a little more about verbs and some of the common types of verbs used in English.

What is a verb?

When we write sentences or clauses, we need to include a verb. What is a verb? A verb is a word that we use to refer to actions (what things do) and states of being (how things are). For example, the words describe, eat, and rotate are verbs. As you are about to see, verbs come in a lot of different types that don’t all behave the same way. When using proper grammar, it is important that you use verbs correctly. So, we are going to explore the many different types of verbs that we use and how to successfully use them to create great, clear sentences.

Types of verbs

We are going to explore 11 different types of verbs. Because every type deserves some attention, we won’t be going into too much detail on each type. If you want to learn more than what is covered here, you’re in luck. Listed below are each of the 11 types of verbs we are going to look at and a link to an article entirely focused on that specific type of verb.

 

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.

 

• The mansion has five bathrooms.
• Allie loves her younger sisters.
• My car needs an oil change.

3. Transitive verbs

A transitive verb is a verb that is accompanied by a direct object in a sentence. The direct object is the noun, pronoun, or noun phrase that is having something done to it by the subject of the sentence. Both action and stative verbs can have direct objects, which means they can both be used as transitive verbs.

Examples of transitive verbs in a sentence

The following sentences all contain examples of transitive verbs. As you read each one, consider what the direct object of the sentence is.

 

• Leonardo ate a delicious pepperoni pizza.
• The wealthy man bought three paintings.
• She really hates broccoli.

4. Intransitive verbs

The opposite of a transitive verb is an intransitive verb. A verb is an intransitive verb if it is not used with a direct object. Remember, only nouns, pronouns, and  noun phrases can be direct objects. Prepositional phrases, adjectives, and adverbs cannot be used as direct objects. Once again, both action and stative verbs can be used as intransitive verbs.

Examples intransitive verbs in a sentence

Each of these sentences uses intransitive verbs. Look carefully and you will see that none of these sentences have direct objects.

 

• 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.

 

• Mike is a great dancer.
• That gold watch looks expensive.
• Suddenly, the mall got really crowded.

6. Helping verbs (auxiliary verbs)

Helping verbs, also called auxiliary verbs, are helpful verbs that work with other verbs to change the meaning of a sentence. A helping verb combines with a main verb in order to accomplish different goals. These include changing the tense of the verb or altering the mood of a sentence.

List of words used as helping verbs

 

• 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.

 

• The musician has performed in concerts all over the world.
• My cat is getting slow in her old age.
• Cheetahs can run incredibly fast.

7. Modal verbs

Modal verbs are a subgroup of helping verbs that are used to give a sentence a specific mood. Each modal verb is used differently, and they can express concepts such as ability, necessity, possibility, or permission.

List of verbs used as modal verbs

 

• 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.

 

• Once you finish your homework, you may play outside.
• We must carefully add two eggs to the mixing bowl.
• I would go to the movies if I wasn’t busy working.

Learn about one certain mood that confuses many: the subjunctive mood.

8. Regular verbs

A verb is considered a regular verb if its past tense form and past participle ends in -ed, -d, or the verb is a -t variant verb. For example, the verb look is a regular verb because both its past tense form and past participle is looked. Sometimes, regular verbs may slightly change spelling. For example, the past tense and past participle of cry is cried.

List of regular verbs

 

• 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.

 

• He walked two miles to the post office.
• We purchased all of the supplies that we needed for the camping trip.
• Tiffany had noticed something strange about Marcus’s story.

9. Irregular verbs

An irregular verb is a verb whose past tense and past participle form doesn’t end in -ed, -d, and doesn’t use the –t variant. Often, the spelling of these verbs changes dramatically or may not even change at all.

List of irregular verbs

 

• 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.

 

• The frustrated business owner closed down his store.
• Dave loves to show off his baseball trophies.
• My mother always told me it is a good idea to put some money away in case of emergencies.

11. Infinitives

Our last type of verb isn’t actually a verb at all—sorry about that! However, infinitives look a lot like verbs because they are derived from them. An infinitive of a verb is identical to the base form of the verb. For example, the infinitive form of the verb open is open. Typically, we use infinitives with the word to in order to form infinitive phrases. Infinitive phrases can be used for a variety of reasons, such as to act like nouns, adjectives, or adverbs.

Examples of infinitive phrases in a sentence

All of the following sentences use infinitive phrases. In order, the infinitive phrases are acting as a noun (nominal infinitive), an adjective (adjectival infinitive), and an adverb (adverbial infinitive).

 

• To play guitar in a rock band is my goal.
• If you are looking for the best restaurants in town, Luis is the person to ask.
• The writing in the letter was too small to see

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What is a verb?

Verb Meaning / Definition

A verb is a doing word that shows an action, an event or a state. A sentence may either have a main verb, a helping verb or both. In other words, a verb is a word that informs about an action, an existence of something or an occurrence. The verb is the main word in a sentence. No sentence can be completed without a verb.

The word ‘verb’ derived from the Latin word ‘verbum‘.

Types of Verbs

Main Verbs or Action Verbs

Main verbs or action verbs are used to express action; something that an animal, a person or a thing does. In each of the following sentences, we only have a main verb.

• The sun

  shines

  .

• The horse

  neighs

  .

• The monkey

  jumps

  .

Helping Verbs

As the name suggests, helping verbs help or support the main verb.

• We

  are

  learning

  about helping verbs. (are:

  helping verb

  ; learning:

  main verb

  )

• We

  are

  in the Green House Club. (are:

  helping verb

  )

• You

  should

  complete

  the work by tomorrow. (should:

  helping verb

  ; complete:

  main verb

  )

State of Being Verbs (

Linking Verbs

)

State of Being verbs state that something ‘is’. State of being verbs also known as linking verbs. Linking verbs explain a link between the subject of the sentence and a noun or adjective being linked to it.

List of Example Sentences

• The flowers

  are

  bright.

• Diamond

  is

  the hardest substance.

• I

  feel

  scared.

Understanding Verbs

The words: am, is, are, was, and were, belong to the verb “to be”. We use ‘am’ or ‘was’ with the pronoun ‘I’. We use ‘is’ or ‘was’ when the subject of the sentence is singular. We use ‘are’ or ‘were’ when the subject of the sentence is plural.

List of Example Sentences

1. I

   was

   late for school yesterday.

2. I

   am

   twelve years old.

3. She

   is

   a wonderful singer.

4. These questions

   are

   difficult.

5. He

   was

   planning to meet the doctor.

6. The Hollywood actors

   are

   famous.

7. They

   were

   winners last year.

8. It

   is

   a great feeling to win the trophy.

We use ‘is‘ with singular nouns and pronouns ‘he, she, it‘.

List of Example Sentences

1. My school

   is

   near my house.

2. This restaurant

   is

   closing down.

3. She

   is

   writing a postcard.

4. Dog

   is

   a faithful animal.

5. Ottawa

   is

   the capital of Canada.

6. He

   is

   acting strange today.

We use ‘are‘ with plural nouns and pronouns ‘we, you, they‘.

List of Example Sentences

1. The balloons

   are

   colourful.

2. They

   are

   best friends.

3. The kites

   are

   flying high in the sky.

4. They

   are

   planning to go by train.

5. We

   are

   going to win the match.

6. You

   are

   writing so untidily!

We use ‘are‘ when we join two or more nouns.

List of Example Sentences

1. John and Sam

   are

   brothers.

2. Joseph and we

   are

   neighbours.

3. Anne and Sue

   are

   enjoying the play.

4. Sharon and Jenny

   are

   competing for the gold medal.

5. Mrs. and Mr. Lee

   are

   planning to visit New Zealand.

Subject-Verb Agreement

It is very important to take care of the subject and verb agreement while framing a sentence. It is very important that a verb must be compatible and agree with its subject to make a correct and valid sentence.

Let us understand with the help of an example.

If we write:

• Phil is playing with a ball. (Correct)!

• Phil are playing with a ball. (Incorrect) X

In the first sentence, the subject (Phil) is singular, so we need a singular verb (is playing). The sentence is correct. In the second sentence, the subject (Phil) is singular, but the verb is plural (are playing). The sentence is incorrect.

Rules of Subject-Verb Agreement

Rule 1 – Subject-Verb agreement with a singular noun
If the subject is a singular noun or a pronoun (he, I, she, it), we must ensure that we use a singular verb to write a correct sentence.

List of Example Sentences

1. She

   is playing

   the guitar.

2. The postman

   is asking

   for your signature.

3. The movie

   has caught

   everyone’s attention.

4. Does

   he

   know

   the minister well?

5. She

   is cheering

   the team.

6. He

   enjoys

   music.

7. My mom

   drives

   carefully.

8. The moon

   revolves

   round the earth.

9. Is

   it

   raining

   ?

Rule 2 – Subject-Verb agreement with plural noun
If the subject is plural (we, they, those, you), we need a plural verb to write a correct sentence.

List of Example Sentences

1. The boys

   were dancing

   in the corridor.

2. The children

   are playing

   in the garden.

3. The students

   were writing

   their exam.

4. Two of our girls

   have won

   the quiz.

5. We

   have finished

   our homework.

6. Both the boys

   have worked

   hard.

7. Philip and Luke

   are swimming

   .

8. The teachers

   are correcting

   the answer sheets.

9. Farmers

   work

   in the fields.

Rule 3 – Subject-Verb agreement with collective nouns
The collective nouns are considered as singular. We use singular verbs with them.

List of Example Sentences

1. The crowd

   was

   very noisy.

2. Our team

   has to win

   the match.

3. The audience

   is having

   a gala time.

4. The band

   is playing

   the school song.

5. The choir

   is singing

   beautifully.

6. My family

   is

   from Poland.

7. Our cricket team

   is

   the best in the whole town.

8. A bouquet of flowers

   was presented

   to the chief guest.

Rule 4 – Subject-Verb agreement with ‘either/or’ or ‘neither/nor’
The verb must agree with the noun or the pronoun that is closer to ‘either/or’ or ‘neither/nor’.

List of Example Sentences

1. Neither he nor I

   am

   guilty.

2. Neither Bob nor his friends

   want

   the party.

3. Either you or your sister

   is

   telling a lie.

4. Either Nancy or Mary

   is

   typing the letter.

5. Neither Julia nor her parents

   know

   the way to the passport office.

Rule 5 – Subject-Verb agreement with indefinite pronouns
Indefinite pronouns like ‘nobody’, ‘everybody’, ‘someone’, ‘somebody’, ‘one’ are always singular.

List of Example Sentences

1. Everybody

   is liking

   the new car.

2. Someone

   is calling

   for you.

3. Nobody

   is allowed

   to enter that room.

4. Everybody

   likes

   Mrs. Ola, the new History teacher.

5. One of the passengers

   was asking

   for tomato soup.

6. Somebody

   is knocking

   at the door.

Rule 6
We use singular verbs for uncountable nouns.

List of Example Sentences

1. There

   is

   sufficient food in the refrigerator.

2. Cold weather

   is

   a problem in this part of the country.

3. Sugar

   is

   yet to get over in the container.

4. Salt

   is

   obtained from sea water.

5. Milk with cornflakes is one of my favourite breakfast options.

Rule 7
A plural noun takes a singular verb when it is a name such as Paris, China, Arabian Nights, and so on.

1. China

   is

   the most densely populated country.

2. Norway

   is

   a very cold country.

3. ‘The Power of Positive Talk’

   is

   a good book.

Types of Action Verbs

There are two types of action verbs:

Transitive Verbs

A transitive verb expresses an action directed towards a person, place or thing. The action expressed by a transitive verb passes from the doer or the subject to the receiver of the action. Words that receive the action of a transitive verb are called objects.

For example:

1. The teacher made

   the question paper

   .

2. Peter cut

   the cake

   .

In the above two sentences, we can see that the words in green colour ‘the question paper‘ and ‘the cake‘ complete the sense of the sentence or work as objects. The two sentences would not make complete sense without the objects.

1. The teacher made ……………….. what? (

   the question paper

   )

2. Peter cut ……………….. what? (

   the cake

   )

In the above sentences, the verbs ‘made‘ and ‘cut‘ are transitive verbs. A transitive verb needs a direct object to complete its meaning.

Example Sentences of Transitive Verb

1. Birds

   have

   feathers.

2. The teacher

   praised

   the pupil.

3. She

   is eating

   a pear.

4. I

   like

   English.

5. They

   are playing

   football.

6. The potter

   has made

   a beautiful pot.

7. Dennis

   bought

   a bicycle.

8. She

   is writing

   an essay.

Intransitive Verbs

A verb which does not need an object to make complete sense is called an intransitive verb. An intransitive verb expresses action (or tells something about the subject) without the action passing to a receiver or object. It can stand alone in the predicate because its meaning is complete.

Example Sentences of Intransitive Verb

1. Mr. Becker

   jogs

   every day.

2. The wicked hunter

   was hiding

   .

3. Anne

   looks

   very beautiful.

4. Mr. John

   speaks

   loudly.

5. The ship

   sank

   rapidly.

6. The department store

   opens

   at six o’clock.

7. Mr. Ben is driving carefully.
8. The wind

   blew

   strongly.

Interesting Grammar Facts about Verbs

To determine if a verb is transitive, ask yourself ‘Who?’ or ‘What?’ after the verb. If you can find an answer in the sentence, the verb is transitive.

Some verbs are always intransitive, such as: to snore or to fall. It is incorrect to say: She snores her nose.

For example: She snores a lot. In this example ‘a lot’ is not an object but an adverb. It doesn’t represent what the person snores but rather how or how much she snores.

Some verbs are always transitive, such as to recognise or to merit. It is somewhat incorrect to say: “Ah, yes, I recognise” or she certainly does merit.

Double Object

Some transitive verbs have two objects. Those things that you do for someone or you give to someone are called direct objects. The person who receives the thing is called the indirect object.

Examples of Double Object

1. The manager

   gave

   her

   the

   money

   .

2. Mother is

   reading

   Michael

   a

   story

   .

3. Nancy

   baked

   a cake for

   me

   .

4. Can you

   fetch

   me

   a

   cup and a plate

   ?

In above examples:

• Verbs:

  ‘gave, reading, baked and fetch’.

• Indirect object:

  ‘her, Michael, me, me’.

• Direct object:

  ‘money, story, cake, cup and a plate’.