English Grammar - Different Kinds of Verbs

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     The verb is an important part of English grammar.  Verbs are the ‘action’ or ‘doing’ part of the sentence.  Verbs bring English writing to life!  Verbs create movement, action, emotion, and a dynamic feel.

    There are several types of verbs that are used in English grammar.  Some of the more popular English verbs are: linking verbs, helping verbs, and compound verbs.

1.    Linking Verbs

Linking verbs don’t necessarily show an action.  Instead, they ‘link’ the subject of the sentence with an object or other additional information. 

For example:

The baseball game was very good.

‘Was’ is the linking verb because it connects the game (subject) with being good (the additional information).

Another example;   She seems nice. 

        she = subject, seems=linking verb, nice = additional information

Some well known linking English verbs are: am, is, was, has been, becomes, will become, has become, seems, seemed, will seem, etc…

Notice how linking verbs appear in past, present, and future tenses of the verbs ‘to be’ , ‘to become’, and ‘to seem’.

2.    Helping Verbs (Auxiliary Verbs)

Helping verbs are verbs that help main verbs express tense. There are 23 helping verbs that belong to the following main verbs: to be, to do, to have, may, can, and would are just a few examples.

Helping verbs express tense.

For example;

'He is laughing' contains the helping verb 'is'.

The 'is' shows us that the action is taking place in present tense.

If we change 'He is laughing' to 'He was laughing', the tense changes. The new helping verb 'was' changes the tense of the main verb, laughing.

Some helping verbs in English grammar are: be, are, do, can, could, may, might, should, will, etc…

3.    Compound Verbs

Compound verbs are created by combining a helping verb and another verb.

For example,

She will go to the movies tonight.

‘Will’ is the helping verb that ‘helps’ the verb ‘go’.

     Understanding verbs will enable you to create sentences with the appropriate grammatical structure.

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