What is a Verb?
The verb is king in English. The shortest sentence contains a verb. You can make a one-word sentence with a verbfor example: "Stop!" You cannot make a one-word sentence with any other type of word.
Verbs are sometimes described as "action words". This is partly true. Many verbs give the idea of actionof "doing" something. For examplewords like runfightdo and work all convey action.
But some verbs do not give the idea of action; they give the idea of existenceof stateof "being". For exampleverbs like beexistseem and belong all convey state.
A verb always has a subject. (In the sentence "John speaks English"John is the subject and speaks is the verb.) In simple termsthereforewe can say that verbs are words that tell us what a subject does or is; they describe:
- action (Ram plays football.)
- state (Anthony seems kind.)
There is something very special about verbs in English. Most other words (adjectivesadverbsprepositions etc) do not change in form (although nouns can have singular and plural forms). But almost all verbs change in form. For examplethe verb to work has five forms:
- to workworkworksworkedworking
Of coursethis is still very few forms compared to some languages which may have thirty or more forms for a single verb.