A verb is a word that indicates action in a sentence. Verbs can be classified as physical activity, mental activity, and condition. Condition is often expressed using the verb to be or to seem. Here are some examples:
- Physical activity: The infielder catches the ball and throws it to her teammate.
- Mental activity: I believed him.
- Condition: The patient seems comfortable.
Keep in mind that many verbs will not fit perfectly into one of the categories. However, these words are still verbs if they show the action of the sentence. If you are unsure which word is the verb, first locate the subject, or the person or thing doing the action of the verb. The subject will lead you to the verb. For instance, in the first example in the list above, the infielder does the action of the verb to catch, so that is the subject.
In other sections of this tutorial you can study subjects, tense, mood, and transitive and intransitive verbs.
Examples:
- I wanted to go to the party, but my car got a flat tire.
- The wind whistles through the leaves.
- Will you take the 5:10 or 5:30 train?
- If she had told me sooner, I would have been able to go to the meeting.
- Julia won her tennis match.