It is misleading to think of a verb simply as the action in the sentence. While there are any number of action verbs, such as run or jump, sometimes the action is merely emotional or intellectual, as in believe or think. Other times, verbs indicate no action at all, as in be or seem, but instead serve to link the subject with its state of being.
To delineate between action that is received by an object and action that is not received by an object, action verbs are divided into transitive and intransitive verbs. Those verbs that indicate a state of being rather than an action are defined as linking verbs. Determining whether the verb indicates an action or a state of being is easier with a clear understanding of verb tense and structure.
Verb Tense and Structure
The tense of a verb indicates the relative time of the action or state of being. Rarely are journalists required to know a verb's tense other than to understand its usage and agreement. In other words, it is less important for the average journalist to know that in the sentence "Bill is running," the verb "is running" is in the present progressive tense than it would be to know that "running" is the main verb and "is " acts as its helper. It is also important to know that the form of the helping verb must agree with the subject. (i.e. "Bill is running" not "Bill are running" or "Bill were running.")
Writers would be wise to recognize that the verb is the force behind the sentence and, therefore, will improve their writing by being able to recognize what the verb is and how it is being used.
The first step in that process is understanding the structure or parts of a verb.
Verbs in the simple past or simple present tense have only a lexical (main) verb:
The woman ran the marathon.
He gives his money to charity.
The kangaroo hopped quickly toward the fence.
Sentences in other tenses have more complicated verb structures:
Tim was organizing the award dinner last week.
Every Friday this year, Gloria has taken her dog to obedience training.
Taking any chance to avoid work, Carton will pretend to be asleep.
In these more complicated tenses, auxiliary (helping) verbs and lexical (main) verbs make up the complete verb.
Consider the following sentence:
ATTENDING is Ellen Castro's main action. The other parts of the
verb (will be) simply help out.
Please note that a lexical verb does not require an auxilary
verb, but an auxilary verb exists only to help a lexical verb.
It cannot exist alone.
Linking verbs (those indicating a state of being rather than an action) can include lexical and auxilary verbs.
COMMON AUXILIARY VERBS:
[In the following examples, the auxiliary verb is bold and the
lexical verb is underlined.]
Identifying the various configurations that make up a complete verb helps in understanding the type of verb being used. Once again, this is not because journalists necessarily need to remember the specific type of verb they are using, but because using a verb properly with the correct modifiers strengthens anyone's writing.
To find out more about transitive verbs, turn the page.
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