Verbs are divided into two main categories: action verbs and verbs of being (or linking verbs). Let's start with the easier of the two, action verbs.

The Movers and the Shakers: Action Verbs

Verbs that express action are action verbs (not too difficult to understand, is it?). Action verbs are the more common verbs, and they're easy to spot. Look at these sentences:

(Petted and brought both show action.)

(Sits shows action — well, not much action, but you get the picture.)

Action verbs are divided into two categories: transitive and intransitive. The textbook definition of a transitive verb is “a verb that takes an object.” What does that mean? If you can answer whom? or what? to the verb in a sentence, then the verb is transitive.

Carried whom or what? Since boy answers that question, the verb carried is transitive in that sentence.

Sank whom or what? Nothing in the sentence answers that, so the verb sank is intransitive in that sentence.

Knowing about transitive and intransitive verbs can help you with some easily confused verbs, such as lie and lay, and sit and set. You'll be able to see that lie is intransitive (I lie down), lay is transitive (I lay the book down), sit is intransitive (I'll sit here), and set is transitive (Beth set the vase here).

Just “Being” Verbs: Getting Linked

Granted, the action verb is easy to spot. But what in the world is meant by a definition that says a verb “expresses being”? That usually means the word is a form of the verb be. But that's another problem because, except for been and being, most forms of be don't look remotely like be.

It would be nonstandard to say, for instance:

You should say:

In that case, am is a form of be. Looking at the past tense, it would be nonstandard to say:

Instead, you should write:

So was is a form of be.

Here are the forms of be: am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been. These forms also include has been, have been, had been, should have been, may be, might have been, will have been, should be, will be, may have been, and might be.

Unusual Linking Verbs and Helping Verbs

Notice that the definition for “be verbs” says they “usually” are forms of “be.” Just to complicate the situation, the words in the following list can sometimes be used as linking verbs.

The following verbs can be either linking verbs or action verbs:

appear	become	feel
grow	look	prove
remain	seem	smell
sound	stay	taste

So when are these twelve verbs action verbs, and when are they linking verbs? Use this test: If you can substitute a form of be (am, is, was, and so on) and the sentence still makes sense, by golly, you've got yourself a linking verb. Look at these examples:

Substitute was or is for tasted and you have this sentence:

It makes perfect sense. You have a linking verb. Now look at this one:

Substitute was or is for tasted and you have this sentence:

That doesn't make much sense, does it? Since the substitution of a be verb doesn't make sense, you don't have a linking verb. You can try the same trick by substituting a form of seem:

Substitute seemed and you have the following:

The sentence makes sense, so tasted is a linking verb.

If you try the same trick with this sentence:

You get:

That doesn't make sense, so tasted isn't a linking verb in this sentence.

Another type of verb that may appear in a sentence is a helping (auxiliary) verb. This can join the main verb (becoming the helper of the main verb) to express the tense, mood, and voice of the verb. Common helping verbs are be, do, have, can, may, and so on. (The first two sentences of this paragraph have helping verbs: may and can.)

Breaking It Down: The Principal Parts of Verbs

You may be familiar with the phrase “the principal parts of verbs,” a reference to basic forms that verbs can take. English has four principal parts: the present infinitive (the one that's the main entry in a dictionary), the past tense, the past participle, and the present participle. Take a look at the principal parts of these verbs: