What Is a Verb? Definitions, Types & Examples

If nouns are the foundation of a sentence, verbs are the engine. A sentence with no verb doesn't move anywhere. It just sits there, a pile of nouns with nothing happening. Understanding verbs properly is one of the most useful grammar skills you can build, because almost every other rule in English (tense, subject-verb agreement, voice) is really a rule about verbs in disguise.

So, What Is a Verb?

A verb is a word that expresses an action, an occurrence, or a state of being. That last part, state of being, is the one beginners often forget. Not every verb involves doing something physical.

Consider these three sentences:

She runs every morning. (action)

The rain fell all night. (occurrence)

He seems tired. (state of being)

All three bold words are verbs, even though only the first one involves obvious movement. "Seems" isn't an action you can watch someone perform, yet it's doing real grammatical work, connecting the subject "he" to a description of his condition.

The Main Types of Verbs

Verbs split into several useful categories. Here are the ones worth knowing well.

Action Verbs

These describe something the subject does: run, write, eat, build, sing. Most verbs you learn early on fall into this category.

Linking Verbs

Linking verbs don't show action. Instead, they connect the subject to more information about it: is, seem, become, appear, feel. "The soup tastes delicious" uses "tastes" as a linking verb, connecting "soup" to "delicious," not describing an action the soup performs.

Auxiliary (Helping) Verbs

These support the main verb to build tense, questions, or negatives: is, has, will, do, can. In "She is running," the main verb is "running," but "is" is doing important grammatical work alongside it.

Modal Verbs

A special group of auxiliary verbs that express possibility, permission, ability, or obligation: can, could, may, might, must, should, will, would. "You must submit this by Friday" uses "must" to express obligation, not action.

Transitive and Intransitive Verbs

A transitive verb needs an object to complete its meaning: "She bought a car." Without "a car," the sentence feels incomplete. An intransitive verb stands fine on its own: "He sneezed." No object is required.

Why the State of Being Trips People Up

Most learners can spot action verbs instantly. The struggle usually comes with linking verbs, because they feel quiet compared to something like "jumped" or "shouted." A useful test: if you can replace the verb with a form of "is" or "seems" without changing the sentence's meaning much, you're likely looking at a linking verb. "The bread smells fresh" and "The bread is fresh" carry a similar meaning, which is a strong sign "smells" is linking, not action, in that sentence.

A Quick Way to Practice

Take any short paragraph and underline the verbs. Then ask of each one: is this doing something, connecting something, or helping another verb? Sorting verbs into these three buckets, action, linking, and auxiliary, builds the same instinct examiners are testing when they ask you to identify verb types in a passage.

Where This Leads

Once you're confident spotting verbs and telling their types apart, the next useful step is modal auxiliary verbs specifically, since they carry meanings (possibility, permission, obligation) that change the entire tone of a sentence and are a favorite target in WAEC and JAMB grammar questions.

For the full breakdown with practice questions, Akademia's Grammar category has a dedicated lesson on verbs and their types. If you want to understand how verbs function structurally within the wider sentence, my book Functional & Structural Description of the Sentence in English goes further into that relationship.

Try the underlining exercise on your next few sentences. Once you can sort verbs into their categories quickly, tense and agreement rules start making a lot more sense too.