Of course, this is still very few forms compared to some languages which may have thirty or more forms for a single verb. The meaning of VERB is a word that characteristically is the grammatical center of a predicate and expresses an act, occurrence, or mode of being, that in various languages is inflected for agreement with the subject, for tense, for voice, for mood, or for aspect, and that typically has rather full descriptive meaning and characterizing quality but is sometimes nearly devoid of these. For example, the verb to work has five forms: Most other words (adjectives, adverbs, prepositions etc) do not change in form (although nouns can have singular and plural forms). There is something very special about verbs in English. (In the sentence 'John speaks English', John is the subject and speaks is the verb.) In simple terms, therefore, we can say that verbs are words that tell us what a subject does or is they describe: For example, verbs like be, exist, seem and belong all convey state.Ī verb always has a subject. For example, words like run, fight, do and work all convey action.īut some verbs do not give the idea of action they give the idea of existence, of state, of 'being'. Many verbs give the idea of action, of 'doing' something. Verbs are sometimes described as 'action words'. You can make a one-word sentence with a verb, for example: ' Stop!' You cannot make a one-word sentence with any other type of word. Grammar : Verbs : What is a Verb? What is a Verb?

What is the verb