Verbs- usually express action or being, and are describing what the subject of the sentence is doing.

Actions Verbs- show action. (tripped, squeak, owns, is.)

Example: Melissa tripped in front of everyone.

The birds squeak everyday.

She owns the house next door and down the street.

Depression is a common mood disorder.

Linking Verbs- join the subject to something that is said about the subject (the action the subject is doing).

Example: Depression is a common mood disorder.

Is connects the subject, depression, with an idea about depression; it is a common mood disorder.

(am, are, was, were, look, feel, sound, appear, seem, become)

Helping Verbs- Verbs don’t always consist of just one word. Sometimes they consist of a main verb plus one or more helping verbs, such as do, have, may, would, can, could, or should. Here are examples of helping verbs, using the main verb love:

May love, must love, should love, could love, would love, will love, do love, does love, did love, is loving, was loving, will be loving, has loved, have loved, had loved, may have loved, might have loved, must have loved, should have loved, could have loved, would have loved

Verb Tenses- refer to the time the action (or verb) took place. There are 4 main verb tenses: present tense (or basic form), past tense, present particle (used with helping verbs have, has, is, are, was, and were), past particle (the present tense verb plus –ing). All verb tenses come from one of these 4 verb tense principals.

Example: Present Tense, Past tense, Past Particle, Present Particle

ask, asked, asked, asking

drop, dropped, dropped, dropping

raise, raised, raised, raising

Irregular Verbs- however, do not follow the previous pattern. They can have many different forms for the past and past particle. Notice the changes in the spelling of these irregular verb tenses, and that you just add –ing to the present particle spellings.

Example: Present Tense, Past tense, Past Particle, Present Particle

become, became, become, becoming

begin, began, begun, beginning

blow, blew, blown, blowing

break, broke, broken, breaking

bring, brought, brought, bringing

catch, caught, caught, catching

choose, chose, chosen, choosing

cut, cut, cut, cutting

drink, drank, drunk, drinking

drive, drove, driven, driving

eat, ate, eaten, eating

fall, fell, fallen, falling

feel, felt, felt, feeling

find, found, found, finding

freeze, froze, frozen, freezing

get, got, got/gotten, getting

go, went, gone, going

hide, hid, hidden, hiding

keep, kept, kept, keeping

know, knew, known, knowing

lay, laid, laid, laying

leave, left, left, leaving

lend, lent, lent, lending

lie, lay, lain, lying

lose, lost, lost, losing

make, made, made, making

read, read, read, reading

ride, rode, ridden, riding

rise, rose, risen, rising

run, ran, run, running

say, said, said, saying

see, saw, seen, seeing

sell, sold, sold, selling

set, set, set, setting

shake, shook, shaken, shaking

sit, sat, sat, sitting

sleep, slept, slept, sleeping

spend, spent, spent, spending

swim, swam, swum, swimming

take, took, taken, taking

teach, taught, taught, teaching

tell, told, told, telling

think, thought, thought, thinking

throw, threw, thrown, throwing

wear, wore, worn, wearing

win, won, won, winning

write, wrote, written, writing