In grammar, there is a very specific term for every element of a sentence. If we wanted to be picky, we could learn them all, but who’s got time for that? Instead of getting lost in the grammar weeds, for our purposes, it is far more important to focus on the big picture and create a framework for sentences. To that end, we’ll begin with just four categories of words that work together to form thoughts. Alas, you’ll have to memorize these, but actually, you already use them all the time, whether or not you can name them, so it will be a simple process of labeling what you already know intuitively.
Action Verbs and State of Being Verbs
Action verbs are fairly self-explanatory—words that name things you can do such as run, play, think, sit, walk, and so on.
State of being verbs are a little hard to define. State of being verbs are sometimes called linking verbs. All forms of the verb “to be” or words that can be synonyms for the verb “to be” are state of being verbs. (You may find the acronym SOB useful here, but out of context, other people might think you mean a different sort of SOB, so consider yourself warned!)
The easiest way to learn the state of being verbs is to memorize them. I’m opposed to mindless memorization, so what I encourage is mindful memorization. What that means is that we will memorize them so that we can use them without constantly having to look them up. I know, I know, you’ve got a phone in your hand, you could look them up whenever you need to, but trust me, some information is best memorized for easy access. Your home address and your birthday are two shining examples. To that end, here’s a list of state of being verbs
The Verb “To Be” in all its forms:
am, are, is, was, were, will be, being
Words that are loose synonyms for “to be” are also considered state of being verbs. Consider the list below. What you’ll see here is that some words can easily be replaced in a sentence with a form of “to be” without doing much damage to a sentence’s meaning. If that’s the case, the verb is a “state of being verb.” The list below is not all-inclusive, but it will get you started.
Seem - example: She seems nice. / She is nice.
Feel - example: This sweater feels soft. / The sweater is soft.
Smell - example: These cookies smell great. / These cookies are great.
Taste - example: Dinner tastes divine. / Dinner is divine.
Look - example: That picture looks pretty. / That picture is pretty.
Grow - example: You’ve grown so tall. / You are so tall.
Become - example: She has become a fine person. / She is a fine person.
Remain - example: This remains my favorite book. / This is my favorite book.
Note, that some of the verbs above can also be actions. Consider this sentence: “Look at my new shoes.” In this case, “look” identifies the action of turning one’s eyes to view something. Similarly, in the sentence, “Taste my new recipe for cookies,” “taste” is the action of taking a bite and savoring the experience of a food. As these examples show, verbs are incredibly flexible. They can perform a wide variety of jobs in a sentence, so it’s important to always consider verbs in their context.
One of the trickiest aspects of verbs is that they change to tell when an action occurred. Verbs can describe an action in the past, in the present, or in the future, and they can change to tell us an action was ongoing or interrupted by another in the past, in the present, or in the future. What you want to remember about verbs is that sometimes an action can be expressed in a single word, and sometimes an action needs to be expressed in several words that all work together to describe the action. The most important thing is to find the main action verb, but try to notice if several words are working together to show the action. Look at the following examples:
I go to school every day.
I used to go to school every day.
I will start going to school every day in the fall.
In all three sentences the main action is “go.” The first sentence shows a simple verb. One word expressed the action. The second example uses three words to express a past action, and the third example uses three words to express a future action. When looking for verbs in a sentence, pay attention to the words before the action verb to see if they are working together.