Verbs – Fill In The Blanks

In order to form a good sentence, various subparts of the sentence need to be aligned together to make it meaningful. One such integral part of the formation of a sentence is a verb. A verb denotes an action or the state of being in a sentence. The usage of a correct verb gives meaning to a sentence. Verbs, based on how they are put in the sentence, are of many types like action verbs, linking verbs and helping verbs. Each type brings something different to the table and is used differently. 

Verbs are an integral part of forming a sentence since they denote an action or the state of being. It tells the reader what the subject is doing or what is the context of the sentence. Verbs, be it in any form, are always that part of the sentence which brings the thought to completion, whether or not the action is done directly by the subject. 

For example- 

1. I exercise daily. Here exercise is the verb telling the reader that the subject does exercise daily. 
2. Sam goes to the hospital. The verb ‘goes’ is used to denote that Sam does go to the hospital. 

Types of Verbs

Broadly speaking, there are 3 kinds of verbs: 

1. Action verbs
2. Linking verbs
3. Helping verbs

1. Action verbs- 

These are the verbs used to express some action or possession. They indicate directly what the subject is doing. 

e.g. Simi baked a cake. Here baked is the verb indicating the action that Simi did bake the cake. 

Action verbs can either be transitive or non-transitive. 

2. Transitive verbs- 

When using transitive verbs, the verb is followed by a direct object. The verb is used in the context that the direct object (someone/something) is receiving the action of the verb. The object of the transitive verb can be a noun, pronoun or phrase. 

For E.g. Ria raises her hand. Here, her hand is the object that receives the action of the verb. Therefore, raises is a transitive verb. 

Transitive verbs can have indirect objects as well, which basically name the object for whom or to whom the action was performed. 

E.g. I gave Mitali my pencil. Here the verb is ‘gave’. The object which is receiving the action of the verb is the pencil, as it is the pencil which is being given. The indirect object is Mitali, to whom the pencil was given. 

3. Intransitive verbs- 

An intransitive verb never has a direct or indirect object, or there is no object to receive the action of the verb in this case. The subject and the verb express the complete thought in the sentence without the need for an object. However, the verb may be followed by an adverb or an adverbial phrase. 

E.g. Ishita rises slowly from her seat. In this sentence, the verb is ‘rises’ and the phrase slowly from her seat adds to the action but is not an object as such to receive the action. 

4. Linking verbs 

A linking verb essentially adds details about the subject in a sentence. A linking verb is followed by a complement and the job of the linking verb is to connect the subject to the complement and create a link between them instead of showing action. 

E.g. She appears ready for the game. In this sentence, ‘appears’ acts like a linking verb, whereas Jason suddenly appeared. 

In this sentence, Jason is doing the action of appearing suddenly, so the first sentence ‘has appeared’ as the linking verb while the second sentence has appeared as the action verb.  

5. Helping verbs

Helping verbs are added before the action or the linking verb to convey additional information in the sentence about time, tense and the possibility of the action. They are used when the main verb or the linking verb is not sufficient enough to convey all the information.

E.g. They are walking on the road. Here in the sentence, walking is the main action verb and are (a form of to be) is helping the main verb explain the action more.

Conclusion 

Verbs are the most important part of a sentence since only their presence makes a sentence complete and gives meaning to the sentence. Verbs denote an action or the state of being. There are many types of verbs like action verbs, linking verbs and helping verbs, based on how they are used in the sentence and what value they add to the sentence. Using the correct verb at the correct place in the sentence makes the sentence complete and meaningful. This usage comes with practice.