How to Know If a Verb Is an Action or Being Verb?

There are few ways to tell the difference between action and being verbs. In American English, there are two main forms of verbs: state-of-being verbs and action verbs. Action verbs, as the name would imply, are verbs that show action. State-of-being verbs, also called linking verbs, are a little more complex. Being verbs do not show action; they link the subject of a sentence with a noun or adjective. What makes the differentiation difficult for some, though, is that some being verbs can also be action verbs.

1 Ask yourself if the verb implies action. If you can picture a person or thing doing something, chances are, it is an action verb. Jump, play, write, throw and work are examples of action verbs.
2 Determine whether the verb is a form of "be." Forms of "be" are: be, am, is, are, was, were, been, being. If it falls into this list, it is, and always will be, a linking verb.
3 Establish the function of the verb. Some linking verbs can also be action verbs; the function of the verb will determine its type. For example, in the sentence "Jan's casserole tasted good" tasted is a linking verb. But, if the sentence was, "Jan tasted the casserole" it would be an action verb. In the second example, something is happening; Jan took a bite of a casserole. In the first sentence, however, there is no action. Tasted is being used to link the subject to the adjective and in this case, casserole to good.
4 Memorize the other linking verbs. Remembering common state-of-being verbs can be helpful in determining the difference between linking and action verbs. Aside from forms of "be," the following words can also be used linking verbs: appear, become, feel, grow, look, seem, remain, smell, sound, stay, taste, turn.
If you have questionable verb on your hands, try to replace it with a being verb to see if the sentence still makes sense. For example, if the sentence is "The carpet feels soft" and you aren't sure if "feels" is action or linking, try saying "The carpet is soft." In this case, "feels" is a being verb. However, if the sentence was "John, feel this carpet!" you could not replace it with "is."
Remember that an action does not always mean a movement. For example, thought or considered are also action verbs; they are mental actions.

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How to Teach Kids Action Verbs

Parenting For Mom Education HomeEducationEnglish Language EducationVerbsHow to Teach Kids Action Verbs

"Jump" is an action verb. A verb is a part of speech that expresses an action or a state of being of the subject of a sentence. The simplest types of verbs to learn are action verbs because they clearly indicate something that is done. The idea of learning about action verbs usually isn't appealing to many kids. However, you can make the process much more interesting by catering to various learning styles, such as visual, auditory and tactile learning.

1 Ask the kids to name some things that they enjoy doing. As they do so, write the action verbs from their responses on the board. Examples might include verbs such as "play," "dance," "sing," "color" and "paint."

2 Tell the class that these words are called "action verbs" because that these words illustrate various types of actions or things that you can do.

3 Instruct your students to write down five action verbs on a sheet of paper. Invite the students to come to the front of the class one at a time and act out one word from their list to see if their classmates can guess the action verb.

4 Give your students a work sheet in which they must circle action verbs out of choices of other types of verbs and words. For instance, one example might read, "run," "be" "dog." The students would have to pick out "run" as the action verb.

5 Read a story to the kids and instruct them to give some sort of signal whenever they hear an action verb. For instance, you might tell them to clap their hands twice when they hear an action verb.

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Jul 21, The Verb Is as an Action Verb

If the verb "is" is an action verb, but it is also a linking verb, then how does it express an action?

For example: "Mary is my classmate."

("Is" is a verb. What action does it expresses?)

 answer:

This is an excellent question!

The verb "is" actually expresses a state of being.

The action is "to be."

For example, "Jane is in the room."

She isn't necessarily doing something. She is simply being there. She is located there.

For a full, illustrated explanation, visit this page: