Types, Tenses, & Moods

Understanding different tenses to English language 
Verbs: Types, Tenses, and Moods
Action Verbs
What is a verb?
Definition: When most people think about verbs, they think about the first type: action verbs, also called dynamic verbs. This kind of verb tells you what's happening or what someone is doing. Some action verbs describe physical actions, and they are easy to spot because you can observe them with at least one of your five senses. These are words such as jump, sing, and eat. On the other hand, some action verbs are more abstract, and they're easy to miss sometimes because you can't always observe them with your five senses. These are words such as think, learn, and decide. Take a look at the examples below to see how action verbs are used in a sentence.

Physical Actions
  • The neighbour's cats meow loudly.
You hear the meow and you may see the cat open its mouth to meow.
  • Trucks speed down the highway.
You can see the truck speeding and probably hear the motor too.
  • Waves crash on the shore.
You can see and hear the wave and even feel it crash if you're standing close enough.

Abstract Actions
  • Students learn new material every day.
You can't actually look into someone's brain and see the learning process, but learning is still an action. 
  • I think my shoes are under the bed.
You can't really see the thoughts going through the person's mind, but thinking is still an action. It's what you're doing.  

Linking Verbs
Definition: Unlike action verbs, linking verbs show a relationship between the main noun (also called the subject) and another word that describes that noun. The describing word can be an adjective or another noun. The most common linking verb is to be and its forms am, is, are, was, were, be, being, and been.
  • My cat is furry.
The verb is links the main noun, cat, with a describing word, furry. Furry is an example of an adjective.
  • My childhood dog was an Akita.
In this sentence, the verb was links the noun dog to another noun, Akita. The second noun tells us the breed of the dog. Other common linking verbs include appear,   become, feel, grow, look, remain, seem, smell, sound, stay, taste, and turn.
  • If left too long, the milk may turn sour.
  • I feel refreshed after that nap.  

Action vs. Linking Verbs  
Can You Tell the Difference Between an Action Verb and a Linking Verb?The verbs appear,  become, feel, get, grow, look, remain, seem, smell, sound, stay,taste, and turn can act either as action verbs or linking verbs. To tell the difference, you have to pay attention to how each type of verb is used in a sentence—linking verbs are used for descriptions, whereas action verbs tell you what someone (or something) is doing.

Linking: Kelly grows tired after hours of gardening.
The adjective tired describes Kelly. Kelly is tired after she gardens.

Action: Kelly grows sunflowers in her yard.
This sentence tells us what Kelly is doing—she plants sunflowers and grows them. Hint:  Remember, you can replace linking verbs with a form of to be (am, is, are, was, were, etc.) but you can't do the same thing with action verbs.
Kelly grows tired. = Kelly is tired.
Kelly grows sunflowers. ≠ Kelly is sunflowers.
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