Okuzeka
Linguistics & Grammar vocabulary · Parts of Speech

Verb

Meaning in linguistics & grammar, with examples

/vɜːb/nounCore term

In linguistics & grammar, verb means: A word that shows an action, event or state, such as run, become or know; in English it changes its form to show tense and agreement.

In Turkish: fiil, eylem

How it is used

Teachers talk about regular and irregular verbs, main and auxiliary verbs, and verb forms (base form, past simple, past participle). In a clause the verb is the core of the predicate.

Example sentences

  1. Go, went, gone: irregular verbs simply have to be memorized.

  2. In English the verb usually comes before the object, but in Turkish it comes at the end of the sentence.

Common collocations

  • irregular verb
  • main verb
  • verb form
  • phrasal verb
  • conjugate a verb
  • tenseA grammatical category, shown by the form of the verb, that places an event in time relative to the moment of speaking, such as present or past.
  • auxiliary verbA verb used with a main verb to form tenses, questions, negatives and the passive, mainly be, have and do, plus modal verbs such as can and will.
  • transitive verbA verb that needs a direct object to complete its meaning, such as make, describe or enjoy: 'She described the problem'.
  • modal verbAn auxiliary verb such as can, could, may, might, must, should, will or would that expresses ideas like ability, possibility, permission, obligation or advice.
  • predicateThe part of a clause that says something about the subject; it contains the verb and everything that follows it, such as 'missed the bus' in 'Emre missed the bus'.

More terms: Parts of Speech

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: