Types of Verbs (Examples & List)
What is a verb?
Definition: A word that shows an action, state or an event is called a verb.
It is an essential part of a sentence and is known as the soul of language.
For example:
– They study English grammar. (Action)
– We celebrate independence day. (Event)
Kinds of Verbs
Following are the different types of verbs.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Regular Verb
Irregular Verb
Linking Verb
Transitive Verb
Intransitive Verb
Finite Verb
Infinitive Verb
REGULAR VERB
A verb that’s past (2nd form) and past participle (3rd form) is made by adding ‘d’ or
‘ed’ is called regular verb. Some regular verb list is given below.
Walk
Walked
Walked
Talk
Talked
Talked
Clean
Cleaned
Cleaned
Choke
Choked
Choked
Grate
Grated
Grated
Book
Booked
Booked
Ban
Banned
Banned
Amuse
Amused
Amused
Answer
Answered
Answered
Accept
Accepted
Accepted
IRREGULAR VERB
If the formation of the verb is otherwise than the regular verb, it is called irregular
verb. For example,
Present
Past
Past Participle
Shut
Shut
Shut
Drink
Drank
Drunk
Break
Broke
Broken
Beat
Beat
Beaten
Become
Became
Become
Bid
Bid
Bid
Drive
Drove
Driven
Has/Have
Had
Had
Know
Knew
Known
Rise
Rose
Risen
LINKING VERB
A verb that acts as a link between two words is called linking verb. It connects or
links a subject to a noun or an adjective in the predicate.
Linking verb list:
Appear
Become
Feel
Look
Taste
Turn
Sound
Seem
Grow
For example,



He remained silent.
The matches are full of sticks.
The room is very spacious.
TRANSITIVE VERB
A verb that needs an object to complete itself is called transitive verb. It is called
transitive because it passes its action from subject to object.
For example,


The boy kicks the football.
He loves his mother.
Usually no preposition is used after transitive verb.
Now see another example: The servant cleans the floor.
In this sentence, the action denoted by the verb cleans passes from the doer, the
servant, to some object, the floor. Thus the verb ‘cleans’ is called a transitive verb.
INTRANSITIVE VERB
A verb that doesn’t need any object to complete itself is called intransitive verb. It
does not pass its action from subject to the object.
For example,


The girls sleep.
He died in an accident.
Usually prepositions is used after intransitive verb.
Another example: We sleep at night.
In this sentence, the action, sleep, do not pass from the doer, we, to any object. So
the verb sleep is called an intransitive verb.
FINITE VERB
Finite verbs mean those verbs which can change their form in accordance with the
subject. It defines the time (past or present) and the subject. It tells you who is doing
the action and when it is being done.
For example,


I eat rice. / He eats rice. / They eat rice.
I am a student. / He is a student. / They are students.
INFINITIVE VERB
An infinitive is a verb which has “to” before it. It shows infinite action when is used at
the beginning of the sentence.
For example,


To see is to believe.
To be weak is miserable.
Functions of Infinitive Verb
If we look at the function that an infinitive verb does in a sentence, we may consider
it to be both a noun and a verb.
The Infinitive as Noun and Verb
Here is an example,
I like to finish the work quickly.
In this sentence, the phrase to finish does the following jobs.




It is the object of the finite verb like – therefore to finish is similar to a noun (because
being an object is a noun’s job).
The phrase to finish has its own object, work – so to finish is a verb (since verbs have
objects).
The adverb quickly modifies (i.e. tells us something more about) to finish. Since the
phrase to finish is modifiable by an adverb, it must be a verb.
We can say that the infinitive, though born in the verb family, does not limit itself to
being a verb. It often behaves like a noun when it goes around socializing in the world
of sentences.
The Infinitive as Adjective or Adverb
In some cases, it behaves even like an adjective, as in the following sentence.
That was a game to watch!
In this sentence, to watch tells us something more about the quality of the game (a
noun). Describing a noun is the work of an adjective.
Sometimes it behaves like an adverb. The sentence below illustrates this.
Her voice is pleasant to hear.
The phrase to hear tells us something more about the quality of being pleasant. The
word pleasant is an adjective, and words that tell us more about an adjective
(adjective modifiers) are traditionally called adverbs.
SPLIT INFINITIVE
A split infinitive puts an adverb and adverb between the two parts of the full infinitive.
“To generously sprinkle” is a split infinitive because “generously” splits the word “to”
from the word “sprinkle”.
When we put an adverb between “to” and “verb”, it is called Split Infinitive.
If you want to remember what a split infinitive is, just remember what might be the
most famous example: “to boldly go where no one has gone before.” “To boldly go”
is a split infinitive. “Boldly” splits “to go.”
However, it is suggested to avoid split infinitive. For example,



To quickly leave
To always want
To easily excel