Verbs are a very important aspect of speech. Without them, we wouldn’t have fluent sentences. Verbs can mean past, present, past participle, and present participle. Verbs serve numerous purposes. These include:

• They express a state of being
• They give a command
• They ask questions
• They make a statement

Verbs are a common part of speech that many ESL students may find confusing. Verbs express action. They are known as “doing” words. Verbs can express a variety of things which include:

• A physical action – to climb, to write, to swim.
• A state of being – to appear, to exist, to be.
• A mental action – to consider, to guess, to think.

In a phrase, verbs which are expressed as a state of being are generally the hardest ones for ESL students to find and comprehend.

Examples Of Physical Verbs

• Alison bought a ticket
• The doctor wrote the prescription
• She sells clothing and shoes

Examples Of Mental Verbs

• I thought the same thing
• Peter guessed the right number
• She considers the job done

Examples Of State Of Being Verbs

• I am.
• It was a joke
• Edwina is the largest animal in this area.

Four Things You Should Know About Verbs

1. Most verbs express action. Some of the most common action verbs include: talk, run, fall, swim, yell, throw, etc.
2. Linking verbs are the verbs that join the subject of a sentence to a word or a phrase that tells something about the subject. The most common linking verbs include: be, feel, appear, look, grow, seem, remain, sound, smell, taste, and stay.
3. Auxiliary verbs are helping verbs which change the mood, voice, and tense of sentences. These include: will, was, shall, may, can, have, do and be.
4. Verbs can be intransitive and transitive. Transitive verbs take an object. Intransitive verbs don’t take an object and can stand on its own.

Transitive verb example:

• Jill took the job

Intransitive verb example

• The TV broke

Online Verb Games For ESL Students

• http://www.teach-this.com/esl-games/verb-games
• http://www.eslgamesworld.com/members/games/grammar/present%20tenses/action%20verbs%20catching2.html
• http://www.eslgamesplus.com/action-verbs-memory-game-for-esl-learning-very-low-beginners/
• http://www.stufun.com/index.php?module=product&action=productdetails&id=5
• http://www.eslgamesplus.com/verb-tenses-interactive-grammar-game-for-esl-jeopardy-quiz-game/
• http://www.anglomaniacy.pl/verbsMatching.htm
• http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbtenseintro.html