What are Action Verbs

What are Action Verbs

Verbs are words that express an action, state or an occurrence. They can be categorized into action verbs and state verbs. State verbs are the verbs that express a state. Action Verbs are the words that express actions. In this article, we are going to discuss the nature of action verbs, their function, and usage.

Action verbs specifically describe what the subject of the sentence is doing. They express what action is being performed in the sentence. Action verbs are also known as dynamic verbs. They indicate activities, processes, momentary actions or physical conditions.

The following sentences contain some action verbs.

He climbed Everest.

She ate the lobster stew.

He reached for his cup of tea.

He has been drinking a lot of water.

She smiles prettily.

The dogs were barking at the moon.

All these underlined verbs are action verbs. Although physical actions like running, fighting, eating, jogging are the actions that come to our mind when we hear the word action, action verbs can also include mental actions. Verbs such as think, wonder, and guess refer to mental actions.

He thought about their cash problem.

She guessed the correct answer.

Always remember that action verbs include both mental and physical actions.

State verbs are opposite of Action verbs. As the name suggests, state verbs express a state. They cannot be used in the continuous tenses, unlike action verbs.

Categorization and Examples of Action Verbs

Most action verbs can be categorized as transitive or intransitive. Transitive verbs are the verbs that are followed by a direct object.

Ex: 

He kicked the ball.

I scratched my head.

He bought me flowers.

Intransitive verbs are the verbs that do not need a direct object to complete their meaning.

Ex:

The dog barked.

He sneezed loudly.

The girls giggled incessantly.

Action verbs can be categorized into regular and irregular verbs. Regular verbs are the verbs whose conjugation follows a regular pattern. In English, most regular verbs form their past tense and past participle by adding –ed to their base form.

Irregular verbs are the verbs that follow an irregular verb conjugation pattern. Their past tense and past participle take a completely different form.

Summary – Action Verb

• Action verbs are verbs that express action.

• Action verbs can include both physical and mental actions.

• State verbs are opposite of action verbs.

• Action verbs can be categorized as transitive verbs and intransitive verbs or regular verbs or irregular verbs.