Types of Verbs

You will meet different types of verbs as you learn English grammar. Some people get confused. Don't be.

This page tells you...

1. the names of different kinds of verbs and


2. their relationship to each other.

The Verb's Role in a Sentence

Verbs can be divided according to the job they do in a sentence. The grammar-expert's way of saying this is that we can divide verbs syntactically.

These are the divisions and sub-divisions according to syntax:

• finite verbs
• transitive verbs
• intransitive verbs
• linking Verbs


• non-finite verbs (also called verbals)
• infinitives
• gerunds
• participles (Understanding What is a participle?)
• present participle
• past participle
• perfect participle


• helping verbs (auxiliaries)
• primary auxiliaries
• modal auxiliaries

Formation of the Verb-Word

We know that verbs are words, just like any other part of speech. The words that represent the verbs follow different patterns of spelling or sound.

Verbs can, therefore, be divided into various kinds depending upon how they are formed. Grammarians would call this a morphological division.

• regular verbs
• irregular verbs
• compound verbs
• phrasal verbs

Verbs According to Meaning

I have earlier answered the question: What is a verb? There I used this division of verbs according to meaning to explain what a verb is.

Those who know grammar well call this division of verbs a semantic classification.

• action words (action verbs)
• being
• having

Summing Up...

Now you know the names of different verbs and how they are classified. We can classify them in three ways...

1. according to their role in a sentence (i.e. syntactically),
2. or based on their formation (morphologically),
3. or their meaning (semantically).

For Further Reading and Study...