State of Being Verbs

State of Being Verbs

Not all verbs are like action verbs, full of excitement and glamor. Some verbs just are. They just exist. These are called state of being verbs, which can show time relationship or existence. There are eight verbs that act as state of being verbs: am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been.

Hannah is my sister.

·         Is, in this situation, is stating that Hannah exists as my sister.

What time is it?

Here, the verb is indicates time.

Verbs 101

A verb is a word that shows action, helps, links, or states existence. Verbs are the exciting part of the sentence.

Action Verbs

Action verbs are the verbs that keep you interested. They peak your interest. They grasp your attention. They shock you. Action verbs merely show action,( either mentally or physically) and express something a noun (person, place, think or idea) or pronoun(a word that takes the place of a noun) can do. If you are unsure whether a word in an action verb, ask yourself, “Can this be done?” If the answer is yes, more than likely, it is an action verb.

I threw the ball through the window.

·         The verb threw expresses action I can do

Hannah stirred the boiling soup.

·         Stirred expresses something Hannah can do

Peter slept through the ruckus.

·         Slept is an action that Peter is doing.

Two different types of action verbs are transitive and intransitive. Transitive action verbs have a receiver of the action. And, typically, the receiver acts as a direct object of the sentence.

I threw the ball through the window.

·         In this sentence, ball is receiving the action of throwing. Thus, threw is acting as a transitive verb.

Intransitive verbs do not need a receiver because the verb itself completes the action.

Peter slept through the ruckus.

·         The subject(Peter) and the verb (slept) would be sufficient information to have a complete thought, making slept an intransitive verb.

Linking Verbs

Linking verbs, also called copular verbs, show a relationship between the subject and the sentence compliment. They identify a relationship or existing condition.  Many times verbs can function as both action and linking, creating a problem of differentiating between the two. But linking verbs can be replaced with the word equal (=) and still make sense.

The soup tastes good.

·         Can the soup taste? No.

·         Does the soup = good? Yes, making it a linking verb.

Hannah tastes the soup

·         Does Hannah = soup? No.

·         Can Hannah taste the soup? Yes, making it an action verb.

Helping Verbs

Sometimes, like people, verbs need help. Helping verbs have no meaning on their own in the sentence but help clarify and explain the main verb. There are two categories of helping verbs: primary and modal. Primary, also called auxillary verbs, help the reader to understand what tense the main verb is, while modal helping verbs modify the meaning of the main verb and show necessity or possibility.

The primary helping verbs are made up of the forms from the verbs to be (am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been)to have (have, has, had) and to do (do, does, did) Shall, will, should, would, may, might, can could)

I had studied for three long hours before I remembered that there wasn’t a test over that chapter.

·         Had studied is the entire verb phrase

·         Had, a primary helping verb, delineates for the reader the past perfect tense of the verb study.

I could not study at all today.

·         Could study is the entire verb phrase

·         Could shows possibility of studying, making it a modal helping verb.

State of Being Verbs

Not all verbs are like action verbs, full of excitement and glamor. Some verbs just are. They just exist. These are called state of being verbs, which can show time relationship or existence. There are eight verbs that act as state of being verbs: am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been.

Hannah is my sister.

·         Is, in this situation, is stating that Hannah exists as my sister.

What time is it?

Here, the verb is indicates time.

Definitions

Verb: a word that shows action, helps, links, or shows existence

Action verb: a verb that shows action, either mentally or physically.

Intransitive verb: a verb that completes the action

Transitive verb: a verb that needs a receiver of the action

Linking verb: a verb that shows a relationship between the subject and the sentence compliment

Copular verbs: another term for a linking verb

Helping verb: a verb that helps clarify and explain the main verb

Primary helping verb: help the reader understand the tense of the main verb

Modal helping verb: a verb that helps modify the meaning of the main verb and show necessity or possibility

State of being verb: states existence and shows time relationship

Countable and Non-Countable Nouns

Countable and Non-countable

 Like it sounds, countable nouns can be counted. They have both plural and singular forms, while non-countable nouns have no plural form. Tree is a countable noun because you can pluralize tree to make it trees But you cannot pluralize the word peace to have peaces, making peace a non-countable noun.

The boy cried in grief.

·         boy is a countable noun, because boy has a plural form, boys.

·         grief would be a non-countable noun, because it cannot be pluralized.

Concrete and Abstract Nouns

Concrete and Abstract

Concrete nouns are those that can be experienced with one of the five senses: taste, touch, smell, sound, and sight.  Take the noun tree. A tree can be felt, touched, seen, heard, and smelled. Truck is a concrete noun also, because I can feel it and see it. Contrasting, nouns that are abstract are not able to be physically experienced: examples are sympathy, grief, love, hate.

Walking through the dark forest, my heart pounded in fear.

·         Forest is concrete, because I can see, touch, and smell a forest.

·         Heart is a concrete, because I can feel it pounding against my chest.

·         Fear would be an abstract noun, because I cannot physically experience fear.

Common and Proper Nouns

Common and Proper

Common nouns are just what they sound like: common. These nouns are general items, such as tree, watch, teacher, and farm. Common nouns are the most widely used throughout grammar.

On the other hand, Proper nouns are specific and one of a kind. They express specific names, places, and things. Mr. Harrison is a proper noun, defining one man. A school is a common noun, whereas Mayville Middle School refers to a specific school. Proper nouns are ALWAYS capitalized; common nouns are lowercase except when they are the first word in a sentence.

For his project, Dylan is studying Galileo and the telescope.

·         Project is common, referring to a general project

·         Dylan is proper, referring to a specific boy. (notice the capitalization)

·         Galileo is proper, referring to a specific scientist. (again, capitalized)

·         Telescope is common, referring to a general telescope

Nouns 101

A noun is one of the easiest parts of speech to locate and identify, being simply defined as a person, place, thing, or idea. Look at the following sentences and find the nouns. Then, referring to the definition, think about what makes them nouns.

Hannah ran in the marathon for school.

·         Hannah is a person

·         Marathon is a thing

·         School is a place

The man followed the cat down Henning Street.

·         Man is referring to a person

·         Cat  is a thing

·         Henning Street  is a place

The mother looked down with tenderness at her little baby, who slept peacefully in her crib.

·         Mother is a person

·         Tenderness, here, refers to an idea

·         The baby refers to a person

·         And crib is a thing.

*note* Many times the hardest nouns to locate are those that express an idea. Examples: love, peace, sorrow, helplessness.

Now knowing what a noun is, you need to be able to classify nouns into the different categories.

o   Common vs. proper

o   Countable vs. Non-countable

o   Concrete vs. Abstract

 Common and Proper

Common nouns are just what they sound like: common. These nouns are general items, such as tree, watch, teacher, and farm. Common nouns are the most widely used throughout grammar.

On the other hand, Proper nouns are specific and one of a kind. They express specific names, places, and things. Mr. Harrison is a proper noun, defining one man. A school is a common noun, whereas Mayville Middle School refers to a specific school. Proper nouns are ALWAYS capitalized; common nouns are lowercase except when they are the first word in a sentence.

For his project, Dylan is studying Galileo and the telescope.

·         Project is common, referring to a general project

·         Dylan is proper, referring to a specific boy. (notice the capitalization)

·         Galileo is proper, referring to a specific scientist. (again, capitalized)

·         Telescope is common, referring to a general telescope

Countable and Non-countable

 Like it sounds, countable nouns can be counted. They have both plural and singular forms, while non-countable nouns have no plural form. Tree is a countable noun because you can pluralize tree to make it trees But you cannot pluralize the word peace to have peaces, making peace a non-countable noun.

The boy cried in grief.

·         boy is a countable noun, because boy has a plural form, boys.

·         grief would be a non-countable noun, because it cannot be pluralized.

Concrete and Abstract

Concrete nouns are those that can be experienced with one of the five senses: taste, touch, smell, sound, and sight.  Take the noun tree. A tree can be felt, touched, seen, heard, and smelled. Truck is a concrete noun also, because I can feel it and see it. Contrasting, nouns that are abstract are not able to be physically experienced: examples are sympathy, grief, love, hate.

Walking through the dark forest, my heart pounded in fear.

·         Forest is concrete, because I can see, touch, and smell a forest.

·         Heart is a concrete, because I can feel it pounding against my chest.

·         Fear would be an abstract noun, because I cannot physically experience fear.

When organizing nouns into categories, remember that each noun can be defined in every category.  Example: tree is a concrete, countable, and common noun.

Hannah is in love with her little puppy.

·         Hannah

o   Proper: referring to a specific girl

o   Concrete: experienced with the five senses

·         Love

o   Common: ordinary and lowercase

o   Non-countable: no plural form

o   Abstract: intangible

·         Puppy

o   Common: ordinary and lowercase

o   Countable: has a plural form

o   Concrete: can be experienced with senses.

Definitions to Know!

Noun: person, place, thing, or idea

Common noun: ordinary, general.

Proper noun: specific and one of a kind

Countable noun: has a singular and plural form

Non-countable noun: has only singular form

Concrete noun: can be experienced with one of the five senses

Abstract noun: unable to be experienced with one of the five senses.