Verbs

The other part of the sentence that helps to make it complete is the verb. The verb can be one word or many. Verbs may show action:

• Jerry plays wheelchair basketball on Friday nights.

• I read a book while I'm waiting for the bus.

• Heather thinks her teacher is a little weird.

• The snow drifted across the highway..

• The icicles dripped from the eaves.

or they may not show action, but a relationship or condition of the subject

• Cathy has Cerebral Palsy.

• Linda is beautiful.

• I am feeling much better.

• I have a cold.

• You and your friends were late yesterday.

Verbs also help the reader to understand if the sentence is about something that happened in the past (past tense), something that is happening right now (present tense) or something that will happen in the future (future tense). We will look at verb tenses a little later in this chapter.

Exercise 2

Type out these sentences. Put a * before and after the verb.

Example: Glen *forgot* his coat.

1. Frank was an old prospector.

2. I asked if the new choppers really worked.

3. He ate the deer with his own teeth.

4. An old cat lived in the mine.

5. The wind blew off the open Pacific Ocean.

6. The valley was narrow and the walls steep.

7. The biggest egg in the world is in Vegreville.

8. I made banana and yoghurt cheesecake with Norman.

9. The red syrup ran off the pancakes.

10. Jesse has a blue van.