Action, Linking & Helping Verbs: Sixth Grade English Grammar
Verbs are the energetic engines of the English language, expressing dynamic movement, establishing states of existence, and shaping the temporal timeline of our thoughts.
The Power and Precision of Action Verbs
An action verb asserts physical movement or mental exertion performed by the subject of a clause. Action verbs give vitality and clarity to writing by portraying exactly what occurs within a scene.
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| ACTION VERB DUALITY: PHYSICAL & MENTAL |
+---------------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| Physical Action | Observable sensory movement (gallop, sever, erupt) |
| Mental Action | Internal cognitive processes (deduce, ponder, deem)|
+---------------------+----------------------------------------------------+
| Weak General Verb | The bird went across the sky. |
| Strong Action Verb | The osprey plummeted toward the churning surf. |
+---------------------+----------------------------------------------------+
Physical Action Verbs in Narrative Prose
Physical action verbs depict tangible motions that can be observed through the senses: sprint, shatter, murmur, chisel, and oscillate. When writing descriptive or narrative prose, choosing specific physical action verbs eliminates the need for flabby adverbs. For example, replacing "walked slowly and awkwardly" with "trudged" or "shuffled" produces immediate visual texture and emotional nuance.
Mental Action Verbs in Analytical Discourse
Mental action verbs represent cognitive operations taking place entirely within the mind: contemplate, evaluate, infer, hypothesize, remember, and resolve. In literary analysis and academic debate, mental action verbs allow you to articulate a character's internal motives or explain an author's rhetorical strategy.
Linking Verbs: The Connective Bridges of Being
A linking verb does not express action. Instead, it links the subject of the sentence to a subject complement—either a predicate noun (which renames the subject) or a predicate adjective (which describes the subject).
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| THE LINKING VERB FORMULA |
| |
| [ Subject ] ====== [ Linking Verb ] =====> [ Subject Complement ] |
| |
| Dr. Vasquez became a paleontologist. |
| (Subject) (=) (Predicate Noun) |
| |
| The volcanic ash remained toxic. |
| (Subject) (=) (Predicate Adjective) |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Forms of "To Be" and Sensory Linking Verbs
The most ubiquitous linking verbs are the forms of the verb "to be": am, is, are, was, were, be, being, and been. Beyond "to be," verbs related to the five senses and conditions often serve as linking verbs: appear, seem, look, sound, smell, taste, feel, become, remain, and grow.
The "Substitution Test" for Linking Verbs
Many sensory verbs can function either as action verbs or as linking verbs depending on context. To verify whether a verb is linking, apply the Substitution Test: replace the verb with an appropriate form of "to be" (am, is, are, was, were). If the sentence still makes logical sense, the verb is linking: "The soup smelled delicious" becomes "The soup was delicious" (makes sense = linking). In contrast, "The chef smelled the soup" becomes "The chef was the soup" (nonsensical = action verb).
Helping (Auxiliary) Verbs and Verb Phrases
A helping verb accompanies a main verb to form a complete verb phrase, establishing verb tense, voice, mood, obligation, or possibility.
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| THE 23 HELPING VERBS OF ENGLISH |
+--------------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
| Forms of BE | am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been |
| Forms of HAVE | have, has, had |
| Forms of DO | do, does, did |
| Modal Auxiliaries | can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, |
| | will, would |
+--------------------+-----------------------------------------------------+
Deconstructing Verb Phrases
A verb phrase consists of one or more auxiliary verbs followed by a main lexical verb (which carries the core meaning). In "The deep-sea rover must have been transmitting data," the helping verbs are "must," "have," and "been," while "transmitting" is the main participle verb. Notice that interrupting adverbs like "not" or "always" are never part of the verb phrase itself: in "She could not have known," the verb phrase is "could have known," with "not" acting as an interrupting adverb.
Exercises and Solutions
Exercise 1: Classifying Verbs in Sentences. Identify the verb or verb phrase in each sentence, classify it as an action verb, a linking verb, or a verb phrase containing helping verbs, and identify any subject complements in a single paragraph: Sentence A: "The ancient limestone cavern smelled damp after the subterranean flood." Sentence B: "The engineer carefully adjusted the delicate copper gears." Sentence C: "Our research expedition will be exploring the Antarctic ice shelf."
Solution 1: In Sentence A, the verb is "smelled," which functions as a linking verb connecting the subject "cavern" to the predicate adjective "damp" (confirmed by the substitution test: "The cavern was damp"). In Sentence B, the verb is "adjusted," which is a physical action verb expressing the deliberate manipulation of the copper gears. In Sentence C, the verb phrase is "will be exploring," where "will" and "be" serve as helping verbs and "exploring" is the main action verb.
Exercise 2: Action vs. Linking Determination. Write two original sentences using the verb "turned"—one where it functions as an action verb and one where it functions as a linking verb. Explain the difference between your two sentences in a unified paragraph.
Solution 2: For the action verb example: "The captain turned the brass wheel hard to starboard." In this sentence, "turned" expresses a physical action performed by the captain upon the steering wheel. For the linking verb example: "During the sudden autumn frost, the maple leaves turned crimson." In this sentence, "turned" means "became," functioning as a linking verb that connects the subject "leaves" to the predicate adjective "crimson," describing their altered condition.