Explain the verb and the predicate
A verb shows the action or state of being of the subject of the sentence. It also indicates the time or tense of the action.
Verbs are necessary in a sentence because you must indicate what the subject does or is. You cannot have a sentence with no Verb.
The verb also indicates whether the sentence is in present tense, past tense, or future tense.
- Present tense happens now. Sandy runs. Florence jumps.
- Past tense happened in the past. Sandy ran. Flo-Jo jumped.
- Future tense will happen in the future. Sandy will run.
The most common type of verb is an action verb. An action verb describes what the subject does, did, or will do.
The verb is found within the predicate of a sentence. The predicate refer to all the words in a sentence outside of the subject. The predicate always contains the verb.
Examples
1. Joy Lucas teaches skiing.
2. She participated in sports.
3. She will train new instructors.
Helping verbs and verb phrases
A verb can be one word, as in instances 1 and 2 above, or part of a verb phrase, as in instance 3. When you have a verb phrase, you have a main verb and helping verbs. Helping verbs help the main verb change form (to make a question, for instance) or tense.
Example
Past tense: The girls practiced.
Future tense: The girls will practice.
"Practiced" is the verb in the first sentence. It is in past tense. The helping verb "will" changes the second sentence to future tense. Notice how the main verb becomes "practice" in the future tense.
Example
Past tense: The team won.
Question: Did the team win?
"Won" is the verb in the first sentence. It is in the past tense. The helping verb "did" changes the second sentence into a question. The tense is still past, but the main verb becomes "win," because the helping verb shows the tense in a verb phrase.