Verbs

We cannot express a thought with the parts of speech which we have already studied.

The words apples good does not express a thought. Apples are good expresses a thought about apples.

1. John fed the cat.

2. The boy runs.

3. The snow falls.

4. The children sleep,

5. The dog barks.

In these sentences each of the words, fed, runs, falls, sleep, and barks, asserts, or tells, something of the thing named by the subject of the sentence in which it stands.

A word used to assert or tell something of the thing named by the subject is called a verb.

A word used to make an assertion is a verb.

A verb is a part of speech.

Point out the verbs in each of the following sentences:

1. The gentleman has gone home.

2. Flowers blossom in the spring.

3. Will you call at my house this evening?

4. Great rivers flow silently to the sea.

5. It is pleasant to walk in the fields.

6. Cows like to feed on sweet grass.

7. Have you learned all your lessons?

8. The glass may have been broken.

9. The miller has ground the corn.

10. Charity suffereth long and is kind; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly.

11. He prayeth best who loveth best All things both great and small; For the dear God who loveth us, He made and loveth all.

12. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

Tell what you did before you came to school this morning. Underline all the verbs used in telling your story.