Action, Linking, and Auxiliary Verb: Definitions, Functions, and Examples

Introduction

Have you ever wondered what the predicate of a sentence is? You must have observed a recurring theme in all of your sentences. Rather, not a theme but a structure. The subject is placed first, the verb comes second, and the object is placed at the end.

For example, look at the sentence:

I like eating mangoes. ‘I’ is the subject, ‘eating’ is the verb, and ‘mangoes’ is the object. The verb of the sentence is often called the predicate.

Understanding the Different Types of Verbs

Now that you’ve learned to identify the predicate or the verb, take a minute to think about the different kinds of verbs. What is common between dancing, singing, eating, writing, performing, or other such verbs? How are these verbs different from to become, to seem, and to be? What about verbs that might not be expressing an action, emotion, or existence but help establish the position of the action and linking verbs, such as, am, have, and do?

This section will introduce you to three new concepts, particularly,

• The action verb

• The linking verb, and

• The auxiliary verb.

Action

How do you define an action? An action can be an expression of needs, desires, and wants or it can be a particular behaviour directed towards someone or something. It can also be a desire to perform an activity or engage in an activity. For example, the sentence – I like eating mangoes suggests the subject, ‘I’, enjoys the activity of eating mangoes. In the same way, the sentence – She likes dancing, suggests that the subject, ‘she’, enjoys performing the activity of dancing.

Therefore, action verbs are verbs that suggest the subject has performed or engaged in a certain activity.

Some examples of the same have been given below −

• I am writing a novel.

• I walk in the park daily.

• He punched the bully.

• Rama enjoys watching the television.

• She performed at the recital yesterday.

Action verbs can also imply, emphasize, or outline different meanings. For example, take a look at this sentence: I orchestrated a heist. The sentence emphasizes that the subject, ‘I’, is the mastermind behind the object, ‘heist’.

Action verbs are often measurable. Some measurable action verbs are identify, describe, classify, graph, create, prove, analyze, and more. Here’s some food for thought – Do you know why academic questions use measurable action verbs?

Linking

The linking verbs link a subject to a certain emotion. They are, however, not limited to emotions and can have varying uses according to the given context.

One good way to understand this is to take a look at the examples given below −

The music sounds good. In this sentence, there’s a subject, ‘music’, and a linking verb, ‘sounds’. The sentence allows you to understand the emotions of the listener and it answers an essential question, “Does the listener like or dislike the music?”

Take a look at another sentence. This drive feels amazing. Focus on the word ‘feels’. Do you think the sentence would make sense without the linking verb? Absolutely not. The linking verb allows you clarity. Furthermore, it adds meaning and purpose to the sentence.

Now let us take a look at a different kind of linking word. I am a human. ‘Am’ stems from the verb ‘to be’. It might not tell you how the person is feeling but it does give you more context as to what it is or who they are. The purpose of the linking verb here is to link separate words such as nouns, adjectives, adverbs, and more.

Examples

• Noun – She is a girl.

• Adjective – The food was nasty.

• Adverb – The matter at hand is quite severe.

Auxiliary

The last for this list is the auxiliary verb. Auxiliary refers to additional or helping verbs. Take a look at the verb ‘do’. How many additional forms do you think it has? Does, did, do, doing, done. On its own, the verb ‘do’ has no meaning. Did what? Does what? Doing what? But added to a noun or a verb, the verb ‘do’ provides additional support.

Examples

• I did some shopping last week.

• I will do the work tomorrow.

• I did wash the clothes yesterday.

In the aforementioned sentences, the various forms of ‘do’ are auxiliary verbs. Apart from ‘do’, we have two more primary or important auxiliary verbs such as, ‘have’ and ‘be’. There are other auxiliary verbs, also called modal verbs, which are forms of ‘can’, ‘will’, ‘must’, ‘shall’, and ‘may’.

Examples

• I can do this.

• I will do this.

• I do not want to do this.

• I must do this.

• I shall do this.

FAQs

Qns 1. Can auxiliary, linking, and action verbs be used together in a sentence?

Ans. Yes. Certain sentences can employ the use of not one, not two, but all forms of verbs. For example, I am unable to do this because my brain isn’t working. ‘Am’ here is a linking verb, ‘do’ is an auxiliary verb, and ‘working’ is an action verb.

Qns 2. How do we differentiate between the linking verb ‘to be’ and the auxiliary verb ‘to be’?

Ans. A good way to differentiate between a linking verb and an auxiliary verb ‘to be’ is to see if the sentence has two or more words that need to be ‘linked’ in order to make sense while a sentence employing an auxiliary verb will have a main verb, usually an action verb, apart from the auxiliary verb.

Qns 3. What is the importance of a modal auxiliary verb?

Ans. A modal auxiliary verb shows a certain extent or possibility of an event happening or suggests if or when it might happen.

For exactly,

I can attend the school tomorrow.