Action verbs🚴🏻♀️ are words💬 that explain🗣 and help us understand ⛑exactly what a noun does, can do, or has done.
Everything and everybody does something, just like every place can!
In order to learn👨🏫 English well, it is very important to remember 🚧 what a noun is so that you can understand 🧠what an action 🚴🏻♀️ verb is and how you can use them both in a sentence 🧑🏾🤝🧑🏾 together.
Remembering🧠 nouns
Every noun has a possible 🚴🏻♀️action verb.
Let’s remind ourselves of what a noun is. A noun is a word 💬for a person🧑, a place🏩 or a 🍎 thing. A noun🗣 describes anything that you can ✋🏽touch, 👀see, smell👃🏻, taste 👅 or hear👂🏻. A noun is the subject within a sentence.
Person:🧑
Jenny👩
Teacher👩🏫
Grandparent👨🦳
Place:🏩
School🏫
Home🏡
Seaside🌊
Thing:🍎
Ice Cream🍦
Pencil✏️
Television📺
Examples of action🏃verbs
It might be tricky to spot when you first ☝️ start to learn English, but you just have to think🧠 about what the noun, or subject, can do even if that thing 🧢 or person 🧍🏻 isn’t doing it all the⏰ time.
Sometimes, the word💬 for the action🏃 verb itself can change depending on the tense in which it is used; in the past🔙, in the future🔜, or right ⬇️ now. Some examples of this are below. The action verb is in bold, and you will see 🌚 that the word changes depending on when the action🏃 was done.
Eat 🍽
The word eat🍽 is used differently depending on when the action happened. You can see that the word changes when used to describe something that has happened in the🔙 past.
You can 🍽 eat an🍎 apple.
This is what you (the noun) can do (action verb) now.
You🍽 ate an 🍎 apple.
This is what you (the noun) did do (action verb) in the past.
You🍽 will eat an 🍎 apple.
This is what you (the noun) can, or will, do (action verb) in the future.
Play🤸♂️
This time, all three 3️⃣ tenses have an effect on the same word and how it is used in a 💬 sentence.
Jenny plays🤸♂️ with your toys🧩.
The wordplay is what Jenny (the noun) can do (action verb) now.
Jenny played 🤸♂️with your toys🤸♂🧩.
The word played is what Jenny (the noun) did do (action verb) in the past.
Jenny will be playing🤸♂️ with your toys🧩.
The word playing is what Jenny (the noun) can, or will, do (action verb) in the future.
Teach👩🏫
Just like play, the word teach is also used in different ways.
The teacher 👩🏫 is teaching the class🏫.
The word teaching is what the teacher (the noun) can do (action verb) now.
The teacher👩🏫 taught the class🏫.
The word teaching is what the teacher (the noun) did do (action verb) in the past.
The teacher👩🏫 will teach the class🏫.
The word teach is what the teacher (the noun) can, or will, do (action verb) in the future.
Can you spot the action verb?
Remember🧠, the action verb is something that a subject (the noun) is 🤸♂️ doing, can do, or has done. Let’s see if you can find the action verbs in the sentences ⬇️ below.
The ice cream 🍦 melts in the 🌞 sunshine.
My grandparents👵🏽 🧓🏽 always hug🙆🏽♀️ me.
Jenny laughed🤣as she closed the🚪 door.
Tip - there can be more than ☝🏾 one action verb in a sentence, so look👀 closely and see if you can 🕵️ spot them!