verb
/vɜːb/ (bre, ipa) · /vɜːrb/ (ame, ipa) · /ˈvərb/ (ame, mw)
verb — noun
- verbsingular
- verbsplural
1. a word that tells what someone or something does, what happens to them, or what
a word that tells what someone or something does, what happens to them, or what state they are in — for example, 'run,' 'become,' and 'exist' are all verbs.
In the sentence 'Birds fly,' the word 'fly' is a verb.
identifying a verb in context
Hyun looked up the verb 'discuss' in his dictionary before the test.
Adaeze noticed that the verb 'be' appears five times in one paragraph of her textbook.
The teacher asked the class to underline each verb in the short story.
Joon changed the verb 'walk' to 'walked' when telling his class about yesterday's field trip.
- action word
informal term, often used in primary school teaching
- noun
different word class — nouns name things rather than actions or states
文法句型
verb + be + noun phrase
a/the verb
用法筆記
A sentence normally contains at least one verb. The verb is often called the 'heart' of the sentence because it tells the main action or state.
常見錯誤
verb — verb
- verbpresent simple I / you / we / they
- verbs3rd person singular
- verbing-ing form
- verbedpast simple
1. to take a word that normally belongs to another word class, especially a noun, a
to take a word that normally belongs to another word class, especially a noun, and use it in the way a verb is used — for example, treating the noun 'email' as a verb in 'She emailed the report to everyone.'
People often verb nouns like 'google' and 'text' in everyday conversation.
noun-to-verb conversion
The word 'access' was originally a noun, but now many speakers verb it.
passive: be verbed
Linguists sometimes disagree about which nouns can be verbed without sounding awkward.
Advertisers who verb a common noun like 'gift' may find it wears off quickly.
Élise's teacher explained that English speakers have verbed the word 'contact' for decades.
- nominalise
to turn a word into a noun instead of a verb
文法句型
verb + noun
be verbed (passive)
用法筆記
This sense is most common in discussions about language change. Some people find new verbed words informal or annoying, but many such words become standard over time.