Verbs Verbs are words which express action, existence, or condition. We can divide verbs into two general categories:1/ action verbs - they express actions"The boy RAN home from school."2/ linking verbs - they join the subject of the sentence to some word in the predicate. Perhaps the most common link verb is 'to be'."I AM happy." Verb Phrases Verb phrases are composed of more than one verb."The mayor HAS REMAINED in office for five consecutive terms."In a verb phrase, the principal verb, known as the main verb, is the meat of the phrase. By itself, it can express a complete action, existence, or condition. In our sentence, "remained" is the main verb. It is always positioned at the end of the verb phrase.Auxiliary or helping verbs are the verbs in a verb phrase that precede the main verb. A verb phrase may contain as many as 4 auxiliary verbs. These verbs can specify characteristics of the main verb but cannot stand alone as complete verbs. In our sentence it is "has".Other auxiliary verbs are: be, have, do, can, may, will, shall, must, etc. In a verb phrase, it is the first auxiliary verb that indicates the tense of the phrase.Verbs are associated with 5 primary characteristics: number, person, voice, mood, tense. Verbs can also be regular and irregular.