Action Words

What Are Action Words?

1, 2, 3, action! You have heard these words from the mouths of movie directors, but what connection could this possibly have to English grammar? When there is call for action, we are calling for action words. Action wordsare verbs, as you might guess, which are words that describe actions. These are in contrast to non-action words, also called non-action verbs, which are words that describe a state of being, a need, an opinion, or a sense. Every time you write about an action that has happened, is happening, or is going to happen, you use action words. For example:

• I was running yesterday.
• I am running now.
• I will run tomorrow.

This lesson goes over different types of action words, examples of action words, and shows you how to use them in sentences. Let's get to work!

Action Words in Action

There are different formats and types of actions words, and it's also important to know how to use verb tenses with them properly. So, let's go over some important details to keep in mind.

Action verbs are words that describe actions, while non-action verbs are words that refer to a state of being, a need, an opinion, or a sense. Look at some examples of these two types of verbs in relation to one another. Some examples of action verbs include:

• Play
• Jump
• Eat
• Work
• Study
• Drive
• Walk
• Write
• Read
• Talk

When using action verbs in writing, describe actions and movement. Here are some examples of these words in sentences:

• I am playing basketball with my friends.
• They were talking way too fast.
• He drove so far for that concert!

Some examples of non-action verbs include:

• Am
• Is
• Are
• Believe
• Hear
• Understand
• Own
• Seem
• Love
• Remember

When using non-action verbs in writing, describe feelings and states of being rather than actions and movement. Here are some examples of their use in sentences:

• I understand the point of the story.
• She seems nice.
• Do you remember me?

Action Word Uses

Depending upon the timeline being referred to, when you use action words, you will have to format your verbs according to the proper grammar tense. There are a lot of tenses in the English language, so it is important to keep them straight so your writing does not become confusing. For example:

• I biking yesterday. (This is incorrect)
• I biked yesterday. (This is correct)
• I will studied tomorrow. (This is incorrect)
• I will study tomorrow. (This is correct)

Always check your verb/tense agreement. This will ensure your sentences make sense.

Additionally, verbs like to play games with us. Regular verbs are kind, but irregular verbs are those that do not follow the regular -d, -ed, or -ied rules when it comes past tense. The spelling and format of irregular verbs can completely change when it comes time to change to past tense. This means you will want to become familiar with irregular verbs so there is no confusion when the time comes to use them in writing.

For example:

• I broke my toy. (Broke is past tense to the irregular verb, break.)
• I worked on my bike yesterday. (Work is a regular verb and the past tense is worked.)
• He wrote a paper last week. (Wrote is past tense of the irregular verb, write.)

Practice Using Action Words

Here is a chance to practice with action words. Take a look at the sentences and see if you can tell which have action words and which have non-action words:

• The girls look very pretty.
• We were running for hours.
• I prefer hamburgers rather than hotdogs.
• He cannot believe the amount of homework he has.
• They drove all through the night.

How do you think you did? Sentences 1, 3, and 4 have non-action words, while sentences 2 and 5 have action words.