What is a Main Verb?

Main Verb

What do you like most about your favorite movie - the character, the story, the special effects? Most movies have the main character - the person or animal who stars in the movie. But if you only have the main character, all you have is a movie poster - nothing happens. You need action to make a good movie.

A sentence is like a movie. It must have a subject, which tells whom or what the sentence is about, like the movie star. But a sentence also needs some action. That is why every sentence has a main verb. The main verb of the sentence expresses either the action or the state of being of the subject.

Verb Review

What is a verb, anyway? A verb is a word that expresses an action or state of being.

Action verbs express action. Here are some examples of action verbs:

run, walk, kick, hug, eat, dance, write, forget, build

Linking verbs connect the subject to a word that describes or renames it. Here are some examples of linking verbs:

is, was, seems, appears, feels, grows, smells, tastes, becomes

Main Verbs in a Sentence

A sentence is a group of words that has a subject and a verb and expresses a complete thought.

The main verb is the verb in the sentence that is expressing the action or state of being of the subject.

• Marilyn ate pie.
  In this sentence, the subject is Marilyn.
  The action verb ate tells the action that Marilyn performed. Ate is the main verb in this sentence.
• She was hungry.
  In this sentence, the subject is she.
  The linking verb was connects the subject to the word that describes it. Was is the main verb in this sentence.

Complications

You might find a sentence with more than one verb. If this happens, you need to first find the subject of the sentence. Then see which verb expresses the action of that subject or connects that subject to a word that renames or describes it.

Eric yelled at the barking dog.     Verbs: yelled, barking

Let's look at this sentence one piece at a time:

• Eric is a noun, and the subject of the sentence.
• yelled is a verb that tells what Eric is doing.
• at the barking dog is a prepositional phrase that describes how Eric yelled.
• This means the verb barking is acting as an adjective and a part of the prepositional phrase, so it cannot be the main verb. The main verb of this sentence is yelled.

Julia loves singing.     Verbs: loves, singing

Let's look at this sentence one piece at a time:

• Julia is a noun and the subject of the sentence.
• loves is an action verb and tells what Julia does.
• singing is also a verb, but it is acting as a noun and the object of the verb. The main verb of this sentence is loves.

Jose sings and dances.     Verbs: sings, dances

Let's look at this sentence one piece at a time:

• Jose is a noun and the subject of the sentence.
• sings is a verb that tells what Jose is doing.
• dances is a verb that tells what Jose is doing.
• In this sentence, there are actually two main verbs. The same subject, Jose, performs two actions. This is called a compound verb.