Published on
June 28, 2024
by
Sophie Shores, MA
Revised on
April 17, 2025
All complete sentences have a subject and a predicate. The predicate is the part of the sentence that contains the verb and tells us about the subject, such as what it’s doing or what it is.
A predicate nominative (also called a predicate noun) is a noun or pronoun that identifies, describes, or redefines the subject within the predicate.
Predicate nominatives always follow linking verbs. Unlike action verbs, linking verbs (e.g., “be,” “become,” or “seem”) indicate conditions or states of being.
Predicate nominative examplesRamesh was a student.
Her dream became reality.
The bird with the largest wingspan is the wandering albatross.
Published on
June 28, 2024
by
Sophie Shores, MA
Revised on
March 7, 2025
We use the simple past tense form of a verb to talk about actions and events that were completed in the past (e.g., “I walked to work yesterday”).
For regular verbs, we usually form the simple past tense by adding “-ed” to the base form of the verb (e.g., “jump” becomes “jumped”). Irregular verbs form the simple past tense in a number of ways (e.g., “go” becomes “went”).
Almost all simple past tense verbs use the same form no matter the subject (e.g., “I called/she called/we called”).
Published on
June 28, 2024
by
Sophie Shores, MA
Revised on
March 7, 2025
The past progressive tense (aka the past continuous) is a past tense verb form used for actions that were ongoing in the past.
To form the past progressive, follow the subject with the simple past tense of the auxiliary verb “be” (i.e., “was/were”) and the present participle (the -ing form) of the main verb (e.g., “she was running,” “they were running”).
Published on
June 28, 2024
by
Sophie Shores, MA
Revised on
October 18, 2024
Stative verbs (sometimes called state verbs) describe a state, condition, or perception. The state can be physical, mental, or emotional (e.g., “be,” “believe,” “love”).
In contrast, action verbs (aka dynamic verbs) describe an action carried out by or on the subject (e.g., “eat,” “throw,” “run”).
Examples: Stative verbsI think he’s the one.
She has a nice car.
The coffee tastes delicious.
Published on
June 28, 2024
by
Sophie Shores, MA
Revised on
January 28, 2025
With regular verbs, we form the simple past and past participle forms by adding “-ed” to the end of the word (or “-d” if the verb already ends in “e”). Regular verbs can sometimes change their spelling in other ways (e.g., “try” becomes “tried”).
Regular verbs examplesI will clean the kitchen.
I cleaned the kitchen yesterday.
I will cook dinner.
I have cooked dinner every night this week.
Published on
June 27, 2024
by
Sophie Shores, MA
Revised on
March 7, 2025
Auxiliary verbs (aka helping verbs) are verbs used alongside the main verb to change its tense, mood, or voice.
For example, in “the book was written,” “written” is the main verb and “was” is an auxiliary verb helping to form the passive voice, indicating that the subject of the sentence is receiving the action.
Auxiliary verbs also help to form tenses, including the perfect tenses (e.g., “I have eaten already”), and the progressive tenses (e.g., “they are coming”).
Examples: Auxiliary verbs in a sentenceDoes he write to you?
Published on
June 27, 2024
by
Sophie Shores, MA
Revised on
April 11, 2025
Linking verbs (aka copular verbs) link the subject of a sentence to a subject complement, which indicates the condition, state of being, or identity of the subject.
A linking verb describes or redefines the subject, while an action verb describes something the subject does or has done to it (e.g., “throw,” “dance,” “swim”).
