ABSTRACT
VERB [14c: from Latin verbum word] A class of words that serve to indicate the occurrence or performance of an action, or the existence of a state or condition: in English, such words (given here in the infinitive with to) as to climb, to cultivate, to descend, to fish, to laugh, to realize, to walk. Although many verbs in English have the same base form as nouns (climb, fish, hound, love, walk), they are morphologically and syntactically a distinct word class and one of the traditional parts of speech. There are two main types: full verb, auxiliary verb. In terms of form, full verbs divide into regular and irregular verbs. Auxiliaries may be further divided into primary auxiliaries (be, have, do) and modal auxiliaries or modal verbs (may, can, will, shall, must, ought to, need, dare).
