Practice Makes Perfect

18 Practice Makes Perfect: English Grammar for ESL Learners

Intransitive Verbs Used in a Sentence

come Can you come to the party?

crawl The baby crawls on the floor.

drive We are driving fast.

fly I flew here from Paris.

go Are you going home?

hurry We hurry to the window.

jump Peter jumps from the roof.

ride I am riding in his car.

run The girls run past the school.

sail We are sailing to Europe.

travel Do you want to travel with us?

walk I walk out of the theater.

Still other verbs introduce the condition or state of someone or something. They do not take a

direct object and are most often followed by an adjective. These verbs are usually called linking

verbs. Here are some commonly used linking verbs:

Linking Verbs Used in a Sentence

appear The boy appears quite well.

be I am hungry.

become The weather becomes bad.

feel It feels hot.

grow The dog is growing weak.

look She looks unhappy.

seem The coat seems too small for you.

smell The pizza smells good.

sound The music sounds awful.

taste The popcorn tastes salty.

Careful! Some of the linking verbs have a second usage. They can be used as transitive verbs.

Look at these examples:

Linking Verb: His skin feels hot. (hot adjective)

Transitive Verb: He feels a sharp pain. (a sharp pain direct object)

Linking Verb: The sky grows cloudy. (adjective)

Transitive Verb: We grow vegetables. (direct object)

Linking Verb: That smells beautiful. (adjective)

Transitive Verb: She smells the flowers. (direct object)

Linking Verb: My coffee tastes bitter. (adjective)

Transitive Verb: Risa tasted the ice cream. (direct object)

You can identify linking verbs by substituting am, is, or arefor the verb. If the sentence makes

sense with the substitution, it is a linking verb. If it does not make sense, it is a transitive verb.

Some examples:

It feels cold. (It iscold.) This makes sense. Linking Verb

He feels her pulse. (He isher pulse.) This makes no sense. Transitive Verb

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