Review the other parts of speech that make up a sentence. Refer to the following sentence.

Noun	Verb	Noun	Verb
The tortoise	and the monkey found	a banana tree	and divided it.
↑ Subject	↑ Predicate

The words found and divided above denote action. What part of speech are action words? A verb is a word that expresses time while showing an action, a condition, or the fact that something exists and make up the predicate of a sentence.

In a sentence, a verb can also be considered either as an action verb or a linking verb. Action verbs tell what action is taking place. Linking verbs such as is, am, are, was, and, were join the subject with a word or words in the predicate.

The monkey was frightened.

The tortoise looked tired.

The crocodile jumped on the monkey.

Some verbs however, may be used as either linking or action verbs. These verbs include: appear, become, feel, grow, look, remain, seem, smell, sound, stay, taste.

Study the examples below and tell how the verb is used as an action or a linking verb.

Linking Verb	Action Verb
The rice cakes looked fluffy and soft.	Luis looked at the rice cakes on the plate.
In this sentence, if look is replaced by were, a form of the verb be, the sentence still makes sense. The rice cakes were fluffy and soft.	In this sentence, looked implies an action. If it will be replaced by were, the sentence would not make sense. Luis were at the rice cakes on the plate.

Even then, action verbs and linking verbs should agree with the subject in number. The basic rule in sentence writing is that a singular noun must have a singular verb and that a plural noun must have a plural verb.

Examples

• The monkey is very strong.
  
  The tortoise and the monkey are characters in a folktale.

Remember that expressions of time, money, measurement, and weight when considered as one unit, are considered as singular subjects.

Examples

• Five pesos is not too much to ask.
  
  Ten days is not enough time.

Some subjects always take a singular verb such as:

• each - someone


• either - anyone


• neither - nobody


• one - somebody


• no one - anybody


• everyone - everybody

Examples

• Everyone needs to go to the library.
  
  Is anybody free to go to the library tomorrow?

However, some indefinite pronouns—such as all, some—take on singular or plural verbs depending on what they are referring to. For example, is the thing referred to countable or not?

Examples

• Some of the beads are missing.
  
  Some of the water is gone.

The pronouns neither and either are singular and require singular verbs even though they seem to be referring, in a sense, to two things.

Examples

• Neither of the two traffic lights is working.
  
  Which shirt do you want for Christmas? Either is fine with me.