Verbs are an essential part of speech in the English language, as they’re used to show what the subject is doing in a sentence. They refer to all actions, including those related to emotions and feelings. Still, verbs come in various forms and types, meaning they can perform different functions in a sentence or provide an alternative meaning.
Unfortunately, the seemingly endless number of verbs and verb forms in the English language can pose a challenge to even the most advanced native speakers. With the help of our online verb finder tool, however, you can easily identify and fix common verb mistakes. Along with that, our verb finder helps detect grammar, punctuation, and spelling errors through an advanced algorithm, making it an all-rounded proofreading tool. Simply paste your text on the tool’s interface and let it handle the rest.
Before we can learn how our verb finder highlighter works, let’s take a look at the different types of verbs.
These verb types are used to denote when a person is doing something or an action is happening. They can further be split into intransitive verbs and transitive verbs.
Intransitive verbs. These are action verbs that have no direct object.
Transitive verbs. This verb category is always followed by a direct object.
Different Types of Verbs
There are three primary categories of verbs, and understanding each will help determine where to use them correctly. They include action verbs, modal verbs, and linking verbs.
Let’s take a closer look at each category and how they work in a sentence.
Also known as helping verbs, auxiliary verbs modify main verb actions in a sentence.
Example: John is (helping verb) narrating (main action verb) his life story.
Linking verbs are used to connect subjects with nouns or adjectives in your sentences.
Example: My son is an economics major.
Different Verb Forms
Verbs can further be categorized into different verb forms. Basically, the verb form is the manner in which a verb is modified to suit the time and context of an action within a sentence. There are five primary verb forms in the English language including:
Root form of the verb
As the name suggests, the root form of a verb is the infinitive form of a word or phrase. When conjugated or paired with suffixes, the root form of a verb creates other forms of the verb
to cry– cry (root)
to be – be (root)
to come– come (root)
Third-person singular verb form
These verb forms are formed when the root form verb is paired with suffixes -s or -es.
He cries – cry (root)
He watches – watch (root)
It shrinks – shrink (root)
Present participle verb form
These verb forms are created when the root form verb is paired with the suffix–ing. They can be used as past, present, and future continuous verb tenses.
We’re going to the movies tonight. (go– going)
They’ve been running for hours. (run – running)
Past and past participle verb forms
These verb forms are formed when the root word is paired with the suffix–ed, and can only be used as a past tense.
We shopped throughout the weekend. (shop–shopped)
The crates were stacked in the warehouse. (stack – stacked)
Verb-Related Errors That Our
Verb Finder & Highlighter Can Help With
Identifying incorrect verb usage is one of the most challenging aspects of English writing, especially if you are a non-native English speaker. To make things easier for you, we have compiled a list of the most common verb errors that you need to avoid.
Subject-Verb Disagreement Errors
This error occurs when the subject of a sentence and its respective verb disagree in terms of plurality or singularity. The error can also occur when you overlook conjunctions joining two or more subject nouns.
Incorrect: The house on the beach are too expensive.
Correct: The house on the beach is too expensive.
Incorrect: Either my dad or mum have the car keys.
Correct: Either my dad or mum has the car keys.
Our verb finder in a sentence online tool will crawl through texts, establish subject-verb disagreement errors, and suggest how to fix them.
Conjugation and Irregular Verbs Errors
Conjugation denotes how verbs are inflected based on the subject’s person, mood, number, or gender. In English writing, different verbs have different rules for conjugation. Some are regular and steady, while others are irregular and change form.
Cook, cooks, cooked, cooking, etc.
Be, being, is, were, was, etc.
Our noun and verb finder will help identify all regular and irregular verbs in your texts and suggest how to correctly use them.
Compound Verbs and Parallelism Errors
This error occurs when you mix regular and irregular verb forms in your sentences, ultimately creating confusion.
Incorrect: At that time, Mary had applied, but as yet not receive, the job she wanted.
Correct: At that time, Mary had applied, but as yet not received, the job she wanted.
Although the first sentence may sound correct, the “had applied” is in the past perfect tense, and so, the word “receive” should be in parallel tense. Luckily for you, our verb phrase finder can help you understand different verb tenses in your texts.
How Our Verb Finder Tool Online Works
Using our verb identifier to weed out verb mistakes in your writing is a simple process. Better yet, the verb detector is available as a Chrome Extension, allowing you to proofread your texts wherever you’re writing online. Simply follow these easy steps.
Copy-paste your text into the to be verb checker’s interface.
Click the “Check” button and wait for the tool to conduct a thorough language check.
After a few seconds, the action verb finder will highlight all the verb errors and provide suggestions on how to fix them.
Accept the suggestions by clicking on the highlighted mistakes.
Our weak verb finder also comes with a plagiarism checker, which you can use to catch accidental plagiarism in your texts.
Who Can Use Verb Checker
Our verb finder in a sentence is used by millions of users in a wide variety of writing contexts. Here are several types of users who can benefit from using this verb finder online tool for their writing and editing needs.
Teachers and students
Teachers can use the to be verbs checker to check mistakes in students’ texts, as well as offer advice on basic grammar rules. Students, on the other hand, can use the verbs finder to identify incorrect verb usage in their essays, theses, dissertations, reports, and college entrance applications.
Journalists, freelance writers and professional editors
The verb and noun finder can also be used to catch grammar-related errors in all forms of writing. Journalists, freelance writers, and professional editors can use the main verb finder to catch any grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors in their articles, journals, publications, and manuscripts.
The verbs checker saves business professionals time at work when composing emails or marketing reports. Still, it is compatible with Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Outlook, and all online websites.
English language learners
The verb in sentence finder offers contextual mistake corrections and suggestions, allowing English language learners to use it as an interactive grammar guide.
Benefits of Using Our Verb Checker
Online Free Tool
Our to be verb finder offers a lot of benefits for people who are constantly engaged in writing. Here are some of the reasons why you should consider using our online to be verbs finder.
Saves Time and Money
One of the most prominent benefits of using our verb tense checker is its time-saving aspect. Unlike the mentally taxing and time-consuming manual editing process, our tool allows you to identify and fix errors in your texts with a single click of a mouse. And if you can’t afford to hire a professional editor, the helping verb finder will do all the heavy lifting, all without spending a fortune.
Compared to the native Microsoft Word spell-check, the to be verb checker is much more robust and versatile. It leverages a sophisticated AI system, advanced ML technology, and computational linguistics to learn good writing patterns and offer contextual suggestions.
Unlike many similar tools that require you to pay, our verb finder in sentence online tool comes with a free-to-use version. With this version, you can check your texts for grammar, spelling, and punctuation mistakes, as well as identify accidental plagiarism.
Easy to Use
Using our verb tense finder requires no technical or professional skills. After visiting our website, paste your typed text on the tool’s interface, click check, and you are good to go. Alternatively, you can type on the verb checker or download it as a Chrome Extension.
The to be verbs checker is cloud-based, making it available anytime and from anywhere.
Tips on How To Identify Verbs in a Sentence Like a Pro
On top of helping you create complete and concise sentences, identifying verbs in your texts also gives you a deeper understanding of peripheral grammatical concepts like run-on sentences and sentence fragments.
If you are facing difficulties in identifying verbs in your writing, here are a few keys that you can use.
Identify words that describe an action in a sentence
As earlier indicated, verbs are action words used to describe an action or a state of being. As such, the easiest way to identify verbs is to identify any action words in your sentences.
He ran to school. Since “running” is an action, “ran” is the verb in the sentence.
Other action words include “think,” “drive,” “walk,” “play,” etc.
Master the different verb tenses
Verbs are the only English words that are modified or conjugated. Still, verb conjugations can change depending on your sentence’s tense. In English writing, the five verb tenses include infinitive, past, present, past participles, and present participles.
Learning how to identify and differentiate between the different verb forms is critical in helping you locate verbs in your sentences.
Memorize the different tenses of “to be”
Of all irregular verbs, “to be” verbs are undoubtedly the most unique. Along with describing the condition of people, places, things, and ideas, they are the only verbs that have eight distinct forms namely “is,” “was,” “were,” “am,” “are,” “being,” and “been.”
But even with all their complexities, “to be” verbs are some of the most used in English writing. By memorizing all of them, it becomes easy to avoid them in your sentences.
Use a verb checker
Before handing in or publishing your work, you need to overcome several behind-the-scenes hurdles including researching, writing, and re-writing. But perhaps the most important (but often overlooked) part of the entire writing process is proofreading. No matter how well you think you’ve written your texts, proofreading will almost certainly catch a few subtle or glaring mistakes.
In hindsight, however, not everyone has the wherewithal to hire a professional proofreader. And even if you do, chances are you don’t have the luxury of waiting for the editor to manually comb through your texts. With our verb sentence finder, you can enjoy the best of both worlds by eliminating incorrect verb-usage in your texts, all with a single click of a mouse.