There are many different words in the English language that are used to describe what someone or something is doing. These are critical words to any sentence because they tell us what is going on. Without the presence of these words, the sentences do not make sense or offer much information to the reader. It can be things as simple as walking or complex as writing a fractional algorithm to solve a world health crisis. Any time a single word is used to describe what a subject is doing; we refer to that word as an action verb. In addition to these words being able to describe a physical action they can also be used to describe mental things and things we cannot see taking place such as thinking or feeling. These types of words come in many different tenses and should be examined in depth to best know which form of the word is the most fitting.

There are two types of action verbs that are used. A transitive verb form are words that affect a specific object. A good example of this is the word washes. You can only be washing one thing at a time, so this is a direct object. Intransitive verbs do not apply to a specific person or thing, instead they focus on what the subject of the action is doing. A few common intransitive words would include yell, play, and go.