Explain Action vs Linking Verbs

All verbs are either action or linking verbs.

Action verbs

The most common type of verb is an action verb. An action verb describes what the subject does, did, will do, has done, had done, or will have done.

Action verbs are easy to recognize because the verb is something that people or objects can do. "Run," "think," "speak," "take," "grow," "want," and "try" are examples of action verbs.

Linking verbs

Linking verbs show a state of being and can’t be "done." The most common linking verbs are forms of the verb "be" (am, are, is, was were, will be, shall be). Some other common state-of-being verbs are "seem" and "become."

The tricky "sense" verbs

Other linking verbs are called "sense" verbs because they deal with the ways senses (sound, taste, smell, look, feel) can be used to talk about nouns. It is a little trickier to tell if they are action or linking because they can do both jobs in different sentences. If the subject "does" the verb, it is action. If the verb makes it possible to give more information about the subject, the verb is linking.

Example

The milk smells sour.
"Smells" is a linking verb in this sentence because the milk does not "do" the verb. The verb helps us say something about the state of the milk.

BUT:

The girl smells the flower.
"Smells" is an action verb in this sentence because the girl "does" this action.