+Hints for Oral Instruction+.—We propose to introduce you now to another class of words. (The teacher may here refer to the talk about birds.)

You have learned that one very large class of words consists of names of things. There is another very important class of words used to tell what these things do, or used to express their existence.

When I say, Plants grow, is grow the name of anything? +P+.—No. +T+.—What does it do? +P+.—It tells what plants do. It expresses action.

+T+.—When I say, God is, what does is express? +P+.—It expresses existence, or being.

+T+.—When I say, George sleeps, sleeps expresses being and something more; it tells the condition, or state in which George is, or exists, that is, it expresses state of being.

All the words that assert action, being, or state of being, we call
+Verbs+.

Let the teacher write nouns on the board, and require the pupils to give all the words of which they can think, telling what the things named can do. They may be arranged thus:—

Noun. Verbs.
" grow,
" droop,
Plants + decay,
" flourish,
" revive.

Each pupil may give a verb that expresses an action of the body; as weep, sing; an action of the mind; as, study, love; one that expresses being or state of being.

+DEFINITION.—A Verb is a word that asserts action, being, or state of being+.

The office of the verb in all its forms, except two (the participle and the infinitive, see Lessons 48 and 49), is to +assert+. This it does whether the sentence affirms, denies, or asks a question.

+To the Teacher+.—In the exercises of this and the next two Lessons, let the pupils note the agreement of the verb with its subject. See Notes, pp. 163-165.

Supply, to each of the following nouns, as many appropriate verbs as you can think of.

Let some express being or state of being.

Water ——.
Wind ——.
Pens ——.
Parrots ——.
Vines ——.
Farmers ——.
Trees ——.
Ministers ——.

One verb may consist of two, three, or four words; as, is singing, will be sung, might have been sung.

Form verbs by combining the words in columns 2 and 3, and add these verbs to all the nouns in column 1 with which they appropriately combine.

1 " 2 " 3
———-"—————————"——————
Laws " has been " published.
Clouds " have been " paid.
Food " will be " restored.
Health " should have been " preserved.
Taxes " may be " collected.
Books " are " obeyed.

The examples you have written are sentences; the nouns are subjects, and the verbs are predicates.

As verbs are the only words that assert, +every predicate+ must be a +verb+, or must contain a verb.

Be prepared to analyze and parse five of the sentences that you have written.

+Model+.—Laws are obeyed. Diagram and analyze as in Lesson 11.

+Parsing+.—Laws is a noun, because——; are obeyed is a verb, because it asserts action.