AKA: processes
Examples Action: I walked to school. Relating: Chlorophyll is the substance that gives green plants their color. Saying/Thinking: The article argues against school uniforms. Feeling: Annie felt angry.
Functional grammar classifies verbs (or, processes, as they are technically called) semantically, that is by the kinds of meanings they bring to a clause. You may have heard that verbs are used for actions, beings, and states. That’s a good start, but it doesn’t cover the full range of meanings! The metalanguage (terminology) you use will depend on the age and level of students you teach. The table below summarizes the four key groups of verbs used in the WIDA Framework and this companion along with other names you may see for them.
| Verb type | AKA | Examples | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| action | doing verbs | ||
| material processes | walk, eat, go, happen, make | Agent (who does the action) | |
| Goal (whom the action affects) | |||
| Recipient (who receives the action) | |||
| relating | linking or being verbs | ||
| relational processes | *be, have, become, refer to, define, cost, include | ||
| there is/are* | Token (the thing being links or described) | ||
| Value (the quality or characteristic given to the token) | |||
| [thinking/ | |||
| saying](https://talkinglanguage.notion.site/Saying-Thinking-Verbs-58aebc3f820a4830a95a4e47b3a68c4a) | verbal processes | ||
| mental processes | |||
| reporting verbs | |||
| dialog verbs | say, think, argue, believe, claim, wonder | Sayer (the person, group, or source that says or thinks) | |
| feeling | behavioral processes | ||
| mental processes | feel, hear, sense, smell, taste | Sensor (the person who feels, thinks, or behaves in a certain way) |
Each category of verb allows or requires different participants. So from a structural perspective, it’s important to understand the type of verb in order to write a grammatical clause. More importantly, perhaps, is the idea that each type of verb does something different. Imagine you’re standing at the front of a room. When you say an action verb, you move one step forward. When you say a linking, reporting, or feeling verb, you take a step to the side. Your progress will mirror the development of the text, especially one that Narrates (I wish I could give credit to the presenter at TESOL who demonstrated this technique, but sadly I don’t remember her name!).
One consequence is that students who need to understand or produce texts that Inform or Explain will need good control over linking (relational) verbs since these are the verbs that describe, define, and explain concepts. Students using sources to Inform or Argue will need reporting verbs that “project” the ideas and words they have read and heard. Focusing exclusively on verbs as “doing words” is good preparation for narratives but not much else!