# Verbs- really necessary? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 24, 2002, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbs-really-necessary/105275 "2002-04-24T03:25:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Ryan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7feea3/32.png) [@The\_Ryan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Ryan)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbs-really-necessary/105275/1 "2002-04-24T03:25:31Z")
Newspaper headlines: often, no verbs. Even some news stories without verbs. Presumably, this OP understandable without verbs. So: verbs- really necessary? ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbs-really-necessary/105275/2 "2002-04-24T03:26:46Z")
Perhaps yes, perhaps no. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbs-really-necessary/105275/3 "2002-04-24T03:27:11Z")
**Moderator’s Note:** Off to IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbs-really-necessary/105275/4 "2002-04-24T03:28:42Z")
Unless you want to go through life without ever being able to say “fuck you”. 😃 heh ---
**Author:** ![JubilationTCornpone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee59a6/32.png) [@JubilationTCornpone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JubilationTCornpone)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbs-really-necessary/105275/5 "2002-04-24T04:55:43Z")
Foolish question. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbs-really-necessary/105275/6 "2002-04-24T05:32:50Z")
No verbs? You is being wacked! ---
**Author:** ![kuroashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9a140/32.png) [@kuroashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kuroashi)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbs-really-necessary/105275/7 "2002-04-24T05:55:23Z")
“Fuck! You again?” verbs - overrated ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbs-really-necessary/105275/8 "2002-04-24T06:20:23Z")
Well, according to half the people I tutor verbs aren’t necessary, and the other half think that conjugated verbs aren’t necessary. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![BraheSilver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecccb3/32.png) [@BraheSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BraheSilver)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbs-really-necessary/105275/9 "2002-04-24T06:53:50Z")
No verbs? My writing odd. Eloquence gone, difficult self-expression. Caveman style reappearance? Maybe. Ally-Oop? No! Og! Og! Og! Wait… “Smash” is a verb too. What’s poor old Og to do? ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbs-really-necessary/105275/10 "2002-04-24T07:30:30Z")
“Tomorrow I my wife workplace.” Without verbs, this is a meaningless statement. Add different verbs and you get different meanings: “Tomorrow I will drive my wife to her workplace.” “Tomorrow I will sleep in and my wife will drive to her workplace.” “Tomorrow I will meet my wife at her workplace.” “Tomorrow I and my wife will take the bus to our workplace.” Furthermore, the word “understandable” (which is used in the OP) is an adjective derived from the verb “understand”. ---
**Author:** ![David\_Simmons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9de053/32.png) [@David\_Simmons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David_Simmons)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbs-really-necessary/105275/11 "2002-04-24T07:47:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BraheSilver \* > \*\*No verbs? My writing odd. Eloquence gone, difficult self-expression. Caveman style reappearance? Maybe. Ally-Oop? No! Og! Og! Og! > > Wait… “Smash” is a verb too. What’s poor old Og to do? \*\* You are writing a literal translation of Russian which has no verb “to be” in the present tense. So in Russian you say “My wrting odd.” English, it seems to me, has no future form of “to go.” We use auxilliary verb or words like “He is going to go.” or “I will go tomorrow” or things like that. And, of course vowels aren’t needed either. Some languages, I think ancient Hebrew was one, use only consonants with diacritical marks to indicate pronumciation. At this rate we’ll make language so simple even I will be able to use it. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 9:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbs-really-necessary/105275/12 "2002-04-24T09:53:36Z")
Description of states easy. Verb “to be” often implied - as per **David Simmons** , in Russian, always implied, never stated. Description of actions less easy. Description of complex actions, with direct and indirect objects, flippin’ awkward. Possibly easier in inflected languages, where case endings indicative of word roles in sentence? (That last sentence really flippin’ awkward.) Verb often seen as core element of sentence; sentence incomplete without verb. Even in languages where no formal distinction between parts of speech, sentence incomplete without element translatable only as verb in language with such distinctions. My brain now painful. Cessation of this necessary. ---
**Author:** ![Tansu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/67e7ee/32.png) [@Tansu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tansu)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbs-really-necessary/105275/13 "2002-04-24T10:07:11Z")
“Verb often **seen** ” Don’t try and say you were using “seen” as an adjective… 😉 ---
**Author:** ![NutMagnet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea5d25/32.png) [@NutMagnet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NutMagnet)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbs-really-necessary/105275/14 "2002-04-24T10:59:27Z")
Steve Wright: Form of writing like some of the original Star Trak villains. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_Wright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@Steve\_Wright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_Wright)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 11:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbs-really-necessary/105275/15 "2002-04-24T11:07:52Z")
“Seen” past participle. Participles adjectives, at least in traditional grammar. **Tansu** not fair! Not playing any more! Waaah! ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbs-really-necessary/105275/16 "2002-04-24T15:52:40Z")
A participle is a verb used as an adjective, like a gerund is a verb used as a noun. If there were no verbs you’d have no word “see” to use as an adjective. So no fair using it! ---
**Author:** ![Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/angel_of_the_lord/32/2949_2.png) [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angel_of_the_Lord)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbs-really-necessary/105275/17 "2002-04-24T16:41:42Z")
Verbs are necessary, I think, in order to facilitate coherent communication between individuals. Clarity is something essential to our language, and to sacrifice that would be to limit our very mode of thought. Sort of like Newspeak or something. However, seeing as I lost the “no, it is not and by all rights never should be acceptable to use ‘how r u? Im fine but u suk’ in formal written langauge, no matter how many stupid people use it online” debate at Christmas Eve dinner with my family, I could be wrong. :rolleyes: Yeah, I’m still bitter. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbs-really-necessary/105275/18 "2002-04-24T16:57:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by sturmhauke \* > “Tomorrow I my wife workplace.” An even simpler example: I you. Based on what I’ve just said, are you gonna hug me or slug me? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbs-really-necessary/105275/19 "2002-04-24T21:05:42Z")
Computer geeks actually like to coin new verbs, so they are hardly unnecessary if the the terse ones like to create them. Or, as the old fortune line goes: “All nouns can be verbed.” ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbs-really-necessary/105275/20 "2002-04-24T21:18:40Z")
Aagh! Kryptonite! Mind weak…speech…disjointed…verbs…lost…Lois! Ugh. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/verbs-really-necessary/105275.md?page=2)