How to Recognize A Verb in A Sentence?
http://www.whitesmoke.com/english-verbs-basic-terms.html
1. Tests for verbs: A good way to identify a verb when a word is in doubt is to ask, Can I do it? I can succeed (do it) is correct but I can success is incorrect. This means succeed is a verb and the related part of speech success is not a verb; in this case, success is a noun.
Another test for verbs is to use the word in question in a different verb tense. If the sentence still makes sense, the word is a verb.
Original: That’s the updated version of the software.
Test: That’s the will update version of the software.
[The word updated here is not a verb because using it in the future simple tense in the second sentence does not result in a logical sentence; it is an adjective describing the noun version]
2. Verbs can also be recognized by some common verb suffixes and prefixes.
Suffix or Prefix Meaning Examples
-ate to cause, make to activate, to differentiate
-fy or -ify to transform into to signify, to clarify
-ize (British -ise) to make like to realize, to criticize
-en to make/turn into to redden, to soften
be- forms transitive verbs that mean "cause" to befriend, to beseech
en- to bring into the condition of to encode, to engender
