When you write a code review or report a bug, check what the verb tells your reader. Does it name an action, help another verb, or connect the subject to a description? Look at the verb in the whole sentence: the same word can have different roles.
Find the main verb that names the action
Start by asking what happened or what someone did. In the supplied lesson sentence, reviewed names the action completed by the operations director. A main verb carries the central meaning of the verb phrase. For an action in a code review, identify both the person or thing doing it and the verb that names it.
The reviewer checked the error message before approving the change.
Checked is the main verb in the main clause: it tells us what the reviewer did. Its past form places that action in the past. The phrase beginning with before adds information about the sequence. When checking a longer review comment, find the central action first, then read the details around it.
Keep helping verbs with the verbs they support
A helping verb works with a main verb. Read the words together to understand the action and its timing. Looking only for a word with an action meaning can make you miss part of the message. In an issue update, that missing part may distinguish work happening now from a completed action.
The developer is checking the failing test.
Checking names the action, and is helps form the present continuous. Together, is checking describes an action in progress. Is does not connect the developer to a description here; it supports checking. If you identify the verb phrase in this update, include both words.
Recognize linking verbs that introduce a description
A linking verb connects the subject to information about that subject. It can be the sentence's main verb, so main and linking are not always separate categories. To distinguish a linking use of is from a helping use, check what follows: does it describe the subject, or form an action with another verb?
The error message is unclear.
Unclear describes the error message. Is links that subject to its description and is the main verb here. This review comment describes a condition; it does not say that someone is performing an action. Compare its structure with the previous example, where is supports checking.
Before sending a developer message, underline the whole verb phrase. Check whether it names an action, includes a helping verb, or links the subject to a description.
Practice: Types of Verbs: Main Helping Linking.
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