Verb Phrases:
The verb and all it's modifiers make up the verb phrase. You can have verb phrases that tell time so they would have the finite verb phrase. or you could have verb phrases with no specific time or tense and be nonfinite verb phrases
The most important subcategories of a main verb are intransitive, transitive, and linking.
intransitive: those that can stand all by themselves in their phrases. They can have modifiers but don't require modifiers.
The children laughed
My heart stopped.
The tree swayed.
The roof collapsed.
Transitive verbs: Require a following direct object noun phrase
The pitcher threw the ball.
His father bought a new suit.
Sally sold vegetables.
Linking Verbs: They link a subject with a description of that subject. They never stand alone and are mostly used to describe senses or perceptions.
Mary feels tired
My goldfish seems lethargic.
The soup tastes funny
This beer smells sour.
He became angry.
This paper looks messy.
Their music sounds terrible.
The situation appeared hopeless.
Nonfinite Verb Phrase: "borrows" the subject from another part of the sentence. Because of this you also get "dangling participles" or participles that don't borrow a subject from another part of the sentence but instead imply that there is another subject.
Smelling the poison, the princess refused to eat her soup.
The subject "princess" can be used in both "refused to eat her soup" and "smelling the poison" This
is the nonfinite verb phrase.
Running for the bus, my book fell in the mud.
Because the subject "book" isn't also running for the bus, the second subject is an implied subject which makes "running for the bus" a dangling participle.
