In the sentence "The dog barked loudly," what part of speech is "barked"?

In the sentence "The dog barked loudly," the word "barked" serves as a verb. Verbs are action words that depict what is happening in the sentence, and in this case, "barked" describes the action performed by the subject, "the dog." This indicates what the dog is doing, thus confirming its role as a verb in this context.

Understanding that verbs express actions or states of being is crucial in identifying parts of speech. In contrast, nouns represent people, places, things, or ideas; adjectives describe nouns; and adverbs typically modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. In this sentence, while "loudly" acts as an adverb modifying how the dog barked, "barked" distinctly functions as the action itself.