verbal, as in the phrase a verbal agreement means containing words -- whether they are written down or not. If you mean that nothing was put in writing then the word you want is oral.
verbs see tenses.
via means "by way of", not "by means of". You can travel to Yaumatei via Mongkok; you cannot go there via bus.
viable has a strict technical meaning in biological contexts, to which it should be confined. As Bryson says "Even when used correctly it tends to make a sentence read like a government document." What could be worse?
Vietnam is one word in our style, an arbitrary preference but convenient because the adjective, Vietnamese, is always one.
Vietnamese names look like Chinese names, in that there is a family name first and (usually two) given names afterwards. However the family names are not much use, mainly because there are only 12 of them and 54 per cent of the population share the same one: Nguyen. So on second reference the person is usually known by the final name; "Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet" becomes "Mr Kiet" for the rest of the story. Occasionally a woman will have four names, the extra one being "Thi" inserted in second place. The rule about using the last name as second reference still applies ... usually. If in doubt, repeat the name in full. Exception: Ho Chi Minh is Ho on second mention (it is a pseudonym anyway).
vocabulary -- no plural except when referring to whole vocabularies of individual languages.
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