Verbs
Verbs
 Sentence = Subject + Predicate
 Predicate = the VERB
 Verb = tells what the subject of the sentence is, has,
does, or feels
 Mary works
at the hospital.
 She loves her job.
 She helps the doctor.
 She treats the patients.
Action Verbs

Physical action that can be seen by other people
•
•

The girl runs around the neighborhood.
He eats the potato chips.
Mental action that cannot be seen
•
•
I like the book better than the movie.
We decided to go to the beach.
Being Verbs
 Express a state of being
 Do not refer to an action of any sort
 Simply tell what the subject is
•
•
•
•
Chelsea is the veterinarian's assistant.
She seems afraid of the dogs.
One dog looks angry.
The dogs are hungry.
Common Being Verbs
 Chart from page 100 in your textbook.
Forms of be:
am, is, are, was, were, be, being,
been
Other Being Verbs
appear, become, feel, grow, look,
seem, remain, smell, sound, stay,
taste
Try It Out – pg. 101
Linking Verbs

A linking verb links, or connects, the subject with a
noun or an adjective in the predicate that names or
describes the subject.
•
Coby is a dog.
•
Coby is small.
Underline the linking verb & draw an arrow showing which words are
linked by the verb.
 The huge diamond mine is now a museum.
 The farm animals looked quite content.
Linking Verbs
 Some verbs can function as either linking verbs or action verbs
•
Linking Verbs
The laundry smells fresh.
 The patient felt tired.

•
Action Verbs
The woman smells the perfume.
 She felt the patient’s forehead.

To Help You Decide…
 Try substituting is or are for the verb – if the
sentence still makes sense, the verb is most
likely a linking verb
•
•
The cats look scared. (The cats are scared)
The dog’s bark sounds vicious. (The dog’s bark is vicious.)
Try It Out – pg. 102
Action or Linking Verb
 He resigned in 1779 because of ill health.
 Burr and Alexander Hamilton were longtime
enemies.
 Gary came from a well-known family.
Capybaras
(from page 103)
Capybaras, which look like their guinea pig cousins,
are much bigger. They sometimes reach 140 pounds
and grow four feet high and four feet long. One
feature seems odd: they have fourteen toes, four
on each front foot.
Capybaras continued…
 These large rodents thrive in South America, and they
often live to ten years in the wild. They communicate
with one another by whistles and barks, which sound
strange indeed. Grasses taste great to capybaras; they
chomp on plants almost twenty-four hours a day!
Verb Phrases
 Verb phrase = a group of words that acts as a single
verb
One or more helping verbs followed by a main verb
 The main verb expresses the action or state of being
 Tiny water droplets have been gathering.
 They will form a cloud.

Common Helping Verbs
 Be, am, is, are
 Was, were, been
 Has, have, had
 Does, do, did
 Can, could
 Shall, should
 Will, would
 Might, may
Underline the verb phrase.
 My classmates and I will soon be computer experts.
 Can you believe my good fortune?
 I was surfing the Internet in the computer lab.
Underline verb phrase, Circle the helping verb
 Perhaps we should learn more about birth
celebrations in other countries.
 Families will sometimes buy a cake for a birthday
party.
Some verbs can be either main verbs OR helping
verbs…
 Helping
 It is raining outside.

I have bought new boots.
 Main
 The street is wet.

They have wooly linings.
Sometimes…
 …other words come between the parts of a verb
phrase

The sun will soon have disappeared behind the clouds.

Can you see any blue sky?

I have not been outside lately.

Don’t go out in this weather.

Not and it’s contraction are not part of the verb phrase
Try It Out  pg. 105
What is not part of the verb phrase?
 Please don’t forget my e-mail address.
 We will probably exchange e-mails all summer long.
Summing Up
 A verb phrase is a group of words functioning as a
single verb.
 The main verb in a verb phrase expresses the action
or the state of being. The other verbs are helping
verbs.
 On your own  pg. 105-106
Simple Verb Tenses
 TENSE of the verb identifies when something
occurs
 Present tense -> study
 Past tense -> studied
 Future tense -> will study
• Rules for Forming Verb Tenses (pg. 107)
 Try It Out pg. 108, #’s 1-13
Be, have, and do
 There are NO simple rules for forming the tenses of
be, have, and do
Subject
be
have
do
Singular subjects:
I
am, was
have, had
do, did
You
are, were
have, had
do, did
He, she, it (or singular
noun)
is, was
has, had
does, did
Plural subjects:
We
are, were
have, had
do, did
You
are, were
have, had
do, did
They (or plural noun)
are, were
have, had
do, did
 First a seed was planted in the soil.
 After a few days, the seed had opened.
 Did the stem split the seed in two?
 This seed has already been split.
 Kidney beans ______ first cultivated in South and Central
America. (be – past)
 Michigan _______ manufactured over 700 million pounds
of dry beans this year. (have – present)
 Aimee, ______ you know it is not illegal to kill a praying
mantis? (do – present)