Unit 3 – Verbs Study Guide Action verb – a word that expresses action. Example: Pen pals write letters to each other. Verb Tenses: ¾ Present – shows an action that happens now o Example: We learn about fossils and dinosaurs. o A present tense verb must agree with the subject of a sentence. Add –s or (–es when the verb ends in s, ch, sh, or z) to most verbs if the subject is singular. DO NOT ADD –s or if the subject is plural or if it is I or you. o When adding ‐es to some present tense verbs you have to change their spelling. 9 Verbs ending in a consonant and y, change the y to i and add –es. (Example: try changes to tries) ¾ Past – shows an action that has already happened o Example: We learned about dinosaurs yesterday. o When adding –ed to some action verbs you have to change their spelling. 9 Verbs ending in a consonant and y, change the y to i and add –ed. (Example: try changes to tried) 9 Verbs ending in e, drop the e before adding –ed. (Example: smile changes to smiled) 9 Verbs that are one‐syllable ending in one vowel and one consonant, double the consonant before adding –ed. (Example: stop changes to stopped) ¾ Future – shows an action that will happen o Example: We will learn about dinosaur fossils tomorrow. o Remember: future tense verbs always have will before the action verb Commas in a Series: ¾ A comma tells the reader to pause between the words that it separates. 9 Use commas to separate three or more words in a series 9 Do not use a comma after the last word in a series. 9 Example: Amy sketches, draws, and paints pictures of animals. Main Verbs and Helping Verbs: ¾ The main verb in a sentence tells what the subject does or is. ¾ A helping verb helps the main verb show an action or makes a statement. 9 The most common helping verbs are: have, has, had, am, is, are, was, were, and will. 9 The helping verbs has, have, and had can be used with the past‐tense form of a verb to show an action that has already happened. 9 Examples: Jack has visited the zoo. I have visited many times. Jack had visited the zoo twice before. Linking Verbs: ¾ A linking verb links the subject of a sentence to a noun or an adjective in the predicate. A linking verb does not express action. 9 Example: Spiders are interesting creatures. 9 Common linking verbs are am, is, are, was, and were. Subject Present Past I am was singular noun, he, she, it is was Plural noun, we, you, they are were Irregular Verbs: ¾ An irregular verb is a verb that does not add –ed to from the past tense. 9 Examples: Present Past Past w/ has, have, or had 1. go went gone 2. do did done 3. see saw seen 4. run ran run 5. come came come 6. give gave given 7. sing sang sung 8. eat ate eaten 9. make made made 10. bring brought brought 11. begin began begun 12. grow grew grown 13. write wrote written 14. drive drove driven 15. ride rode ridden 16. take took taken 17. fly flew flown 18. draw drew drawn 19. swim swam swum 20. throw threw thrown Contractions: ¾ A contraction is a shortened form of two words. A contraction can be made by combining a verb with the word not. An apostrophe (‘) shows a letter has been left out. 9 Examples: isn’t = is + not aren’t = are + not wasn’t = was + not weren’t = were + not won’t = will + not don’t = do + not doesn’t = does + not didn’t = did + not hasn’t = has + not haven’t = have + not hadn’t = had + not can’t = can +not couldn’t = could + not shouldn’t = should + not wouldn’t = would +not Subject‐Verb Agreement: ¾ When the parts of a compound subject are joined by and, use a plural verb. Remember: Plural verbs do not end in –s. ¾ When the parts of a compound subject are joined by or, the verb agrees with the subject that is closer to it. ¾ Verbs that end with a consonant and y, change the y to i and add‐es to form a singular verb. ¾ When a verb ends with a vowel and y, add –s to form a singular verb. Do not change the spelling of the verb. Card Catalog: ¾ Contains cards that will help you locate books in a library. ¾ There are 3 types of cards: • Subject Card – use this card if you need to look up a specific subject • Title Card – use this card if you know the title of a book • Author Card – use this card if you know the author of a book ¾ The call number will help you find the book on the library shelf. Vocabulary: Prefixes: ¾ A prefix is a word part added to the beginning of a base word. It changes the meaning of the base word. ¾ Some common prefixes and their meanings: re‐ again dis‐ not, opposite of un‐ not non‐ without mis‐ badly or wrong pre‐ before in‐ not, without im‐ not, without multi‐ many post‐ after Composition: Leads and Endings: ¾
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A lead is the first piece of writing. Write a strong lead to capture your reader’s attention. You may state your main idea in the lead. An ending is the last part of a piece of writing Write a good ending to give your reader a feeling of closure, or completeness. Use the ending to draw a conclusion, summarize your main points, or restate the main idea. Features of Persuasive Writing: ¾ Persuasive Writing gives the opinions of the writer and encourages the audience to share the writer’s opinions. ¾ A good persuasive writing piece: • Clearly states the author’s opinion on a topic. • Supports the opinion with convincing reasons and arguments. • Organizes reasons in a logical order, often saving the strongest reason for last. • Includes opinion words.