Verbs

Verbs

What they do, why we need them and how to spot them

What do verbs do?

• Every sentence needs a verb

• It indicates an action

• They are 'doing' words

Multiple Choice

Verbs are doing/action words -

What is the verb in this sentence?

John kicked the ball

• John

• kicked

• ball

Basic Verbs - Be and Have

To be - this is very common but also an irregular verb

To be becomes am, is, are, was, were, will be, depending on the noun and the tense

Have is an irregular verb - have, had, will have

Multiple Choice

Find the verb in this sentence:

John has the ball

• John

• ball

• has

Verbs are easy to spot because

They change tense

They are the only words that change tense and therefore are easy to locate!

John kicked the ball is in the past tense

In the present tense the verb changes - John kicks the ball

In the future tense, it changes again - John will kick the ball

Be careful though...

Verbs in the past tense can be used as ADJECTIVES

The way to spot this is if the word in the past tense has a verb before it - is/was/are it usually is an adjective describing a mood or feeling.

For example

After he kicked the ball, John was pleased

Verbs are difficult to spot because...

Verbs can be TWO words!!!

Verbs can help each other - these are called auxilliary verbs

They help the tense, mood and voice of the verb

John had kicked the ball

John might kick the ball

The football is kicked by John

Multiple Choice

Identify the verb in this sentence:

Ben is five years old tomorrow and he is excited.

• five

• is

• years

• excited