Verbs

A verb tells what something does or that something exists.

Examples:

Tim has shared his apples with us.

Those apples were delicious.
I hope Tim is bringing more apples tomorrow.
Tim picked the apples himself.

Directions: Underline the verbs.

1. Gene moved here from Philadelphia.

2. Now, he is living in a house on my street.
3. His house is three houses away from mine.
4. I have lived in this house all my life.
5. I hope Gene will like this town.
6. I am helping Gene with his room.
7. He has a lot of stuff!
8. We are painting his walls green.
9. He picked the colour himself.
10. His parents are glad we are helping out.

Verbs
A verb is the action word in a sentence, it tells what the subject does (build, laugh, express,
fasten) or that exists (is, are, was, were).

Examples: Randy raked the leaves into a pile.

I was late to school today.

Directions: In the following sentences, write verbs that make sense.

1. The quarterback _____threw_________ the ball to the receiver.

2. My mother _________cooked__________ some soup yesterday.

3. John ________sells_____________ newspapers to make extra money.

4. The teacher _____wrote________________ the instructions on the board.

 5. Last summer, our family ____took______ a trip to Florida to visit relatives.

Sometimes, a verb can be two or more words. Verbs used to support other verbs are called
helping verbs.

Examples: We were listening to music in my room.

Chris has been studying for over 2 hours.

Directions: In the following sentences, write helping verbs along with the correct form of
the given verbs. The first one has been done for you.

1. Michelle (write) is writing a letter to her grandmother right now.

2. My brother (have) ______is having___________ trouble with his math homework.

3. When we arrived, the movie (start) ______had started______ already.

4. My aunt (live) ________is living_______ in the same house for 30 years.

5. Our football team (go) ___is going___ to win the national championship this year.

6. My sister (talk) ________is talking______ on the phone all afternoon.

7. I couldn’t sleep last night because the wind (blow) ____was blowing______ so hard.
8. Last week, Owen was sick, but now he (feel) ______is feeling_____ much better.

9. Tomorrow, our class (have) _____is having______ a book sale.

10. Mr. Rivera (collect) _______was collecting___ stamps for twenty years.

Verb Tenses
Verbs have different forms to show whether something already happened, is happening
right now, or will happen.

Examples:

Present tense: I walk

Past tense: I walked

Future tense: I will walk

Directions: Write PAST if the verb is past tense, PRES for present tense, or FUT for future
tense. The first one has been done for you.

PRE 1. My sister Sara works at the grocery store.

_PAST_ 2. Last year, she worked in an office.

_PRES_ 3. Sara is going to college, too.

_FUT_ 4. She will be a dentist someday.

_PRES__ 5. She says studying is difficult.

__PAST_ 6. Sara studied pretty hard in high school, too.

_FUT__ 7. I will be ready for college in a few years.

_PAST__8. Last night, I read my history book for two hours.

Directions: Complete these sentences using verbs in the tenses listed. The first one has
been done for you.

9. take: future tense My friends and I will take a trip.

10. talk: past tense We ___talked____ for a long time about where to go.

11. want: present tense Brianna _______wants___________ to go to the lake.

12. want: past tense Jake _________wanted_________ to go with us.

13. say: past tense His parents _________said_______ no.

14. ride: future tense We _________________riding_________ our bikes.

15. pack: past tense Dante and Jared already _____packed____ lunches for us.

Verb Tenses
The past tense of many verbs is formed by adding ed.

Example:

Remember + ed = remembered

Climb + ed = Climbed

If a verb ends in e, drop the e before adding ed.

Examples:

Present Past

Phone phoned

Arrive arrived

If a verb ends in y, change the y to I before adding ed.

Examples:

Present Past

Carry carried

Try tried

If a verb ends in a short vowel followed by a single consonant, double the final consonant.

Examples:

Present Past

Trip tripped

Pop popped

Directions: Circle the misspelled verb in each sentence, and write it correctly in the blank.

1. They stopped at our house and then hurryed home. ______hurried___________

2. I scrubed and mopped the floor. _______scrubbed_________________________

3. The coach nameed the five starting players. _______named____________

4. He popped the potatoes into the oil and fryed them. ___fried______________

5. I accidentally droped my papers on the floor. _______dropped________________

6. I had hopeed you could go climbing with me. _______hoped_____________

7. He triped on the rug.________tripped_______________

8. The baby cryed and screamed all night.__________cried______________

 9. I moped the mess up after the glass dropped on the floor.
_______mopped__________

10. First, she frowned, and then she smileed. __________smiled______________

Writing: Verb Forms

Present-tense verbs tell what is happening right now. To form present-tense verbs, use the
“plain” verbs or use is or are before the verb and add ing to the verb.

Examples: We eat. We are eating.

He serves. He is serving.

Directions: Complete each sentence with the correct verb form, telling what is happening
right now. Read carefully, as some sentences already have is or are.

Examples: Scott is (loan) loaning Jenny his math book.

Jenny (study) is studying for a big math test.

1. The court is (release) ____releasing____ the prisoner early.

2. Jonah and Jill (write) _____are writing_______ their notes in code.

3. Are you (vote) _________voting_____ for Baxter?

4. The girls are (coax) ________coaxing________the dog into the bathtub.

5. The leaves (begin) ________are beginning_______ to fall from the trees.

6. My little brother (stay) _____is staying_______ at his friend’s house tonight.

7. Is she (hide) _________hiding____ behind the screen?

To change a verb to the past tense, or tell what already happened, add ed, or use was or
were and add ing to the verb.

Example: I watched. I was watching.

Directions: Complete each sentence with the correct verb form. This time, tell what already
happened.

Examples: We (walk) walked there yesterday.

 They were (talk) talking.

1. The government was (decrease) ______decreasing_____ our taxes.

2. Was anyone (cheat) ____cheating_______ in this game?

3. Were (try) ___trying_______ to set goals for the project.

Which Noun is the Subject?

Usually, the noun that is the subject will come at the beginning of the sentences.

Examples: The truck turned quickly around the corner.

Kevin stayed home from school yesterday.

Sometimes, other words will come before the subject.

When this happens, remember to look for who or

What the sentence is about.

Example: After school, Katie usually walks to the library.

The sentence is about Katie, not school.

Directions: in the sentences below, circle the nouns that are subject. Some sentences have
more than one subject, and they will not always be at the beginning of the sentence.

1. Mark and I helped the teacher clean the classroom.

2. In the morning, my mother cooks breakfast for the whole family.

3. To finish the project, Keiko had to stay up very last night.

4. After the storm, power lines were down all over the city.

5. Oranges and grapefruits grow very well in Florida.

6. During the summer, squirrels work had to gather nuts for the winter.

7. While skiing last weekend, my neighbour fell and broke his leg.

8. Pictures and posters cover all the walls of our classroom.

 9. To save gas, my father takes the bus to work instead of driving.

10. In my opinion dogs and cats make the best pets.

Subjects and Verbs

Directions: underline the subject and verb in each sentence below. Write S over the subject
and V over the verb. If the verb is two words, mark them both.

S V V

Examples: Dennis was drinking some punch.

S V

The punch was too sweet

1. Hayley talks about her dog all the time.

2. Mrs. Thomas scrubbed the dirt off her car.

3. Then, her son rinsed off the soap.

4. The teacher was flipping through the cards.

5. Sophia’s rabbit was hungry and thirsty.

6. Your science report lacks a little detail.

7. Chris is stocking the shelves with cans of soup.

8. The accident caused a huge dent in our car.

Just as sentences can have two subjects, they can also have two verbs.

S S V V

Example: Gabriela and Amie fed the dog and gave him clean water.
 Directions: underline all the subjects and verbs in these sentences. Write S over the subjects
and V over the verbs.

1. Mom and Dad scrubbed and rinsed the basement floor.

2. The men came and stocked the lake with fish.

3. Someone broke the window and ran away.

4. Carrie punched a hole in the paper and threaded yarn through the hole.

5. Julie and Ahmad turned their bikes around and went home.

Writing: Subjects and Verbs

Directions: Decide which words in the box are subjects (nouns) and which are verbs. Write
each word under the correct heading.

Dog girls walked barked honked flew car

played neighbor teacher Wrote mowed Marcus birds

____Subjects (nouns)__________ ____________verb_____________

___________Dog_________ ______________played_____________

____________Girls_______ _________________walked_____________

_________Teacher__________ ______________barked______________

__________Marcus___________ ______________wrote_______________

__________Car____________ ________________honked_____________

__________Birds_____________ ________________mowed_______________

Neighbour flew
 Complete Sentences
A sentence that does not contain both a subject and a predicate is called a fragment.

Directions: Write C if the sentence is complete or F if it is fragment.

1. ________C_____My mother and I hope to go to the mall this afternoon.

2. _________F____To get shoes.

3. __________C___We both need a new pair of tennis shoes.

4. ___________F__Maybe blue and white.

5. _______C______Mom wants a pair of white shoes.

6. ________F_____That seems rather boring to me.

7. _________C____There are many shoe stores in the mall.

8. __________F____ Sure to be a large selection.

9. ___________C___ Tennis shoes are very expensive.

10. ____________F__ I wore my last pair almost every day.