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Verbs are the essential
ingredient of any
sentence. Without them,
communication is, at
best, poor. A verb gives
a sentence a reason for
‘being’. It informs of some
process occurring between
people and things. In
the fast growing world of
telecommunications, new
language is being created
all the time. New verbs are
being born, while others
are being discarded or
archived. We now have,
for example, the verbs
skype, email, text, merge,
autoformat.
Verbs tie ideas together
and make sense of them.
They contextualise the
events surrounding people,
places and things. Verbs
are very powerful tools used
by writers and speakers.
Writers, especially,
recognise the power in
verbs to create strong
images of movement,
action and behaviour.
Like adjectives, verbs
give colour and interest
to sentences. They create
vivid pictures of motion
and movement, so can
be used to great effect,
especially in descriptive
writing and poetry.
Help students create a
verb-consciousness, to
build a vocabulary that is
colourful and imaginative.
Help them leave words like
‘got’ behind, and strive for
words of colour, precision
and expression.
VERBS
Verbs consist of one or more words that show
the particular interactions and relationships
between people, places, events and objects.
Different verbs have different jobs to do.
Doing verbs show the actions of people
and things.
e.g. fly, swim, sleep, break, spill, dance,
cry, wrap
Being verbs show that people and things
exist.
e.g. am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been
Having verbs show what people and
things ‘have’.
e.g. has, have, having, had
Saying verbs show how living things (or
personified objects) express themselves.
e.g. growl, squeak, shout, whimper,
howl, whisper, say, call, cry
Thinking verbs show how people mentally
process ideas.
e.g. imagine, think, ponder, believe,
visualise, reminisce, cogitate,
remember
Verbs have different forms.
An infinitive is the simple verb form.
e.g. play, swim, eat, take
Finite verbs work on their own. They
have someone or something as the
subject.
e.g. Golden autumn leaves fall from
the trees.
The jet plane flew to Melbourne.
Non-finite verbs cannot work on their
own. They consist of:
1. infinitives, e.g. I want to eat.
Jani wants to play.
2. present or past participles with an
auxiliary verb, e.g. She is singing
on stage. He was playing hockey.
The Bare Bones
Mum has baked a hot roast dinner.
Ferris had kicked the winning goal.
The present participle is formed by
adding –ing to the infinitive.
e.g. fly, flying; jump, jumping
The past participle is formed by adding
–ed to the infinitive.
e.g. kick, kicked; play, played
Auxiliary (helping) verbs are used with
present and past participles to make a
complete verb. Their job is to show tense
or possibility.
e.g.We are eating dinner. (present tense)
They were eating chips. (past tense)
I may go to Sydney next week.
(possibility)
Verbs are singular or plural.
A singular verb is used with a
singular subject.
e.g. A dog chews bones.
A cat drinks milk.
A plural verb is used with a
plural subject.
e.g. The dogs chew bones.
The cats drink milk.
Verbs show tense.
It is the verb in a sentence that
determines when something occurs.
Verbs indicate three different times,
called tenses.
1. present tense: I am playing tennis.
2. past tense: Shane played cricket
for Australia.
3. future tense: They will play the final
match on Saturday.
TARGETING GRAMMAR – UPPER PRIMARY © 2007 BLAKE EDUCATION
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teaching notes
VERBS
Reviewing verbs
Regular/Irregular verbs
Most verbs show tense in a regular way through the
use of present or past participles.
e.g. I am dancing. (present) I danced. (past)
He is washing his car. (present)
He washed his car. (past)
Irregular verbs change their spelling in the past tense
and the past participle.
e.g. ring rang rung; do did done
Other irregular verbs include: go, fly, eat, give, take,
know
A verb group is a group of words built around a verb.
They contain auxiliary verbs, participles or infinitives.
e.g. He was having a sleep. Tom wanted to go early.
I have been living here for six months.
These verb groups indicate the processes in text. (See
‘Different verbs have different jobs to do’ above.)
Contractions
We often contract verb and (pronoun) subject.
e.g. I am = I’m; it is = it’s; they are = they’re
We often contract verb and negative.
e.g. will not = won’t; cannot = can’t; did not = didn’t
Homographs
Many words can do the work of both a noun and a
verb.
e.g. Her hand is steady as a rock. Don’t rock the boat.
Their work is determined by the context. Others
include: bear, paint, play, plan, block, post
Verb-forming suffixes
Some verbs are easily identified by their suffixes
(word endings).
e.g. operate, televise, identify, lighten,
waiting, tramped
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• Write the word Olympians on the board. Ask
the students to imagine they are Olympic
athletes in their favourite sport. Ask them to
write several words that say what they can do,
e.g. jump, run, swim, sprint, skate, kick, cycle.
Write a web of these words (infinitives) around
the word Olympians.
• Review the term verb – a word that says what
people and things do.
• If necessary, make other webs of verbs around
other themes such as wild animals, cooks or
students.
• Remind students that when they write reports,
action (‘doing’) verbs are an important feature
(along with nouns).
• Ask the students to go back in role as an
Olympian. This time ask them to write several
words about how they express their feelings, e.g.
shout, grunt, whisper, speak, squeal. Add these
words to your Olympian web using a different
colour. Remind students that we use both action
(doing) verbs and verbal (saying) verbs when we
write about characters in stories. Like adjectives,
verbs paint strong pictures of what people are
doing and saying.
• Write the subject Gold medallist on the board.
Ask the students to write two sentences – one
using an action verb and one using a ‘saying’
verb from the word web. Write some of their
responses.
• Most students will offer a sentence where the
verb has been formed by changing or adding to
the infinitive. This will give you the opportunity
to speak about the verb in a sentence being one
or more words AND that verbs show when
things happen.
• Hand out a prepared text and ask the students
to highlight the verbs or ask them to list some
verbs from a book they are reading – at least five
action words and five saying words. Share their
findings.
TARGETING GRAMMAR – UPPER PRIMARY © 2007 BLAKE EDUCATION
✤
Verb Tense
A word about
Verbs have different tenses to show when things happen:
in the present
The plane is flying.
in the past
The plane flew.
in the future
The plane will fly.
How to write verbs in the present tense:
• the infinitive
singular – He plays football.
plural – They play football.
• the (present) participle with a helper
singular –He is playing football.
plural – They are playing football.
How to write verbs in the past tense:
• the (past) participle
singular – He played football.
plural –They played football.
• the (present) participle with a helper
singular– He was playing football.
– He has been playing football.
plural –They were playing football.
–They have been playing
football.
singular–He has played football.
plural –They have played football.
• the (past) participle with a helper
How to write verbs in the future tense:
• the infinitive with the helpers shall and will
• may and might indicate a possible future
• Future tense can be shown in other ways: ✤
singular – He will play football.
plural – They will play football.
singular–He may play football.
plural –They might play football.
I am going to play football.
Tomorrow, I am playing football. I am about to play football.
✤
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TARGETING GRAMMAR – UPPER PRIMARY © 2007 BLAKE EDUCATION
A word about
✤
Verb Tense continued...
Tenses allow speakers and writers to express exactly what they want to say.
PRESENT TENSE VERBS
Tense
Number
Simple
present
Singular
I eat fish
You eat fish.
He/she/it eats fish.
Plural
We eat fish.
You eat fish.
They eat fish.
Present
continuous
Singular
I am eating fish.
You are eating fish.
He/she/it is eating fish.
Plural
We are eating fish.
You are eating fish.
They are eating fish.
Present
perfect
Singular
I have eaten fish.
You have eaten fish.
He/she/it has eaten fish.
Plural
We have eaten fish.
You have eaten fish.
They have eaten fish.
Perfect
continuous
Singular
I have been eating fish.
You have been eating fish.
He/she/it has been eating fish.
Plural
We have been eating fish.
You have been eating fish.
They have been eating fish.
1st person
2nd person
3rd person
PAST TENSE VERBS
Tense
Number
Simple
past
Singular
I ate fish
You ate fish.
He/she/it ate fish.
Plural
We ate fish.
You ate fish.
They ate fish.
Past
continuous
Singular
I was eating fish.
You were eating fish.
He/she/it was eating fish.
Plural
We were eating fish.
You were eating fish.
They were eating fish.
Past
perfect
Singular
I had eaten fish.
You had eaten fish.
He/she/it had eaten fish.
Plural
We had eaten fish.
You had eaten fish.
They had eaten fish.
Perfect
continuous
Singular
I had been eating fish.
You had been eating fish.
He/she/it had been eating fish.
Plural
We had been eating fish.
You had been eating fish.
They had been eating fish.
1st person
2nd person
3rd person
FUTURE TENSE VERBS
Tense
Number
Simple
future
Singular I will eat fish
You will eat fish.
He/she/it will eat fish.
Plural
You will eat fish.
They will eat fish.
Future
continuous
Singular I will be eating fish.
You will be eating fish.
He/she/it will be eating fish.
Plural
You will be eating fish.
They will be eating fish.
Future
perfect
Singular I will have eaten fish.
You will have eaten fish.
He/she/it will have eaten fish.
Plural
You will have eaten fish.
They will have eaten fish.
Future
perfect
continuous
Singular I will have been eating fish. You will have been eating fish. He/she/it will have been eating fish.
Plural
1st person
We will eat fish.
We will be eating fish.
We will have eaten fish.
2nd person
3rd person
We will have been eating fish. You will have been eating fish. They will have been eating fish.
We can even add other verbs to clarify our meaning, for example:
I could have been eating fish. They should be eating fish. He might have eaten fish. We can eat fish.
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TARGETING GRAMMAR – UPPER PRIMARY © 2007 BLAKE EDUCATION
Verb Voice
Grammar BLM 20
Name
A verb can be in the active or the passive voice. The voice of the verb
tells whether the subject is doing the action (active voice) or whether
something is being done to the subject (passive voice). When the
passive voice is used, the verb includes an auxiliary (helping verb) and
a participle (main verb).
Active voice:
Katy read the book.
Passive voice:
The book was read by Katy.
1. Make these sentences more direct by rewriting them in the active voice.
a. A big, hairy spider was eaten by my dog.
b. The games are chosen by the children.
c. The flowers are picked by the gardener.
d. Five goals were kicked by Ned.
e. The car was crashed by my father.
f. The children were snapped at by the injured dog.
2. Make these public notices less aggressive by rewriting them in the passive voice.
a. Do not put your feet on the seats!
b. Keep your dog on a lead!
c. Put your rubbish in the bin!
d. We do not allow running!
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© P. Clutterbuck, Good Grammar! Book 3. This page may be reproduced for classroom use.