It’s time for some grammar folks! Verbs and Subjects It’s time for some grammar folks!

Verbs There are three types of verbs: action, linking, and helping An action verb tells the action of a sentence. It can be a physical or mental action. Physical action: run, hop, skip, sleep, jump, talk, snore Mental action: hate, enjoy, think

Linking Verbs A linking verb joins the subject and predicate of a Sentence. There are 23 of these . . . Yikes! Look at your notes to see all 23. The most common linking verbs are called state of being verbs. The first 8 linking verbs on your paper are the state of being verbs. They tell what someone or something is, was, or will be. Circle these on your notes. Matt was at the store. Was is the linking verb because it links the subject (Matt) to the predicate (at the store).

Helping Verbs A helping verb is used with an action verb to help the action of the sentence. They have NO meaning on their own. They are necessary for the grammatical structure of a sentence, but they do not tell us very much alone. We usually use helping verbs with ACTION verbs because they “help” the main verb which has the real meaning. Whenever this is a helping verb with the main verb, it is called a verb phrase. Examples: am, is, are, was, were Emma was running the race. Was running is the verb phrase with was being the helping verb and running being the main action verb.

A note about subjects The subject of a sentence is the person or thing who completes the verb. It answers the question: “Who or what did it?” Example: Emma was running the race. Emma is the subject of the race because she was doing the running.