Parts of speech noun- person, place, or thing. examples of nouns: Barack Obama, Philadelphia, baseball bat adjective- describing word (adjectives describe nouns) examples of adjectives: handsome man, fast runner, hot coffee adverb- describes a verb examples of adverbs: runs quickly, watched excitedly

Verbs Action verbs - Not only tells what action is taking place, it often includes a description of how it is being done. Example: The fox runs so fast that his feet scarcely touch the ground.

Helping verbs Some verbs can not stand alone. They need helpers. Helping verbs come before the main verbs. Examples: be, been, am, are, is, was, were, has, have, had, shall, will, should, would, does, do, did, must, may, might, can, could. These verbs are sometimes also referred to as dead verbs.

Using Stronger verbs Instead of using the old dead verbs, spruce up your writing by using stronger ones. Instead of: Barry caught the ball and threw to first base. Try: Barry fielded the ball and whipped it to first base. Instead of: I went to the store. Try: I walked to the store. I rode my bike to the store. Instead of: The kids came down the steps like a herd of elephants ????

Lets try using the following verbs to replace those old tired ones:

Your Task.... Go back to one of your writing pieces and find a sentence whose verb needs to be retired, and replace it with a more specific or vivid one. Don’t forget to write down your sentence, the way it was before you revised it, and after. I will ask for some volunteers. You may use the verb link on my wiki.

Linking Verbs Some verbs do not show action. They simply join or link the subject to a word in the predicate. That word will rename or describe the subject. Examples: Jason seemed happy Doug feels important. Which are the linking verbs?