An Action Verb Tells What Someone Or Something Does

English Study Guide

Chapter 4- Verbs

4.1- Action Verbs

·  An action verb tells what someone or something does.

·  Examples- A child plays. A child runs. A child laughs.

4.2- Being Verbs

·  A being verb shows what someone or something is. Being verbs do not express action.

·  Examples- Cindy is happy. The plants are green. The bird was hungry.

4.3- Helping Verbs

·  A helping verb is a verb added before a main verb to make the meaning clear.

·  Examples- we will sleep in a tent. We might sleep in a tent.

·  Helping verbs- am, is, are, was, were, have, had, has, can, might, will, do, does, did

4.4- Principal Parts of Verbs

·  A verb has four principal parts: Present, present participle, past, and past participle.

·  Example- learn (present), learning (present part.), learned (past), has learned (past part.)

4.5- Regular & Irregular Verbs

·  The past & past participle of regular verbs usually end in d or ed. Examples- jumped, waved

·  The past & past participle of irregular verbs are not formed by adding d or ed. Examples- began, flew, sang

4.6- Bring, Buy, Come, and Sit

·  Bring, buy, come, and sit are irregular verbs.

·  Example- bring (present), bringing (present part.), brought (past), has brought (past part.)

4.7- Eat, Go, and See

·  Eat, go, and see are irregular verbs.

·  Example- eat (present), eating (present part.), ate (past), have eaten (past part.)

4.8- Take, Tear, and Write

·  Take, tear, and write are irregular verbs.

·  Example- take (present), taking (present part.), took (past), have taken (past part.)

4.9- Simple Present Tense

·  A verb in the simple present tense tells about something that is always true or about an action that happens again and again.

·  Examples- Frogs live in or near water. A frog catches flies. Flies stick to a frog’s tongue.

4.10- Simple Past Tense

·  A verb in the simple past tense tells about something that happened in the past.

·  Examples- Our class studied history. We learned about colonial America. Everyone wrote a report.

4.11- Future Tense with Will

·  The helping verb will is used with the present part of a verb to form a future tense.

·  Example- I will help on the project.

4.12- Future Tense with Going To

·  The phrase going to is used to express future tense.

·  Examples- Nina is going to make breakfast. You are going to cook.

4.13- Present Progressive Tense

·  A verb in the present progressive tense tells what is happening now.

·  Examples- Bob is fishing. They are fishing.

4.14- Past Progressive Tense

·  A verb in the past progressive tense tells what was happening in the past.

·  Examples- They were clapping. The clown was clapping.

4.15- Is and Are, Was and Were

·  Is, are, was, and were are being verbs. These words do not express action.

·  Examples- A tiger is a cat. Tigers are the biggest cats in the world.

4.16- Contractions with Not

·  A contraction is a short way to write some words. An apostrophe (‘) marks the place where one or more letters have been left out of the words.

·  Example- Caroline is not going to the movie. Caroline isn’t going to the movie.

·  Aren’t = are not, wasn’t = was not, weren’t = were not, don’t = do not, doesn’t = does not, didn’t = did not

*Our Chapter 4 test will be on Thursday, April 23rd!*