DATE: Week 1 (Monday 6th – Friday 10th January, 2025)
SUBJECT: ENGLISH LANGUAGE
TOPIC: VERBS
CLASS: Year 6
A verb tells us about an action or a state of being. There are three types of verbs:
action, linking, and auxiliary.
Action Verbs
An action verb expresses action. It tells what a person or a thing does.
Examples: Muskrats swim in marshes.
We built a fantastic sandcastle.
To find out whether a word is an action verb, ask yourself whether that word expresses
something you can do. Can you muskrat? No! Can you marsh? No. But can
you swim? Yes—swim is an action verb.
Linking Verbs
A linking verb links the subject of the sentence with information about it. Sometimes
linking verbs are called "state-of-being verbs."
Examples: Jeremy is tired.
This apple tastes so sweet.
In the first sentence, is links Jeremy to information about him – the fact that he is tired.
That is his state of being.
In the second sentence, tastes links apple to information about it—its sweetness. Did
you think taste was an action verb? Well, it is—when the subject is doing the tasting.
But here, the apple isn't doing any tasting. The apple itself tastes sweet. That is its state
of being.
Auxiliary Verbs
An auxiliary verb goes with another verb. Sometimes auxiliary verbs are called "helping
verbs" because they introduce or "help out" the main verb.
Examples: Ms. Sothros is reading our stories.
We should dig for buried treasure.
In the first sentence, the auxiliary verb, is, helps out the main verb, reading, by telling
when the action is taking place—right now.
In the second sentence, the auxiliary verb, should, helps out the main verb, dig, by
telling about its importance—digging must be important, if it is something
that should happen.
Note that you can't is or should. This reminds you that they are not action verbs.
Be, have, and do are the most common auxiliary verbs. Other common auxiliary verbs
include can, could, should, would, may, might, and must.
