One of the first things that we teach students who are learning to write sentences is that every sentence must have two things: a subject and a verb. (Technically, I teach that a sentence must have FIVE things—CAVES: Capital, All Makes Sense, Verb, End Mark, Subject.) Verbs are important! Action verbs are the forward motion of sentences. They persuade in persuasive writing; inform in research-based writing; and entertain in story writing. They do all of this in spite of one man, Michel Thaler, writing a 233-page French novel in 2004 that did not contain a single verb. (And I would say it also did not contain a single sentence! 😉 ).

There are three main classes of verbs that I teach in my books:

1) Action Verbs

2) Being, Helping, and Linking Verbs (BHL Verbs)

3) Infinitives Made Up of Either Action Verbs or BHL Verbs

Obviously, there are various tenses of verbs. And yes, there are verbs that can have objects (i.e. direct objects) and verbs that are not known for having objects. And there are dozens of other ways to categorize verbs.

However, I have found that the best way to teach any grammar skill is to teach it as it relates to writing. After all, we learn grammar for writing and speaking (not to choose the correct answer on a grammar quiz!). Thus, I focus on action verbs and another group of verbs that we affectionately call Be a Helper, Link verbs—being, helping, and linking verbs all grouped together.

AND….I teach infinitives (to+verb) immediately when teaching prepositions and verbs because students need to know that not every phrase that begins with TO is a prepositional phrase and sometimes TO is the beginning of a verb.

There are many reasons for my method of action verbs in one big category and BHL verbs in another big category, and since many teachers have questioned me through the years, I will give my reasons here—and then tomorrow, introduce you to a simple-as-pie way to learn (or teach your kids/students) all being, helping, and linking verbs in one easy swoop!

1. ACTION VERBS–Action verbs all have the same characteristics

They show that the subject did some type of action.
They can all have adverbs with them.
They can have direct objects following them (if they are transitive verbs–meaning the action TRANSFERS onto the object)

i. I gave the book away. (Action verb—gave; Direct object book)
ii. She spoke the words clearly. (Action verb—spoke; Direct object words)

2. BEING, HELPING, LINKING VERBS (BHL)—Being, helping, and linking verbs all have the same characteristics:

They show the state of being of the subject: He was here.

They cannot have adverbs with them.

They can have predicate adjectives following them: He was smart.

They can have predicate nominatives following them: They were the ones.

Most of them may be used as helping verbs—each one can help a base word by telling when the base verb took place: They were reading the novel in class.

For those reasons, we group action verbs all together as action verbs—and being, helping, and linking verbs all together into BHL verbs (Be a Helper, Link)—being, helping, and linking verbs:

(Note: Read more about BHL Verbs and get the Tricky Trick downloadable sheet for your students at this post!)

To help you remember the Be, a Helper, Link verbs, there is a little rhyme that you can sing to the tune of ABC’s (or “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”):

(ABCDEFG)
Be, a Helper, Link verbs,

(HIJKLMNOP)
Is, Are, Am, Was, & Were.

(QRSTUV)
Be, & Being, Been, Become,

(WXYZ)
Has, & Had, & Have are ones.

(Now I said my ABC’s)
Can, Could, Shall, Should—they are fun.

(Next time won’t you sing with me?)
Will, Would, Do, Did, Does, & Done.

(ABCDEFG)
May, Might, Must—they are some as well,

(HIJKLMNOP)
Appear, Look, Seem, Remain, Taste, Feel, & Smell.

3. INFINITIVES— To+any verb

1) When to is followed by a verb, it usually makes an infinitive, not a prepositional phrase.

2) An infinitive can be made up of to+action verb or to+BHL verb

a. Action: to run

b. BHL: to be

So use the verbs! And use them well! I’ll be teaching more about how to use verbs well in upcoming posts!

The post 3 Verb Types & Tricks to Teach Them! (Song Included!) appeared first on Character Ink.

I love mnemonics–tricks, songs, jingles, rhymes….anything that helps students learn! I love them even more when they have something to do with the purpose for learning that topic or the topic itself. Like in the case of prepositions–songs can help you learn about three dozen of the over 200 prepositions–but Check Sentences can help you learn 150 or more because Check Sentence have to do with the function of prepositions. (Learn more here)

There are a number of reasons to memorize being, helping, and linking verbs:

(1) When one stands alone as a linking verb or is used before a base verb as a helping verb, it is the verb that you match with the subject: He IS happy…is must match with He; they ARE going (are must match with they.

(2) They tell WHEN something happened (present, past, etc.). You really need them!

(3) When one stands alone, it may have an adjective following it–which is going back to the noun or pronoun before it, describing that noun or pronoun. (You do not use an adverb with a single BHL verb.)

(4) When one stands alone, it should have the subjective form of a pronoun following it (if it has a pronoun following it), not the objective: This is SHE (not this is HER).

(5) When a base verb follows has, had, or have (and oftentimes was and were), it should be in its past participle tense:

a. has written
b. had gone
c. have done
d. had lain
e. has risen
f. have come

(6) You can spot them more easily in writing–and get rid of them in order to write more active/less passive sentences!

Some students learn being verbs by themselves. Then they learn a list of linking verbs. And, of course, they learn a list of verbs that can be used as helpers–helping verbs.

However, many of these verbs are interchangeable and on two or more of the lists. All of them are passive when used as true linking or being verbs. (More on this later–feel internally is a being/linking verb; feel something with your hand is an action verb.)

So…let’s put them all together, teach what they all do collectively, and memorize them. Students easily learn when to use the three kinds–you won’t find a student trying to use REMAIN in place of WAS in the phrase WAS GOING. They just naturally do that correctly.

So here’s a quick way to learn all 32 being, helping, and linking verbs in one day! 🙂 To the tune of the ABC Song or “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.”

(Learn more about my Think Fast Grammar Quiz and how to teach many parts of speech quickly! )

For your kiddos—print off the Tricky Trick Sheet download given below and hang it on the bulletin board. Sing it every day–and your students will learn them in no time!

(ABCDEFG)
Be, a Helper, Link verbs,

( HIJKLMNOP)
Is, Are, Am, Was, & Were.

(QRSTUV)
Be, & Being, Been, Become,

(WXYZ)
Has, & Had, & Have are ones.

(Now I said my ABC’s)
Can, Could, Shall, Should—they are fun.

(Next time won’t you sing with me?)
Will, Would, Do, Did, Does, & Done.

(ABCDEFG)
May, Might, Must—they are some as well,

(HIJKLMNOP)
Appear, Look, Seem, Remain, Taste, Feel, & Smell.

See all of my Tricky Trick Sheets here!

P.S. What was your favorite tricky trick when you were in school?

The post Be, a Helper, Link Verbs – Tricky Trick Download for Students! appeared first on Character Ink.

1. While they might act like other parts of speech (i.e. modifying, being the sentence’s main subject, etc.) at times, more often than not, they act like verbs.
1. They can describe what a subject is doing: The girl decided to write the letter.
2. They can have BHL verbs with them: She had to take her medicine.
3. They can have adverbs with them (when they are comprised of action verbs): She wanted to write beautifully.
4. They can have direct objects with them (when they are comprised of action verbs): The girl wanted to eat chocolates.
5. They can have predicate adjectives with them (when they are comprised of BHL verbs): She wanted to be careful.

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