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.

Today’s Comma Clue can be confusing–but it is one of the most needful for comprehension as well as for sentence fluidity when reading aloud. 



When you start a sentence with a subordinate clause,
Put the comma in when you hear the pause!


That is a cute rhyme (don’t you think?)….but unless you know what a subordinate clause is (and prior to that, what a subordinator is), it will not do you much good to recite it. So this post will go back to what subordinators are first. 

Maybe you were taught that subordinators (words that make the part of the sentence that they are in be “subordinate” to the rest of the sentence) are called other things, like conjunctives or subordinate conjunctions. Some grammar handbooks do not even classify subordinators at all but call them whatever other class they fall under (i.e. the preposition before might always be called a preposition, even though it is a subordinator when it has a subject and verb following it).

Regardless of what you were taught about subordinators, they are extremely important to good writing. Why? 

1. A subordinator is a word that falls at the beginning of a subordinate clause.
2. A subordinate clause is a group of words that begins with a subordinator and has a subject and verb following it.
3. A subordinate clause is subordinate to the rest of the sentence–that is, it is “less than” the real sentence.
4. A subordinate clause may not stand alone as it is not a real sentence.
5. A subordinate clause sounds as though something is missing when it is read–because something is (the real sentence!).
6. A subordinate clause may be joined with a complete sentence to create a complex sentence, but the subordinate clause may never stand alone.

So….what are subordinators?

Let’s start with the first six that we teach our youngest language arts students in our books:

Since, when, though
Because, if, although.

Yeah, it’s a rhyme! Cute, huh? (I love teaching!)

Anyway, for you older folks, we have a Subordinator-Check Sentence that most subordinators fit into. In a nutshell, if a word fits in the check sentence and the word is not an adverb, it likely a subordinator:

________________________ the submarine went down, we could no longer see it.


Since the submarine went down, we could no longer see it.


When the submarine went down, we could no longer see it.


Though the submarine went down, we could STILL  see it.


Because the submarine went down, we could no longer see it.


If the submarine went down, we could no longer see it.


Although the submarine went down, we could STILL see it.

Okay, that is the first six. Here is a lengthy, but not exhaustive list of subordinators:

-after (also a preposition when it just has an object following it)
-although
-as (also a preposition when it just has an object following it)
-as if
-as long as
-as soon as
-as though
-because
-because of (also a preposition when it just has an object following it)
-before (also a preposition when it just has an object following it)
-even
-even if
-even though
-if
-inasmuch as
-in order that
-lest
-now (more commonly used as an adverb)
-now since
-now that
-now when
-once
-provided
-rather than
-since
-than (also a preposition when it just has an object following it)
-that
-though
-til (also a preposition when it just has an object following it)
-unless
-until (also a preposition when it just has an object following it)
-when
-whenever
-where
-where ever
-where as
-whether
-which
-which ever
-while
-who
-whoever
-why


In as much as the submarine went down, we could no longer see it.

Until the submarine went down, we could STILL see it.

While the submarine went down, we could no longer see it.



 We will stop here and give you time to memorize these before we go on in a day or two working on punctuating sentences that begin with subordinate clauses. Just looking at the Subordinator-Check Sentence, though, you can probably deduce that the first rhyme in this post is accurate: a subordinate clause opener is followed by a comma. More later!


Picture from https://staff.jccc.net/mfitzpat/style/bd04892_.gif

The post COMMA CLUE #4: Comma Following a Subordinate Clause Opener Part I of III appeared first on Character Ink.

1. Lie has an I—and I alone can do it (it is not done TO something else).
1. I lie in bed at midnight wide awake.
2. Yesterday I lay awake half the night.
3. Before that I had lain down when the cat jumped on me.

2. Lie means to stretch out in a flat position—anybody or anything can lie, as long as it does it by itself (i.e. it is NOT laid)
1. She lies down with a headache every day.
2. The sun is lying low.
3. She has lain down for a nap.

3. Lay must have an object following it—something that it is being laid down.
1. Lay your book on the table.
2. He laid his money down.
3. She has laid the towels in the sun.

1. Base form: lay—I lay the kids’ clothes out every day. (Tricky: lay is the base form of lay (to put something down; it is also the past tense of lie—to stretch out by yourself or itself.)
2. Past simple: laid—Yesterday I laid the pink pants out for Jon.
3. Past participle: laid—Before the dog came in, I had already laid his bones out.
4. Third person singular: lays—He lays the book down every night at ten.
5. Present participle/gerund: laying—I am laying the swim suits out to dry.

1. Again, do sit/set first (all same base word for tenses of set!) or rise/raise (since many people get this pair correct even if they do not know sit/set and lie/lay very well).
2. Do rise/raise after sit/set or sit/set after rise/raise (saving lie/lay for last).
3. Memorize acronym/rhyme to cement the fact that all three with I’s are the ones that are done by someone or something (not to something).
4. When you get to lie and lay, to lie first all by itself until it is memorized. Then do lay. (I am starting to wait a week between the two with lots of practice on lie during that week before moving on to lay.)

The post day 99: lie and lay appeared first on Character Ink.

1. Rise has an I—and I alone can do it (it is not done TO something else).
1. I rise around seven a.m.
2. Yesterday I rose at dawn yesterday. (Not really!)
3. Before that I had risen when the cat jumped on me.

2. Rise means to come up to a higher position—anybody or anything can rise, as long as it does it by itself (i.e. it is NOT raised)
1. She rose to greet us.
2. The sun is rising late.
3. Our grades have risen lately. (Technically, grades are raised by someone (“I raised my GPA”)—but if you do not state who raised them, they would be rising by themselves—which we know doesn’t really happen!)

3. Raise does have an i—but not only an I like rise—raise is done to something.
4. Raise must have an object following it—something that it is being raised.
1. Raise your glass for a toast.
2. He raised his children well.
3. The children are raising their hands in class now.

1. Base form: raise—Today I raise my voice in song. (Object—voice)
2. Past simple: raised—Yesterday I raised the log and found a mole.
3. Past participle: raised—Before I put the binoculars down, I raised them up and looked through them in the distance.
4. Third person singular: raises—She always raises her voice when she is angry.
5. Present participle/gerund: raising—I am raising the bar in that class!

The post day 99: rise and raise appeared first on Character Ink.

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The post day 37: wrapping up prepositions appeared first on Character Ink.

1. amid
2. amidst
3. among
4. amongst
5. around
6. by
7. near
8. next to
9. round
1. above
1. atop
2. atop of
3. on
4. on top of
5. over
6. up
7. upon

3. Against
1. anti
2. barring
3. despite
4. in spite of
5. opposite of
4. Ahead
1. ahead of
2. before
3. in front
4. in front of
5. Along
1. about
2. alongside
3. alongside of
4. Along with
5. Amid
6. Amidst
7. Among
8. Amongst
9. At
10. Beside
11. Besides
12. Round
13. Close
14. Close to
15. By means of
16. Near to
17. Next to
6. amid/amidst
1. about
2. against
3. among
4. amongst
5. around
6. at
7. beside
8. beside of
9. by
10. next to
11. round
12. through
13. throughout
7. anti
1. across from
2. against
3. barring
4. opposite
5. opposite of
6. versus
8. around
1. about
2. amid
3. amidst
4. among
5. amongst
6. aside
7. aside of
8. circa
9. aside
1. along
2. alongside
3. alongside
4. aside of
5. beside
6. beside of
7. by
8. next
9. next to
10. close to
11. near to
10. astride
1. a. atop
2. atop of
3. on
4. on top of
5. over
6. up
7. upon
11. at
1. beside
2. beside of
3.  by
4. toward
5. close to
12. barring
1. anti
2. opposite
3. opposite of
4. outside
5. outside of
6. due to
7. except for
8. save
13. before
1. ahead
2. ahead of
3. in front of
14. behind
1. beyond
2. following
3. in back
4. in back of

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