Action, Linking, and Helping Verbs

Action, Linking, and Helping Verbs

English HSE ​

Action Verbs

These verbs express movement and are commonly used for all actions and mental activity.

Linking Verbs

These verbs connect the subject of a sentence to a noun or an adjective that renames or describes the subject.

Linking Verbs are verbs that do not show any action but link the subject to the rest of the sentence.

They are also known as state of being verbs or be verbs.

They add details about the subject of a sentence.​

​There are several verbs that are always linking. These are:

• to seem

• to become

• any form of the verb to be- am/ is /are/was/were/been/being

• ​

  1. My father is excited about his new car.

  2. They quickly became best friends.

  3. The new yellow wallpaper in the dining room is stunning.

  4. The twins were outside when the storm hit!

  5. ​She seemed upset after the meeting.

​Look, smell, touch, appear, sound, taste, and feel can be linking verbs too.

​

1. The soup tastes too garlicky to eat.

2. The new apartment looks stunning.

​

A linking verb tells us what the subject is, not what the subject is doing.

Helping Verbs

These verbs used before an action or linking verb to convey additional information.

Helping verbs, also known as auxiliary verbs, support/help the main verb. Helping verbs always come before the main verb in a sentence. They help to show the main verb’s tense, time and possibility, or to form a question or negative.​

​Here are the 23 helping verbs?

​

• am, is, are

• was, were

• be, been, being

• do, does, did

• have, has, had

• may, can, must, might

• shall, will

• should, would, could

​Examples

​

1. It’s raining, so it must be very cold outside.

2. I don’t know where Kate is. She might have missed the bus.

3. This charge can’t be right. It’s too high!

4. ​I have grown tomatoes before.

5. I do find that show amusing.

6. Sally goes skiing every winter.

Open Ended

Write 3 things you learned from the video

Multiple Choice

6. Which sentence has an underlined linking verb?

• My mom cooks adobo.

• We eat adobo on the weekends.

• It really smells good.

Multiple Choice

5. Which sentence has an underlined action verb?

• I am Dominican.

• I can speak English , too.

• I speak Spanish.

Multiple Choice

13. What is the main verb in the sentence below?

Tommy and Ron will perform in class.

• will

• perform

Multiple Choice

7. Which sentence has an underlined helping verb?

• The students usually participate in a pot luck lunch to celebrate the holidays.

• I will bring chicken wings this year.

• Last year, I brought chicharon.

Multiple Choice

8. Which sentence uses "is" as a linking verb?

• My teacher is Meghan Bea.

• She is teaching math.

Multiple Choice

9. Which sentence uses "are" as a helping verb?

• The students are excited to attend the celebration.

• They are helping each other hanging the decorations

Multiple Choice

10. Which sentence has a helping verb?

• I can help you decorate the classroom.

• That sounds great!

Multiple Choice

11. Which sentence has an action verb?

• The decorations look cool.

• They looked around the campus.

Multiple Choice

12. Which is a verb phrase?

• should dance

• should

• dance