Verbs and Adverbs
What is a verb?
A verb is a "doing" word. A verb can express:
• A physical action (e.g., to swim, to write, to climb).
• A mental action (e.g., to think, to guess, to consider).
• A state of being (e.g., to be, to exist, to appear).
The verbs that express a state of being take a little practice to
spot, but, actually, they are the most common. The most common
verb is the verb to be.
Making the right word choices.
• Too many of us use the same boring verb choices all of the time.
• We can make our vocabulary much more sophisticated if we
consider such word choices.
The next slide will give you a verb. Think of as many alternatives
as you can.
1.Walk
2.Run
3.Say
4.Eat
5.Jump
6.Read
7.Look
8.Take
9.Hit
10.Want
What is an Adverb?
An adverb tells us when, where, how, in what manner, or to what extent an action
is performed. It will typically modify (change the meaning of) a verb, but an
adverb can also modify an adjective or another adverb.
Here are some examples of adverbs modifying verbs:
• When: He ran yesterday.
• Where: He ran here.
• How: He ran quickly.
• In what manner: He ran barefoot.
• To what extent: He ran fastest.
We mainly use how adverbs and they end in ‘ly’.
In these examples, each adverb is a single word, but an adverb can be made up of
more than one word (adverbial phrase).
Add adverbs to the following verbs.
The first one has been done for you.
Screamed aggressively
Researched -------------------
Followed -----------------
Stared ------------------
Nibbled ---------------
Punched -----------------
Galloped ----------------
Desired ------------------
Hopped -----------------
Dawdled ----------------
Challenge: Sometimes verbs can be difficult to
spot because of tenses. Tenses tell us when
something happened.
Also… modal. verbs are about possibilities,
certainty or uncertainty such as would, could,
should, might.
Sometimes verbs are accompanied by auxiliary
verbs (do, have, will, etc.) to give them
different meanings.
Underline the verb (s)
I asked him why
he had crashed
his car into my
pool and if he
would pay for his
mistake.
Underline the verb (s)
If one more box was
added to the vehicle,
Mike would have
been unable to finish
his journey and
collect his wages.
Underline the adverb (s)
Wayne had
stupidly ordered
the MEGA-MENU
to impress his
mates.
Underline the adverb (s)
Jack regretfully
realised how he had
regularly failed to
attend Geography
classes. He was
beyond help.
Choose a picture from the next page in your
booklet. For your picture complete the
following tasks:
•
Write your own sentence including verbs.
•
Write your own sentence including verbs and adverbs.
•
Write your own sentence using modal verbs,
(would/could/should/might) auxiliary verbs
(do/have/will) and adverbs.
VERBS
jump
sing
wave
gasp
point
dance
climb
smile
eat
roar
drive
spin
cry
stretch
Choose one word
from each list.
Put them together
and mime them!
We will try to guess
your words!
ADVERBS
angrily
bravely
curiously
dreamily
suddenly
painfully
slowly
cheerfully
happily
quickly
cheekily
excitedly
stupidly
awkwardly