Year 3 English: Verbs: doing and being words
Part of the Year 3 English word classes chapter. Chapter overview · whole chapter on one page
Verbs: doing and being words
A verb is a doing word or a being word. It tells us what someone or something does, is or has.
Jump, swim and climb are action verbs. Was, is and have are verbs too, because they tell us about a state: how someone is, or what they have.
Verbs change to show time. Today I jump. Yesterday I jumped. Many verbs add ed to show the past tense. Some verbs change more, such as swim and swam.
Key ideas
- A verb is an action word (jump, swim) or a being or having word (was, have).
- The verb can change to show time: jumps (today), jumped (yesterday).
- Most verbs add ed to make the past tense: walk, walked; paint, painted.
- Some verbs change their spelling: swim, swam.
Method. Find the job of jumps in the sentence, then name its word class.
- Read the sentence and find the word. Look at the word in its sentence, not on its own.The frog jumps into the pond.
- Ask the test question. A verb tells what someone or something does, is or has.Ask what jumps shows. It shows an action (what someone does) or a state (being or having), so it is a verb.
- Write the answer. verb
Check. Check the job of jumps once more in the sentence. ✓
Watch out. Verbs can change to show time: today I jump, yesterday I jumped.
Method. Find each word in the sentence that is a verb.
- Read the sentence. Check the job of each word.The bird flew over the fence.
- Pick out the verbs. Each verb does the job that the chapter describes.flew
- Write the answer. flew
Check. Each word in the answer is a verb. ✓
Watch out. Verbs can change to show time: today I jump, yesterday I jumped.
Method. Change the verb from the present tense to the past tense.
- Look at the verb today. The verb is in the present tense.bark
- Change it to show yesterday. Most verbs add ed to make the past tense.bark becomes barked
- Write the answer. barked
Check. Read the sentence with barked in it. ✓
Watch out. Check the spelling of the past tense, for example jumped, painted, climbed.
Watch out
Watch out: a word can be a verb in one sentence and a noun in another. A jump is a noun, but I jump uses jump as a verb. Always check the job of the word in its sentence.
Exam tip
Grown-up tip. Act out a verb with your child: jump, sit, sleep. Then say it for yesterday: jumped, sat, slept. Ask your child to make a sentence with each verb.
Exercise 3B Practice: verbs
Method. Find the job of jumps in the sentence, then name its word class.
- Read the sentence and find the word. Look at the word in its sentence, not on its own.The frog jumps into the pond.
- Ask the test question. A verb tells what someone or something does, is or has.Ask what jumps shows. It shows an action (what someone does) or a state (being or having), so it is a verb.
- Write the answer. verb
Check. Check the job of jumps once more in the sentence. ✓
Watch out. Verbs can change to show time: today I jump, yesterday I jumped.
Method. Find the job of was in the sentence, then name its word class.
- Read the sentence and find the word. Look at the word in its sentence, not on its own.Ali was tired after the match.
- Ask the test question. A verb tells what someone or something does, is or has.Ask what was shows. It shows an action (what someone does) or a state (being or having), so it is a verb.
- Write the answer. verb
Check. Check the job of was once more in the sentence. ✓
Watch out. Verbs can change to show time: today I jump, yesterday I jumped.
Method. Find the job of have in the sentence, then name its word class.
- Read the sentence and find the word. Look at the word in its sentence, not on its own.We have a new bike.
- Ask the test question. A verb tells what someone or something does, is or has.Ask what have shows. It shows an action (what someone does) or a state (being or having), so it is a verb.
- Write the answer. verb
Check. Check the job of have once more in the sentence. ✓
Watch out. Verbs can change to show time: today I jump, yesterday I jumped.
Method. Find the job of fence in the sentence, then name its word class.
- Read the sentence and find the word. Look at the word in its sentence, not on its own.The bird flew over the fence.
- Ask the test question. A noun names a person, a place, a thing, an animal or an idea.Put the in front: the fence makes sense, so fence is a noun.
- Write the answer. noun
Check. Check the job of fence once more in the sentence. ✓
Watch out. Ideas such as kindness are nouns too. Proper nouns start with a capital letter.
Method. Find each word in the sentence that is a verb.
- Read the sentence. Check the job of each word.The frog jumps into the pond.
- Pick out the verbs. Each verb does the job that the chapter describes.jumps
- Write the answer. jumps
Check. Each word in the answer is a verb. ✓
Watch out. Verbs can change to show time: today I jump, yesterday I jumped.
Method. Find each word in the sentence that is a verb.
- Read the sentence. Check the job of each word.Ali was tired after the match.
- Pick out the verbs. Each verb does the job that the chapter describes.was
- Write the answer. was
Check. Each word in the answer is a verb. ✓
Watch out. Verbs can change to show time: today I jump, yesterday I jumped.
Method. Find each word in the sentence that is a verb.
- Read the sentence. Check the job of each word.Mia and Ben swim every Tuesday.
- Pick out the verbs. Each verb does the job that the chapter describes.swim
- Write the answer. swim
Check. Each word in the answer is a verb. ✓
Watch out. Verbs can change to show time: today I jump, yesterday I jumped.
Method. Find each word in the sentence that is a verb.
- Read the sentence. Check the job of each word.They painted the fence yesterday.
- Pick out the verbs. Each verb does the job that the chapter describes.painted
- Write the answer. painted
Check. Each word in the answer is a verb. ✓
Watch out. Verbs can change to show time: today I jump, yesterday I jumped.
Method. Change the verb from the present tense to the past tense.
- Look at the verb today. The verb is in the present tense.jump
- Change it to show yesterday. Most verbs add ed to make the past tense.jump becomes jumped
- Write the answer. jumped
Check. Read the sentence with jumped in it. ✓
Watch out. Check the spelling of the past tense, for example jumped, painted, climbed.
Method. Change the verb from the present tense to the past tense.
- Look at the verb today. The verb is in the present tense.walk
- Change it to show yesterday. Most verbs add ed to make the past tense.walk becomes walked
- Write the answer. walked
Check. Read the sentence with walked in it. ✓
Watch out. Check the spelling of the past tense, for example jumped, painted, climbed.
Method. Change the verb from the present tense to the past tense.
- Look at the verb today. The verb is in the present tense.paint
- Change it to show yesterday. Most verbs add ed to make the past tense.paint becomes painted
- Write the answer. painted
Check. Read the sentence with painted in it. ✓
Watch out. Check the spelling of the past tense, for example jumped, painted, climbed.
Method. Change the verb from the present tense to the past tense.
- Look at the verb today. The verb is in the present tense.climb
- Change it to show yesterday. Most verbs add ed to make the past tense.climb becomes climbed
- Write the answer. climbed
Check. Read the sentence with climbed in it. ✓
Watch out. Check the spelling of the past tense, for example jumped, painted, climbed.
Method. Change the verb from the present tense to the past tense.
- Look at the verb today. The verb is in the present tense.swim
- Change it to show yesterday. Most verbs add ed to make the past tense.swim becomes swam
- Write the answer. swam
Check. Read the sentence with swam in it. ✓
Watch out. Check the spelling of the past tense, for example jumped, painted, climbed.
Method. Find the one word that is a verb.
- Read the sentence. Check the job of each word.Mia and Ben swim every Tuesday.
- Find the word that is a verb. Only one word in this sentence does this job.swim is a verb
- Write the answer. swim
Check. Read the sentence again and check swim. ✓
Watch out. Verbs can change to show time: today I jump, yesterday I jumped.
Method. A verb can show having, which is a state.
- Look at the sentence. Ben has a red bike shows having.has
- Write the verb for Ali. Ali needs a verb of having too.has (or had)
- Write the answer. has, or had (any correct verb of having)
Check. Has and had are verbs of having. ✓
Watch out. Verbs of having are often short words, such as has or had.
Method. Check the job of each word.
- Look at swims. Swims tells what someone does.swims: verb
- Look at tall and garden. Tall describes a noun, and garden names a place.tall: adjective; garden: noun
- Look at paints. Paints tells what someone does.paints: verb
- Write the answer. swims, paints
Check. Swims and paints are the two verbs. ✓
Watch out. Verbs can be checked by changing the time.
Method. Use climbed as the action word.
- Use climbed. Climbed is a verb: it tells what the cat did.The cat climbed
- Add a noun. Tree is a noun, the name of a thing.the tree
- Write the answer. Any correct sentence, for example: The cat climbed the tree.
Check. Climbed is the verb, and cat and tree are nouns. ✓
Watch out. Check that the verb tells what someone does.
Method. Check what the word does, not how long it is.
- Look at was. Was tells us about a state: Ali was tired.Ali was tired
- Check the job. Was is a being word, so it is a verb.was: verb
- Write the answer. No. Length does not decide the word class. Was tells us about a state: Ali was tired.
Check. Was is a verb of being. ✓
Watch out. Verbs of being include was, is, are, were.
Method. Change the verb to the past tense.
- Find the verb. Jumps is the verb in the present tense.jumps
- Change it to the past. The past tense of jump is jumped.jumped
- Write the answer. The frog jumped into the pond.
Check. The sentence now tells about yesterday. ✓
Watch out. Change only the verb. The other words stay the same.