Verbs Working Together: Helping and Linking Verbs

• Explain that helping verbs allow us to speak with more specificity. They allow us to tell if something is likely to happen or if it should happen.
• Give the example: "I do my chores," "I should do my chores," or "I will do my chores." Discuss the difference of these three sentences. Do they mean the same thing? How are they different?
• Explain that linking verbs are simply verbs that don’t show action; rather, they show state of being and connect the subject to the predicate. There is no action, the verb provides a status. Give the example: "I am tired," or "She is late."

• Distribute the worksheet Helping vs. Linking Verbs.
• Review the instructions and do the first six problems together.
• Instruct students to work with a peer or in small groups to finish the sheet, composing sentences of their own.
• Review the examples that your students have generated.

• Distribute the worksheet Helping Verbs and Linking Verbs Story.
• Review the instructions.
• Instruct students to complete the activity.

Support:

• Do a shared writing activity, starting the story as a class. Think through each sentence as you write it together and include helping and linking verbs.
• Once you think students have the idea, have them start their own.

Enrichment:

• Have students examine an excerpt of text from a book they are reading and identify linking and helping verbs in the story.
• Challenge students to write sentences that have both helping and linking verbs.

• Write the sentence on the board: "I was early but I will help clean after the party."
• Have students identify the helping and linking verbs.
• "Was" is the linking verb and "will" is the helping verb.

• Discuss: What would our language be like without helping or linking verbs? How would communication be different?