What Are Verbs?

Koko is just settling down for a quiet afternoon with tea to paint... but what is this? Who is calling her? : "Koko, it's Pip and I'm lost, I can't see anything!" : "It's okay Pip, stay calm and tell me what you hear around you so I can help figure out where you are." : "How?" : "You can use verbs!" Let's help Pip learn What Are Verbs to tell Koko where he is! You might have heard about verbs before. Verbs are action words, that tell or show what someone or something is doing. Verbs can be used in the past to show something that already happened... the present to show something that is happening NOW... or in the future to show something that WILL happen. You can identify, or find the verb in a sentence by looking for two things. Try to find the action, or what the person is doing... and, look for a word that ends with an or , present tense verbs ALWAYS end in these. Now that we have learned a bit about verbs, let's help Pip! Pip needs to describe what he hears around him to help Koko figure out where he is. He hears a dog running. How can he describe that in a sentence to Koko? He can say 'I hear a dog running!' Which is the verb in this sentence? We can find it by two ways... one, is to find the action, or what the person or animal is DOING. What is the dog doing in this sentence? The dog is RUNNING. So the verb in this sentence is, running, or run. Next, Pip hears splashing water, as if someone is swimming in a pool. He tells Koko, 'I hear someone swimming in a pool.' What is the verb in this sentence? This time, let's find the verb by looking for the word that ends in... or . The word swimming ends with ! Let's help Pip one last time to see if Koko can figure out where he is. This time he tells Koko 'a ball bounces.' What is the verb in this sentence? Remember, you can find the verb by finding the ACTION... or looking for the ending or . The verb is BOUNCES because it's what the ball is doing, AND it ends with ! Before we see if Koko found Pip, let's review. Today we learned all about verbs! Verbs are action words that tell what someone or something is DOING. Verbs can be used in the past to show something that already happened... in the present to show something that IS happening... or in the future to show something that WILL happen. To find a verb in a sentence you can... look for the action word that shows what someone or something is doing... or by looking for the word that ends in or . Now, did Koko find Pip? : "I hear someone talking on the phone." : "Me too! Wait a second, Pip? Are you under that pile of clothes?"