One of the best CPD sessions I’ve ever had was in the early days of the Grammar tests. I was being trained to mark the ‘Level 6 SPaG papers. I couldn’t attend my allocated dates due to work commitments, so I was offered the opportunity to go to London for an additional session.
The session, as it turned out, was with the Chief Examiner. Much of the session focused on verbs and their function in a sentence. A secure knowledge of verbs really does allow you to control your writing.
A Definition of Verbs
At their simplest, verbs are action, doing or being words. There are a number of different categories of verbs:
Auxiliary Verbs
Auxiliary verbs are often referred to as ‘helping verbs’. They support the sentences main verb to function as a complete verb in a sentence, eg ‘I have watched the film’ or ‘I was going out’.
Modal Verbs
Modal verbs are used to indicate degrees of probability, such as ‘would’, ‘should’, ‘could’ or ‘might’.
Transitive/Intransitive Verbs
Transitive verbs are verbs that can be used with an object. For example ‘
Did you like the book?’ - ‘like’ is a transitive verb, being used with ‘the book’ which is an object.
Intransitive verbs are verbs that function without an object. For example ‘
It has rained’ - ‘rained’ is the intransitive verb and doesn’t need an object in order to function within the sentence.
Gerunds are verbs that function as nouns in a sentence. For example, ‘
Running is very popular.’
Verb Analysis
Once pupils understand the definition of verbs, it’s useful to have a few ideas to use in the classroom. Look at a passage from a well written book or article and spot the verbs. Look at the form they take within each sentence. Good writing will use a variety of these forms.
It can also be fun to swap verbs to completely change the meaning of a sentence, but retaining grammatical accuracy.
Verb Placement
Get pupils to experiment and place verbs at different points within a sentence. Try rewording the same sentence by placing the same verb in different areas of the sentence.
The man
visited London.
The verb is in the middle. The sentence is basic and to the point. Emphasis is on the location (noun).
Visiting London was the highlight of the man’s trip.
Placing the verb at the beginning of a sentence, forces the writer to be more descriptive or give more information.
London was the best place the man had
visited.
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