Helping and Linking Verbs

Linking verbs join the subject with the rest of the sentence. They can stand alone. Also, I teach my kids a helping verb song. It goes to the tune of "London Bridge".

Be am is are was were been
Has have had
Do does did
Can could shall should will would may
Might must being

It really helps kids identify helping verbs.

Linking verbs are often forms of the infinitive 'to be', along with words like seemed, felt, appeared, etc.

I have a Halloween activity. I call the helping verbs "dead verbs" and we try to find better ways to write and try to avoid too many helper verbs. I have students memorize the words in this order.

am
are
was
were
is
have
has
had
may
might
must
be
being
been
do
does
did
shall
should
will
would

It is fun. They try to say it as fast as possible. We practice it for several days.

I start the unit by telling them that the room is haunted. I make up a big story about being alone in the classroom grading papers, when I realized that the papers were haunted with dead verbs. We then cut out tombstones and ghosts with the dead verbs written on them. Sixth graders love this activity.

I teach my kids a song to help them remember the common helping verbs. It's to the tune of jingle bells:

Helping Verbs, Helping Verbs
There are 23
Am is are was and were
Being Been and Be

Have has had
Do does did
Shall will should and would
There are five more helping verbs
May might must can could

JUST REMEMBER THAT THEY DO NOT SHOW ACTION. MAKE LEARNING HELPING VERBS FUN FOR ALL. GET THE STUDENTS TO MEMORIZE THEM IN ORDER. TRY THE TUNE TO ROW ROW ROW YOUR BOAT. THEY WILL, AFTER AWHILE BE ABLE TO SING THEM ALL AND SO WILL YOU.

This may seem kind of silly, but my kids love it. I think up a sentence and write each word on a separate piece of paper. Then I randomly pass out the papers and have the kids try to determine the correct order of the words to create a sentence while holding up their sign in front of class. Then, to identify certain parts of speech, I'l have students perform. For example, "If you are holding the helping verb, jump up and down." It becomes a good discussion point for the whole class. Why is it a helping verb? How does it "help"? etc.

I have a song, taught to me by an 8th grade English teacher for remembering the "state of being" verbs. It goes to the tune of "Camptown Ladies."

Am, is, are, was, were, be, been, being, being,
Am, is, are, was, were, be, been, Oh! Being verbs.

I don't think has, have, had are state of being verbs. They can be used as helping verbs. I have carrots. (action) He has been a carpenter. (helping)

It is important for student to learn linking verbs. I teach 6th grade and at this age level our standards expect kids to know predicate nominatives (Mr. Smith was our principal.) and predicate adjectives (Susie is beautiful.). Both of these can be recognized because the state of being verb links the sentence together. I really stress the "linking verb" idea so the kids know that the linking verb (state of being verb) is performing a function - to link the complete subject to the complete predicate, but not showing any action.

We also do a lot of work with direct objects. A sentence with a linking verb cannot have a direct object. This helps the students narrow their focus on what to look for.

Having kids learn the linking verbs in the lower grade levels really leads the way to the work they'll do in the higher grades.

Knowing how our language works also helps those students who study foreign languages.

I usually teach helping verbs through a song (it also has linking verbs). My kids usually love it and we often sing it while transitioning.

It is sung to the tune of "The Stars and Stripes Forever"

am, is, are, was, were, be, being, been (clap, clap)
have, has, had, do, does, did, shall, would, should, could
may, might, must, can, will, that's the end (clap, clap)
and we will/won't sing it over again...

(they usually look up at me on the last line whether or not we'll sing it again). :)

I hope that helps!

I taught this concept last week. We made a word wall with helping verbs on cards. When I put sentences on the board, they could just look at the cards to see what word in the sentence was a helping verb. They can find action verbs pretty well.

What about writing a helping verb on one piece of strip paper and the main verb on another give one to each student in no order. Have the students split in half and face each other from across the room. Then go through the lines and try to pair them up.

Play a game of Helping and Linking verb SWAT. You will need two fly swatters to play.

On the board or overhead projector make two boxes. One with the word Helping and the other with the word linking.

Divide your class into two teams and have two players go up to the board with the fly swatters.

Read aloud a sentence that contains either a linking or helping verb. The students then have to swat the correct answer. The first team to do so gets a point. Continue until everyone has had at least one turn.

Kids love games! They can practice identifying linking verbs and helping verbs using this simple game. Use the attached set of cards to play this game. Each card has a sentence using either a linking or helping verb. Shuffle the cards and place them on a stack. Have students take turn drawing a card from the top of the deck. He/she reads the sentence aloud and then says if the underlined verb is a linking or helping verb. If he gets the it right he keeps the card. If he gets it wrong it gets returned to the bottom of the pile. And it is the next players turn. The person with the most cards at the end of the game win. I would have the students play this with a partner so they get more individual practice. You can add more cards to make the game last longer or if you plan on using it with larger groups. You may want to number the cards and create an answer key so the children can check their answers independently.