Verbs: More Lesson Plans and Learning Activities

Make-or-Break Verbs
A writer reflects on the impact of verbs, categorizing them as "powerful" and "wimpy." Good examples! Appropriate for middle school and older.

Match the Present Tense Verb
In this online activity, students match the verb with the sentence it fits.

The Muppets Video Writing Prompts
Students in grades K-2 watch the trailer for the Muppets movie (0:54) and then list all the verbs that describe the Muppets' actions.

Passive Voice
A collection of lessons related to identifying and avoiding passive voice.

Pretests
Pretests and answer keys for identifying nouns, pronouns, and verbs.

School House Rock: "Verbs, That's What's Happening"
This Grammar Rock video introduction to verbs runs 3:00.

Strong Verb Image Makers
Students use descriptive language to clarify ideas and create vivid images in an essay. Includes printable student handouts.

Subject-verb agreement
A list of 6 possible classroom activities to help students learn subject-verb agreement.

Subject-Verb Recognition Practice #1 and Practice #2
Definition, examples, and 10 practice sentences. Practice 1 deals with sentences in natural order. Practice 2 deals with natural and inverted order. Both pages include answers.

The Subjunctive
This downloadable YouTube video (4:48) explores the subjunctive mood and gives examples of its use. Engaging for high school and older. Includes advertising at the very end.

To Boldly Split Infinitives
This downloadable YouTube video (3:16) defines infinitives, then explains and debunks the "never split an infinitive" rule. Includes advertising at the end.

Verb-Adverb Charades
Students draw a verb and an adverb from 2 stacks of cards, then act them out.

Verbs
A 1-minute introductory video.

Verb Tense Worksheets
7 worksheets designed to help elementary students practice with future progressive, past perfect, and other verb tenses.

Vivid Verbs
Students cut a picture from a magazine and then find 6 verbs to describe the action of the picture. They use a dictionary and/or a thesaurus.

When Is a Noun a Verb? Examining 'Double Duty' Words
In this lesson, students play with words that can function either as nouns or verbs, depending on context. They then find and parse "double duty" words in New York Times articles. Advanced students compare these instances with information in dictionaries and frequency count lists, showing which usage occurs more frequently in English.

Why you need strong verbs when you write
Three good reasons and lists of strong verbs.

More verb lesson plans are here.