Some of the helping verbs can be used alone as the main verb.
Is, am, are, was, and were can be used alone as linking or state of being verbs.
Has, have, had, do, does, and did always show action when used alone.
Be, being, and been can be used with other verbs either to show action or state of being.
The other helping verbs cannot be used alone but only as helping verbs.
Find the verb or verb phrases in these sentences.
She has too many friends.
You do beautiful work.
I was in Canada last week.
You are being very stubborn.
Answer:
The verb and verb phrases were has, do, was, and are being. Has and do are action verbs, and was and are being are state of being verbs.
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Practice:
Write the verb or verbs in each sentence.
1. Tom paddled the canoe.
2. Miki had a good idea.
3. The doctor is here.
4. The neighbors have a new car.
5. The girls have finished their work.
6. We had been playing the piano.
7. Ann caught the ball.
8. Jim remembered the story.
9. The test seemed easy.
10. Bill is a talented painter.
11. Sue is dancing in the marathon.
12. The scouts were gathering driftwood.
13. He was being stubborn.

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I love this poem. It’s famous and I read it when I was young because a teacher told me to. But now I can read it and treasure its rich golden wisdom. I’ll read it aloud to my own children several times so they can begin to learn it. 🙂
If by Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with wornout tools;
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: “Hold on”;
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings – nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run –
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man my son!
Copied from EveryPoet.com
Rikki Tikki Tavi by Rudyard Kipling, short story taken from the Jungle Book

A solid bright orange rests upon the crowns of the trees bordering the horizon. There’s a misty fog appearance along the edge. Maybe this is characteristic of Autumn sunrises. It looks near to the same as yesterday. The sky is cloudless.

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Today I read a devotion written by Elizabeth Elliot from the Back To The Bible website. Mrs. Elliot told how she kept a 5 year diary through high school (1948) and college. Looking back on it she says there were so many things God had done in her life that she had forgotten about.
Then she lists several things a person or even a family should keep record of through their daily Christian walk:

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Here is Lesson 4 from Mr. Johanson
Taken from http://www.DailyGrammar.com
Parts of Speech – Verbs
Sometimes a verb can be more than one word. When a verb is more than one word, it is called a verb phrase. Verb phrases can be two, three, or four words. Verb phrases are made by using auxiliary or helping verbs. What are the verb phrases in these sentences?
You are going to Seattle.
You have been resting too much.
We must be early.
I will be finished shortly.
Answer:
The verb phrases are are going, have been resting, must be, and will be finished. These sentences all have what are called auxiliary or helping verbs. I will refer to them as helping verbs. There are twenty-three (23) helping verbs that should be memorized since they are used so often. If you memorize them, it will make knowing and understanding verbs much easier. They are usually grouped in the following five groups:
Group 1: is, am, are, was, were, be, being, been
Group 2: has, have, had
Group 3: do, does, did
Group 4: shall, will, should, would
Group 5: may, might, must, can, could
Copyright 2006 Word Place Inc – – All Rights Reserved.

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I read this today in Jeremiah 17 on the Our Daily Bread website:
9 The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
10 “I the LORD search the heart
and examine the mind,
to reward a man according to his conduct,
according to what his deeds deserve.”

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Where’s the sun? @7:09 I see the beginning of its rising. Almost always there is one brighter area but not today.

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Hopefully, 20 more sentences and a 10 sentence writing activity can give you a great understanding of action verbs.
1. A glassblower built an unusual glass instrument.
2. The glass armonica produces a loud, unforgettable sound.
3. People remember its unusual tones.

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Here are 20 more sentences for identifying verbs (answers provided) (:
1. Mary McLeod Bethune dreamed of a school for black children.
2. She explored different locations.
3. Daytona, Florida was her choice.

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Yes, it’s true God did stretch out the Heavens by His understanding:
Jeremiah 10
12 But God made the earth by his power;
he founded the world by his wisdom
and stretched out the heavens by his understanding.
I saw it happen this morning right outside my window. He made a new day for us. My first glance to the eastern sky gave me a hint that the sun was on its way. The sky was no longer a solid black but a deep dark blue.

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