How to Find Action Verbs in Sentences

GrammarSongs by Melissa

This educational video serves as a clear, visual introduction to physical action verbs for early elementary students. Using a whiteboard animation style, the narrator defines verbs as "action words" or "physical movements" and provides isolated examples like "bounce," "hop," "sing," and "cry." The video then progresses to analyzing complete sentences, demonstrating how to identify verbs by first identifying the nouns (persons, places, things) and then locating the words that show what those nouns are doing. The key themes explored include parts of speech (specifically verbs and nouns), sentence structure, and reading comprehension. The video emphasizes the relationship between nouns and verbs, showing that verbs are the "engine" of the sentence that tells us what the subject is performing. It moves from simple one-verb sentences to a compound predicate (two verbs) to scaffold learning. For educators, this video is a valuable tool for introducing or reviewing grammar concepts. The visual strategy of using thought bubbles to picture the action helps students visualize the function of verbs. It provides a concrete method for identifying verbs—by first ruling out nouns—which is a helpful test-taking and analysis strategy for young learners. The clear, repetitive structure makes it excellent for whole-class instruction or independent review stations.