Action and Linking Verbs

Name______Date______

“How Much Land Does a Man Need” by Leo Tolstoy and “Civil Peace” by Chinua Achebe

Grammar

Action and Linking Verbs

An action verb shows physical or mental action. A linking verb expresses a state of being or tells what the subject is by linking it to one or more words in the predicate. The most common linking verbs are forms of be (is, are, was, were, and so on). Other verbs are linking verbs if they can be replaced with a form of be and the sentence still makes sense.

Action verbs:

Pahom buys some land from his neighbor. [shows physical action; cannot be

replaced with a form of be]

Jonathan values his family’s lives more than anything else. [shows mental action;

cannot be replaced with a form of be]

Linking verbs:

Pahom is content with his new farm for a while. [links Pahom to content; is is a

form of be]

Jonathan feels grateful for his family’s survival. [links Jonathan to grateful; can be

replaced with is]

A. PRACTICE: The following sentences are based on “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” or “Civil Peace.” Identify each verb as either a linking verb or an action verb by writing LV or AV on the line before each sentence.

Example:

AV Pahom listened to his wife’s discussion with her sister.

_____1. The Devil was thrilled about Pahom’s boast.

_____2. The Devil gained power over Pahom through his greed for more land.

_____3. Pahom remained unhappy, even with a larger farm.

_____4. Jonathan seemed genuinely happy to find his home mostly intact.

_____5. The Iwegbu family worked hard to get by after the war.

_____6. The thieves took Jonathan’s “egg-rasher” money.

B. Writing Application: Write a paragraph based on either “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” or “Civil Peace.” Use both action and linking verbs. Circle each verb and label it with LV or AV.

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ANSWERS

“How Much Land Does a Man Need” and “Civil Peace”

Integrated Language Skills: Grammar

A. 1. LV; 2. AV; 3. LV; 4. LV; 5. AV; 6. AV

B. Responses will vary. Students should circle verbs and label them as action verbs (AV) or linking verbs (LV).