Name: __________________________
Verbs, Verb Phrases, and Gerunds with Giant Robots

Directions: Underline verbs and verb phrases and circle gerunds.  Some sentences have more than one verb/verb phrase.

Verb: word expressing an action or existence.
Verb Phrase: helping verb (am, is, are, was ,were, be, being, been, etc.) + action verb.
Gerund: noun form of a verb (has “ing” but is not connected to a helping verb).	

1.  The scientist screwed the head on the giant robot.

2.  Building robots is hard work.

3.  The scientist was hoping that the robots would help mankind.

4.  The blinking lights on the robots head distracted the scientist.

5.  The robot was so big that the doctor could hardly screw his head on his neck.

6.  A buzzing sound rang through the laboratory.

7.  The giant robot slowly rose, spun his claws, and beeped while the scientist cheered.

8.  The scientist was giving the robot his first command.

9.  “Giant robot, go get me a diet soda,” said the scientist.

10.  The giant robot walked up the basement laboratory stairs with his giant metal feet.

11.  Commanding robots can be dangerous if your robot is gigantic.  

12.  The giant robot came back with a crushed can of soda.

13.  The scientist had taken the sticky, crushed can of soda out of the giant robot’s claw.

14.  The scientist understood that the robot wouldn’t be good at getting stuff.

15.  He asked the giant robot to screw in a light bulb.

16.  While the giant robot was trying to screw in the light bulb, he spun the whole roof.

17.  Having a giant robot might be a bad idea.

18.  The scientist thought that the robot was too big, but he had one more idea left.

19.  “Read me those Harry Potter books, robot,” commanded the scientist.

20.  The robot was easily able to lift and read the books, and the scientist was happy.