Action Verbs Worksheet: What the Doer Did, Greek Myths, Grades 3-5

Heracles was the strongest man in the old stories. A king gave him twelve hard jobs to finish. Each hard job was called a labor. Twelve labors filled his whole adventure, and every labor was something he did.

An action verb tells what someone or something does. Heracles cleaned. Heracles carried. Cleaned and carried are action verbs. Each one names something that happened.

Here is how to find the action verb in a sentence. First find the doer. The doer is who or what the sentence is about. Then ask one question. What did the doer do? The answer is the action verb. Try it. Heracles cleaned the muddy stables in one day. Who is the sentence about? Heracles. He is the doer. What did Heracles do? He cleaned. So cleaned is the action verb. Try it once more. The river washed the floor for him. What is the sentence about? The river. A river is not a person, but it is still the doer here. What did the river do? It washed. So washed is the action verb.

A retold adventure is a chain of action verbs. Each link in the chain is one thing that happened. Four labors of Heracles came in this order. He captured a wild boar on a snowy mountain. He cleaned the muddy stables in one day. He gathered three golden apples in a far garden. He carried a huge three headed dog up into the daylight, and that dog guarded a dark doorway. Captured, cleaned, gathered, and carried are the four links. Read those four words alone and you still know the story.

Not every action verb is loud. Heracles held the sky on his shoulders while he waited at the edge of the world. He planned each labor before he started. Held, waited, and planned are action verbs too. They tell what the doer did, even when nothing moves fast. Remember the difference between two kinds of words. A noun names. An action verb tells what the doer did. Mountain, stables, garden, and apples name things. Captured, cleaned, gathered, and carried tell what happened.