Verbs, Adjectives & Spelling Patterns
PrimaryDoing words make your writing move; describing words make it vivid. Add a handful of reliable spelling patterns and you have everything you need to write your first real paragraph.
Verbs: the doing words
A verb tells what someone or something does, or what state they are in: run, jump, think, is, seem. Verbs also change to show time (tense): walk (now), walked (before), will walk (later).
Adjectives: the describing words
An adjective describes a naming word — how it looks, feels, or how many there are: a tall tree, a blue sky, three apples.
Three spelling patterns worth knowing
- Magic (silent) e — an e at the end makes the vowel before it say its own name: hop → hope, cap → cape.
- Doubling before -ing/-ed — a short word ending in one vowel + one consonant doubles that consonant: run → running, hop → hopped.
- -y to -ies — a word ending in a consonant + y changes the y to i before -es: baby → babies, fly → flies.
If naming words are the actors in your sentence, verbs are what they do on stage, and adjectives are their costumes. "The dragon roared" moves; "The huge, green dragon roared" lets the reader actually picture it. Adjectives don't make a sentence correct — they make it come alive.
Spelling patterns are not random rules to memorise one word at a time; they are shortcuts that work for hundreds of words at once. Learn "magic e" and you instantly know why cut and cute, rid and ride, sound different.
A paragraph is a small group of sentences that all talk about the same one thing. Start with a sentence that says what it's about, add two or three sentences with details, and you have your first paragraph.
Activity: write a describing paragraph
My cat is small and orange. She sleeps on the warm windowsill all afternoon. When I get home, she jumps down and rubs against my legs. I love her soft, quiet purring.
Verbs used: is, sleeps, get, jumps, rubs, love, purring. Adjectives used: small, orange, warm, soft, quiet. Notice every sentence stays on the same topic — the cat.
Now you try: write a four-sentence paragraph describing your favourite animal or toy. Underline every verb once and every adjective twice, then check your spelling of any -ing or plural words against the patterns above.
How can I tell a verb from an adjective in a sentence?
AAsk "what is happening?" — the answer is the verb. Ask "what does it look/feel like?" — the answer is the adjective. In "The tired dog slept," slept answers "what happened," so it's the verb; tired answers "what does the dog look/feel like," so it's the adjective.
Why does "hop" become "hopped" but "hope" becomes "hoped"?
A"Hop" has one short vowel sound, so its last letter doubles to protect that short sound before adding -ed: hopped. "Hope" already ends in a silent e, so you just drop the e and add -ed: hoped. The doubling rule only applies to short-vowel words that don't already end in a silent e.
Do all sentences in a paragraph have to be about the exact same thing?
AYes, roughly — a good paragraph sticks to one topic. If you suddenly switch to a completely different idea, it's a signal to start a new paragraph instead, so your reader isn't surprised.