Helping and Linking Verb Worksheets

About this resource

A helping verb teams up with another verb. A linking verb connects the subject to a word that describes it, with no action at all. The two can even be the same word ("is," "was") in different sentences, so this is a full helping-and-linking kit for second grade, with three practice formats that build from recognizing to sorting to writing: first circling the right answer, then cutting and sorting, then writing an original sentence of each kind.

EVERYTHING INSIDE (23 pages)

THE THREE PAGE TYPES (dots show the level, never color)

1. Helping and Linking Verb Helper (1 dot) — what a helping verb is, what a linking verb is, side by side, in kid words

2. Circle Helping or Linking (1 dot, 3 pages) — read a sentence, circle Helping or Linking

3. Sort Helping and Linking (2 dots, 2 pages) — cut sentences and glue them into Helping or Linking bins

4. Write Your Own (3 dots, 2 pages) — write one helping-verb sentence and one linking-verb sentence about a given topic (my pet, rainy days, the playground, my family)

Sentences come in three sets of eight (A, B, C) for Circle, and two sets of twelve for Sort, so a child never meets the same sentence twice.

Built For The Child Holding The Page

A big "My name" line, one short instruction, large rounded letters, and space to write. Nothing on a student page is written for an adult. Cutting is limited to Sort Helping and Linking: 12 pieces a page in a 4-by-3 grid, edge to edge, each wide enough to read and glue.

Type In, Or Print

The name and date lines, the tracker, the team note, the home page and the definitions page note box are type-in fields in any PDF reader. The lines a student writes on are pencil work. This is a fillable PDF; it is not a Google Slides or PowerPoint file.

Who This Is For

Second grade classrooms, self-contained and resource rooms, and any teacher working with an older student who still needs this skill. The home page sends practice sentences to a family; the team note hands off what changed since the last meeting.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

Helping-and-linking-verb practice with the record-keeping around it. It is not a probe, a goal bank or a score sheet, not a reading assessment, and not a claim about any student's age or rate of progress. Do-support sentences and passive voice are not practiced. Write Your Own is checked against two plain-language rules, never a single right-answer key.