ILMA Education: Identifying Nouns, Verbs and Adjectives in a ... - Free Printable

Let’s go through each sentence one by one. We’ll find:

- Nouns → circle them (words that name people, animals, places, or things)
- Verbs → underline them (action words or states of being)
- Adjectives → put a tick next to them (words that describe nouns)

We’ll do this for all 10 sentences.

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Sentence 1: Cats have sharp claws to scratch.

- Nouns: Cats, claws
- Verbs: have, scratch
- Adjectives: sharp ✔

→ Circle: Cats, claws
→ Underline: have, scratch
→ Tick: sharp

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Sentence 2: They eat meat and not plants.

- Nouns: meat, plants
- Verbs: eat
- Adjectives: none (They is a pronoun, not an adjective; “not” is an adverb)

→ Circle: meat, plants
→ Underline: eat
→ Tick: (none)

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Sentence 3: They hunt birds and small animals.

- Nouns: birds, animals
- Verbs: hunt
- Adjectives: small ✔

→ Circle: birds, animals
→ Underline: hunt
→ Tick: small

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Sentence 4: A cat can live for ten years.

- Nouns: cat, years
- Verbs: can live (can = helping verb, live = main verb — both together are the verb phrase)
- Adjectives: ten ✔ (it describes how many years)

→ Circle: cat, years
→ Underline: can live
→ Tick: ten

*(Note: Some teachers might say only “live” is the verb, but “can live” is the full verb phrase here. Either way, “live” must be underlined.)*

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Sentence 5: All cats sleep a lot.

- Nouns: cats
- Verbs: sleep
- Adjectives: All ✔ (describes how many cats), lot ✘ (here it’s part of “a lot” which acts like an adverb meaning “much”)

→ Circle: cats
→ Underline: sleep
→ Tick: All

*(“Lot” is tricky — in “sleep a lot”, “a lot” modifies the verb, so it’s not describing a noun → not an adjective.)*

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Sentence 6: They are very clean.

- Nouns: none (They = pronoun)
- Verbs: are
- Adjectives: clean ✔, very ✘ (“very” is an adverb modifying “clean”)

→ Circle: (none)
→ Underline: are
→ Tick: clean

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Sentence 7: They lick their fur to clean themselves.

- Nouns: fur, themselves (reflexive pronoun acting as object — some may count it as noun-like)
But let’s stick to clear nouns: fur
- Verbs: lick, clean
- Adjectives: their ✔ (shows possession — describes whose fur)

→ Circle: fur
→ Underline: lick, clean
→ Tick: their

*(“Themselves” is a pronoun, not typically called a noun in basic grammar. So we’ll leave it out unless your teacher says otherwise.)*

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Sentence 8: Their long whiskers help them to feel things in the dark.

- Nouns: whiskers, things, dark (dark can be a noun here — “in the dark” means in darkness)
- Verbs: help, feel
- Adjectives: Their ✔, long ✔

→ Circle: whiskers, things, dark
→ Underline: help, feel
→ Tick: Their, long

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Sentence 9: Cats are good at seeing, hearing and smelling.

- Nouns: Cats
- Verbs: are, seeing, hearing, smelling (these are gerunds — verb forms used as nouns, but in this case they’re objects of preposition “at”, so still function as nouns? Wait — actually, “seeing, hearing, smelling” are activities — often treated as nouns here. But the main verb is “are”. The others are part of the description.)

Actually, let’s break it down:

Main verb: are
“good” is an adjective describing cats
“seeing, hearing, smelling” — these are gerunds (verb + ing used as nouns). So they are nouns!

So:

- Nouns: Cats, seeing, hearing, smelling
- Verbs: are
- Adjectives: good ✔

→ Circle: Cats, seeing, hearing, smelling
→ Underline: are
→ Tick: good

*(Some curricula treat gerunds as verbs, but in this context, since they follow “at”, they’re functioning as nouns. If your teacher says differently, adjust accordingly. For now, we’ll treat them as nouns.)*

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Sentence 10: All cats love to play.

- Nouns: cats
- Verbs: love, play (to play = infinitive verb)
- Adjectives: All ✔

→ Circle: cats
→ Underline: love, play
→ Tick: All

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Now let’s compile the final answers clearly for each sentence.

Final Answer:

1. Circle: Cats, claws | Underline: have, scratch | Tick: sharp
2. Circle: meat, plants | Underline: eat | Tick: (none)
3. Circle: birds, animals | Underline: hunt | Tick: small
4. Circle: cat, years | Underline: can live | Tick: ten
5. Circle: cats | Underline: sleep | Tick: All
6. Circle: (none) | Underline: are | Tick: clean
7. Circle: fur | Underline: lick, clean | Tick: their
8. Circle: whiskers, things, dark | Underline: help, feel | Tick: Their, long
9. Circle: Cats, seeing, hearing, smelling | Underline: are | Tick: good
10. Circle: cats | Underline: love, play | Tick: All