"GOT" Drill Mini-Lesson

The Verb Column of our Sentence Opening Sheet helps students identify weak and repetitious verbs. It also helps with verb tense consistency. If you notice your students having a problem with a repetitious verb, develop a mini-lesson to focus on that difficulty. Here's an example of a "got" mini-lesson.

GotDrill

Teachers love when students use strong verbs in their compositions. Too often students rely on forms of got in place of strong verbs.

Replace forms of got with descriptive verbs. Do not use any substitute verb more than once. Let's complete the first three together. Work on the remaining sentences in your cooperative learning groups. Expand when necessary. Let your creative juices flow.

Special Prize:
No homework for the group with the best set of replacement verbs.

1. Melvin got up at four o'clock.
2. Zelda got her own breakfast.
3. Herman got molasses on his new shirt.
4. Mrs. Jones got to the office late.
5. Ziggy got a reprimand (tough word) from his teacher.
6. Uncle Billy gots to brooding about it.
7. Jose got the ill will of his fellow workers.
8. Bobby tried to get what they were saying about him.
9. Shirley got behind in her math.
10. The saleslady tried to get some of the other workers to help her.
11. Shag could not get any help.
12. Elmer gots ready to go out at noon.
13. Sheila gots some books from the library.
14. Kim Su gots a light lunch.
15. On his way home from school, Jake got run over by a truck.