The first step in making a sentence flow is to divide up the passage into the individual units of thought, called propositions.

Finding Verbs

Because, each proposition has one verbal idea, dividing propositions starts with finding each of the verbs.

On a copy or printout of your passage, go through and circle all of the verbs.

Note a few common mistakes to avoid:
  1. To be verbs such as is, am, and are are often the easiest to miss.
  2. Be aware that English often uses more than one word to communicate one verbal idea. These words can be separated by other words that are not part of the verb, especially not. E.g. John did not run in the race.
  3. Sometimes infinitives and participles can function as nouns and adjectives, in which case they are not verbs and should not be circled.

Note: It is often helpful to do a sentence flow in a more literal (formal equivalent) translation, as functional equivalent translations and paraphrases can obscure the grammatical features that you are trying to find.


Click on all the verbs in the following passage.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. - John 3:16-18 NASB
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Actually, this is an infinitive. For now, we will treat it like a verb, But an infinitive is not a verb and must be recognized as such.
We will come back later and discuss its function and how to handle an infinitive like this.
Correct, now find the other verbs
Sorry, try again
Good job, you have found all the verbs
Sorry, that is actually an adjective
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