Circle & Underline Adverb Worksheet

An adverb is the word that tells how, where, or when something happens, and finding one is a real step forward in understanding how a sentence is built. Third graders already know that the verb carries the action. The next move is noticing the word beside it that shades that action with meaning — quickly, outside, yesterday. This Circle & Underline Adverb Worksheet gives students a clear, repeatable way to practice that pairing: find the verb first, then find the adverb that describes it. Marking the two words together, instead of hunting for adverbs on their own, helps children see that an adverb never floats free. It always belongs to an action.

The worksheet opens with six friendly sentences about lunch boxes, school buses, museums, warm muffins, and sleepy kittens. In each one, students underline the verb and then circle the adverb that describes it. Part B moves from finding to sorting: a six-word box of adverbs is divided into How, Where, and When columns, so children have to decide what each adverb actually tells the reader. Part C asks for an original sentence with an adverb that tells when, turning recognition into real writing. Use this 3rd grade adverbs worksheet for morning work, a grammar center, homework, or a quick check before a parts-of-speech quiz.

What’s Included

• 1 print-ready PDF worksheet
• Answer key
• 6 underline-the-verb and circle-the-adverb sentences, a 6-word adverb sort into How, Where, and When, and 1 write-your-own sentence prompt

Three things make this sheet effective. First, it teaches adverbs in relation to verbs rather than in isolation, so students build the habit good writers use — asking what the action was like, where it happened, or when. Second, the sorting section pushes past labeling into thinking: a child who can place upstairs under Where and later under When understands the job an adverb does, not just its ending. Third, the write-your-own prompt asks students to produce an adverb of their own, which is the strongest evidence that the skill has stuck. Together, the three parts of this Circle & Underline Adverb Worksheet move a class from noticing adverbs to using them.

Teachers and parents can keep the practice going away from the page. Play an acting game where one child draws a verb card and another draws an adverb card, then the class guesses the adverb from the performance. Read a favorite picture book aloud and pause whenever an adverb appears, asking whether it told how, where, or when. Challenge students to rewrite one plain sentence three times, changing only the adverb, and talk about how the picture in their heads changes each time. A five-minute adverb hunt in the classroom library works well as a warm-up too.

Related Resources

• Adverbs Tell How Worksheet
• Adverbs Tell When Worksheet
• Adverb Fill in the Blanks Worksheet
• Adjective Song (Have Fun Teaching)