Tips on Answering Questions Related To Verbs

1. 16 TIPS on USING VERBS Grammar Rules and Tips for using Verbs

2. What is a Verb? Verbs are words that describe an action, an occurrence, or a state of being; mental, physical, or mechanical. Verbs form one of the main parts of a sentence or question in English. Function of Verb: It answers the following questions What a person or thing do? She teaches in school. (active) What is done to a person or a thing? The house was cleaned. (passive) What is the time of action? I am going to Jaipur tomorrow. (future tense) What a person or thing is? My brother is a doctor. (‘be’ as an ordinary verb)

3. Types of Verbs Auxiliary Verb (Be, Have, Do): used together with a main verb to show the verb’s tense or to form a negative or a question: Does Sam write his own reports? Modal Verb: Can/Could, Will/ Would, Shall/ Should, May/Might--used to express ability, possibility, permission or obligation: You can go to school. Transitive Verb: action of verb transits/ passes over to an object: She ate the fruits. (fruits is ‘direct object’) Intransitive Verb: action of verb does not transit/pass over to an object: The cat sneezed. Stative Verb: relates to a state of being, a thought, or an emotion but not an action: He feelselated. Action Verb: expresses physical or mental action: She is walking in the park. (or) He believes that it can be done. Regular Verb: takes add -ed or -d to the base form of the verb to create the past forms: (Play-Played) Irregular Verbs don’t take on the regular –d, -ed, or -ied spelling patterns of the past simple or past participle: (Catch-Caught)

4. Types of Verbs Phrasal Verb: made with a main verb and another word (either a preposition or a particle) and forms a meaning different to the main verb: A burglar will often break a window to break in. Finite Verb: shows tense and are conjugated to agree with the subject: She was waitingin the room. Non-Finite Verb: do not show tense. They are of three types: Participle: usually formed by adding –ing or –ed to a verb. It functions as an adjective:The singing bird was the main attraction at the event. Gerunds: formed by adding –ing to a verb. It functions as a noun: Smokingis prohibited in the hospital. Infinitive: formed by using the word ‘to’ before the verb in its stem word. It functions as a noun, adjective or adverb: Shalini loves to talk. Link Verb: Some verbs are followed by either a noun or an adjective: He became angry. (noun + verb + adjective) Causative Verb: used to indicate that some person/thing makes, requires, forces or helps to make something happen: I made my friend write a letter.

5. Tips on using Verbs

6. Tip #1: Singular-Plural Tip #2: Verbs in Tense In the present tense:Nouns ADD an s to the singular form; Verbs REMOVE the s from the singular form. Singular: The dog chases the cat. Plural: The dogs chase the cat. In the simple past tense: The verb remains the same when without any helping verbs. Singular: The girl talked to me. Plural: The girls talked to me. is-are, was-were, has-have, does-do: When helping verbs are used with a main verb, there must be Subject-Verb Agreement: Singular: The girl has talked to me. Plural: The girls have talked to me. Subject-Verb Agreement: Subjects and verbs must AGREE with one another in number (singular or plural). A singular subject takes a singular verb: The doggrowls when he is angry. A plural subject takes a plural verb: The dogs growl when they are angry. Phrases between the subject and verb not affect agreement: The dog, which belongs to my relatives, usually growls at strangers.

7. Tip #3: Unlike, Besides, With, Except Tip #4: Either-Or, Neither Nor Not only-But also, Either-or, Neither-nor, None-but: When these words join two or more subjects, the verb is used according to the nearest subject. One or two books is are needed. (nearest subject ‘books’ is in plural so we use plural verb ‘are’) None but the students are responsible for the chaos in the class. Neither the class teacher nor the students were present in the assembly. As well as, Like, Unlike, Besides, In addition to, With, Together with, Along with, And not, Rather than, No less than, Except, Nothing, No more than: When these words join two or more subjects, the verb is used according to the first subject. Nothing but prayer is valuable. (here prayer is in singular number so we use singular verb ‘is’) The coach as well as the players was honored by the government. (the first subject ‘coach’ is singular so we use singular verb ‘was’, not ‘were’)

8. Tip #5: Each, Every Tip #6: Many A/An, More than One Many A/An, More than One:These expressions should be followed by a singular noun and singular verb. Many a candidate has applied for the job. (the noun ‘candidate’ and the verb ‘has’ is in singular due to use of ‘many a’) Many candidates have applied for the job. (noun and verb both plural) More than one man was absent. (the noun ‘man’ and the verb ‘was’ is in singular due to use of ‘more than one’) More men than one were absent. (in case of ‘more men than one’, the verb is plural) Each, Every, None, Anyone, Neither, Either:When these words are used as pronouns or adjectives, the following verb should be in the third person singular. Neither of the two workers havehas come today. (though we are talking about two workers, we still use ‘has’) None: when used with uncountable nouns, verb is singular. None of the information is correct. Each: when used after subject, verb is plural. They each are obedient. Each of the students is obedient. (here ‘each’ is an adjective, so singular verb)

9. Tip #7: Plural Noun (time, distance, period) Tip #8: Collective Noun Family, Herd, Choir, Group, Team, Group, Population: These types of collective nouns are followed by both singular and plural verbs, depending on the intent. The class is in session. (Here ‘class’ is referring to the whole group so we have a singular verb) The class are taking their tests today. (The ‘class’ in this sentence is referring to each member as an individual so it uses a plural verb) Amount, Sum, Quantity, Time, period, Distance: When these are expressed using plural nouns, the following verb is singular. Two miles areistoo far to walk. Hundred rupees is the entry fee. (‘hundred rupees’ is considered one amount of money) Hundred rupees were scattered on the floor. (In this sentence, ‘hundred rupees’ is considered to be hundred individual rupee notes and not a single unit)

10. Tip #9: And Tip #10: It, Here, There It: When sentence begins with ‘It’, the verb is according to the subject indicated by ‘It’) It is a real challenge to find a good deal on a car. (‘Finding a good deal’ is the subject which is singular) There, Here:When sentences start with “there” or “here,” the subject will always be placed after the verb and verb is conjugated in agreement with the subject.There is a problem with the balance. sheet. Here are the papers you requested. If two subjects are joined by "and," the verb is plural: Bread and butter are sold here. If the two subjects separated by "and" refer to the same person or thing, the verb is singular: Bread and butter is difficult to earn. (here ‘bread and butter’ is a compound noun) Rice and fishis my mom's favorite dish.

11. Tip #11: Number Of, Wages, Means Tip #12: Plenty, Variety, Lot, Percentage Plenty of, Rest of, Variety of, A lot of, fraction of, Per cent of:In these cases we use singular verb with uncountable nouns and plural verb with countable nouns . Plenty of milkisavailable in the store. (milk is uncountable so singular verb) A variety of books are available. (books are a countable noun, so plural verb) Per cent/ Percentage: Twenty per cent of the students have cleared the exam. Thepercentageof the successful candidate is low. (verb is singular in case of percentage) Number of: The number ofmusicians signing to record labelsincreaseseach year.A number of musiciansintendto get a contract deal each year. Means: Means are more important than the ends. A fair means is more important the foul ones. Wage: The wages/wage in IT are/isthe highest. (wage meaning rate of compensation) The wages of sin is death. (here wage means recompense or return)

12. Tip #13: Subjunctive Mood Tip #14: Subject-Verb Inversion Interrogation:Subject-Verb inversion happens in questions. What is the problem? What are the problems? Didhe come to work on time? Inversion also happens when the sentence is introduced by adverb: So quickly did she finish her assignment that we were astonished. Inversion occurs when the verb is meant to be a wish or prayer: May you be blessed with a long life. Subjunctive Mood:used to express things that are hypothetical, wishful, imaginary, or factually contradictory. ‘Were’ replaces ‘was’ in sentences that express a wish or are contrary to fact: If Rameshwere here, you'd be sorry. I wish it were Saturday. As if/As though: She behaves as if she waswere the landlady.

13. Tip #15: Transitive, Intransitive Verbs Tip #16: Irregular Verbs Irregular Verbs:Verbs that don’t take on the regular –d, -ed, or -iedspelling patterns of the past simple (or past participle. BaseSimple PastPast Participle Be Was, Were, Been Arise Arose Arisen Begin Began Begun Irregular verbs where past and past participle remain the same: BaseSimple PastPast Participle Bid Bid Bid Cost Cost Cost Hit Hit Hit Transitive Verb: Require an object Transfer their action to the object She wrotea book.(verb ‘write’ transfers the action to single object ‘a book’) She offeredhim (first object) her book. (second object). (verb ‘offer’ transfers the action to two objects ‘him’ and ‘her book’) Intransitive Verb: Don’t require an object They run.( verb ‘run’ has no object) She slept.( verb ‘slept’ has no object)

14. Spot the Errors

15. Spot the Error The percentage of successful candidates are very high. My mother no less than my father are strict. Every student and every teacher have participated in the school event. Three fourths of my salary go to taxes. Six months are needed to complete the assignment.

16. Spot the Error The percentage of successful candidates are very high. The percentage of successful candidates is very high. My mother no less than my father are strict. My mother no less than my father is strict. Every student and every teacher have participated in the school event. Every student and every teacher has participated in the school event. Three fourths of my salary go to taxes. Three fourths of my salary goes to taxes. Six months are needed to complete the assignment. Six months is needed to complete the assignment.

17. Spot the Error Thirty five percent of the population are educated. A lot of my friends lives here. She requested that he raises his hand. A bouquet of yellow roses lend color and fragrance to the room. Either Anita or Ashish are helping today with the arrangements.

18. Spot the Error Thirty five percent of the population are educated. Thirty five percent of the population is educated. A lot of my friends lives here. A lot of my friends live here. She requested that he raises his hand. She requested that he raise his hand. A bouquet of yellow roses lend color and fragrance to the room. A bouquet of yellow roses lends color and fragrance to the room. Either Anita or Ashish are helping today with the arrangements. Either Anita or Ashish is helping today with the arrangements.

19. Spot the Error A scooter and a car is my means of transportation. Breaking and entering are against the law. Neither the plates nor the serving bowl go in the dishwasher. Five years are the maximum sentence for that offense. Here is the keys to the first floor room.

20. Spot the Error A scooter and a car is my means of transportation. A scooter and a car are my means of transportation. Breaking and entering are against the law. Breaking and entering is against the law. Neither the plates nor the serving bowl go in the dishwasher. Neither the plates nor the serving bowl goes in the dishwasher. Five years are the maximum sentence for that offense. Five years is the maximum sentence for that offense. Here is the keys to the first floor room. Here are the keys to the first floor room.

21. Spot the Error I or he are to be rewarded? They each is honest. Many an events have taken place in the stadium. Plenty of information are available on the internet. At the party, they enjoyed.

22. Spot the Error I or he are to be rewarded? I or he is to be rewarded? They each is honest. They eacharehonest. Many an events have taken place in the stadium. Many an event hastaken place in the stadium. Plenty of information are available on the internet. Plenty of information is available on the internet. At the party, they enjoyed. At the party, they enjoyed themselves.

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