Tips on Answering Questions Related To Verbs

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16 TIPS on USING VERBS

• Grammar Rules and Tips for using Verbs

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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)

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Types of Verbs

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

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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 waiting in 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 Smoking is 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.

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Tips on using Verbs
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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 dog growls 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.

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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)

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Tip 5 Each, Every
Tip 6 Many A/An, More than One

• 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 have has 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)

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)
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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 are is too 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)

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Tip 9 And
Tip 10 It, Here, There

• 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 fish is my mom's favorite dish.

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.
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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 milk is
available 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. The percentage of the
successful candidate is low. (verb is singular in
case of percentage)

• Number of
• The number of musicians signing to record labels
  increases each year.A number of musicians intend
  to 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/is the highest. (wage
  meaning rate of compensation)
• The wages of sin is death. (here wage means
  recompense or return)

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Tip 13 Subjunctive Mood
Tip 14 Subject-Verb Inversion

• 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 Ramesh were here, you'd be sorry.
• I wish it were Saturday.
• As if/As though
• She behaves as if she was were the landlady.

Interrogation Subject-Verb inversion happens in
questions. What is the problem? What are the
problems? Did he 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.
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Tip 15 Transitive, Intransitive Verbs
Tip 16 Irregular Verbs

• Transitive Verb
• Require an object
• Transfer their action to the object
• She wrote a book. (verb write transfers the
  action to single object a book)
• She offered him (first object) her book. (second
  object). (verb offer transfers the action to
  two objects him and her book)
• Intransitive Verb
• Dont require an object
• They run. ( verb run has no object)
• She slept. ( verb slept has no object)

Irregular Verbs Verbs that dont take on the
regular d, -ed, or -ied spelling patterns of the
past simple (or past participle. Base
Simple Past Past Participle Be Was,
Were, Been Arise Arose
Arisen Begin Began
Begun Irregular verbs where past and past
participle remain the same Base Simple
Past Past Participle Bid Bid Bid Cost Co
st Cost Hit Hit
Hit
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Spot the Errors
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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.
  

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Spot the Error

• I or he are to be rewarded?
• I or he is to be rewarded?
• They each is honest.
• They each are honest.
• Many an events have taken place in the stadium.
• Many an event has taken 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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