Study Notes on Verb and Subject-Verb Agreement Download PDF

VERB

Definition- A verb expresses action or a state of being and tells what the subject of the clause is or does. A verb is necessary to make a complete statement and is an integral part of a sentence. 

For example:

Tina is singing.

They play together.

Miya is eating her dinner.

A verb is a "doing" word. That expresses:

• A physical action (e.g., to eat, to write, to drink).
• A mental action (e.g., to think, to wonder, to consider).
• A state of being (e.g., to be, to appear, to exist).

Types of Verbs

1. ACTION VERB - Main verbs or action verbs express action or activity, something that an animal, a person or a thing can do or does. 

For example:

• The leopard chased the dear.
• Riya eats pudding.
• The dog is hungry.
• The monkey jumps.

2. HELPING VERBS – Helping verbs are also known as Auxiliary verbs and are used together with a main verb to show the verb's tense or to form a question or a negative.

For example:

• We are in the playhouse.
• We are learning German.
• You should do it.
• I will go home after tuition.

3. LINKING VERBS- Linking verbs are also known as the state of being verbs, Linking verbs link the subject of a sentence with either a noun (which renames the subject) or the Adjective (which modifies the subject).

For example:

• The flowers are colourful.
• I feel energized.
• I am the bus driver.
• Custard tastes delicious.

4. TRANSITIVE VERB - A Transitive verb expresses an action directed towards a person, place, or thing. It is the verb that acts on something.

For example:

• I saw a dog.
• Jiya cut the cake.
• The ball was kicked.
• The building was demolished.
• She is writing an essay.
• The potter has made a beautiful pot.

5. INTRANSITIVE VERB – A verb that does not need an object to make complete sense is called an intransitive verb. An intransitive verb is one that is NOT followed by a direct object.

Note: An intransitive verb may be followed by adverbs, adjectives, and prepositional phrases.

The verb is considered as an intransitive verb when it does not follow a noun or pronoun which functions as a direct object.

For example:

• The cat sneezed.
• My leg hurts.
• The ball fell.
• He finally left. 
• The thief was hiding.

TENSE OF VERB:

Verb tenses are used to showtime. Verb tenses tell when events happen, happen, or will happen. 

Simple Tense Present - The present tense may express an action that is repeated or ongoing. Verbs that express actions occurring now are said to be in the Present Tense.

Example: Jim jumps out of the window.

Past - Verbs that express actions in the past are said to be in the Past tense. The Past tense expresses an activity that has already happened. In regular verbs, It is formed by adding –ed or –d to the base form. In irregular verbs, the past tense takes a variety of types. 

Example: I ran to the house.

Future - The future tense expresses an action that will take place in the future. These are usually formed by preceding the verb with the word will.

Example: I will take the blame.

                 I will take you home.

PARTICIPLES:

Participles are formed from verbs. 

There are two types: Present Participle and past participle. Present participles end in -ing. Past participles have many endings (e.g., -ed, -en).

V1                        V2                         V3

Begin                 Began                   Begun

Bite                    Bit                         Bitten

Bend                  Bent                     Bent 

Fly                     Flew                      Flown

Freeze               Froze                    Frozen

Know                 Knew                     Known

Sing                   Sang                     Sung

Tear                   Tore                      Torn

Write                 Wrote                     Written

Win                    Won                       Won 

EXERCISE ON VERB:

1. Your friends ______ for you for over an hour (wait).
2. When I reached the station, the train had ______ (Leave).
3. It is not worth _____(pay) so much money for this show.
4. His company is greatly ______ (seen) after.
5. The terrified people ______ (run) to the mountains.
6. When I saw the child, he was _______ (cry).
7. Teena ______ (come) to my house to give me the good news.
8. She never _______(miss) any class.
9. She _______ (Decide) to go to the U.K for further studies.
10. This habit _____ (help) her a lot.

Answers-

• Waited 

• Left 

• Paying

• Sought  

• Ran 

• Crying 

• Came 

• Misses 

• Decide 

•  Helped 

SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

Important Rules of Subject - Verb Agreement

1. When every and each come before a singular subject joined by and, the verb is singular.

Examples:

• Every man and woman has the right to vote.
• Each student and teacher was aware of the difficulty.

2. In sentences beginning with here or there, the true subject follows the verb.

Examples:

• There are four hurdles to jump.
• There is a high hurdle to jump.
• Here are the keys.

3. Several, many, both, few are plural words and take a plural verb.

Examples:

Both are happy with the grades they got.

Many were lost on the way.

Few have done their homework.

4. When words like the following are used as subjects, they take singular verb.

Examples:

Everybody knows the answer.

Nobody speaks German here.

Somebody was in the room.

5. A subject will come before a phrase beginning with of. This is a key rule for understanding subjects. The word of is the culprit in many, perhaps most, subject-verb mistakes.

Hasty writers, speakers, readers, and listeners might miss the all-too-common mistake in the following sentence:

Incorrect:  A bouquet of yellow roses lend color and fragrance to the room.

Correct: A bouquet of yellow roses lends . . . (bouquet lends, not roses lend)

6. When subjects are joined by words such as neither, either, not only the verb must agree with the closer subject.

Examples:

Either the man or his wife knows the answer.

Either the man or his friends know the answer.

Either the children or the man knows the answer.

7. Some nouns look plural with –s but they take a singular verb.

• Sciences
• Abstract nouns
• Diseases
• Physics
• Mathematics
• Statistics
• Economics
• News
• Politics
• Ethics
• Measles
• Mumps
  

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   8. When a plural noun denotes some specific quantity or amount that is considered as a whole, the verb is generally used in singular form.

Examples:

• Two-thirds of the village is in ruins. (here ’are’ is not used)
• Five weeks is a good holiday. (here ‘are’ is not used)

9. Generic references with the required plural verb.

Examples:

• The rich are not always happy.
• The young like to listen to loud music.
• The old hate loud music.
• The English are distant and the French are humorous.

10. Also, this scheme is followed by book titles and names of sciences.

Examples:

• The Arabian Nights is an amazing book.
• Physics is a difficult subject.