Correct Use of Verb 6
1. Verb comes from the Latin verbum, meaning, a word. It is so called because it is the most important word in a sentence. A verb is a word used to assert something about some person or thing.
A verb may tell us –
-
What a person or thing does; as;
He sings a song.
The clock ticks. -
What is done to a person or thing; as:
The teacher scolded him.
The window pane is broken. -
What a person or thing is; as:
The lion is dead.
I feel sorry for what I did.
2. A verb often consists of more than one word; as;
I have read the book.
The ball has been lost.
3. Forms of Verbs:
There are three forms of verb: Infinitive, Past Simple and Past Participle For example:
Infinitive | Past Simple | Past Participle |
be | was/were | been |
blow | blew | blown |
drink | drank | drunk |
feed | fed | fed |
hang | hung | hung |
know | knew | known |
lead | led | led |
teach | taught | taught |
4. Regular and Irregular Verbs
Regular Verbs
If a verb is regular, the Past Simple and Past Participle end in -ed; as:
Infinitive clean finish use point stop carry
Past simple, cleaned finished used pointed stopped carried
Past participle
Spelling tips:
- If a word ends in the consonant -y (baby, carry, easy etc.) y changes to i before the ending -ed, e.g. hurry – hurried; study – studied; apply – applied; try – tried, (a, e, i, o and u are vowel letters. The other letters b, c, d, f, g etc. are consonant letters)
-
If a verb ends in -e, we add -d for the past of regular verbs; e.g. hope/hoped;
smile/smiled; dance/danced and confuse/confused. -
Sometimes a word ends in vowel + consonant, e.g. stop, plan, rub etc.
In such cases before the endings –ed, we double the consonant at the end. So, p becomes pp, n becomes nn; as in:
stop – stopped; plan – planned; rub – rubbed.-
When the past simple/past participle do not end in -ed (for example, I saw/ I have seen etc.) the verb is irregular.
With some irregular verbs, all three forms (infinitive, past simple and past participle) are the same, for example hit:
Don’t hit me. (infinitive)
Somebody hit me when I went to market.
I have never hit anybody in my life, (past participle – present perfect) Mohan was hit on the head by a stone, (past participle – passive) -
With other irregular verbs, the past simple is the same as the past participle (but different from the infinitive). For example, tell – told:
Can you tell me about Sharan?
She told me to come back the next day. (past simple)
Have you told anybody about changing your school? (past participle – present perfect)
I was told to come back the next day (past participle – passive) -
With other irregular verbs, all three forms are different, for example, wake – woke/woken:
I will wake you up. (infinitive)
I woke up in the middle of the night, (past simple)
The baby has woken up. (past participle – present perfect)
I was woken up by a loud noise (past participle – passive) -
The following verbs can be regular or irregular:
bum – burned or burnt smell – smelled or smelt
dream – dreamed or dreamt spell – spelled or spelt
lean – leaned or leant spill – spilled or spilt
learn – learned or learnt spoil – spoiled or spoilt
-
When the past simple/past participle do not end in -ed (for example, I saw/ I have seen etc.) the verb is irregular.
Exercise 1
Write the past simple / past participle of these verbs, (the past simple and past participle are the same for all the verbs in this exercise.)
1. make 6. enjoy 11. hear
2. cut 7. buy 12. put
3. get 8. sit 13. catch
4. bring 9. leave 14. watch
5. pay 10. happen 15. understand
Аnswers:
1. made 6. enjoyed 11. heard
2. cut 7. bought 12. put
3. got 8. sat 13. caught
4. brought 9. left 14. watched
5. paid 10. happened 15. understood
Exercise 2
Write the past simple and past participle of these verbs:
1. break 6. run 11. take
2. begin 7. speak 12. go
3. eat 8. write 13. give
4. drink 9. come 14. throw
5. drive 10. know 15. forget
Аnswers:
1. break – broke, broken 2. begin – began, begun
3. eat – ate, eaten 4. drink – drank, drunk
5. drive – drove, driven 6. run – ran, run
7. speak – spoke, spoken 8. write – wrote, written
9. come – came, come 10. know – knew, known
11. take – took, taken 12. go – went, gone
13. give – gave, given 14. throw – threw, thrown
15. forget – forgot, forgotten
Exercise 3
Put the verb in the right form:
- I …………………………….. my hands because they were dirty, (wash)
- Somebody has …………………………….. this window pane, (break)
- I feel good. I …………………………….. very well last night, (sleep)
- We …………………………….. a very good film yesterday, (see)
- It …………………………….. a lot while we were on holiday, (rain)
- I have …………………………….. my bag. (lose). Have you it? (see)
- Harish’s bicycle was …………………………….. last week, (steal)
- I …………………………….. to bed early because I was tired, (go)
- Have you …………………………….. your work yet? (finish)
- This house was …………………………….. about 15 years ago. (build)
- Parth …………………………….. to drive when he was 18. (learn)
- I have never …………………………….. a horse, (ride)
- Sushma is a good friend of mine. I have …………………………….. her for a long time, (know)
- Yesterday I …………………………….. (fall) and my leg. (hurt)
Аnswers:
- washed.
- broken.
- slept.
- saw.
- rained.
- lost, seen.
- stolen
- went.
- finished.
- built
- learnt.
- ridden.
- known.
- fell, hurt.
Exercise 4
Complete these sentences. Choose from the box and put the verb into the correct form.
cost drive fly make meet sell
speak swim tell think wake up win
- I have …………………………….. some coffee. Would you like some?
- Have you …………………………….. Mr. Jain about the book you wanted?
- We played cricket on Sunday. We did not play very well but we ……………………………..
- I know Sohan but I have never …………………………….. his sister.
- We were …………………………….. by loud music in the middle of the night.
- Mohan jumped into the river and …………………………….. to the other side.
- ‘Did you like the film?’ Yes. I …………………………….. it was very good.’
- Many different languages are …………………………….. in India.
- Our holiday …………………………….. a lot of money because we stayed in an expensive hotel.
- Have you ever …………………………….. a very fast car?
- All the tickets for the show were …………………………….. very quickly. .
- A bird …………………………….. in through the open window while we were having our dinner.
Аnswers:
- made.
- told.
- won.
- met.
- woken up.
- swam.
- thought.
- spoken.
- cost.
- driven.
- sold.
- flew
Exercise 5
Complete the sentences. Choose from the list and put the verb into the correct form.
damage eat enjoy go go away
listen open pronounce rain understand use
- I am going to take an umbrella with me. It is ………………………….
- Why are you so tired? Did you …………………………. to bed late last night?
- Where are the chocolates? Have you …………………………. them all?
- How is your new job? Are you…………………………. it?
- My uncle’s car was badly…………………………. in the accident but I was OK.
- Mrs. Kapur has got a car but she does not …………………………. it very often.
- Shalini is not at home. She has …………………………. for a few days.
- I don’t …………………………. the problem. Can you explain it again?
- Nikhil is in his room. He’s …………………………. to music.
- I don’t know how to say this word. How is it …………………………. ?
- How do you …………………………. this window? Can you show me?
Аnswers:
- raining.
- go.
- eaten.
- enjoying.
- damaged.
- use.
- gone away.
- understand.
- listening.
- pronounced.
- open.
Exercise 6
Put the verb into the correct form, to … or -ing:
- When I am tired, I enjoy …………………… television, (watch)
- It was a nice day, so we decided …………………… for a walk, (go)
- It’s a nice day. Does anyone fancy …………………… for a walk, (go)
- I’m not in a hurry. I don’t mind …………………… (wait)
- They don’t have much money. They can’t afford …………………… out. (go)
- I wish that dog would stop …………………… It is driving me mad. (bark)
- Our neigbour threatened …………………… the police if we did not stop fighting (call)
- We were hungry, so I suggested …………………… dinner early, (have)
- Hurry up! I don’t want to risk …………………… the train, (miss)
- I’m still looking for a job but I hope …………………… something soon, (find)
Аnswers:
- watching.
- to go.
- going.
- waiting.
- to go.
- barking.
- to call.
- having.
- missing.
- to find.