Verbs & Adverbs Flashcards
What is a verb / and what are different types of verb?
A verb is a word that represents an action, event, or a state of being
Verbs are of two types
- Main verb - These are the ones that represent an action
- Helping/Auxiliary verb = They are used with another partial verb to make them into complete verbs e.g. “He is planning to go” here ‘is’ is a helping verb, which helps planning to make a complete verb
What are finite vs infinite verbs?
Finite verbs - Depending on the subject these verbs change their form for e.g. if the verb take a different form if a subject is singular/plural, present/past/future tense
Infinite verbs - These do not change with the subject and retains the same form
What are gerunds?
A gerund is an ‘ing’ word used as a noun, they might look like verbs but they are not.
They can perform all the function which a noun does i.e. they can act as a subject or as an object.
An ing word without a helper verb isn’t a real verb so it plays a different role in a sentence than a verb
What is the smart trick to identify a gerund or an infinitive
If you are confused place any noun in place of the word under consideration and if it makes sense then that word is not a verb but either gerund or an infinitive
Infinitive
This is the ‘to be’ form of the word which looks like a verb but they aren’t. It can never be the main verb of a sentence
What is the difference between the below two sentences?
It rained vs It has rained
The first one indicates the event which has occurred in the past while the second one indicates that even though the event occurred in the past, the result of that event is still observable i.e. e.g. the road outside is still wet
When do we use ‘had’ verb?
When we want to indicate two events in past and when one event occurred before another in past we generally use had verbs, while if the order of past events does not matter then we don’t need to use had verbs.
What is wrong with the below sentence
The jury had delivered a verdict of “guilty”
In the sentence there arent any two events so the use of had is not required.
What are adverbs
Adverbs are word which is used to modify verbs, adjectives or another adverbs, they never modify a noun because only adjectives can modify a noun
What is wrong with the below sentence?
The company needs to move quick if it is to launch its new product before the holiday shopping season
The word quick should be ‘quickly’ because it is there to modify the verb ‘move’, In ‘quick’ form it acts as an adjective but due to its location it needs to perform the role of an adverb
What is wrong with the below sentence
The performer danced lively, delighting the children.
The word ‘lively’ is an adjective so it cannot modify the verb danced, instead, the sentence should be rephrased as ‘lively manner’
What are adverbial phrase
The phrases which act as an adverb are called an adverbial phrase
What questions you can ask to evaluate an adjective?
Which one, what kind, how much/how many
What questions you can ask to evaluate an adverb
When, where, how, and to what extent/degree
