Verbs and Subjects? Why bother? To write better sentences.
Really. Its important.
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What do you remember about verbs and subjects? Some of what you
remember may be helpful, but some may confuse you.
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A slightly different, step by step approach to finding verbs 1.
Identify the time of the sentence. (Now, yesterday, tomorrow, these
days, always...) Sam took a walk yesterday. She always studies in
the library. Weve been living here for three years. Ill do it
tomorrow. Sam took a walk yesterday. (yesterday) She always studies
in the library. (these days, always) Weve been living here for
three years. (up to now) Ill do it tomorrow. (tomorrow)
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2. Change the time of the sentence and make other needed
changes: Sam took a walk. (yesterday) Sam is going to take a walk
tomorrow. She always studies in the library. (these days, always)
She studied in the library last night. Weve been living here for
three years. (up to now) We lived there in 2008. Ill do it
tomorrow. (tomorrow) Im doing it now. The part of the sentence that
changes is the verb!
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The verbs are underlined. Sam took a walk yesterday.
(yesterday) Sam is going to take a walk tomorrow. She always
studies in the library. (these days, always) She studied in the
library last night. Weve been living here for three years. (until
now) We lived there in 2008. Ill do it tomorrow. (tomorrow) Im
doing it now. In other words, the verb carries the time of the
sentence.
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Two other things to know about verbs: An ing word without a
helping verb is NOT a real verb and cannot act as the verb in a
sentence. Helping verbs with ing words are: am, is, are, was, were,
be, been Swimming in the lake is dangerous. Swimming is not a verb
here. We enjoy playing poker. Playing is not a verb here. An
infinitive (to + verb) is not a real verb and cannot act as the
verb in a sentence. We want to live in Spain. To quit smoking, you
need to have great discipline.
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Find the verbs in these sentences These days, my brother likes
baseball. The college is building new science labs. Students
usually do their homework late at night. She didnt travel last
summer. Cats dont like dogs. Hes thinking about studying law. She
wants to study chemistry. Living alone is peaceful and calm. I wont
call you after 10:00.
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More practice: Find the verbs He walked bravely into the cool
dark night. After the movie, well drive you home. His career goal
is working with snakes. The baseball flew through the window. Shes
taking physics, chemistry, and math this semester. He hasnt seen
True Grit yet. We dont live with our parents.
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Finding the Subject in 2 steps First, find the verb. Dancing
keeps you in good shape. Next, ask the question, Who or what +
verb? Who or what keeps you in good shape? The answer is the
subject. Dancing
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Practice Circle the subjects These days, my brother likes to
play baseball. The college is building new science labs. Students
usually do their homework late at night. She didnt travel last
summer. Cats dont like dogs. Hes thinking about studying law. She
wants to study chemistry. Living alone is peaceful and calm. I wont
call you after 10:00.
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Find more subjects He walked bravely into the cool dark night.
After the movie, well drive you home. His career goal is working
with snakes. The baseball flew through window. Shes taking physics,
chemistry, and math this semester. He hasnt seen True Grit yet. We
dont live with our parents.
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Compound Subjects and Verbs Sometimes a verb or a subject has
more than one part. This is called a compound subject or verb. Find
the verbs and subjects: Sam and his sister live with their
grandparents. On our vacation, we swam, hiked, and biked.
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More Practice Online
Http://aliscot.com/bigdog/sv_exercise.htm
Slide 15
So now what? Now youre ready to learn some rules about writing
good sentences.