Brighter Grammar 1 - Margaret Macaulay 1987

Lesson Nine. Verbs

Verbs are very important words.

We use verbs to say what people and things do. Verbs express an action.

The woodcutter sat on the bank, (What did he do?)

She showed him a gold axe. (What did she do?)

’That’s mine,’ said the woodcutter. (What did he do?)

The girls go to school every day. (What do they do?)

The man opened the box.

The bird sings at my window every morning.

The boys ate all the pudding.

Sometimes we use two words for a verb.

The poor woodcutter was cutting a piece of wood. (What was he doing?)

I have lost my axe. (What has he done?)

I will give you the gold axe and the silver axe. (What will she do?)

Some verbs don’t express an action. They just say people or things are something. The chief of these is the verb be (am, is, are, was, were). These verbs often have an adjective after them.

The woodcutter was (verb) very sad (adjective).

The fairy asked the woodcutter why he was (verb) unhappy (adjective).

The fairy said, ’You are (verb) honest (adjective).’

Exercises

A Pick out the verbs expressing an action in the following sentences.

Example: The train stopped at a station.

Answer: stopped

1 The boy ran out of the house.

2 The girls danced.

3 The teacher gave us a lesson.

4 Birds sing.

5 The man smokes a pipe.

6 Fish swim in the sea.

7 The camel carries a load.

8 The train started again.

9 A car came to our door.

10 The sun shines.

11 I wrote a letter.

12 We learn grammar.

13 Theyspeak English.

14 I received a letter this morning.

15 Wayne wrote the letter.

16 He put the letter in a letter-box.

17 Richard climbed a tree.

18 George shut the door.

19 I saw the teacher.

20 The pupils opened their books.

В Pick out the two-word verbs in these sentences.

Example: Is he writing a letter?

Answer: Is ... writing

1 The boy is writing.

2 The girls are running.

3 The teacher is giving us a lesson.

4 The teacher will give us a lesson.

5 The teacher has given us a lesson.

6 The boy will run a race tomorrow.

7 The camel is carrying a big load.

8 The train has gone.

9 The sun is shining.

10 I will write a letter.

11 l will write it in English.

12 I have written the letter.

13 They are speaking English.

14 They will speak English.

15 They have spoken English.

16 Richard is climbing a tree.

17 George has shut the door.

18 I have seen the teacher.

19 I will see the teacher.

20 The pupils have opened their books.

21 What is he doing?

22 What time will they arrive?

C Pick out the parts of the verb be in these sentences. Remember that this verb says what people or things are (or were).

Example: The man was very old.

Answer: was

1 Jeremy is tired.    6 I am tired.

2 Mary is very happy.    7 Karen was unhappy.

3 Those men are cold.   8 The boys were hungry.

4 My cat is very pretty.   9 The teacher is kind.

5 Those flowers are red.   10 The woodcutter was honest.

D Complete these sentences with parts of the verb be,

1 The woodcutter ... very unhappy.

2 The fairy said, ’You ... honest.’

3 I ... glad that you are here.

4 My sister very ... clever.

5 The flowers ... pretty.

E Complete these sentences with verbs from the box. Use each verb once only.

goes gave wrote jumps opened

painted bought cooks go washed

1 The boy ... the door.

2 The dog ... over the gate every morning.

3 Tom ... a good dinner every evening.

4 The woman ... the dirty clothes.

5 The aeroplane ... from Hong Kong to London.

6 I ... these apples at the shop.

7 We ... to school every day.

8 The chemist ... the man a bottle of medicine.

9 The teacher ... the words on the blackboard.

10 I ... a picture on the paper.

F Make questions and give the answers for the pictures below. Underline all the verbs in your answers. We have done number 1 for you as an example.

Question: What is the boy doing?

Answer: He is chopping wood.

G Put a word from the box into the blank spaces to make two-word verbs.

was am are has were have is

1 The woodcutter ... cutting a piece of wood.

2 I ... doing my work.

3 The woodcutter ... lost his axe.

4 The dog ... jumped over the gate.

5 Tom’s father ... cooking a good dinner.

6 The woman ... washed the dirty clothes.

7 I ... done my work.

8 The fairy said, ’I ... giving you the gold axe and the silver axe.’

9 We ... drawing pictures on the paper.

10 The boys ... playing in the playground.

H Pick out the nouns, the adjectives and the verbs in the following story. Write them in 3 columns like this:

We have filled in the words for the first sentence.

Poor old gentleman!

An old gentleman was walking slowly along a street. He saw a little boy who was trying to reach a door-bell. The door-bell was too high. The kind old man stopped and said, ’I’ll ring the bell for you.’ He rang the bell, and it made a loud noise in the house.

The little boy looked up at him and said, ’Now we’ll run away. Come on!’

And the naughty boy ran round the comer. The old gentleman was still at the door when a big man came and opened it.

’Yes?’ said the angry man. ’What do you want?’