BASIC ENGLISH

VERB Verbs are words that show action. Every sentence must have a verb. A verb is not always one word. It may be made up of more than one word. Auxiliary verbs The words: am, is, are, was, and were are verbs. They are forms of the verb ‘to be’. They are helping verbs called auxiliary verbs. If the subject of a sentence is singular, the verb must be singular. If the subject of a sentence is plural, the verb must be plural. The verb must agree with the subject in number. Examples of ‘subjects’ and ‘verbs’ being singular: The man is sleeping. She goes to the market. The student does his homework every day. The train has arrived. ‘Man’, ‘she’, ‘student’ and ‘train’ are known as subjects.The subjects are all singular.The verbs ‘is’, ‘goes’, ‘does’ and ‘has’ are all singular too. Examples of ‘subjects’ and ‘verbs’ being plural: The men are sleeping. They go to the market. The students do their homework every day. The trains have arrived. ‘Men’, ‘they’, ‘students’ and ‘trains’ are known as subjects. The subjects are all plural. The verbs ‘are’, ‘go’, ‘do’ and ‘have’ are all plural too. Other singular and plural subjects that take on singular and plural verbs: Subjects with words like ‘each’, ‘every’, ‘any’, ‘no’, ‘none’ and ‘nobody’ take on the singular verbs. Examples: Each student is given a pen. Every child is happy watching the show. Nobody is allowed to walk on the grass. Uncountable nouns always take singular verbs. Examples: Rice is eaten in many countries. There is oil on the floor. Salt is added to make the food taste better. Subjects with words like ‘both’, ‘all’, ‘many’, ‘some’, ‘several’ and ‘a number of’ take on a plural verb. Examples: Both of you have to come home early. All of us want to be happy. Some of my friends are female. Two or more subjects joined by ‘and’ always take a plural verb. Examples: My brother and his friends like to play football. His father and mother are watching tele vision.