Vicious Verbs
Designed by
Elisa Paramore
Vicious Verbs
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A verb is a word that expresses one of
three things:
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an action
 an occurrence
 a state of being
3 Classes of Verbs
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Verbs may be divided into 3 different classes:
transitive verbs, which require an object to
complete their meaning as in the sentence:
Mary admires him.
intransitive verbs, which are complete in
themselves as in the sentence: John
trembled.
and, linking verbs, which link a subject to its
complement as in the sentence: Phyllis is a
beauty.
Linking Verbs
Although most verbs show action,
linking verbs do not. They simply give
information about the subject
 The most common linking verbs are: is,
am, are, was, were, feel, appear, look,
become and seem
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“to be” Verbs
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“to be”
– Singular present forms- “am”- use with “I” only,
use “is” with all singular subjects, except “you”
– Past singular form- use “was” with all singular
subjects, including “I”, but not with “you”
– Plural form- “are”- use with all plural subjects &
with “you”
– Past Plural form- “were”- use with all plural
subjects and with “you”
– Hint: do not use “be” by itself with any subject
Examples of “to be” Verbs
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Present Singular form examples:
I
am tired.
 It is late.
 The wind is blowing.
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Past Singular form examples:
I
was awake early.
 He was seated in the rear
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Present Plural form examples:
 You
are attractive.
 The students are busy.
 They are all outside.
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Past Plural form examples:
 They
were singing.
 You were lucky to miss being drafted
“to have” Verbs
Present Singular form- “has”- use with
all singular subjects except “I’ and “you”
 Plural form- “have”- use with all plural
subjects and “I” and “you”
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examples of “to have” verbs
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Singular form examples:
 He
has a cold.
 The book has a torn page.
 It has a bright red cover.
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Plural form examples:
I
have five dollars.
 You have a cold.
 The women have new cars.
“to go” Verbs
Singular form- “goes”-use with all
singular subjects except “I” and “you”
 Plural form- “go”- use with all plural
subjects and “I” and “you”
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Examples of “to go” Verbs
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Singular form examples:
 She
goes to sleep early.
 The dog goes out before dinner.
 It goes to its favorite tree.
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Plural form examples:
I
go to the garage daily.
 The men go this way.
 You go too far when you drive.
“to do” Verbs
Singular form- “does”- use with all
singular subjects except “I” and “you”
 Plural form- “do”- use with all plural
subjects and “I” and “you”
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Examples of “to do” Verbs
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Singular form examples:
 She
does important work.
 It does not look right.
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Plural form examples:
 You
do the work!
 I do too much driving,
Verb Tense
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Verb tense indicates the relationship between an
action or a state of being and the passage of time
There are 6 principle tenses:
Present tense indicates that something is now.
Example: He is talking to the gun club.
Past tense indicates that something has happened in
the past. Making the past tense of most verbs is most
widely accomplished by simply adding “d”, “ed”
Example: He talked to the gun club yesterday.
Future tense indicates that something will happen. It
is expressed by adding the word “will” in front of a
present tense verb. Example: He will talk to the gun
club.
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Present perfect tense expresses a past action that extends to the
present but is not yet completed. It is expressed by simply
placing the words “have” or“has” in front of a past tense verb.
Example: He has talked to the gun club everyday.
Past perfect tense expresses a past action that was completed
before some other past action. It is expressed by simply adding
the word “had” to a past tense verb. Example: This morning I
saw the speaker who had talked to the gun club.
Future perfect tense expresses an action that will be completed
before some future time.This tense is expressed by adding the
words “will have” in front of a past tense verb. Example: He will
have talked to the gun club before next Thursday.
Subject/ Verb Agreement
It is very important to remember that a
verb should agree with its subject in
person and in number.
 Hint: In most cases if a subject uses an
“s” form, the verb will not have an “s”
and visa versa.
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Finding the Subject & Verb
To find the subject ask who or what the
sentence is about
 To find the verb, ask what the sentence
says about the subject
 A second way to find the verb is to put I,
you, he, she, it or they in front of the
word that is thought to be the verb
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Subject/Verb Agreement Rules
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When a phrase comes between a subject and
its verb, make sure that the verb agrees with
the subject of the sentence and not with a
noun found in the phrase.
In the sentence, “The car with new tires costs
more than other cars”, the subject is singular
(car), therefore the verb also needs to be
singular (costs)
Rule # 2
Phrases beginning with “In addition to”
or “As well as” do not change a subject’s
number:
 In the sentence “ Her car, as well as the
other two, was broken into.” the subject
is singular (car), therefore the verb is
also singular (was).
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Rule # 3
A compound subject joined by the word
“and” usually takes a plural verb. One
exception occurs when parts of the
subject refer to a single entity.
 In the sentence “Ice cream and cake is
my favorite dessert,” ice cream and cake
is one entity, therefore “is” is the correct
verb tense.
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Rule # 4
Another exception occurs when a
compound subject is preceded by the
word “Each” or “Every”
 In the sentence: “Every car and truck on
the lot was sold,” both car and truck are
singular, therefore the verb “was” is
correct.
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Rule # 5
Indefinite pronouns such as “Each” and
“Everyone” tend to be singular.
 In the sentence “Each of them is right,”
the verb “is” must be used because it is
also singular.
 In the sentence “Everyone is doing it,”
the verb “is” is used because it needs to
agree with the singular subject
“Everyone”
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Rule # 6
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The words “all”, “any”, “none” and “some” may
be either singular or plural.
In the sentence “Some of his time is spent at
home,” the subject “some” is singular,
therefore it requires a verb with an “s”
In the sentence, “When they get home at
night, some of them watch television,” some is
plural, therefore a verb without “s” is needed.
Rule # 7
Two singular subjects joined by “or” or
“nor” take a singular verb.
 In the sentence, “Either Ann or Al is
going to pick up pizza” both and Ann
and Al are the subjects, but they are
singular so a verb with an “s” is required.
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Rule # 8
Two plural subjects joined by “or” or
“nor” take a plural verb.
 In the sentence, “Either the girls or the
boys are going.” Girls and boys are
plural, so the plural verb “are” is
required.
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Rule # 9
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If one of the subjects in the sentence is
singular and one is plural, the verb should
agree in number with the subject closest to
the verb.
In the sentence, “Ann or the boys are going”
the plural verb “are” is used because the
plural subject “boys” is closest to it.
In the sentence, “The boys or Ann is going,”
the singular subject Ann is closest to the verb
so the singular verb “is” is required.
Rule # 10
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When a sentence begins with “there”, the
subject tends to follow the verb.
In the sentence, “There was one hole in the
muffler, there were two holes in the tire,” the
singular subject “hole” requires the use of the
singular verb “was” in the first part of the
sentence. In the second part of the sentence
the plural subject “holes” requires a plural
verb, “were”.
Rule # 11
When “there” precedes a compound
subject, the verb is singular if the first
part of the subject is singular.
 In the sentence, “There is a hole in the
muffler and two flat tires,” the words
“hole” and “tires” are the subjects,
however the singular verb “is” is
required because the first subject (hole)
is singular.
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Rule # 12
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When a subject complement such as “my”
follows a linking verb, make sure that the verb
agrees with the subject.
In the sentence, “Cars and trucks are my
hobby,” the subject is cars and trucks, which is
plural, therefore the plural verb “are” is
required.
In the sentence, “My hobby is cars and
trucks,” the singular word “hobby” is the
subject, so the singular verb “is” is required.
Rule # 13
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A collective noun, which names a group of individuals,
takes a either a singular or plural verb, depending on
whether the group is acting as a unit or as separate
individuals.
In the sentence, “The team is traveling to the game by
bus”, the subject “team” is acting as a single unit,
therefore the singular verb “is” is required.
In the sentence, “The team are traveling to the game
in their own cars,” the team is acting individually, as
seen by the adding of “their own cars” so it is plural,
therefore the plural verb “are” is required.
Rule # 14
A singular verb is used when it follows a
title, a word that is being defined, a word
denoting some form of measurement
(either weight or money) or a period of
time.
 In the sentence, “Forty-thousand miles
is a lot to put on a car in a year,” the
singular verb “is” is required for the
singular subject forty-thousand miles.
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Rule # 15
When a relative pronoun such as “who”
is the subject of a clause, the verb
should agree in number with the word
that is modified.
 In the sentence, “She is one of those
drivers who never get a ticket,” the
subject of the sentence is plural,
(drivers) and not the singular word “who”
which means that the plural verb “get” is
required.
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Conclusion
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I hope that this presentation has been helpful
to you in regard to the use of verbs in your
writing. Please come by Student Support
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