Verbs

In a moment, you'll see a few sentences. In every sentence there is a word missing. You're going to need paper and pencil for this, so that you can write down the missing words. Are you ready? Let's go!

Leon _____ his bike to school. Lina _____ her own room in the house where she lives. Jenny is _____ a cake. Michael _____ at the club every weekend. Pause the film and write down four words, which fit in the sentences and make them complete.

Finished? okay. Now let's change the sentences just a bit. Try fitting those same words that you chose into these sentences. If the exact same word doesn't fit, then make the necessary changes to it, so that it does fit.

Write down these changed words too, next to the four words you first picked. Yesterday, Leon ____ his bike to school. Lina had her own room, in the house where she _____ before. Jenny_____a cake tomorrow. Previously, Michael______all the time, but that was before he injured his knee.

Now look at both sets of words you have written down. Can you tell what they have in common? In what way do these words differ from say, nouns? Pause the film and think for yourself first. If you have a friend nearby, then try to explain as clearly as you can, what the words in this group have in common.

This is an example set of words that would fit the gaps. There are no "correct answers", these are just examples. Rides, lives, is baking, dances Rode, lived, will bake, danced All these words are of the same sort, they belong to the same part of speech, and that part is called... ... verb! A verb is something that you do, or something that happens: ride, live, bake, dance, sleep, wake, lie, stand, buy, sell, forget, understand, breathe, sneeze, build, tear down, fight, forgive.

Try putting a sentence together without a verb, and you'll notice that in effect, they are the core of what you are saying. It is the verb that brings the action to the sentence. Verbs can differ a bit depending on context. One thing that makes the verbs change form is: when in time the action is taking place. Like this: Will ride, ride, rode, has been riding.

Shall dance, dance, danced, have danced. No other part of speech behaves like this. Nouns, for example, like chair or blueberry, keep the same form, regardless of whether the chair was only there yesterday, or the blueberries aren't showing up until late July. Verbs. They are words expressing: what someone is doing, or something happening, and they are words that change their form depending on when it is happening.