Verbs Introduction

Think you know your stuff? CLICK HERE to quiz yourself.

In one strip of Calvin and Hobbes, the creepily eloquent little boy Calvin and his even more creepily eloquent stuffed tiger are walking in the woods.

"I like to verb words,"says Calvin. After explaining what he means, he says "Verbing words weirds language."

We do not condone verbing words…or weirding language. Especially in English class.

If you want to weird language, go talk to Gertrude Stein. In this section, we're about making language less weird—but no less fun.

Verbs are words that express action or state of being. A grammatically complete and thoroughly awesome sentence always has at least one verb in it.

Verbs have different types, forms, moods, and tenses, and, just like your great-grandpa, they can even be irregular. Journey further into Verblandia to fill your noggin with information about each of 'em.

Quiz Yourself on Verbs

1/5

Which of these sentences contains a split infinitive?

(A) In her wedding vows, my sister promised to never add chives to her potato salad.
(B) In return, her husband vowed to always leave the toilet seat down.
(C) Though my sister and her fiancé intended them to be funny, most of the wedding guests were too surprised by these vows to laugh.
(D) Both A and B

Which of these sentences uses an irregular verb incorrectly?

I. Last Saturday night, Mandy was accused of shoplifting at Wal-Mart.

II. The security guard claimed that Mandy stole fifteen packs of gum and a copy of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines on DVD.

III. "I seen her stuff all fifteen packs of Hubba Bubba in her socks, one pack at a time," the security guard explained. "Then she hid the DVD under her Cardinals cap."

IV. In her defense, Mandy proclaimed, "There's no way I could have did that! Everybody knows that Rise of the Machines is the worst film in the series."

(A) I
(B) II & III
(C) III
(D) III & IV

Choose the answer that correctly describes the mood of the verb listen in the following quote from Ernest Hemingway:

When people talk, listen completely. Most people never listen.

(A) indicative, indicative
(B) imperative, indicative
(C) imperative, subjunctive
(D) subjunctive, indicative

Fill in the blank so that this sentence is in the subjunctive:

If Melanie __________ more observant, she would have realized that her fish died three weeks ago.

(A) were
(B) was
(C) had been
(D) both A and C

Let's keep this one simple—in the simple tense, that is. Which of the following sentences features a simple future tense verb?

I. Pam met her husband, Horatio, at a Baltimore Orioles game.

II. Baseball is one of her favorite sports, along with jai alai and arm wrestling.

III. Pam and Horatio will visit the Baseball Hall of Fame this summer for their first wedding anniversary.

IV. They plan to visit all of the exhibits.

(A) I
(B) II
(C) III
(D) IV
(E) III, IV

Here are your results. Want to give it another go?
Click TRY AGAIN for a new quiz. Or click NEXT to get to studying.

0/5
Next Try Again

Tired of ads?

Join today and never see them again.
Get Started