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Highway to success with Charles Dube
Holiday time.
Students need to relax. We cannot expect children to be sweating it out as if they are preparing for examinations.
On the other hand, we cannot totally say they should ignore books till next year. We need to balance both acts. That is the reason this column keeps going even when schools are closed.
We start today’s by reminding our students about the verb. The definition of this has been given many times before to the extent of being tired. Expressing time with verb tenses: You know that the tense of a verb indicates time of the action or the state of being, expressed by the verb. Here are the different uses of the various verb tenses. Tenses and their uses under the following headlines; tenses, uses and examples: Present tenses. Uses –present action or condition.
Examples: It is below freezing point. Continuing action or condition. He is enjoying his holiday. Past –Completed action or condition. They tried fishing. Continuous completed action or condition.
The boss was agreeable. Completed action or condition. Se has been on skates before. Present perfect –action or condition, continuing to present. They have fished for hours. Past perfect –Past action or condition completed before another. I had been there before prayer meeting. Continuing past action interrupted before another. We had been eating when you called. Future: Future action or condition. Continuing future action or condition. You will catch something very soon. Continuing future action or condition –He will be wearing an anorak.
Active and Passive Voice. In addition to indicating time, most verbs can indicate whether the subject is performing an action or having an action performed upon it.
Two voices of verbs are used to show how an action is performed. Voice is the form of a verb that shows whether the subject performs or receives the action. Linking verbs do not show voice. Only action verbs show voice. The voice may be either active or passive.
A verb is active if its subject performs the action. In the two examples below, the subjects are the performers. Active voice: Jane found a rhino horn.
The historian called yesterday. Most action verbs can also be used in the passive voice. A verb is passive if its action is performed upon the subject. A passive verb is made from a form of “be” plus the past participle of a transitive verb.
In a sentence with a passive verb, the performer of the action may or may not be named. In the first example following, Jane, is still the performer. The word Jane, however, is no longer the subject but the object of the preposition by. In the second example, the person who will be calling tomorrow is not identified. Passive Voice: A rhino horn was found by Jane. The historian will be called tomorrow.
A verb is defined as a word that shows action or a state of being about a noun or pronoun. We run 10 kilometres each day. (action) That game decided the champion. (action)
The new students became our friends (state of being) I am unwell today (state of being. Verbs that show physical or mental action are called action verbs. Physical action: Henry climbed the rope. The fans cheered. Mental action. I concentrated on the test. We hope our team wins. Ralph thought had.
Linking verbs do not show action. They link a noun or pronoun in the first part of a sentence with a word in the second part of a sentence. The oranges were delicious. The sky is cloudy. The water felt cool.
Linking verbs include forms of be and a few other commonly used linking verbs. Some forms of be, am, has been, are, had been, was, will be, were, should be, may be, would have been, can, shall be
Common linking verbs: taste, look, smell, feel, appear, sound, become, grow, appear, remain, seem and stay.
Some words can be either action or linking verbs. You must look at the way the verb is used in the sentence to decide, which kind it is. Action: We grew potatoes in the garden. Linking: The children grew tired. Action: The nurse felt the boy’s forehead. Linking: I felt good after some sleep.
Finding verbs by their features: Four features can help you identify verbs. A word that is a verb must have at least one of these features, but some verbs will have all four. Verbs have tense. Tense is the time expressed by a verb. There are two kinds of tenses: simple and perfect. The three simple tenses are present, past and future. The three perfect tenses are present perfect, past perfect and future perfect.
We shall pick it up from here next week.
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