Verbs Introduction

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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

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Which of these sentences uses lie or one of its forms correctly?

(A) I got a headache, so I went upstairs to lie down.
(B) My mom was unhappy because she wanted me to help her lie out the bingo cards for her game night.
(C) But when my brother's band is lying down tracks in our garage, I have no choice but to retreat to a soundproof room.
(D) Both A and B

Fill in the blanks to complete the following passage:

Mom, _______ we hike to the top of Lookout Hill on Saturday? You _____ see all the way to Kansas from there!

(A) can, can
(B) may, can
(C) may, may
(D) Both B and C

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

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 blanks:

By the time Lorne arrived at the theatre, the Artic Monkeys concert had already ___________. If he had not __________ a pedicab, he would not have missed the first four songs.

(A) began, took
(B) began, taken
(C) begun, tooken
(D) begun, taken

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