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Finding Verbs and Subjects

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Verbs and Subjects? Why bother? To write better sentences. Really. Its important.

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What do you remember about verbs and subjects? Some of what you remember may be helpful, but some may confuse you.

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A slightly different, step by step approach to finding verbs 1. Identify the time of the sentence. (Now, yesterday, tomorrow, these days, always...) Sam took a walk yesterday. She always studies in the library. Weve been living here for three years. Ill do it tomorrow. Sam took a walk yesterday. (yesterday) She always studies in the library. (these days, always) Weve been living here for three years. (up to now) Ill do it tomorrow. (tomorrow)

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2. Change the time of the sentence and make other needed changes: Sam took a walk. (yesterday) Sam is going to take a walk tomorrow. She always studies in the library. (these days, always) She studied in the library last night. Weve been living here for three years. (up to now) We lived there in 2008. Ill do it tomorrow. (tomorrow) Im doing it now. The part of the sentence that changes is the verb!

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The verbs are underlined. Sam took a walk yesterday. (yesterday) Sam is going to take a walk tomorrow. She always studies in the library. (these days, always) She studied in the library last night. Weve been living here for three years. (until now) We lived there in 2008. Ill do it tomorrow. (tomorrow) Im doing it now. In other words, the verb carries the time of the sentence.

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Two other things to know about verbs: An ing word without a helping verb is NOT a real verb and cannot act as the verb in a sentence. Helping verbs with ing words are: am, is, are, was, were, be, been Swimming in the lake is dangerous. Swimming is not a verb here. We enjoy playing poker. Playing is not a verb here. An infinitive (to + verb) is not a real verb and cannot act as the verb in a sentence. We want to live in Spain. To quit smoking, you need to have great discipline.

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Find the verbs in these sentences These days, my brother likes baseball. The college is building new science labs. Students usually do their homework late at night. She didnt travel last summer. Cats dont like dogs. Hes thinking about studying law. She wants to study chemistry. Living alone is peaceful and calm. I wont call you after 10:00.

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More practice: Find the verbs He walked bravely into the cool dark night. After the movie, well drive you home. His career goal is working with snakes. The baseball flew through the window. Shes taking physics, chemistry, and math this semester. He hasnt seen True Grit yet. We dont live with our parents.

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Finding the Subject in 2 steps First, find the verb. Dancing keeps you in good shape. Next, ask the question, Who or what + verb? Who or what keeps you in good shape? The answer is the subject. Dancing

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Practice Circle the subjects These days, my brother likes to play baseball. The college is building new science labs. Students usually do their homework late at night. She didnt travel last summer. Cats dont like dogs. Hes thinking about studying law. She wants to study chemistry. Living alone is peaceful and calm. I wont call you after 10:00.

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Find more subjects He walked bravely into the cool dark night. After the movie, well drive you home. His career goal is working with snakes. The baseball flew through window. Shes taking physics, chemistry, and math this semester. He hasnt seen True Grit yet. We dont live with our parents.

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Compound Subjects and Verbs Sometimes a verb or a subject has more than one part. This is called a compound subject or verb. Find the verbs and subjects: Sam and his sister live with their grandparents. On our vacation, we swam, hiked, and biked.

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More Practice Online Http://aliscot.com/bigdog/sv_exercise.htm

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So now what? Now youre ready to learn some rules about writing good sentences.