Click here to play!

Verb

Click here to play
   Share on Facebook  
hanuman_2000  #50491  Fri, 15 Oct 04 05:11 AM
Sir,

I have to undeline the every verb in given paragraph.

Then a thought occurred to him, and he hesitated, 'Coconuts should not cost so much here,' he felt. 'Three rupees should be more than enough.' He tried to bargain with coconut sellers, but none of them was prepared to cut his price. 'The coconuts are from a farm four kilometres away. The may be cheaper there,' they agreed, 'But we have to spend on the transport. As a result we must sell ours for five rupees each. Else we should make no profit at all.'

I have underlined the following.

occurred(thought occurred), hesitated(he hesitated), cost(should not cost), felt(he felt), be(should be), tried(he tried) , prepared(was prepared), be(may be),agreed(they agreed), have('have to spend'), sell (must sell), make( should make).

Now I have some problems. Shall I underline the helping verb(should,may) , as well as infinitives, like

to bargain, to cut , to spend ?
  
Top 75 Contributor
Joined on Thu, Aug 12 2004
INDIA
Contributing Member (1,604)
Mister Micawber  #50502  Fri, 15 Oct 04 07:08 AM

You missed one in the initial list: 'the coconuts are from a farm'.

It's hard to judge what your teacher expects. In 'prepared to cut', the only temporal verb is 'prepared'; however, the infinitive 'to cut' is certainly a verb form too. On the other hand, 'prepared to cut' is not a verb phrase in the sense that (aux + v) 'should be' or 'must sell' are. These latter should be underlined in their entirety.

Hope this helps.

  
Top 10 Contributor
Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004
Yokohama
Veteran Member (20,393)
SystemAdministratorTeachers
'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.'
AddThis Feed Button RSS Feed: ESL General English Grammar Questions
© 2008 MediaCET Ltd.
Terms and Conditions