Tag: SPAG

Verbs : The Infinitive



The infinitive of a verb is the verb in its basic form. It is the part that you would find in the dictionary if you were to look up any given verb.

The infinitive of a verb is usually, but not always, preceded by the word ‘to’ (to shout, to climb, to cheat, to run, etc.). ‘To’ is not a preposition here, it merely indicates that the verb is being used in its infinitive form.

  • Mum asked me to run to the shops for some eggs.
  • My sister likes to help in the kitchen.
  • I was lucky to see a fox in my garden

In terms of grammar, the infinitive is regarded as the name of the verb. so for instance you might say that, “The verb ‘to be’ has the forms am, is and are in the present tense but uses was and were in the past tense.”


There is much more information online about the use of the infinitive as a noun, an adjective and an adverb, However, the information here is sufficient to fulfil the (non statutory) requirement for knowledge of technical grammatical terms used in the Glossary for the programmes of study for English.

Verbs : The Imperative Mood



Imperative verbs, to more correctly verbs used in the imperative mood,  are used to convey a command.  In everyday language this means that the imperative is used to give instructions.

An imperative sentence sounds like the speaker is being bossy and telling someone what to do. Even if an instruction is given politely, it is clearly a command and not up for discussion.

Look at these examples:

  • Give me those scissors!
  • Go to your bedroom!
  • Finish your tea and get to bed!
  • Leave the dog alone!
  • Stop it!
  • Come back here, now!
  • Pull!

Use the infinitive of the verb form of the verb to create the imperative.

This form of the verb is very useful when it comes to the writing of instructions. Most recipes are written using the imperative mood.

Verbs : Irregular Verbs



A verb is a word that conveys an action or a state of being. Verbs have tenses to tell us when the action takes place.

The three main verb tenses are the past tense, the present tense and the future tense.

Most verbs follow a regular pattern in the formation of their past tenses – to form the past tense we add a variety of suffixes -d. -ed, -ied

Most commonly verbs form the past tense by adding -ed

work – worked
jump – jumped
answer – answered

Verbs that end in a short vowel followed by a consonant usually double the consonant and add -ed

pat – patted
step – stepped
pop – popped

If a verb ends in e we just add a -d

chase – chased
praise – praised
share – shared

Verbs that end in a y drop the y and add -ied

hurry – hurried
marry – married
carry – carried

Irregular verbs do not follow this pattern. Some form the past tense by changing a vowel.  Sometimes the past participle is the same as the past tense (as it is in regular verbs) but sometimes it differs.

Follow the links below for lists of irregular verbs together with the way they form their past tenses and past participles.

The 50 most common irregular verbs in English
More irregular verbs in English

Verbs : 1st, 2nd and 3rd person…



We say that a verb has ‘persons’. The ‘person’ of the verb depends upon whom or what is its subject and whether the subject is singular or plural.

The issue of ‘person’ is also important when it comes to writing as it enables us to write from a particular point of view. There are three ‘persons’ and each ‘person’ has a singular and a plural option depending upon the subject of the verb…

1st person – this always includes the speaker/writer as the subject of the verb. If the speaker/writer is alone then this would be first person singular and the pronoun used would be ‘I’. If the speaker is included in a group then this would be first person plural and the pronoun would be ‘we’.

2nd Person – the speaker/writer is speaking to an individual or a group. In both cases the pronoun he would use is ‘you’. Continue reading “Verbs : 1st, 2nd and 3rd person…”

Verbs : definition and use…



A verb is a kind of word. Its job is to signal an action, an occurrence or a state of being in a sentence.

This tells the reader/listener who is doing what, what is happening or that somebody or thing… well, just ‘is’ or ‘was’. In fact, in order to actually be a sentence a group of words must contain a verb.

It is worth noting here that verbs have tenses. The tense of a verb informs the audience whether the action happened

  • in the past – ten minutes ago, yesterday, last week or any time gone by
  • the present – at this very moment
  • the future – in a few minutes, tomorrow, next week or any time yet to come.

Continue reading “Verbs : definition and use…”

How do I use semicolons?



The semicolon is a really powerful punctuation mark. If you get it right you will impress those reading your work as well as being able to express your ideas and opinions in a more subtle way.

The semicolon is pretty easy to figure out once it has been explained. Here are a couple of situations where the semicolon is used

In lists where the items themselves have commas.

The semicolon is used to clarify a complicated list containing many items, many of which contain commas themselves. Have a look at this example:

School dinner for today is a choice between fish, chips, peas, sausage, egg, beans, sauté potatoes, beef pie, mashed potatoes, mushy peas, gravy, pasta, garlic bread, salad.

You can probably work out what each individual option is if you sit down and think about it but using semicolons to separate the choices does the job really well: Continue reading “How do I use semicolons?”

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