Published by Creative Education P O Box 227 Mankato Minnesota 56002 Creative Education is an imprint of The Creative Company www thecreativecompany us Design and production by Liddy Walseth Art direction by Rita Marshall Printed by Corporate Graphics in the United States of America Photographs by Corbis Bettmann Christie’s Images Trolley Dodger Jason Horowitz Photo Collection Alexander Alland Sr Mick Ellison Getty Images Michael Blann Dave King Life On White Sharon Montrose Steve Morenos Newspix Hitoshi Nishimura Christoph Rosenberger Joel Sartore Gail Shumway Kim Taylor Judy Unger Freudenthal Verhagen Maarten Wouters iStockphoto Arlindo71 Jill Battaglia Emmanuel Hidalgo Eric Isselée Leontura Arpad Nagy-Bagoly Jon Patton Edyta Pawlowska Victor Zastol Skiy Illustration on page 5 Etienne Delessert Copyright 2012 Creative Education International copyright reserved in all countries No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data for the hardcover edition Riggs Ann Verbs and adverbs by Ann Riggs p cm Understanding grammar Includes bibliographical references and index Summary An examination of the rules behind English grammar focusing on the components known as verbs and adverbs which name and describe the action or state of being necessary to compose sentences ISBN 978-1-60818-096-7 hardcover ISBN 978-1-56660-060-6 eBook 1 English language Verb 2 English language Adverb 3 English language Grammar I Title II Series PE1271 R54 2010 428 2 dc22 2010028303 CPSIA 110310 PO1386 First Edition 246897531
TABLE of CONTENTS 4 INTRODUCTION CHAPTERS The Verb Is the Word Crossing over or Not Strategies for Irregular Verbs Characteristic Qualities Modifying Action and More BUILD YOUR OWN SENTENCE ACTIVITIES Seeing Clearly Saying Correctly 6 14 22 30 36 12 20 28 34 44 46 47 48 Be Objective about This All by Myself Writing Is Tense What’s in the Daily News SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY G L O S S A RY INDEX
Music swells Siblings squabble Owls hoot I am Grammar is And just like that two words can become a SENTENCE The information in a short sentence can be expanded by adding more words that give vivid descriptions or specific reactions Where should those words be placed How does a writer know what PUNCTUATION to use What does all of that mean anyway Words fall into place more easily when one has an understanding of grammar a system of rules that gives writers the foun dation for producing acceptable formal expression It is that acceptable form that appropriate grammar which helps readers comprehend what has been written We are indebted to the Romans who conquered most of Europe from 75 B C through the first century A D for spreading the term verbum along with the rest of their Latin vocabulary Verbum is the source of our word verb and it means word Truly without a verb every sentence is doomed All sentences have a subject and a verb The verb is the main element of the predicate the part of the sentence that tells something about the subject We define the verb this hub of a sentence as a word or group of words that expresses the action or indicates the state of being of the sentence’s subject That suggests that the verb is either doing some 4
thing acting or it is existing that it just is Even when the subject of a sentence may be understood not written in the sentence a verb is mandatory as in the one-word sentence Think Our word adverb connects the Latin PREFIX ad meaning to expressing an addi tion to with verbum From that association we get the PART OF SPEECH that describes or modifies verbs ADJECTIVES or other adverbs Adverbs add character to the words they describe by restricting or intensifying their meaning as in the words gently yesterday there and ultimately What else makes adverbs important in our sentences Degrees of comparison that give writers ways to expand their descriptions from quieter to loudest and from more nervous to most entertaining these are adverbs too When writers accurately use verbs and the words that describe them readers have no trouble following along 5
