IDENTIFY THE VERB 1
DID YOU KNOW?
If you can’t identify the verb, you can’t fix the sentence — and examiners can always tell.
Verb identification is the foundation of grammatical accuracy. Subject-verb agreement errors, tense inconsistency, and passive voice mistakes all trace back to uncertainty about which word in the sentence is doing the verbal work. IELTS Grammatical Range & Accuracy and TOEFL writing both penalise these errors directly.
Cambridge Use of English (Part 2 — open cloze) frequently requires you to supply the correct form of a verb — which means identifying the verbal slot in the sentence first. This exercise trains the foundational skill that makes all other grammar work faster and more reliable.
If you can’t identify the verb, you can’t fix the sentence — and examiners can always tell.
Verb identification is the foundation of grammatical accuracy. Subject-verb agreement errors, tense inconsistency, and passive voice mistakes all trace back to uncertainty about which word in the sentence is doing the verbal work. IELTS Grammatical Range & Accuracy and TOEFL writing both penalise these errors directly.
Cambridge Use of English (Part 2 — open cloze) frequently requires you to supply the correct form of a verb — which means identifying the verbal slot in the sentence first. This exercise trains the foundational skill that makes all other grammar work faster and more reliable.
Identify (and write) the verb in each of the following sentences.
Example: The women were baking the bread. → were baking
More advanced English exercises
THE VERB SPOTTING SHORTCUT: ASK "WHAT'S HAPPENING?"
Find the subject of the sentence (who or what the sentence is about).
Example: The dog barks loudly. → Subject = "The dog"
Ask "What is the subject doing?" or "What is happening to the subject?"
The dog barks loudly. → The dog does what? → barks → Verb
Check for helping verbs: Look for words like is, are, was, were, has, have, had, will, can.
They often appear before the main verb:
She is reading a book. → "is" (helping) + "reading" (main)
Test tense: Replace the word with past, present, or future forms.
run → ran → will run → If it changes with time, it's a verb.
THE VERB SPOTTING SHORTCUT: ASK "WHAT'S HAPPENING?"
Find the subject of the sentence (who or what the sentence is about).
Example: The dog barks loudly. → Subject = "The dog"
Ask "What is the subject doing?" or "What is happening to the subject?"
The dog barks loudly. → The dog does what? → barks → Verb
Check for helping verbs: Look for words like is, are, was, were, has, have, had, will, can.
They often appear before the main verb:
She is reading a book. → "is" (helping) + "reading" (main)
Test tense: Replace the word with past, present, or future forms.
run → ran → will run → If it changes with time, it's a verb.
