Verbs, Voice, Adjectives and Adverbs

We introduced the idea of verb in the previous chapter. Here we would

discuss verbs in more detail and talk about an attribute of verb its
voice.
Lets explore verbs in more detail:
Types of verbs:
I.
II.

III.

Finite Verbs:
Non-Finite Verbs:
a. Infinitives
b. Gerunds
c. Participles
Helping/Auxiliary Verbs

Lets understand this categorization with an example:

I want to eat an ice cream.
He wants to eat an ice cream.
She wants to eat an ice cream.
They want to eat an ice cream.
We want to eat an ice cream.
Liz wants to eat an ice cream.
You want to eat an ice cream.
There are 2 verbs in the above sentences. One is want or wants,
and the other is to eat.
Observe that the verb want keeps on changing with the subject. It
become wants when the subject is 3rd person singular. These verbs
that change are called Finite Verbs.
However, the verb to eat stays the same regardless of the change in
subject. These verbs that do not change with the subject are called
Non-Finite Verbs, because they are not limited by the subject.
Finite Verbs:
Finite Verbs are integral in a sentence. If there is no Finite Verb in a
sentence, then there is no sentence at all!
Finite verbs are essentially action verbs. For eg:
Cecilia is painting the kitchen right now

Mac was playing the guitar last night

It is not always necessary that the object on which action is being
performed is present all the time. For instance, it is grammatically
correct to eliminate the words the kitchen and the guitar from the
sentences above.
Cecilia is painting right now
Mac was playing last night
The meaning might become more general when you remove the
objects on which action was being done, but the sentence is still
grammatically correct.
There is also a class of verbs called stative verbs and they tell us about
the state of the subject in the sentence.
For eg: I prefer Labradors over Bulldogs
The cupboard needs a new lock
The important thing about stative verbs is that they do not take the
continuous form, i.e. they dont have a -ing attached to them.
So, His latest mark sheet is showing a significant improvement in his
academic performance --- WRONG!
His latest mark sheet shows a significant improvement in his
academic performance
The important thing we need to learn about Finite Verbs is that they
have to agree with the Subject. We have a whole chapter ahead
dedicated to explore the various cases of Subject-Verb agreement.
Non-Finite Verbs:
Here we need not worry about agreement with the subject or the tense
change. By very definition the non-finite verbs are not effected by
change in other words of the sentence.
Lets explore the types of non-finite verbs
a) The Infinitive:
The infinitive is a type of non-finite verb that normally appears in
this form To ____
For eg: to want, to wish, to paint, to dance, etc.

Infinitives normally act as verbs in a sentence; although infinitive

can Never be the main verb in a sentence.
Occasionally, the infinitives can also act as a noun, an adjective
or an adverb in a sentence.
For eg: To kill is against the law
There is a match to win
His voice is lovely to hear
In the 1st sentence, the infinitive to kill is used as a noun.
In the 2nd sentence, the infinitive to win is used as an adjective
to the noun Match.
In the 3rd sentence, the infinitive to hear is used as an adverb.
The infinitive is the pure, unadulterated form of the verb. It does
not have a -ed or an -ing attached to it.
b) The Gerund:
Gerund acts as a noun of a sentence. Gerund is a noun of the
form Verb + -ing.
For eg: I like running
Where is the reading room?
What you need to know about the gerund is that it can act as a
noun and can even be the subject of a sentence. For eg:
Swimming is good
Also, the Gerund (like other Non-Finite Verbs) can Not be the
main verb of a sentence. So, in Subject-Verb agreement, you
need to remember that Gerunds wont be the main verb, instead
they can act as the main subject.
Helping/Auxiliary verbs:
Helping verbs are used to provide a deeper meaning to the action that
is taking place in the sentence. They extend the meaning of the main
verb and help to form compound or complicated verbs.
For eg: Francis dropped something
Here the verb is dropped. There is no helping verb. Lets add one and
see what happens.
Francis is always dropping something

Here we added a helping verb is and by doing that we were able

to describe the situation in greater detail. Other examples of using
helping verbs are as under:
I am helping his niece with her homework today (main verb
helping)
Chris and Sara are moving to England next week (main verb
moving)
They have travelled all across the world (main verb traveled)
A list of
i)
ii)
iii)
iv)
v)
vi)
vii)
viii)
ix)
x)

some commonly used helping verbs is given below

has, have, had
be, is, are, were, am, been
may
can, could
will, would
might
shall, should
must
may
do, does, did

Voice:
Verbs can be used in 2 voices the Active Voice or the Passive Voice.
The active voice is pretty straightforward the subject does the action
and the verbs denote that action. Most of the sentence that we speak,
we listen to, we read are in active voice.
For eg: I have cleaned my room
The Marshall killed the beast
In the passive voice the regular order of the active voice is thrown out
of the window. The subject instead of doing the action, becomes the
recipient of the action.
For eg: The room has been cleaned by me
The beast was killed by the Marshall
The general form of the active voice is
[A] active verb [B]
The general form of the passive voice is
[B] passive verb by [A]

Both the active form and the passive form of a sentence are
grammatically correct. We use passive voice when the subject is not
that important and we need to focus more on the action or the
recipient of the action in the original, active voice sentence.
For eg: In the case of sentence I have cleaned my room in active
voice, the focus is on Me doing something more specifically, Me
cleaning the room.
However, in the sentence The room has been cleaned by me in
passive voice, the focus is on the action of cleaning the room.
The passive voice is made by using the forms of the verb is/be along
with a past participle (i.e. the 3rd form of the verb)
The various forms of is/be are:
1st Form (Base Form)
Participle Form)
is/be, are

2nd Form (Past Form)

was, were

3rd Form (Past

been

You can find a list of the 3 forms for some commonly used verbs in the
Verb Form Hack Sheet.
The reason you should know about passive voice is because some
correct option in the GMAT exam could be written in the passive voice.
Passive voice is not wrong. So, dont rule out an option just because it
is written in the passive voice and sounds weird.
Adjectives:
Adjectives are words that describe the noun in greater detail. They tell
us more about the noun.
For eg: Thats a real good-looking boy
I think the stock markets are poised for a sharp fall in wake of Feds
latest action
Isnt that painting just lovely
The underlined words in the above sentences describe noun in greater
detail and; hence, are adjectives.

Most adjectives are placed before the noun. For eg: sharp fall,
wonderful world, beautiful morning, bad dog, etc.
Some adjective can appear after a verb as well.
For eg: The view from the top floor is breathtaking
I think what you two have is something special
There are 3 degrees of adjectives Positive, Comparative, Superlative
For eg: Rich, Richer, Richest
Good, better, best
Little, less, least
Beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful
However, there are some absolute adjectives that dont have these 3
degrees. These adjectives already represent an extreme situation and
we cannot increase their effect any more. Adding degrees to such
absolute adjectives is one of the most common flaws in everyday
spoken English.
For eg:She is the ideal wife
The gunshot wound was fatal and he died as a result
Now, we cant say that She is the Most Ideal wife -- WRONG
Ideal already means the epitome or best of something.
Similarly, we cant say that The gunshot wound was Extremely Fatal
and..
Fatal already means it is deadly. What can be more deadly than death
itself.
So take care of this error. Some common absolute adjectives are as
under
Absolute, impossible, paramount, principal, whole, universal, unique,
final, entire, main, chief, inevitable.
Sometimes, some words can be used as both nouns as well as
adjectives.
For eg: I am working in the office
My office window is broken

In the first sentence the word office is used as a noun, and in the
second one it is used to describe the window; and hence, acts as an
adjective.
Not only common nouns, but proper nouns can also be used as
adjectives.
For eg:I have got the opportunity to work in Germany for 6 months
I have got the opportunity to work with a German company for 6
months
In the first sentence Germany is a proper noun, and in the second the
word German is an adjective for the noun company. Also, in the second
sentence the word German refers to the company and not the working
location.
Than I or Than Me:
Which is correct
Seth is taller than I am or
Seth is taller than me
The correct response is to use I rather than me.
Whenever we use Than for comparison, we use the Subject form of
the pronoun and not the Object form.
The Subject form is I, He, She, etc.
The Object form is Me, His, Her, etc.
Adverbs:
Just like adjectives describe nouns, adverbs are used to describe verbs.
Adverbs Do NOT describe people or things (i.e. nouns), they describe
their actions (i.e. verbs). For eg:
She always leaves the office by 5 PM
He goes for swimming daily
Most of the adverbs end with -ly. For eg: carefully, successfully,
slowly, quickly, gently, etc.
However, some adverbs do not end with -ly. For eg: fast, never, well,
now, less, least, etc.
Remember there is no word called Fastly, but there is a word called
slowly.

Adverbs can modify or describe

1) Time: for eg now, daily, weekly, yearly.
2) Place: for eg everywhere, anywhere, somewhere, here, there.
3) Manner: for eg quietly, carefully, diligently
4) Degree: for eg more, best, worst.
Occasionally, adverbs can also be used to describe not only verbs, but
also adjectives or other adverbs.
For eg:
1) Jessica was wearing a beautifully designed dress
2) It was surprising how Carlos finished his job remarkably quickly.
3) You are completely wrong
In the 1st sentence, the adverb beautifully describes the adjective
designed
In the 2nd sentence, the adverb remarkably describes the adverb
quickly
In the 3rd sentence, the adverb completely describes the adjective
wrong.
Despite the fact that adverbs can describe both verbs and adjectives,
we should remember that adverbs would Never describe nouns.
However, while describing an action, we should ensure that we are
using the adverb form (mostly the -ly form).
For eg: We need to decide quick whether the merger would be good
for the company or not ---- WRONG!! Why?
Here the main verb is decide, and quick is a word describing the
action decide. Therefore, quick should take the adverb form and be
written as quickly. The correct sentence should be
We need to decide quickly whether the merger would be good for the
company or not
Now, judge whether this sentence is correct or not
We need to decide fast whether the merger would be good for the
company or not
This sentence is correct! The adverb here is fast. Since the adverb
form of fast is fast itself (There is no word called fastly), the
sentence is using the adverb correctly.