13 Aug 2016
School
Department
Course
Professor
WRITING 2121G: Writing for MIT
Week 4
Jan 26
PART ONE VERBS AND SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT
Phrasal Verbs: two part verbs
example: he “dropped off”
Regular Verbs: consistent
example: to fit, he fit, fitting, fitted
Irregular verbs: conjugation not consistent
example: I choose, I chose, chosen
In general: avoid phrasal verbs
example: lets take up (instead say consider or analyze)
example: you need to back up your car (instead use a single verb like reverse)
Verbs Acting like Verbs
State something about their subject
Usually express: action, occurrence, process, or state
Verbals
Past/present participles: verbs acting like adjectives
Example: failing students don’t like school vs. failed students work full time instead
Gerund: acting like a subject
Example: failing is upsetting
Infinitives: acting like a subject: to fail is human= to fail- subject of sentence
“is”=function as the verb
example: to eat is one of the greatest pleasures in life
Verbs Past and Present
Use past tense if: issue, action, person located in the past
Use the present tense if: point is relevant to the present
Subjects and Predicates
Sentences have two parts: the agent doing (subject) and the rest (predicate)
I + forgot my keys at home
Simple and Complete Subjects
Simple subject: single noun + predicate
Example: Ontarians are Toronto blue jays fans
Complete subject: consists of noun and all its modifiers
Example: all (intelligent? Misguided?) Ontarians are Toronto blue jay fans
Verbs
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com