Verbs

What is a verb? Recall from Part A that the subject of a sentence names something (a person , place, thing or idea), while a verb says how it acts (x screams, x weeps, x ponders or x composes) or describes its condition ( x isweary, x looks healthy).

TIP: To find a verb, ask, What does the sentence say about the subject?

1. Correct verb forms
Verbs take different forms to express different aspects of meaning. The main changes concern

• singular or plural subject (He inquires, they inquire)
• changes in time, called tense (She edits, she edited, she will edit)
• active or passive voice (They order, they are ordered)

Here is a chart showing you the main verb changes in tense and voice:

These are the tenses used most frequently in journalism.

Most verbs are regular. Regular verbs add -s when the subject is he, she, it or a singular noun:

I report
You report
He, she, it, The newspaper reports

Regular verbs also add -d or -ed to the past-tense or past participle:

They reported
They had reported

In English, there are approximately 200 irregular verbs that do not follow the above patterns when forming the past tense and past participle ( write / wrote / hadwritten). A dictionary will tell you whether the verb is regular or irregular.

College Enrollment

1			California leads the country in college enrollment.
			A)	present tense
			B)	simple past tense
			C)	present perfect
			D)	past perfect
2			More than 1.9 million students attended public and private college last year in California.
			A)	present tense
			B)	simple past tense
			C)	present perfect
			D)	past perfect
3			New York was second in total enrollment with 1 million college students.
			A)	present tense
			B)	simple past tense
			C)	present perfect
			D)	past perfect
4			College officials attribute California's large total enrollment to its huge enrollment of community college students.
			A)	present tense
			B)	simple past tense
			C)	present perfect
			D)	past perfect
5			Last year, more than 1 million students had enrolled in California's public, two-year colleges.
			A)	present tense
			B)	simple past tense
			C)	present perfect
			D)	past perfect
6			More students attended California's two-year colleges alone than attended both two- and four-year schools in New York.
			A)	present tense
			B)	simple past tense
			C)	present perfect
			D)	past perfect
7			More than half the students in California colleges describe themselves as members of minority groups.
			A)	present tense
			B)	simple past tense
			C)	present perfect
			D)	past perfect
8			New Hampshire, Maine and North Dakota reported the smallest percentages of minority students last year.
			A)	present tense
			B)	simple past tense
			C)	present perfect
			D)	past perfect
9			Minority enrollment gradually has increased in the past decade throughout the country.
			A)	present tense
			B)	simple past tense
			C)	present perfect
			D)	past perfect
10			College officials expect total college enrollment next year at 15 million.
			A)	present tense
			B)	simple past tense
			C)	present perfect
			D)	past perfect