4. Verb

Chapter focus: verb types, auxiliaries, modals, agreement, and active/passive voice.

How to study this lesson

Read the explanation first, then say the examples aloud. Change one detail in each example, such as the subject, time, or place. Complete the practice without looking back and use the answer key to understand the reason for each answer. Finish by writing two sentences about your own life or city.

A verb tells us what happens or what state exists. Every complete English clause needs a finite verb. Verbs carry information about tense, agreement, voice, and possibility.

Verb types

An action verb describes an activity: measure, reduce, construct. A stative verb describes a state: know, believe, seem, belong. Stative verbs are not normally used in the continuous form: I understand the problem, not usually I am understanding the problem.

A transitive verb takes an object: The policy reduced emissions. An intransitive verb does not: The population grew. Some verbs can be both: The company increased prices and Prices increased.

Auxiliary verbs help form questions, negatives, tenses, and passive structures. The primary auxiliaries are be, have, and do. Modal verbs include can, could, may, might, must, should, will, and would. A modal is followed by the base form: Governments should invest, not should invests or should to invest.

Agreement and verb patterns

The verb must agree with its subject: The result shows but The results show. In a phrase such as The number of students is increasing, the subject is number, not students. After make, let, and most modals, use the base form: The policy made people change and can improve. After a preposition, use a noun or -ing form: by reducing waste, not by reduce waste.

Active and passive voice

In the active voice, the subject performs the action: Researchers collected the data. In the passive voice, the receiver is the focus: The data were collected by researchers. Use the passive when the process or result matters more than the actor, especially in Academic Task 1 process descriptions.

Practice

Correct the verbs: (a) The results indicates a clear trend. (b) Governments should to improve public transport. (c) The data was collected from three schools. (d) This method allows students improving accuracy.

Answers: (a) indicate, (b) should improve, (c) The data were collected is the formal academic choice; data was is common in less formal usage when data means a mass of information, (d) allows students to improve.

IELTS transfer task

Write a short four-sentence response about an IELTS topic such as education, health, transport, technology, or the environment. Use at least two examples of the target grammar from this chapter. Underline those examples, then check that every sentence has a clear subject, a correct verb, and a meaning that is easy to understand.

Deep lesson: every complete clause needs a controlled verb

A verb expresses an action, event, or state. In English, a complete clause normally needs a subject and a finite verb that shows tense or agrees with the subject. This is different from a verb form such as to study or studying, which cannot always stand as the main verb.

Verb families

Main verbs: study, increase, seem. Auxiliary verbs: be, have, do; they build questions, negatives, continuous, perfect, and passive forms. Modal verbs: can, could, may, might, must, should, will, would; they express ability, possibility, obligation, or prediction. After a modal, use the base form: should reduce, never should reduces.

Twelve examples

1. The policy reduces waste.
2. The policies reduce waste.
3. The city is building a rail line.
4. The city has built two stations.
5. The station was designed by engineers.
6. Do people support the plan?
7. The plan does not solve the problem.
8. Governments should invest in buses.
9. The number seems to be increasing.
10. Researchers collected the data.
11. The data were collected from schools.
12. The solution depends on public cooperation.

Agreement and object patterns

The subject controls the verb, not a noun hidden inside a prepositional phrase: The number of students is rising. A transitive verb takes an object: The policy reduced emissions. An intransitive verb does not need one: Emissions fell. After allow/enable someone, use to + verb: The scheme enables residents to recycle.

Active or passive?

Use active voice when the actor is important: Researchers measured the temperature. Use passive voice when the process or receiver is important: The temperature was measured every hour. A passive verb follows be + past participle.

Bengali-speaker errors

Wrong: People is using buses. Right: People are using buses. Wrong: The government should to act. Right: The government should act. Wrong: The results shows a trend. Right: The results show a trend. Wrong: The method allow students improve. Right: The method allows students to improve.

Practice

A. Correct: The percentage of users have increased. Answer: has increased, because percentage is the head subject.

B. Change to passive: Engineers built the bridge in 2020. Answer: The bridge was built by engineers in 2020.

C. IELTS task: Describe a process in five steps. Use at least two passive verbs and check every verb for subject agreement.

Professor's explanation: how to think about this grammar

Do not begin by memorising a definition. Begin by asking three questions: What job does this form do? What meaning does it add? Where does it go in the sentence? Bengali and English often arrange information differently, so direct translation can create mistakes. Build the English pattern first, then attach your idea to it.

Bengali learner warning

Many Bengali speakers understand the meaning of an English sentence but omit a small grammar word because Bengali does not always need the same word. English normally needs a clear subject and a finite verb. For example, say The number of students is increasing, not Number of students increasing. Treat articles, auxiliary verbs, plural endings, and prepositions as part of the pattern, not as optional decoration.

Three-step study method

Step 1 — Notice: underline the target form in every example. Step 2 — Control: replace only one part of the example, such as the subject or time. Step 3 — Communicate: use the form in a short answer about education, health, transport, technology, or the environment. If you cannot explain why you chose the form, return to Step 1.

Practice ladder

Level 1: Recognition. Find the target form and name its job. Level 2: Controlled production. Complete or correct a sentence using the pattern. Level 3: IELTS production. Write a short paragraph or speak for one minute. At Level 3, clarity is more important than using many different forms.

Revision checklist

Before moving on, ask: Can I explain the form in one simple sentence? Can I make a positive, negative, and question form where relevant? Can I use it with a past and a present example? Can I recognise the most common Bengali-speaker error? Can I use it naturally in one IELTS answer?