Important Questions: The Verb | English Grammar Class 8 PDF Download

Q.1. What is a verb?

Ans: A verb is a word that expresses an action, occurrence, or state of being. It shows what the subject of a sentence does or what happens to it. For example, "run," "eat," and "is" are verbs.

Q.2. What is the difference between a transitive and intransitive verb?

Ans: A transitive verb is a verb that requires a direct object to complete its meaning, while an intransitive verb does not require a direct object. For example, in the sentence "She threw the ball," "threw" is a transitive verb because it needs the object "ball" to make sense. In the sentence "He sleeps," "sleeps" is an intransitive verb because it does not need an object.

Q.3. What are auxiliary verbs?

Ans: Auxiliary verbs, also known as helping verbs, are used together with main verbs to form verb phrases. They help to express tense, mood, voice, or other grammatical aspects. Examples of auxiliary verbs include "be," "have," and "do." For instance, in the sentence "I am reading a book," "am" is the auxiliary verb.

Q.4. What is the past participle of a verb?

Ans: The past participle of a verb is a form that is used to indicate past or completed actions or states. It is often formed by adding "-ed" or "-d" to the base form of a regular verb. For irregular verbs, the past participle can have various forms. For example, the past participle of the verb "eat" is "eaten."

Q.5. What is the difference between a regular and an irregular verb?

Ans: A regular verb follows a specific pattern to form its past tense and past participle by adding "-ed" or "-d" to the base form. For example, "walk" becomes "walked" in the past tense. An irregular verb, on the other hand, does not follow the regular pattern and has its own unique forms for past tense and past participle. For example, "go" becomes "went" in the past tense.

Q.6. Explain the concept of the verb and its role in a sentence. Provide examples to illustrate your explanation.

Ans:
(i) A verb is a word that expresses an action, occurrence, or state of being in a sentence. It is one of the most important parts of speech and helps convey meaning and create complete sentences.
(ii) The verb plays a crucial role in a sentence by showing what the subject is doing or experiencing. It also helps in indicating the time of an action or event.
(iii) For example, in the sentence "The cat jumped over the fence," the verb is "jumped." It shows the action performed by the subject, which is the cat. Without the verb, the sentence would lack meaning and coherence.
(iv) In another example, consider the sentence "She is a doctor." Here, the verb "is" shows the state of being or identity of the subject "she."
(v) Verbs can also express occurrences or events, such as "The sun rises in the morning" or "It rained heavily yesterday." In both cases, the verbs "rises" and "rained" depict actions or events.

Q.7. Discuss the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs. Provide examples to support your explanation.

Ans:
(i) Transitive verbs are those that require a direct object to complete their meaning, whereas intransitive verbs do not require a direct object.
(ii) For instance, consider the sentence "She read a book." Here, the verb "read" is transitive because it needs a direct object, which is "a book." Without the direct object, the sentence would be incomplete.
(iii) On the other hand, in the sentence "He sleeps peacefully," the verb "sleeps" is intransitive. It does not require a direct object to make sense; it can stand alone and still convey a complete meaning.
(iv) Transitive verbs often answer the question "what" or "whom" after the verb, while intransitive verbs do not. For example, in the sentence "The boy kicked the ball," the transitive verb "kicked" answers the question "what did the boy kick?" (the ball).
(v) In contrast, in the sentence "The bird flew away," the intransitive verb "flew" does not require a direct object and does not answer any "what" or "whom" question.

Q.8. Explain the concept of auxiliary verbs and their role in forming different tenses. Provide examples to illustrate your explanation.

Ans:
(i) Auxiliary verbs, also known as helping verbs, are used alongside the main verb to create different tenses, moods, voices, or emphasis in a sentence.
(ii) The primary auxiliary verbs are "be," "have," and "do." They are used with the main verb to form different tenses. For example, in the sentence "She is reading a book," the auxiliary verb "is" (a form of "be") is used to indicate the present continuous tense.
(iii) Auxiliary verbs also help in forming other tenses, such as the past continuous tense ("They were playing cricket") and the present perfect tense ("I have finished my homework").
(iv) Additionally, auxiliary verbs are used to form negative sentences ("He does not like chocolate") and interrogative sentences ("Did you watch the movie?").
(v) Modal auxiliary verbs, such as "can," "could," "may," "might," "shall," "should," "will," "would," "must," and "ought to," express various shades of possibility, necessity, or permission. For example, "You should study for the exam" or "She can swim well."

Q.9. Discuss the concept of the subject-verb agreement. What are the common rules to ensure agreement between the subject and the verb in a sentence? Support your answer with examples.

Ans:
(i) Subject-verb agreement refers to the grammatical rule that states that the subject and the verb in a sentence must agree in number (singular or plural).
(ii) The basic rule is that a singular subject takes a singular verb, and a plural subject takes a plural verb. For instance, "She runs" (singular subject) and "They run" (plural subject).
(iii) In sentences where the subject and the verb are separated by words like "along with," "as well as," "in addition to," etc., the verb agrees with the subject, not the words in between. For example, "The dog, along with its puppies, is sleeping."
(iv) When the subject is a collective noun, such as "team," "family," or "group," the verb can be singular or plural, depending on whether the emphasis is on the collective unit or the individual members. For example, "The team is winning" (emphasis on the team) or "The team are arguing" (emphasis on the individual members).
(v) Indefinite pronouns, like "everyone," "somebody," or "anyone," take singular verbs. For example, "Everyone wants to go" or "Somebody has left their bag."

Q.10. Explain the concept of the infinitive and its different forms. Provide examples to support your explanation.

Ans:
(i) The infinitive is the base form of a verb, usually preceded by the word "to." It does not show tense, number, or person. For example, "to run," "to eat," "to sing."
(ii) Infinitives can function as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs in a sentence.
(iii) As a noun, the infinitive can be the subject of a sentence ("To travel is my dream"), the object of a verb ("He wants to eat"), or the complement of a verb ("Her goal is to succeed").
(iv) As an adjective, the infinitive describes or modifies a noun ("I need a book to read") or follows a linking verb ("She is happy to help").
(v) As an adverb, the infinitive modifies a verb, adjective, or adverb, providing additional information. For example, "He ran fast to catch the bus," where the infinitive "to catch" modifies the verb "ran."
(vi) The infinitive can also have different forms, such as the present infinitive ("to run"), the perfect infinitive ("to have run"), and the progressive infinitive ("to be running"). These forms allow for different tenses and aspects in verb usage.