English · Grammar · SSC & HSC
Right Form of Verbs — Rules, Examples & Exercise
Every rule for the right form of verbs, with worked examples and board-style exercises for SSC and HSC.
The right form of verbs means putting a verb into the tense, number and person that the rest of the sentence demands. You decide it from three clues: the time the sentence refers to, the subject it agrees with, and any fixed structure around it — a modal, a conditional, or a phrase such as "It is time" that forces one particular form.
Where it is set: SSC & HSC English 2nd Paper — Grammar
Start from the time the sentence refers to
Before anything else, find the word that fixes the time. Adverbs such as now, every day, yesterday, last year, tomorrow, already, since and for are placed in the sentence precisely so that you can identify the tense, and in almost every board question one of them is present. Once the tense is settled, the verb form usually follows without further thought.
If no time word appears, look at the other verbs in the sentence or the passage. A narrative written in the past keeps every verb in the past unless there is a reason to change; a description of a habit or a general truth stays in the present indefinite throughout.
Time markers and the tense they signal
| Marker in the sentence | Tense it signals | Example |
|---|---|---|
| every day, usually, always, generally | Present indefinite | He goes to school every day. |
| now, at this moment, look!, listen! | Present continuous | Look! The baby is crying. |
| just, already, recently, yet, ever, never | Present perfect | I have just finished my work. |
| since, for (with a continuing action) | Present perfect continuous | She has been reading since morning. |
| yesterday, ago, last night, in 1971 | Past indefinite | He came here two days ago. |
| while, when (with an ongoing past action) | Past continuous | While I was reading, he came. |
| before, after (of two past actions) | Past perfect + past indefinite | The train had left before we reached. |
| tomorrow, next week, soon | Future indefinite | They will visit us next week. |
- ✗ He go to school every day. ✓ He goes to school every day. — “every day” fixes the present indefinite
- ✗ I have seen him yesterday. ✓ I saw him yesterday. — “yesterday” is a finished past time, so the present perfect is impossible
Make the verb agree with its real subject
After the tense, the second decision is number. The verb agrees with the subject, not with the nearest noun, and board questions are written to exploit exactly that confusion by putting a phrase between the two.
Cross out everything between the subject and the verb and the agreement becomes obvious. In The quality of the mangoes was good, the subject is quality, not mangoes.
- A phrase introduced by with, along with, as well as, together with or in addition to does not change the number of the subject.
- Two subjects joined by and take a plural verb, unless they name one single idea (Bread and butter is my breakfast).
- With either … or and neither … nor, the verb agrees with the subject nearest to it.
- Each, every, everyone, somebody, nobody and none take a singular verb.
- A collective noun takes a singular verb when it acts as one body and a plural verb when its members act separately.
- ✗ The list of candidates were long. ✓ The list of candidates was long. — the subject is list
- ✗ Neither he nor his brothers is coming. ✓ Neither he nor his brothers are coming. — the verb follows brothers, the nearer subject
Structures that force one particular form
A large share of the marks in this item comes from a short list of structures that dictate the verb form regardless of the surrounding tense. These are worth memorising as fixed patterns, because no amount of reasoning about time will produce them.
Fixed structures and the verb form they demand
| Structure | Verb form required | Example |
|---|---|---|
| It is time / It is high time | Past indefinite | It is high time we changed our habit. |
| Would that / I wish | Past indefinite (or were) | I wish I were a bird. |
| As if / As though | Past indefinite (or were) | He talks as if he knew everything. |
| Had better / would rather | Base form | You had better see a doctor. |
| Let / make / see / hear + object | Base form | Let him go. I made him do it. |
| Would you mind / worth / cannot help | Gerund (-ing) | Would you mind opening the door? |
| To / in order to / so as to | Base form | He came here to meet you. |
| Since (with a starting point) | Present perfect + past indefinite | It is two years since he left. |
- ✗ It is high time we change our habit. ✓ It is high time we changed our habit. — “It is high time” takes the past indefinite
- ✗ Would you mind to open the window? ✓ Would you mind opening the window? — “mind” takes a gerund
Modals, causatives and the passive
After a modal — can, could, may, might, shall, should, will, would, must, ought to — the verb stays in its base form and never takes -s, -ed or -ing. This holds no matter what tense the rest of the sentence is in.
If the subject receives the action rather than performing it, the blank needs a passive form: be in the sentence's tense plus the past participle. Board questions signal this by leaving a subject that could not possibly do the action itself.
- Modal + base form: He must go now. Never must goes or must went.
- Modal + have + past participle expresses an unfulfilled past: You should have told me.
- Causative have/get something done keeps the past participle: I had my shirt washed.
- Need and dare take the base form when used as modals in negatives and questions.
- ✗ He can speaks English fluently. ✓ He can speak English fluently. — a modal is always followed by the base form
- ✗ The letter was write by him. ✓ The letter was written by him. — the passive needs the past participle
Participles, gerunds and infinitives after a verb
When one verb is followed by another, the second verb's form is fixed by the first. There is no rule that predicts it, so this is learned as a list — but it is a short list, and the same handful of verbs is set year after year.
| First verb | Form of the second verb | Example |
|---|---|---|
| want, hope, decide, agree, refuse, promise | to + base form | She decided to leave early. |
| enjoy, avoid, finish, mind, suggest, keep | gerund (-ing) | He enjoys playing football. |
| stop, remember, forget | both, with a change of meaning | He stopped smoking. / He stopped to smoke. |
| make, let, help (bare) | base form without to | She made him wait. |
| be used to, look forward to, object to | gerund (-ing) | I am used to getting up early. |
- ✗ I am looking forward to meet you. ✓ I am looking forward to meeting you. — here to is a preposition, so a gerund follows
- ✗ He avoided to answer the question. ✓ He avoided answering the question. — avoid takes a gerund
Practice
Work through these before you check the answers — the reasoning matters more than the answer.
- The sun (rise) in the east.
- He (read) in this school for five years.
- The patient had died before the doctor (come).
- It is time you (start) preparing for the exam.
- He talks as if he (be) the owner of the house.
- I would rather (die) than beg.
- The work must (finish) by Friday.
- She is used to (live) in a village.
Answers
- rises — a universal truth stays in the present indefinite.
- has been reading — “for five years” with an action still going on takes the present perfect continuous.
- came — of two past actions, the earlier takes the past perfect and the later the past indefinite.
- started — “It is time” is followed by the past indefinite.
- were — “as if” describes an unreal situation and takes were for every person.
- die — “would rather” is followed by the base form.
- be finished — the subject receives the action, so the passive follows the modal.
- living — in “be used to”, to is a preposition and takes a gerund.
Frequently Asked Questions
Work in three fixed steps. First find the time marker and settle the tense. Second, find the real subject and settle the number. Third, check whether the blank sits inside one of the fixed structures — a modal, “It is time”, “as if”, “would mind” — because those override the first two steps. Almost every board question is solved by that order.
Ask whether the subject could perform the action. If the subject is a thing that cannot act — a letter, a decision, the work — the blank almost always needs “be + past participle” in the sentence’s own tense. A “by” phrase in the sentence is a second confirmation.
Because the structure carries a sense of regret that the action has not happened yet, English marks it with an unreal past — the same past used after “I wish” and “as if”. It refers to the present, but the form is past indefinite. This is a fixed structure, not a tense choice.
No. The board sets a small recurring set — enjoy, avoid, mind, finish, suggest, keep, look forward to, be used to. Learn those with one example sentence each. For anything outside the set, the “to” test helps: if “to” is a preposition (you could put a noun after it), a gerund follows.
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Every grammar rule, plus paragraphs, compositions and applications for SSC and HSC.