SEE - SAW - SILLY & SvV(OPT)

Some see-saw-silly examples of why there can be only ONE.

What's right and what's wrong often depends on the context. A sentence like What did she saw? may seem incorrect at first glance, but isn't if it's about sawing wooden planks.

Some verbs are dead ringers for irregular past forms: saw-sawed-sawn/sawed vs. see-saw-seen, for instance. Just think of the fun your students will have if you make a show out of deliberately confusing those forms. Here are some more examples.

To bore (drill) vs. to bear (carry): 

• She bored a large hole. What did she BORE?
• She bore a heavy load. What did she BEAR?

To ground vs. to grind:

• The authorities grounded three aircraft. How many did they GROUND?
• The baristas ground the coffee beans. How much did they GRIND?

To found vs. to find:

• She founded the company. What did she FOUND?
• She found the missing piece. What did she FIND?

To fell (cut down) vs. to fall:

• They felled a huge tree. What did they FELL?
• They fell down the stairs. Where did they FALL?

To smelt vs. to smell:

• They smelted the iron ore. What did they SMELT?
• They smelt/smelled the perfume. What did they SMELL?

By the way, an archaic past tense form of the verb to drag is drug. Maybe that form disappeared because drug and drugged were too similar and people probably kept wondering: Did they DRAG him? or Did they DRUG him? 

Last but not least, let's not mistake the verb to can for its modal look-alike can/to be able to:

• They can most of the fish, especially sardines. What do they CAN?
• They are able to preserve the fish in tins. What can they DO?

Is language fun, or what? Kids of all ages love silly examples and will easily remember the grammar if you just make the examples come alive. Did she SEE him, or did she SAW him? Oh dear! is he alright or should we call an ambulance? 

It's also worth noting that there's more than one way to bore someone to death. The slower option is the one without the power drill.

Of course, the serious point of this silly exercise is to show that there can be only ONE. There can be only one subject form. There can be only one MAIN VERB.

If there's only a single verb in the sentence, the subject form and the MAIN VERB are one and the same. That's the exception and it only happens in the indicative forms of Present and Past Simple tense. 

As a rule, the first verb in the sentence is the helping verb that shows the subject form; the last one is the MAIN VERB that shows the ACTION. It's all a matter of SvVOPT.

SvVOPT rules!

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