Verb patterns – pre-intermediate

Verb patterns

My pre-intermediate students are confused by all the different verb patterns. So the last two weeks I spent designing a mind map that would help them. It is in no way a comprehensive description of the grammar, but I feel quite happy about it. Looking for some rules I discovered that the pattern verb + to + verb is much more common than verb + verb-ing.
So my advice to my students is: “If in doubt, use TO + verb.” I hope this mind map will help you understand the verb patterns too.

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Verb patterns

To practise the verb patterns you can try the following games.

The first game is called Penalty Shootout. Your task is to choose the correct answer and then score a goal. To be able to play the game, you need to download the file and then open it in Acrobat Reader by Adobe.

To practise the verb patterns you can play the following game. Its name is En Garde. Your task is to choose the correct answer and then stop the target as close to the centre as possible. Hopefully, you will be faster and more accurate then your opponent. The game is in Flash and will play only if you download the file and open it in Acrobat Reader by Adobe.

Enjoy.
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21 Comments

  1. Sasoun
    Nice map but could you please explain what you mean by: He was so good to do it? Is it like, He was so good at it?
    14/12/2013 at 2:02 pm
  2. azyza
    it is good for teaching verb, can i share it..?
    14/12/2013 at 2:41 pm
  3. azyza
    I wanna say two words : excuse 4 share..
    14/12/2013 at 2:59 pm
  4. luis
    Good job guys....it really helps me
    14/12/2013 at 4:43 pm
  5. sir, i did not understand the above procedure.. will u please explain abot that mind mapping?
    14/12/2013 at 6:47 pm
  6. Zdenda
    Read the map from the top clockwise.
    15/12/2013 at 3:34 am
  7. Zdenda
    I am glad that you find it useful.
    15/12/2013 at 3:35 am
  8. Zdenda
    No problem. It is here to be shared and used. I am glad that you like it.
    15/12/2013 at 3:36 am
  9. Zdenda
    For example, I needed some help and he was so good to do it.
    15/12/2013 at 3:37 am
  10. Ai Linh
    It really like this, i will teach my children Thank you
    15/12/2013 at 4:04 am
  11. Najmul Hossain
    It will be very helpful for my younger brother. Thanks.
    15/12/2013 at 5:40 am
  12. Atta amin
    it was really good and informative
    15/12/2013 at 9:26 am
  13. chin teacher
    It 's very nice for me and my students. Thanks.
    15/12/2013 at 10:15 am
  14. badr
    thank yuo very much its useful lesson
    15/12/2013 at 11:51 am
  15. Yavuz
    First of all, thank you very much for your clues in learning English. I've understood (I hope I haven't misunderstood)that we should use ''prefer + verb +ing'' in ''feelings'' but we should use ''prefer + to + verb'' in ''willings''. Right?
    22/12/2013 at 5:01 pm
  16. devi
    could u tell me how to get mind map software?it's interesting to design material.
    23/12/2013 at 6:26 am
  17. Zdenda
    I use Maple mind which is free. However, there are many different programmes eg. iMindMap, Inspiration or MindMeister.
    27/12/2013 at 7:47 am
  18. congratulations for the excellent text
    06/01/2014 at 12:06 am
  19. congratulations all for the excellent text - very good
    11/01/2014 at 9:08 am
  20. alex
    Hi! i found your work very useful!! can i ask you if you still have the map file? (with MapleMind extension?). If yes, could you share it? So I can edit it by adding more elements to help me memorize. Thank you
    03/02/2022 at 6:16 pm
  21. Zdenda
    I will have a look. It may take some time as my computer is full of files and I haven´t used MapleMinde for some time.
    04/04/2022 at 2:46 am

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