SERVE Basic Verbs Learn English Grammar

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hi everybody my name is Alisha welcome

back to know your verbs in this episode

we’re going to talk about the verb serve

let’s get started

so let’s start with the basic definition

of this verb the basic definition of to

serve is to provide with a service

especially food or drinks examples

breakfast is served at 8:00

have you been served sir now let’s look

at the conjugations of this verb present

serve serves past served past participle

served progressive serving so now let’s

talk about some additional meanings for

this verb in this lesson the first

additional meaning for this lesson is to

work for or to perform duties especially

for the military let’s look at some

examples she has served as a judge for

10 years so that’s she has she that

served as a judge for 10 years he is

serving two years in a military program

so in these examples we’re talking about

some kind of duty it’s often like a

public worked like a civic work so that

means a government worker military

worker maybe like police officer we use

serve because it has kind of the feeling

of like a social responsibility about it

so there’s some kind of like community

duty that you are performing so in these

examples of I included sentences

relating to judges and military workers

so like I said you could use it for

police so like he served as an officer

for five years for example so this is

some kind of like community service

worker we use serve to talk about their

work often with a period of time

so the second additional meaning is to

help achieve something or to have a

specific purpose so let’s look at some

examples this one’s kind of an abstract

meaning let this accident serve as a

warning to you

this success should serve as a reminder

of what can happen when you work hard so

in these cases I’ve used the verb served

before in the first example serve as a

warning and in the second example serve

as a reminder so that means the subject

of the sentence is acting

so the subject of the sentence has the

purpose of being a warning or has the

purpose of being a reminder for

something else so in the first example I

said let this accident serve as a

warning meaning the accident whatever it

is should act as a warning for the

future so but we use serve to mean act

as something in the second example

sentence we see the same thing this

success should serve as a reminder so

meaning this success something

successful happen and that should act as

a reminder of what can happen so instead

of saying act as or that should act as

we just use the verb serve so that means

it has the purpose of being a reminder

so this is quite a broad meaning but you

can see how serve means have a purpose

or help to achieve something okay let’s

go to the third meaning the third

additional meaning for this verb which

is to spend time in prison to spend time

in prison we use the verb serve for this

examples

she served six months in prison for her

crimes he’s serving three years for

breaking and entering

so in these example sentences we see the

verb serve used before a time period

spent in prison so in the first example

sentence she served six months that

means she spent six months in prison for

her crimes so instead of saying she

spent baba bhot amount of time in prison

we just say she served that’s much

easier and quicker to say in the second

example sentence it’s the progressive

form he’s serving three years which

means he is now in prison he’s now

spending time in prison for breaking and

entering in this case so for shows the

reason he’s in prison so we can use

serve to mean spend time in prison okay

let’s go on to the fourth additional

meaning for this verb today so the

fourth additional meaning is to start a

game especially a sports game of some

kind with a ball or something similar to

pending on what sport you’re playing

examples Serena Williams serve the ball

hurry up and serve so serving something

serving a ball for example

is a very common way to begin a match of

some kind so in tennis one of the tennis

players will serve the ball to start

play we see the same thing in volleyball

as well so like we were practicing

earlier hitting the ball this way or

this way to begin kind of that match

that individual play so any sport where

one team has to initiate the match or

initiate the play by striking the ball

or striking some you know object like

that we can use the verb serve it means

to start play by hitting it at the other

team usually so to serve interesting

so let’s continue on to some variations

for this verb the first variation is to

serve someone right to serve someone

right this is an expression that means

for someone to get what they deserve and

we often use this in negative situations

like someone who has done something bad

deserves a negative consequence let’s

look at some examples he lost his job

serves him right he stole from the

company for years the president was

impeached serves him right so you’ll

notice in both of these examples

sentences I used serves him right in the

present tense

even though these are past tense

situations so in the first example

sentence I said he lost his job a past

tense expression he lost his job and the

second sentence the president was

impeached past tense as well but we’re

using serves him right

in both cases to mean right now in the

present time he is getting what he

deserves so in the present as he is in

that moment he deserves that consequence

so we use the present tense to do that

so you will hear this used in present

tense actually so sometimes past tense

as well but quite commonly in present

tense to mean someone got a consequence

that they deserved and it’s often a

negative one the next variation I want

to talk about is the expression if

memory serves me right if memory serves

me right so here actually you’ll see

serves functions in the same way as we

talked about earlier if memory serves me

right so meaning if memory has a purpose

that is correct it’s sort of a strange

way to think of it but if memory serves

me right means if I remember correctly

if I remember correctly this so in other

words I think I remember it’s this

information I think it’s this so if my

memory is correct this examples of this

if memory serves me right this is the

27th episode of this series the barbeque

starts at 5:00 if memory serves me right

so there’s a little bit of uncertainty

there like we’re not 100% sure that we

correct but we’re pretty close so if

memory serves me right meaning I think

my memory is correct I think it’s this

so you can use this if you’re a little

unsure it’s quite a long phrase but

that’s what it means so those are a few

maybe new expressions or new ways to use

the verb serve I hope that you got

something new from this lesson of course

if you have any questions comments or if

you’d like to try to make an example

sentence please feel free to do so in

the comment section below this video

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study tools thanks very much for

watching this episode of know your verbs

and we’ll see you again next time bye

bye

that was me serving a volleyball oh yeah

sir this is this is the underhand serve

• yeah so if you couldn’t do that power

tight

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