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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