Investigating University Students’ Understanding of the Effect of Verb Types on Sentence Structure

Abstract

This study aimed at investigating the university students understanding of the effect of verb types in sentence structure. A descriptive method was used. Data was collected through a test for (80) students of Bachelor degree in English language at AL Mughtaribeen University and analyzed statistically by using statistical package for social science (SPSS) program. The findings showed that Bachelor degree students of English language students do not understand the effect of verb types in sentence structure due to many reasons among them, the students are not aware of different types of verbs to complete sentences. Moreover, they encounter difficulties of understanding the main verb when followed by gerund. This phenomenon led them to ignore adding (ing) to the main verb. Some of students are unaware of using subject, verb, direct object, indirect objects; therefore, they misplace words in using sentence structure. It's recommended that students should learn verb types accurately and increase their knowledge of transitive and intransitive use of verbs so as to use the verbs correctly in sentences.