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hi everybody my name is alicia 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 eight
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's served as a judge for 10 years so
that's she has she's served as a judge
for 10 years he's serving two years in a
military program so in these examples
we're talking about some kind of a duty
it's often like a public work like a
civic work so that means a government
worker military worker uh maybe like
police officer we use serve because it
has kind of the feeling of uh 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 like he served as an officer for
five years for example so this is some
kind of like community service worker we
use serv 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
serve 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 as
or 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
happened 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 blah blah
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
four 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 depending on what sport you're
playing examples
serena williams served 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
uh 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
example sentences i used serves him
rights 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 barbecue starts at five if memory
serves me right so there's a little bit
of uncertainty there like we're not 100
sure that we're 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
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watching this episode of know your verbs
and we'll see you again next time
bye-bye
that was me serving a volleyball
oh
this is this is the underhand serve too
yeah if you couldn't do the
type you could do the
i like your sandwich
[Music]