Find meaning in English
Learn how to use Find correctly with Gymglish.
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Definition
to find: to discover, to encounter, to locate, to situate
Where can I find a post office? Where is the post office?
I found that restaurant expensive. I think that restaurant was expensive.
This is an irregular verb:
I find / I found / I have found
to find that: to think, to see that, to conclude, to understand that
If you take a look at the report, you will find that our sales have been increasing for the past six months.
Examples
- "Brian : Bruno, sir, if you want me to help you find the perfect date, you should start by telling me what you're looking for in a lover."
- "Bruno : Some of our human employees are finding it hard to adapt to these changes, but they understand that our animal friends are welcome."
- "I think you'll find all of my paperwork is in order."
- "I will not be giving the tour to Mr. Warbuckle personally (I find him to be retrograde)."
- "It is time for you to find the tree of mystery."
- "Bruno found this person in Tabitha Cashman, a venture capitalist and senior partner working for the large investment firm Cashman, Billfold & Green."
- "Have you found anything funny yet?"
- "I'm sure you'll find the job as gratifying as I found picking up your soiled tissues and discarded chocolate wrappers for the past decade as your special assistant."
- "Passengers are advised to find another means of transport."
- "Honestly Mr. Capone, now we have to find a new accountant!"
- "I've found your new companion - it's a horse!"
- "I hope you don't find this question terribly impolite."
- "We found a man who fits this description."
- "Why didn't Bruno ask us to find a flower?"
- "Let's get to the hotel and then find a nice restaurant."
- "Looks like I'll need to find a new lawyer too!"
- "Oddly, a pair of men's pants were found outside the bar."
- "When you are ready, the tree will find you."
- "I can't find the hotel on the map!"
Exercise 1
Conjugate the verbs in the blanks below with the correct form of the verb:
Yesterday, Philip Cheeter suddenly hungry. It was almost 2:00 in the afternoon, and it seemed to him that he hadn't anything in days. He to feel that if he did not eat something soon, he was going to faint. He Kevin in his office and asked him if he wanted to go to lunch. 'No, I my wallet this morning, so I can't go,' Kevin. 'Oh, that's too bad,' Philip. 'But, if you want to pay for me, I can you the money tomorrow,' Kevin. Philip long and hard. He that Kevin would never pay him the money. But he did not like to eat alone. 'Ok,' Philip finally , 'but you can't order the most expensive dish, like you the last time'. 'Sure, sure,' Kevin. And they .
Yesterday, Philip Cheeter suddenly hungry. It was almost 2:00 in the afternoon, and it seemed to him that he hadn't anything in days. He to feel that if he did not eat something soon, he was going to faint. He Kevin in his office and asked him if he wanted to go to lunch. 'No, I my wallet this morning, so I can't go,' Kevin. 'Oh, that's too bad,' Philip. 'But, if you want to pay for me, I can you the money tomorrow,' Kevin. Philip long and hard. He that Kevin would never pay him the money. But he did not like to eat alone. 'Ok,' Philip finally , 'but you can't order the most expensive dish, like you the last time'. 'Sure, sure,' Kevin. And they .
Conjugate the verbs in the blanks below with the correct form of the verb:
Yesterday, Philip Cheeter suddenly [not done] felt 1 hungry. It was almost 2:00 in the afternoon, and it seemed to him that he hadn't [not done] eaten 2 anything in days. He [not done] began 3 to feel that if he did not eat something soon, he was going to faint. He [not done] found 4 Kevin in his office and asked him if he wanted to go to lunch. 'No, I [not done] forgot 5 my wallet this morning, so I can't go,' [not done] said 6 Kevin. 'Oh, that's too bad,' [not done] answered 7 Philip. 'But, if you want to pay for me, I can [not done] give 8 you the money tomorrow,' [not done] declared 9 Kevin. Philip [not done] thought 10 long and hard. He [not done] knew 11 that Kevin would never pay him the money. But he did not like to eat alone. 'Ok,' Philip finally [not done] responded 12, 'but you can't order the most expensive dish, like you [not done] did 13 the last time'. 'Sure, sure,' [not done] said 14 Kevin. And they [not done] left 15.
Yesterday, Philip Cheeter suddenly [not done] felt 1 hungry. It was almost 2:00 in the afternoon, and it seemed to him that he hadn't [not done] eaten 2 anything in days. He [not done] began 3 to feel that if he did not eat something soon, he was going to faint. He [not done] found 4 Kevin in his office and asked him if he wanted to go to lunch. 'No, I [not done] forgot 5 my wallet this morning, so I can't go,' [not done] said 6 Kevin. 'Oh, that's too bad,' [not done] answered 7 Philip. 'But, if you want to pay for me, I can [not done] give 8 you the money tomorrow,' [not done] declared 9 Kevin. Philip [not done] thought 10 long and hard. He [not done] knew 11 that Kevin would never pay him the money. But he did not like to eat alone. 'Ok,' Philip finally [not done] responded 12, 'but you can't order the most expensive dish, like you [not done] did 13 the last time'. 'Sure, sure,' [not done] said 14 Kevin. And they [not done] left 15.
1 felt: Because we are speaking of the past (Yesterday), 'to feel' needs to be put in the past simple tense (preterit). To feel: I feel / I felt / I have felt.
2 eaten: Because it is preceded by 'hadn't', 'to eat' needs to be put in the past participle form. This forms the past perfect tense. To eat: I eat / I ate / I have eaten.
3 began: Because we are speaking of the past (Yesterday), 'to begin' needs to be put in the preterit tense. 'To begin' is an irregular verb: I begin / I began / I have begun.
4 found: Because we are speaking of the past (Yesterday), 'to find' needs to be put in the preterit tense. To find: I find / I found / I have found.
5 forgot: Because we are speaking of the past (this morning), 'to forget' needs to be put in the preterit tense. To forget: I forget/ I forgot/ I have forgotten.
6 said : Because we are speaking of the past (Yesterday), 'to say' needs to be put in the preterit tense. To say: I say/ I said/ I have said.
7 answered: Because we are speaking of the past (Yesterday), 'to answer' needs to be put in the preterit tense. 'To answer' is a regular verb.
8 give: Because it is preceded by 'can', 'to give' needs to stay in the infinitive, but we remove the 'to'. This is what happens after modal verbs like 'can', 'could', 'should' or 'must'. Examples: Bob could help you; Polly should see a doctor about that rash.
9 declared: Because we are speaking of the past (Yesterday), 'to declare' needs to be put in the preterit tense. 'To declare' is a regular verb.
10 thought: Because we are speaking of the past (Yesterday), 'to think' needs to be in the preterit tense. To think: I think/ I thought/ I have thought.
11 knew: Because we are speaking of the past (Yesterday), 'to know' needs to be put in the preterit tense. To know: I know/ I knew/ I have known.
12 responded: Because we are speaking of the past (Yesterday), 'to respond' needs to be put in the simple past tense. 'To respond' is a regular verb.
13 did : The phrase 'the last time' indicates that Kevin ordered the most expensive dish once, in the past, requiring the simple past tense form of the verb. We use the auxiliary here to replace 'ordered'. To do: I do/ I did/ I have done.
14 said: Because we are speaking of the past (Yesterday), 'to say' needs to be put in the preterit tense. To say: I say/ I said/ I have said.
15 left: Because we are speaking of the past (Yesterday), 'to leave' needs to be put in the preterit tense. To leave: leave/left/I have left.
Exercise 2
What is another way to ask "How did you find the staff"?
What is another way to ask "How did you find the staff"?
"How do you know them?" is not the question Bruno asked Mr. Warbuckle.
This question refers to location and does not ask about "opinion".
"How did you find (my parents)?" is a question used to ask someone's opinion about something. It is the best choice here, as Bruno is asking Harold his opinion on the Delavigne staff.
Exercise 3
Conjugate the verbs below using the simple past tense (preterit) form. Watch out for irregular forms!
Luna a stray cat on the street and to take it home with her. She it some milk, some food and a name: Little Luna. Little Luna even in Luna's bed.
Luna a stray cat on the street and to take it home with her. She it some milk, some food and a name: Little Luna. Little Luna even in Luna's bed.
Conjugate the verbs below using the simple past tense (preterit) form. Watch out for irregular forms!
Luna [not done] found 1 a stray cat on the street and [not done] decided 2 to take it home with her. She [not done] gave 3 it some milk, some food and a name: Little Luna. Little Luna even [not done] slept 4 in Luna's bed.
Luna [not done] found 1 a stray cat on the street and [not done] decided 2 to take it home with her. She [not done] gave 3 it some milk, some food and a name: Little Luna. Little Luna even [not done] slept 4 in Luna's bed.
1 found: 'Found' is the preterit form of the verb 'to find'. It is an irregular verb: I find/I found/I have found.
2 decided: 'Decided' is the simple past tense form of the verb 'to decide'. It is a regular verb.
3 gave: 'Gave' is the preterit form of the verb 'to give'. It is an irregular verb: I give/I gave/I have given.
4 slept: 'Slept' is the preterit form of the verb 'to sleep'. It is an irregular verb: I sleep/I slept/I have slept.
Exercise 4
Polly tells Bob that "she finds (the letter "e") to be one of the most essential letters in the English alphabet".
The verb to find is very versatile in English.
Which of the following statements uses "to find" in the same sense as Polly is using it in this conversation?
The verb to find is very versatile in English.
Which of the following statements uses "to find" in the same sense as Polly is using it in this conversation?
Polly tells Bob that "she finds (the letter "e") to be one of the most essential letters in the English alphabet".
The verb to find is very versatile in English.
Which of the following statements uses "to find" in the same sense as Polly is using it in this conversation?
The verb to find is very versatile in English.
Which of the following statements uses "to find" in the same sense as Polly is using it in this conversation?
This sentence uses the verb "to found", which is a variant of the verb "to find". This verb expresses that something (an institution, organization, corporation, etc) was "established", "launched" or "started". The verb "to found" is generally used in the passive voice (the building was founded in 1884).
In this sentence, the phrasal verb "to find out" carries the sense of "discovery" or even "revelation". The verb is used in a different sense than "to find" in the dialogue.
In this sentence, the verb "to find" carries the sense of active "discovery". The verb is used in a different sense than "to find" in the dialogue.
This is correct. Both in this sentence and in the dialogue, the verb "to find" carries the sense of "consideration" or "observation". Polly is expressing that she considers the "e" key to be a very important letter.
Exercise 5
Kevin: How did you pay for that pen, Polly?
Polly: I it for six dollars from a guy on my street last week.
Kevin: Six dollars! That's much too expensive! Yesterday I exactly the same pen for fifty cents. I didn't it of course. I never buy pens - I normally just Bob's.
Polly: I it for six dollars from a guy on my street last week.
Kevin: Six dollars! That's much too expensive! Yesterday I exactly the same pen for fifty cents. I didn't it of course. I never buy pens - I normally just Bob's.
Kevin: How much 1 did you pay for that pen, Polly?
Polly: I bought 2 it for six dollars from a guy on my street last week.
Kevin: Six dollars! That's much too expensive! Yesterday I found 3 exactly the same pen for fifty cents. I didn't buy 4 it of course. I never buy pens - I normally just steal 5 Bob's.
Polly: I bought 2 it for six dollars from a guy on my street last week.
Kevin: Six dollars! That's much too expensive! Yesterday I found 3 exactly the same pen for fifty cents. I didn't buy 4 it of course. I never buy pens - I normally just steal 5 Bob's.
1 much: This is correct. 'Much' is used to describe uncountable objects or ideas. 'How much?' is a common question. We can assume that Kevin's full question is 'How much money does it cost?' Money is an uncountable noun, and so we use 'much' to describe it.
1 costly: This is not correct. 'How costly did you pay for that pen?' is grammatically incorrect. However, we could ask 'How much did that pen cost?'
1 many: This is incorrect. 'Many' cannot be used to describe money because 'money' is not a countable noun. However, we could ask 'How many dollars...' because dollars are countable, although this is an awkward question that would rarely be asked.
1 money: This is not the correct choice. 'How money did you pay for that pen, Polly?' is grammatically incorrect.
2 bought: This is the correct choice. The irregular verb 'to buy' is conjugated as 'bought' in the past tense. The term 'last week' indicates that this action took place in the past.
2 buy: This is not correct. Polly found the pen 'last week', so the present tense is inappropriate.
2 will buy: This is incorrect. There is no need to use the future tense here. Polly already has the pen.
2 have bought: This is not correct. The action of buying a pen has been completed at a specific time in the past (last week), so we should not use the present perfect tense here.
2 had bought: We cannot use the past perfect (had bought) here because Polly's action of buying the pen does not precede another past action in the sentence.
3 found: This is correct. The irregular verb 'to find' changes to 'found' in the past tense. The word 'yesterday' indicates that this happened in the past.
3 find: This is incorrect. The use of the present tense is inappropriate here because Kevin found the pen 'yesterday'.
3 founded: 'Founded' is not an form of the irregular verb 'to find'. Its meaning is very different. It is similar in meaning to 'established', but is used specifically for businesses or other institutions such as hospitals or universities. For example, the sentence 'Cambridge university was founded in 1209' expresses that Cambridge university was established in the year 1209.
3 finded: This is incorrect. The past tense of the irregular verb 'to find' is not 'finded'. 'Finded' is not a real word.
4 buy: This is correct. When following an auxiliary ('didn't') the main verb (to buy) always stays in its infinitive form without 'to'.
4 bought: This is not correct. The past participle of a verb cannot be used when following an auxiliary ('did' or 'didn't')
4 will buy: This is incorrect. The future tense form of a verb cannot be used when an auxiliary ('did') precedes it.
5 steal: This is the correct choice. The use of the word 'normally' indicates that the action of stealing is habitual. When an action is habitual, the present simple tense is generally used. For example, when a person visits the cinema every Friday, they might simply say 'I always go to the cinema on Fridays'.
5 stole: This is incorrect. The past tense of the verb 'to steal' cannot be used to describe a habitual action.
5 will steal: This is incorrect. The future tense of the verb 'to steal' cannot be used to describe a habitual action.
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