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Today I have a verb for you which is very useful; it’s the word “deserve”. It is used when we want to say that a person should get something. It can be used in positive ways or negative ways.

So, a good person should get positive things – a good person deserves good things; a bad person should get negative things – a bad person deserves bad things.

However, life is often unfair, so sometimes good people get bad things even though they shouldn’t get them – good people sometimes get bad things, but they don’t deserve them. Bad people sometimes get good things that they shouldn’t get – bad people sometimes get good things that they don’t deserve.

Let me give you some specific examples:

I’m really happy for my co-worker! He just got a promotion. He works really hard, and he really deserves it!

My mother is such a wonderful woman. She really deserves to be happy!

That man killed many people. He deserves to be put in prison for a long time!

My boss just got demoted at work. He really deserved it because he’s so lazy!

My friend’s husband just left her for a younger woman. She doesn’t deserve to be treated like that. She was a loyal wife to him for a long time!

I think Jane was one of the best dancers in the competition, but she came in fifth place. She didn’t deserve such a low score!

My co-worker just got a raise he didn’t deserve. He’s only been with the company for six months!

The guy who stole my car only got only two weeks in prison. He didn’t deserve such a light sentence!

There are a couple of words here you may not know. In my fourth example, I use the word “demoted”. This is the opposite of “promoted”. In other words, the person was given a lower position at the company as a punishment.

In my seventh example, I use the word “raise”. This word is used to mean a higher salary.

Finally, in my last example, I used the word “sentence”. This word has two meanings. The first one you probably already know – a collection of words. However, in this case, the meaning is different. Here it means the punishment given to someone in a court of law.