Missing Verb

First of all, the problem of humans using too many of the world’s resources.

Problem

Trainer:

Obviously this is not good because it’s not a sentence; there’s no verb.

Student:

What about using? Isn’t that a verb?

Trainer:

Sometimes yes, but here it functions as a noun modifier, not as a verb. It’s telling you something about the noun humans. It’s part of one long noun phrase: the problem of humans using too many of the world’s resources. If you like you can use this long noun phrase as a subject followed by a verb, or a verb followed by something else:

Solutions

First of all, the problem of humans using too many of the world’s resources is a difficult problem to solve.

..or as a a verb followed by an object:

The government is striving to solve the problem of humans using too many of the world’s resources.

Indonesian IELTS candidates often neglect to include a verb, because that's OK in Bahasa Indonesia. Often this happens after phrases like 'First of all..' and 'For example..'. When writing in English, make sure that your sentences all contain at least a subject and a verb!"

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