SUMMARY OF VERB TENSES



Verbs

• Action Verbs

o Tells an action someone did, is doing, or will do

o Examples:

▪ Sue went to the store.

▪ I have a headache.

▪ Bob will fly somewhere over break.

o Transitive and intransitive

▪ Transitive – doing to something/someone (direct object in active voice)

▪ Intransitive – does not transfer action to an object (NO DIRECT OBJECT)

▪ Ask “whom/what” after the verb

▪ Sue sang a song.

• Sang what? song, so transitive

▪ Bob went to the store.

• Went what? no answer, so intransitive

• Linking Verbs

o Links adjectives, adverbs, or nouns with the subject.

o Think of them as an equal sign

o Linking verbs:

am is are was were be being been appear become continue feel grow look remain seem smell sound taste

o Examples:

▪ She should have been a nurse. (She = nurse)

▪ My brother was lazy. (brother = lazy)

▪ The store will look empty after Christmas. (store = empty)

• Action or Linking?

o If you can substitute “am”, “is”, or “are”, then it’s linking

o The breeze felt cool.

▪ The breeze is cool? (linking)

o The boy felt the sand.

▪ The boy is the sand? (action)

• Verb Phrases

o Made up of main verb and helping verb

o Helping verbs

all forms of be plus shall, will, may, can, has, have, had, do, does, did, should, would, might, could, must

Change the meaning of the verb

• I talk on the phone. ( I could have been talking on the phone.

• He returned the book. ( He was returning the book when a dog attacked him.

o Verb phrases can be interrupted by other words.

▪ The baby will cry all night.

▪ The baby will probably not cry all night.

▪ Will the baby cry all night?

• Parts of the Verb

o Present: walk, run

▪ I walk to the store.

▪ You run from the dog.

o Present participle: walking, running

▪ I am walking to the store.

▪ You are running from the dog.

o Past: walked, ran

▪ I walked to the store.

▪ You ran from the dog.

o Past participle: walked, run

▪ I have walked to the store.

▪ You had run from the dog.

• Forming tenses

o Regular verbs

▪ Present participle is formed by adding –ing to the present form

▪ Past and past participle are formed by adding –ed or –d to the present form

▪ Pay attention to spelling!

• plot ( plotting ( plotted

o Irregular verbs

▪ Past or past participle are not formed by adding –ed

|Present |Present part. |Past |Past part. |

|bring |bringing |brought |have brought |

|sell |selling |sold |have sold |

|hit |hitting |hit |have hit |

|sing |singing |sang |have sung |

|eat |eating |ate |have eaten |

|go |going |went |have gone |

▪ When in doubt, check the dictionary!

• Conjugating Verbs

o Conjugation – list of the singular and plural forms of a verb in a certain tense

|Conjugation of the forms of the verb walk |

| |Singular |Plural |

|Present |

|First Person |I walk |we walk |

|Second Person |you walk |you walk |

|Third Person |he, she, it walks |they walk |

|Past |

|First Person |I walked |we walked |

|Second Person |you walked |you walked |

|Third Person |he, she, it walked |they walked |

|Future |

|First Person |I will walk |we will walk |

|Second Person |you will walk |you will walk |

|Third Person |he, she, it will walk |they will walk |

|Present Perfect |

|First Person |I have walked |we have walked |

|Second Person |you have walked |you have walked |

|Third Person |he, she, it has walked |they have walked |

|Past Perfect |

|First Person |I had walked |we had walked |

|Second Person |you had walked |you had walked |

|Third Person |he, she, it had walked |they had walked |

|Future Perfect |

|First Person |I will have walked |we will have walked |

|Second Person |you will have walked |you will have walked |

|Third Person |he, she, it will have walked |they will have walked |

|Present Progressive |

|First Person |I am walking |we are walking |

|Second Person |you are walking |you are walking |

|Third Person |he, she, it is walking |they are walking |

|Past Progressive |

|First Person |I was walking |we were walking |

|Second Person |you were walking |you were walking |

|Third Person |he, she, it was walking |they were walking |

|Future Progressive |

|First Person |I will be walking |we will be walking |

|Second Person |you will be walking |you will be walking |

|Third Person |he, she, it will be walking |they will be walking |

• Conjugating the verb be

o Present:

I am we are

you are you are

he, she, it is they are

o Past:

I was we were

you were you were

he, she, it was they were

• Voice

o Active – the subject does something

o Passive – something is done to the subject

o Examples:

▪ Bob threw the ball. ( active

▪ The ball was thrown by Bob. ( passive

▪ My sister drives to school. ( active

▪ My sister was driven to school. ( passive

o When to use each voice

▪ Use active whenever possible – try to be direct

▪ Use passive to emphasize the receiver, rather than who’s doing it

• Maria was given an award by the school official. (Maria is more important to us than the school official).

• The damaged car was towed away. (We don’t care who towed it).

SUMMARY OF ENGLISH VERB TENSES

There are three basic tenses: present, past, and future. Each has a perfect form, indicating completed action; and each has a progressive form, indicating ongoing action Here is a list of examples of these tenses and their definitions.

| |Simple Forms |Progressive Forms |Perfect Forms |

|Present |take/s |am/is are taking |have/has taken |

|Past |took |as/were taking |had taken |

|Future |will take |will be taking |will have taken |

Simple Forms

• Present Tense

Present tense expresses an unchanging, repeated, or reoccurring action or situation that only exists now. It can also represent a widespread truth.

|Example |Meaning |

|The trees are tall. |Unchanging action |

|Every year, new students enroll at UNL. |Reoccurring action |

|Pb is the chemical symbol for lead. |Widespread truth |

• Past Tense

Past tense expresses an action or situation that was started and finished in the past. Most past tense verbs in –ed. The irregular verbs have special past tense forms which must be memorized.

|Example |Form |

|The student revised her essay. |Regular –ed past |

|She wrote a new draft. |Irregular form |

• Future Tense

Future tense expresses an action or situation that will occur in the future.

|The student will set an appointment at the WAC. |This tense is formed by using will with the simple form of the |

| |verb. |

|The student is going to revise his essay. |The future tense can also be expressed by using am, is, or are, |

| |with going to. |

|The student writes tomorrow. |We can also use the present tense form with an adverb or |

| |adverbial phrase to show future time. |

• Progressive Forms

|Present Progressive Tense: | | |

| | | |

|A past action which was happening when | | |

|another action occurred. |This tense is formed by using am, is, or |The student is writing a new draft of her |

| |are with the verb form ending in –ing. |essay. |

|Past Progressive Tense: | | |

| | | |

|A past action which was happening when |This tense is formed by using was or were |The student was explaining that she had |

|another action occurred. |with the verb form ending in –ing. |difficulty with transitions. |

|Future Progressive Tense: | | |

| | | |

|An ongoing or continuous action that will |This tense is formed by using will be with |The student will be working on her essay in|

|take place in the future. |the verb form ending in –ing. |the WAC. |

• Perfect Forms

|Present Perfect Tense: | | |

| | | |

|*An action that happened at an indefinite |This tense is formed by using has or have |*The student has rewritten her draft since |

|time in the past. |with the past participle of the verb. Most|her visit to the WAC. |

| |past participles end in –ed. Irregular | |

|*An action that began in the past and |verbs have special past participles that |*Writers have visited the WAC all semester |

|continues in the present. |must be memorized. |long. |

|Past Perfect Tense: | | |

| | | |

|An action which took place in the past |This tense is formed using had with the |By the time the student had revised her |

|before another past action. |past participle of the verb. |opening, she already had plans for the |

| | |conclusion. |

| | | |

|Future Perfect Tense: | | |

| |This tense is formed using will have with |By the time the student writes a new essay,|

|An action that will occur in the future |the past participle of the verb. |she will have learned many new rhetorical |

|before some other action. | |skills. |

Verb Tenses

|Tense |Use |How to form it |Example |

|Present |Happening now |Ordinary verb |I go to the store when I need food. |

| | | |She walks home after school. |

|Past |Over and done with |Add –ed |I went to the store yesterday. |

| | | |She walked home everyday last year. |

|Future |Hasn’t happened yet |will + verb |I will go to the store next week. |

| | | |She will walk home tomorrow. |

|Present Perfect |Happening sometime before now |have/has + verb |I have gone to the store whenever I’ve needed sugar. |

| | | |She has walked home many times. |

|Past Perfect |Happening before a specific time in|had + verb |I had gone to the store before it started raining. |

| |the past | |She had walked home everyday until she was mauled by a dog. |

|Future Perfect |Happening before a specific time in|will have + verb |By the time I’m 40, I will have gone to the store over 13,000 times. |

| |the future | |She will have walked home after school before you even get picked up. |

|Present Progressive |Continuous action, happening now |am/is/are + verb ending in |I am going to the store now. |

| | |–ing |She is walking home as we speak. |

|Past Progressive |Happened over time |was/were + verb ending in |I was going to the store everyday last year. |

| | |–ing |She was walking home last night. |

|Future Progressive |Will happen for awhile |will be + verb ending in |I will be going to the store for many years. |

| | |–ing |She will be walking home forever because she has no car. |

Verb Agreement Study Guide

The number of a word is whether it refers to one person or thing (singular), or if it refers to more than one person or thing (plural).

A verb must agree in number with its subject. A singular subject belongs with a singular verb. A plural subject belongs with a plural verb.

Singular Plural

He guesses. They guess.

She arrives. They arrive.

Food spoils. Eggs spoil.

The balloon rises. The balloons rise.

Most singular verbs end in –s.

Hint: To make sure they agree, find the subject. If you have trouble finding the subject, first find the verb. Then ask who? or what? before the verb.

Example: These posts in the ground support the fence.

Verb: support

What supports? posts

The subject is posts.

The subject of the verb is never in a prepositional phrase.

Water from the streams runs into the river.

One of the factories has a job opening.

The people on our block were helpful.

Compound subjects

A compound subject is two or more subjects used with the same verb.

A compound subject joined by and is plural, so it requires a plural verb.

Flannel shirts and wool socks keep me warm.

The store manager and the cashiers are preparing for the sale.

When the parts of a compound subject are joined by or or nor, the verb agrees with the subject closest to the verb.

Neither Liz nor her brothers take the bus.

Either sandwiches or a salad is a good lunch.

Subject / Verb Agreement with Indefinite Pronouns

To make a verb agree with an indefinite pronoun used as its subject, you must know if the pronoun is singular or plural. The following chart tells the indefinite pronoun and whether it is singular or plural.

|Indefinite Pronouns |

|Singular |Plural |Singular or Plural |

|another everyone nothing |both |All |

|anybody everything one |few |Any |

|anyone much other |many |More |

|anything neither somebody |others |Most |

|each nobody someone |several |None |

|either no one something | |Some |

|everybody | | |

Examples: Most of us know something about carnivals.

No one picked up his or her books.

Both won their games.

If the indefinite pronoun is in the third column, then it depends on the words following it.

Examples: All of this paper is for decoration.

All of the reporters have deadlines.

Doesn’t and Don’t

The verb doesn’t is always singular. Doesn’t is used with the subjects she, he, and it. Don’t is used with all other personal pronouns (I, you, we, and they).

Examples: It doesn’t seem right. We don’t argue.

She doesn’t care. I don’t drive.

He doesn’t live here. They don’t understand.

Expressing Time

Verbs tell when an action or state of being occurs. They indicate the past, present, or future by changing forms, or tenses. They usually make these changes in two ways:

1. change in spelling:

sit ( sat cry ( cried walk ( walked

2. Use of helping verbs

had shown will compete has taken

Tenses

The present tense shows what is happening right now.

I swim. David is swimming. We swim. They are swimming.

The past tense shows what has already happened.

I swam. David was swimming. We swam. They were swimming.

The future tense shows what will happen.

I will swim. David will swim. We will swim. They will swim.

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