Verb Tense



Verb Tense

The tense of a verb indicates the time of the action or state of being expressed by the verb.

Every verb has six tenses

|Six tenses |

|Present |Past |Future |

|Present Perfect |Past Perfect |Future Perfect |

Past Present Future

existing or existing or happening existing or

happening in now happening

the past in the future

Past Present Future

Perfect Perfect Perfect

existing or existing or existing or

happening happening happening

before a sometime before a

specific time before now specific time

in the past in the future

Examples-

present perfect present

Melissa has saved her money, and now she has enough for a guitar.

past perfect past

The scouts had hiked five miles before they stopped for lunch.

future perfect future

The executive will have seen the report by next week and will make a decision then.

Conjugating is a list of the singular and plural forms of a verb in the six tenses.

|Conjugation of the verb write |

|Present Tense |

|Singular |Plural |

|I write |We write |

|Past Tense |

|I wrote |We wrote |

|Future Tense |

|I will write |We will write |

|Present Perfect Tense |

|I have written |You have written |

|Past Perfect Tense |

|I had written |We had written |

|Future Perfect Tense |

|I will have written |We will have written |

Consistency of tense- do not change needlessly from one tense to another.

Inconsistent- When we were comfortable, we begin to do our homework.

past present

Consistent- When we are comfortable, we begin to do our homework.

present present

Consistent- When we were comfortable, we began to do our homework.

past past

Progressive Forms-indicates continuing action

- the present participle and a form of the verb be are

used to make all six progressive forms

I am singing

I was singing

I will be singing

I have been singing

I had been singing

I will have been singing

Troublesome Verbs-

ain’t vs. isn’t

The word ain’t is not correct English; therefore, you should used isn’t in speaking and writing.

Did vs. done

Done is a past participle and must have a helping verb such as have or has.

Gone, went

Gone is the past participle of go and must have a helping verb such as have or has; Went is the past of go and is never used with a helping verb.

Have, of

Have and of sound very much alike; however, have is a verb and of is a preposition and cannot be used as a verb

Lay, lie

Lay means “to put something down” or “to place something”; this verb is followed by a direct object

Lie means “to rest in a reclining position” or “to be situated”; lie is never followed by a direct object

Raise, rise

Raise means “to lift something upward,” “ to build something,” “ to grow something,” or “to increase something”; it is usually followed by a direct object

Rise is not followed by a direct object; it means “to get up.” “to go up,” or “to be increased”; it is usually followed by an adverb or prepositional phrase

Saw, seen

Seen is a past participle and must have a helping verb such as have or has; Saw is the past tense form

Set, sit

Set means “to put something in a certain place;” and it is usually followed by a direct object

Sit means “to be seated” or “to rest;” it is never followed by a direct object

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download