Verbs

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Verbs
Or, more than you really wanted to know about
tense, voice, mood, person, and number.
By Mrs. W. Warren 2004
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• Not only do you learn what kind of action or
  state of being is expressed through verbs, but
  they also tell you
• Tense when the action happens past, present,
  or future.
• Person who or what experiences the action.
• Number how many people or objects act or
  receive the action.
• Mood the attitude expressed toward the action
• Voice whether the subject does the action or
  has the action happen to it active and passive
  voice.

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What is verb tense?
The tenses of verbs are the forms that help show
time. There are six tenses in English
3 Simple Tenses present tense past tense future
tense
3 PerfectTenses
present perfect past perfect future perfect
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Principal Parts of Verbs

• All verbs have 4 principal parts and all the six
  verb tenses are made from these principal parts.
• The principal parts are
• base form
• present participle
• simple past
• past participle

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Simple Tenses
Verb Tense Time Line
Perfect Tenses
Future action or condition will occur in the
future.
Future Perfect future action or condition will
begin and end before another starts.

• Present
• action or condition exists only now
• constant, repeated, or habitual action or
  condition
• a general truth.

Future
Now

• Present Perfect
• action or condition that occurred at an
  indefinite past time
• action began in past and still occurs now.

Past
Past action or condition was started and
completed in the past.
Past Perfect past action or condition began and
ended before another past action or condition
started.
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The Three Simple Tenses of Verbs

• 1. Present Tense
• The present tense is the same as the verbs base
  form, except for the 3rd-person singular, which
  adds -s or -es. The exceptions are the verb have
  (has) and the verb be.
• The present tense expresses a constant, repeated,
  or habitual action or condition. It can also
  express a general truth.
• It can also express an action or a condition that
  exists only now.
• Its sometimes used in historical writing to
  express past events and , more often, in poetry,
  fiction, and journalism to convey to the reader a
  sense of being there. This usage is sometimes
  called the historical present tense.

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• 2. Past Tense
• The past tense is used to express and action or
  condition that was started and completed in the
  past.
• Nearly all regular and irregular verbs (except
  be) have just one past-tense form. Its often
  formed by adding a -d or -ed.

• 3. Future Tense
• The future tense is used to to express an action
  or a condition that will occur in the future.
• You form the future tense of any verb by using
  the auxiliary verb shall or will with the base
  form of the verb.

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Verb Conjugation
Present Tense (Base form on chart)
Singular
Plural
travel travel travels
I you he/she/it
we you they
travel travel travel
Past Tense (-d or -ed on regular verbs)
Singular
Plural
I you he/she/it
we you they
traveled traveled traveled
traveled traveled traveled
FutureTense ( will or shall base form)
Singular
Plural
I you he/she/it
we you they
will travel will travel will travel
will travel will travel will travel
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The 3 Perfect Tenses of Verbs

• 1.Present Perfect
• Use the present perfect tense to express an
  action or condition that occurred at some
  indefinite time in the past.
• Forms the present perfect tense by using has or
  have with the past participle of a verb.
• This tense expresses past time . The word present
  in the name refers to the tense of the auxiliary
  verb has or have.
• It can refer to completed action in past time
  only in an indefinite way. Adverbs like
  yesterday cannot be added to make the time more
  specific.
• To be specific about completed past time, you
  would normally use the simple past tense.
• The present perfect tense can also be used to
  express the idea that an action or a condition
  began in the past and is still happening.

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• 2. Past Perfect Tense
• The past perfect tense is used to indicate that
  one past action or condition began and ended
  before another past action or condition started.
• You form the past perfect tense by using the
  auxiliary (helping) verb had with the past
  participle of a verb.

• 3. Future Perfect Tense
• Use the future perfect tense to express one
  future action or condition that will begin and
  end before another future event starts.
• Form the future perfect tense by using will have
  or shall have with the past participle of a verb.

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This means the tense of the helping verb
Verb Conjugation
Present PerfectTense (have/has past participle)
Singular
Plural
have traveled have traveled has traveled
I you he/she/it
we you they
have traveled have traveled have traveled
Past Perfect Tense (had past participle)
Singular
Plural
I you he/she/it
we you they
had traveled had traveled had traveled
had traveled had traveled had traveled
Future PerfectTense ( will or shall have past
participle)
Singular
Plural
I you he/she/it
we you they
will have traveled will have traveled will have
traveled
will have traveled will have traveled will have
traveled
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Verb Forms (not tense)

• Emphatic Forms (not a verb tense)
• The simple present tense and the simple past
  tense each have an additional form called the
  emphatic form.
• The emphatic forms add special emphasis or force
  to the verb.
• You form the present emphatic by adding do or
  does to the base form.
• You form the past emphatic by adding did to the
  base form of the verb.

• Progressive Form (not a verb tense)
• This verb form is used to show that an event is
  in progress.
• Progressive forms end with - ing.
• They are formed by using the appropriate tense of
  the verb be with the present participle.

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How to form Progressives
Present Progressive am, is, or are -ing
form Ex I am traveling we
are traveling you are traveling
you are traveling he/she is traveling
they are traveling
Past Progressive was/were -ing form Ex I was
traveling we were
traveling you were traveling
you were traveling he/she was traveling
they were traveling
Future Progressive will/shall be -ing
form Ex I will be traveling
Present Perfect Progressive has/have been
-ing form Ex I have been traveling Past Perfect
Progressive had been -ing form Ex He had
been traveling Future Perfect Progressive
will/shall have been -ing form. Ex I will
have been traveling
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Comparing the Present Tenses ( forms)
Simple present
Shows an action or a condition that is
continuously true.
Present Progressive
Shows an action that is in progress now.
Present Perfect
Shows an action or a condition that began in the
past and continues into the present.
Present Perfect Progressive
Shows an action that began in the past and is
still in progress.
Comparing the Past Tenses ( forms)
Simple Past
Shows actions that were completed in the past.
Past Progressive
Shows actions that continued over time in the
past.
Past Perfect
Shows an action in the past that came before
other actions in the past.
Shows an action that was in progress in the past
when another action happened.
Past Perfect Progressive
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Comparing the Future Tenses (and forms)
Simple Future
Shows a condition that will occur in the future.
Future Progressive
Shows an action that will be in progress in the
future.
Shows an action in the future that will occur
before another action.
Future Perfect
Future Perfect Progressive
Shows an action in progress in the future when
another action will happen.
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