VERB TENSE

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VERB TENSE
CONSISTENCY OF VERB TENSE PAST PERFECT
TENSE HISTORICAL PRESENT WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE

• Mrs. Nichols
• English II Pre-AP

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Consistency of Verb Tense

• The tense of verbs must remain consistent in the
  sentence. If the sentence starts in present
  tense, it should stay in the present tense. If it
  begins in the past, it should remain in the past.
• EX Because she sang so beautifully, she wins
  the contest.
• Sang is past tense while wins is present. We
  need to change wins to won.

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Write the corrected sentences in your notes.

• The leprechaun walked to school, and on the way
  he drops his pot o gold.

4
Write the corrected sentences in your notes.

• The concert finally ended, but all the taxis are
  busy.

5
Write the corrected sentences in your notes.

• The rhino has some good points, but he also had
  some tough skin.

6
Write the corrected sentences in your notes.

• The man tries to rescue the hamster, but he was
  not successful.

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Answers

• The leprechaun walked to school, and on the way
  he dropped his pot o gold.
• The concert finally ended, but all the taxis were
  busy.
• The rhino has some good points, but he also has
  some tough skin.
• The man tries to rescue the hamster, but he is
  not successful.

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Past Perfect Tense

• The past perfect tense always uses the helping
  verb had with the main verb. This tense is used
  to indicate a time that precedes another time
  mentioned in the sentence.
• EXI had seen the movie before I saw Janet at the
  store.
• The action of seeing the movie occurred before
  the action of seeing Janet. The first action to
  happen requires past perfect tense. The last
  action to happen requires past tense. Using these
  two tenses keeps the time reference clear in
  written English.

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Write the corrected sentences in your notes.

• Until last Friday, we thought we lost the unicorn.

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Write the corrected sentences in your notes.

• By the time Matilda left, Bruce ate the entire
  cake.

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Write the corrected sentences in your notes.

• David probably saw the error long before he
  corrected it.

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Write the corrected sentences in your notes.

• After finding her absent, I knew that she went to
  the Beyonce concert with Devlin.

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Answers

1. Until last Friday, we had thought we lost the
   book.
2. By the time Kelly left, Mary had eaten the entire
   cake.
3. David probably had seen the error long before he
   corrected it.
4. After finding her absent, I knew that she had
   gone to the concert.

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Historical Present Tense

• Part of the sentence may be in the past tense,
  but another part might be in the present if that
  second part is something that is always true.
• For example, we know as a fact that light travels
  faster than sound. Since this is always true, we
  state the fact in the present tense, regardless
  of what happens in the rest of the sentence.

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Example of historical present tense

• Incorrect His research was based on the concept
  that light traveled faster than sound.
• Correct His research was based on the concept
  that light travels faster than sound.

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Present Tense When Discussing Literature

• Another time we consistently use the present
  tense is when discussing literature the accepted
  convention is to discuss the actions in fiction
  in terms of present tense.
• Incorrect The main character of the story
  disregarded his fathers wishes.
• Correct The main character of the story
  disregards his fathers wishes.

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Assessment of what youve learned Write the
corrected sentences in your notes.

• By the time I left, Baxter ate the entire wheel
  of cheese.

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Assessment of what youve learned Write the
corrected sentences in your notes.

• Through experience Janet learned that hot dogs
  and ice cream produced obesity.

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Assessment of what youve learned Write the
corrected sentences in your notes.

• In the novel, the hero stressed his love for the
  woman.

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Assessment of what youve learned Write the
corrected sentences in your notes.

• Jerry said that Newtons third law of physics
  stated that for every action there was an equal
  and opposite reaction.

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Answers

1. By the time I left, Baxter had eaten the entire
   wheel of cheese.
2. Through experience Janet learned that hot dogs
   and ice cream produce obesity.
3. In the novel, the hero stresses his love for the
   woman.
4. Jerry said that Newtons third law of physics
   states that for every action there is an equal
   and opposite reaction.

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SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
SUBJECT FOLLOWED BY PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE SUBJECT
FOLLOWING THE EXPLETIVE THERE SUBJECT AFTER
VERB COMPOUND SUBJECTS JOINED BY OR OR NOR

• Mrs. Nichols
• English II Pre-AP

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Subject-Verb Agreement

• The concept of subject-verb agreement is
  relatively simple the subject and verb of each
  sentence must agree with each other in number
  (singular subject, singular verb, etc.)
• Common errors occur
• with a simple subject followed by a prepositional
  phrase
• with a subject following the expletive there
• with the subject following the verb
• with a compound subject whose parts are joined by
  or or nor

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Subject-Verb Agreement

• Subject followed by prepositional phrase
• Singular subject must be followed by singular
  verb (verb ending with s)
• Plural subject must be followed by plural verb
  (verb with no s)
• Common prepositions of, with, at, on, for, to,
  between, beneath, below, above, along, against
• One of the boats are sinking.
• One of the boats is sinking.

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Correct these sentences in your notes.Subject
following a prepositional phrase

• One of the boats are sinking.

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Correct these sentences in your notes.Subject
following a prepositional phrase

• The man with two platypi are walking down the
  street.

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Subject-Verb Agreement

• Deciding whether or not the verb agrees with the
  subject is sometimes difficult because of the
  nature and placement of the subject.
• Incorrect There is always two men on guard at
  this post.
• Correct There are always two men on guard at
  this post.

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Correct these sentences in your notes.Subject
following the expletive there

• There goes the three moose of the mountain.

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Correct these sentences in your notes.Subject
following the expletive there

• There were never a harder decision to make.

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Correct these sentences in your notes.Subject
following the expletive there

• There was only two pirates at the door to greet
  us.

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Subject-Verb Agreement

• The third type of error deals with the placement
  of the subject after the verb.
• Example Down the road in a bright red car came
  the two girls.
• Incorrect Far away from the rest of the crowd
  stands the three men.
• Correct Far away from the rest of the crowd
  stand the three men.

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Correct these sentences in your notes.Subject
after the verb

• Beneath those pictures on the wall are the
  artists name.

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Correct these sentences in your notes.Subject
after the verb

• Around the corner from my house lives the Lord
  Voledmort.

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Subject-Verb Agreement

• When a compound subject is joined by or or nor,
  we look at the part of the subject that sits
  closest to the verb to determine singular or
  plural.
• Example Neither the girl nor the two boys want
  to go eat breakfast.

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Correct these sentences in your notes.Compound
subjects joined by or or nor

• Either Jane or Sally (seem, seems) to be weirder
  than usual.

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Correct these sentences in your notes.Compound
subjects joined by or or nor

• The lantern or the street lights on the road (is,
  are) shining brightly.