your writing resource ku writing center verb tenses pp.pdfverbal tenses •verb tense is an...
TRANSCRIPT
Your Writing Resource
KU Writing Center
Navigating Verbal Tenses
Turkey Alzahrani
KU Writing Center
Verbal Tenses
• Verb tense is an inflectional form of verbs. It expresses the time at which the action described by the verb takes place.
• The major tenses are:
oPast
oPresent
oFuture
The Four Tenses
• The past, present, and future forms of verbs have the following tenses:
oSimple
oProgressive: be + -ing form the verb
oPerfect: have, had, will have, or shall have + the –ed form of the verb
oPerfect progressive: have or had + been + -ing form of the verb
Present Tense
• Present tense: verbs are used when expressing an
action that is currently going on or habitually
performed or a state that currently or generally exists.
• Present tense is commonly used when:
oIntroducing a topic with a general statement
oMaking statements about what is currently true
Simple Present
• The simple present is a verb tense with two main
uses. We use the simple present tense when an
action is happening right now or when it happens
regularly (or unceasingly, which is why it's sometimes
called present indefinite).
Present Progressive
• Present progressive (or present continuous) is
used when the action or activity is in progress, not
finished, or will be continued. It is created with a form of
be + -ing verb.
Present Perfect
• The present perfect is formed by combining the
auxiliary verb “has” or “have” with the past participle.
Because the present perfect is a compound tense
two verbs are required: the main verb and the
auxiliary verb.
Present Perfect Progressive
• Present perfect progressive refers to an action in
the past that continues to the present and may
continue into the future. The verb form uses has or
have + been + -ing.
Past Tense
• Past tense verbs refer to actions or events in the past. They can
be regular verbs that simply end with a "d" or an "ed" or they can
be irregular and change their spelling to show the past tense.
• Past tense verbs are commonly used to express activity, action,
state, or being in the past.
Simple Past
• The simple past tense is used to talk about a completed
action in a time before now. The simple past is the basic form of
past tense in English. The time of the action can be in the recent
past or the distant past. Action duration is not important.
Past Progressive
• Past progressive or past continuous is a verb form consisting
of an auxiliary be in the past tense followed by a present
participle. It is used especially to indicate that an action or event
was incomplete or in progress at a point of reference in the past.
• An auxiliary verb, usually called a helping verb, is used together
with a main verb to show the verb’s tense or to form a negative or
question. The most common auxiliary verbs are forms of have, be,
and do.
Past Perfect
• The past perfect tense indicates that an action was
completed (finished or "perfected") at some point in
the past before something else happened. This tense is
formed with the past tense form of "to have" plus
the past participle of the verb (regular or irregular).
Past Perfect Progressive
• The past perfect progressive tense indicates a
continuous action that was completed at some point in
the past. before something else happened. This tense is
formed with the modal “had” plus “been” plus the
present participle of the verb (with an –ing ending).
Future Tense
• Future tense verbs expresses an action that has not
yet happened or a state that does not yet exist.
• There are no inflected forms for the future in English
(nothing like those -ed or -s endings in the
other tenses). Instead, the future tense employs the
helping verbs will or shall with the base form of
the verb.
Simple Future
• Simple future verb tense is a form of the verb that
refers to an action or event that has not yet begun.
The simple future is also used to make a prediction or
to show ability, intention, or determination.
• The future progressive or future continuous
tense indicates continuing action – something that will
be happening or going on at some point in the future.
This tense is formed with the modal "will" plus "be"
plus the present participle of the verb (with an -ing
ending).
Future Progressive
Future Perfect
• The future perfect tense indicates that an action will
have been completed (finished or "perfected") at some
point in the future. This tense is formed with "will" plus
"have" plus the past participle of the verb (regular or
irregular).
• The future perfect continuous, also sometimes called
the future perfect progressive, describes actions that
will continue up until a point in the future. The future
perfect progressive consists of will + have + been + the
verb's present participle (verb root + -ing).
Future Perfect Progressive
Irregular verbs
• An irregular verb is a verb in which the past tense is not formed
by adding the usual -ed ending. Examples of irregular verbs are
sing (sang), feel (felt), and go (went).
• Irregular verbs form the past indicative and past participle parts in
irregular ways. There is no easy method to use. A vowel can change. A
consonant can be added. Or the form can remain the same across all
three parts (hurt/hurt/hurt). Only a good memory can account for the
many forms that irregular verbs take.
Examples of Irregular Verbs
Base (Present) Past Past Participle
Arise Arose Arisen
Deal Dealt Dealt
Dive Dived (or Dove) Dived
Fling Flung Flung
Lay Laid Laid
Prove Proved Proved (or Proven)
Shrink Shrank Shrunk
Spring Sprang Sprung
Strike Struck Struck
Teach Taught Taught
Wring Wrung Wrung
Your Writing Resource
KU Writing Center