191 VERBS: TENSE, VOICE, ASPECT AND MODALITY by Don L. F. Nilsen and Alleen Pace Nilsen

192 Active vs. Passive Headlines American Bomb Kills 10 Iraqi Civilians Ten Iraqi Civilians Killed by American Bomb Ten Iraqi Civilians Killed Ten Iraqi Citizens Are Casualties (Smith & Wilhelm 19)

193 Active vs. Passive Headlines IN A NEW YORK PAPER: –Sox Win Another One! –Sox Trounce Yanks in Extra Innings IN A BOSTON PAPER: –Yankees Beaten Again –Bronx Bombers Let Another One Slip Away In discussing these headlines, explain “the curse of the Babe.” (Smith & Wilhelm 20)

194 Subject-Verb Agreement Smith & Wilhelm suggest that if students want their subjects and verbs to agree, they should: “cross out all of the words that separate subjects from their predicates and then check that their verb choice was correct.” Remember that each, either, every, everyone, everybody, someone, and somebody are grammatically singular. (Smith & Wilhelm )

195 Verbs are the boss In “The chair laughed,” the verb takes control. –This sentence personifies “chair.” –It does not depersonify “laughed.” Verbs (like the sun in the solar system) control the nouns and prepositional phrases that surround them (their case frames).

196 Transitivity dance Mary dances beautifully. slap Mary slapped John. be Obama is President/smart/here. give Mary gave John a new car. elect The country elected Obama President.

197 Irregular Verbs Auxiliary Verbs Be (suppletive) Have Do Bring Buy Dive Drive Go (suppletive) Cf. wend Hang (2) Hit Lie/Lay Rise/Raise Sit/Set Sell Swim (Smith & Wilhelm )

198 Irregular-Verb Paradox Rare verbs tend to become regular. Therefore, in all languages, the most common verbs tend to be the most irregular.

199 Converses Break: John broke the window with a hammer A hammer broke the window The window broke. Buy & Sell Rent to & Rent From Sense Verbs Feel Smell Hear/Sound Look at/Look Taste

1910 TENSE: Past: -ed Present: -s Future: will or shall ASPECT: Perfect (have + -en) Progressive (be + -ing) VOICE: Passive (be + -en) MODALITY: cancould willwould shallshould maymight must

1911 TENSE: Past: -ed Present: -s Future: will or shall ASPECT: Perfect (have + -en)* Progressive (be + -ing)* VOICE: Passive (be + -en)* MODALITY: cancould willwould shallshould maymight must *NOTE: Past Participles usually end in –ed or –en Present Participles always end in –ing Gerunds always end in -ing

1912 TIME: TRUTH: ASPECT: VOICE: | | / \ | TENSE (MODAL)(PERFECT)(PROGRESSIVE) (PASSIVE) VERB past can could(have + -en)(be + -ing) (be + -en) drive present will would future shall should may might must

1913 can =be able to will =be going to shall =be going to should=be supposed to may =be expected to might=be expected to must=be obligated to

1914 EXPLAIN THE FOLLOWING IN TERMS OF SOUNDS AND MEANINGS: John supposed that the meeting had begun. John was supposed to do something. I have two wives. I have to leave school early. Alleen has two husbands. Mary has to prepare dinner for her husbands. Mary used all of the medicine. Mary used to be ill.

1915 The cake was eaten (passive) The cake got eaten (get passive) John doesn’t have a book. (American John hasn’t a book. (British) Does John have a book? (American) Has John a book? (British) John is eating the cake. (progressive) The cake is eaten. (passive) John is an idiot. (main verb: set membership) John has eaten the cake. (perfect) John has a new car. (main verb: possessive) John doesn’t know what to do. (do-support) John does the dishes once a week. (main verb)

1916 TIME OF SPEAKING: ^ TIME OF EATING: before ) TIME OF ARRIVING: ! 1). I had eaten before you arrived (past perfect). _____)!_________^____________ 2). I have eaten. (present perfect) _______________)^____________ 3). I will have eaten when you arrive (future perfect). ________________^______)!_____

1917 4). I was eating when you arrived. (past progressive) ==!=== ^ ). I am eating. (present progressive) ====^===== ). I will be eating when you arrive (future progressive) ^------====!===

1918 7). A prisoner ate the cake  The cake was eaten by a prisoner. (past passive) 8). Rust corrodes iron.  Iron is corroded by rust (present passive) 9). A prisoner will eat the cake.  The cake will be eaten by a prisoner. (future passive)

19 !EXPLAIN THE TENSE, VOICE AND ASPECT OF THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES! 1). Ryan is driving a taxi. 2). Sally has baked a cake. 3). Jeri had finished her homework before you left for work. 4). Mark will have finished the repairs tomorrow morning. 5). Brenda had been eating cherries all morning.

1920 !! 6). The new kid was being beaten by some gang members. 7). The presidency will be won by the hardest campaigner. 8). The article is being written by a real sports enthusiast. 9). Mikey has been eating this kind of cereal for years.

1921 !!!AND NOW FOR THE MOST DIFFICULT SENTENCE IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE 10). The taxi might have been being driven by a nut.

1922 References: Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman, and Nina Hyams. An Introduction to Language, Seventh Edition. Boston, MA: Thomson/Heinle, Smith, Michael W., and Jeffrey D. Wilhelm. Getting It Right: Fresh Approaches to Teaching Grammar, Usage and Correctness. New York, NY: Scholastic, 2007