Lesson #3: Inflections of Verbs Tense

Do not confuse “tense” with “time.” All people in all cultures recognize three general “time frames” in which events happen: a present, a past, and a future. English is no exception. >>>>>> PASTPRESENT FUTURE

Tenses in English However, we can only inflect verbs for two tenses: present and past. We express the future by adding on modal auxiliaries such as “will” “may” and “shall” to the base form. However the verb itself does not inflect for tense. EXAMPLE: I will pass this class with an A.

Understanding Tense Inflection To understand tense inflection we need to understand two other ideas first: person and number.

Person English has three persons: First person --- the speaker or a group with the speaker. Second person -- you, a/some person (s) the speaker is addressing Third person -- everybody/thing else

Number English verbs can show two numbers: 1 (singular) and more than 1 (plural). For each person, there is a singular and a plural version.

Person and Number: Subject Pronouns SingularPlural Iwe youyou (all) he/she/itthey

Present Tense English overtly marks present tense ONLY with the third person singular. That is where we use the “s” form of the verb. For all other person/number combinations, we use only the base form. EXCEPTION: The annoying verb BE.

How We Use Present Tense When the lexical verb is in the present tense in English, it generally describes an ongoing condition/state rather than an action happening right now. My husband is an artist. He throws pots on a wheel. His art reflects under-elements of society.

Example of a Typical Verb in Present Tense SingularPlural I cookwe cook You cookyou (all) cook He/she/it cooksthey cook

The Verb BE in Present Tense SingularPlural I amWe are You areYou (all) are He/she/it isThey are

Agreement When a verb is in the present tense and it is properly inflected for number, we say it “agrees” with the subject of the verb. That man and woman (they) speak Spanish. John (he) speaks Romanian.

The Past Tense All English verbs can mark the past tense to show events, actions, and states before the present.

Past Tense As previously discussed, all verbs in English have a past tense form. Regular verbs add a “d” or an “ed” (example: walk>walked). Irregular verbs have many different forms (example: dive> dived, dove). The same past tense form is used with all persons and numbers. EXCEPTION: The annoying verb “BE.”

Regular Example of the Past Tense SingularPlural I walkedwe walked you walkedyou(all) walked he/she/it walkedthey walked

Irregular Example of the Past Tense SingularPlural Iboughtwe bought you boughtyou(all) bought he/she/it boughtthey bought

The Verb BE in Past Tense Of course, BE has to do its own thing. It has TWO past tense forms, depending on person and number. I waswe were You wereyou (all) were He/she/it wasthey were

Tense and Modals Some modals also have a past tense form. Can>>>could Will>>> would Shall>>> should May>>> might

Tense in Verb Phrases NOTE: In a verb phrase, tense (if it is overtly marked at all) is shown on only the FIRST verb on the left. I am /having a hard time with English. I have a giant headache. This class has/ given me a headache. She has/ been explaining tense for an hour. She might /have been confused by it.

Practice Exercise Directions: Each of these sentences has just one verb error. Use the following editing symbols to mark each sentence correctly: Sp = spelling Vb = wrong form of the verb T = wrong tense of the verb S-V = incorrect agreement in number of the subject with the verb.

Although, this type of cancer is more common in women, men also can developed it. The right treatment depend on the type of cancer. The number of deaths from breast cancer has decrease in the last few years because of medical advances. Specially trained crew members with technical equipment was removing the remaining fuel. The Greenroof company produce green roofs. The Greenroof company made different types of products such as residential green roofs and commercial green roofs. The author connect his life to Sherlock Holmes' life.

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