1. Tenses of Verbs Present Tense Past Tense Future Tense

2. A verb in the present tense shows action that happens now. Storm clouds linger above the mountains. A river of rain sweeps the sky.

3. Present Tense Present tense may express action which is going on at the present time or which occurs always, repeatedly, or habitually. Examples: He sees the train. He eats cereal for breakfast every day.

4. A verb in the past tense shows action that has already happened. The past tense of a verb usually ends in ed. Yesterday a gentle fog settled down in the village. It touched us all with its powdery mist.

5. Past Tense Examples: He wrote the letter yesterday. She lived to be 90 years old.

6. A verb in the future tense shows action that will happen. It is usually formed with helping verb will or shall. Tomorrow the radiant sun will blaze above. How we shall welcome its warmth and light.

7. Future Tense Examples: He will send the letter tomorrow. I shall wait here until you return. * Traditionally, shall is used for 1 st person and will for 2 nd and 3 rd persons.

8. Regular Verbs Regular verbs form their past tense by adding –ed or –d to their present tense form. More than 95% of all English verbs are regular. Regular verbs cause few problems in speaking and writing.

9. Regular Verbs Present tense and past tense verbs can also have participles. Participles are helping verbs.

10. Regular verbs and their Principal Parts Principal Parts: Verb: Present Tense Present Participle (is, are) Past Tense Past Participle (has, have0 To call call, calls ( is) calling called (have) called To dust dust, dusts (am) dusting dusted (have) dusted

11. That’s the basics! But…there’s more to it than that. There are also [present, past, and future PERFECT tenses There are also present, past, and future PROGRESSIVE tenses.

12. Verb Forms Regular Irregular

13. Irregular Verbs Irregular verbs can form their past tense and past participle forms in various way. These forms cause problems. The most irregular verb of all is the verb to be. Another irregular verb that is important for its use with other verbs is the verb to have.

14. Four Principal/Main Parts Principal Parts: Verb: Present Tense Present Participle Past Tense Past Participle To Be be, am, are, is being was, were (have) been To Have have, has havinghad (have) had

15. Conjugation A conjugation of a verb is the correct arrangement of its form through its tenses, persons, and numbers. Person means the speaker, the person spoken to, and the person or thing spoken of. Number means singular or plural.

16. Conjugation of the verb: to be TenseSingularPlural Present I am You are He, she, it is We are You are They are Past I was You were He was We were You were They were Future I shall be You will be He will be We shall be You will be They will be

17. Other Common Irregular Verbs and their Principal Parts Principal Part Verb Present Tense Present Participle Past Tense Past Participle To see see, sees seeingsaw (have) seen To do do, does doingdid (have) done To fly fly, flies flyingflew (have) flown To run run, runs runningran (have) run