Category : 8th Class
TENSES
The concept of time can be split into:
I eat, I am eating
I ate, I was eating
I will eat, I will be eating
In the English language, tenses play an important role in sentence formation.
The tense of a verb shows the time of an event or action.
There are four types of tenses. Simple, Perfect, Continuous and Present Perfect Continuous and each of these has a present, past and future form.
PRESENT TENSES
SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE
In Simple Present, the action is simply mentioned and there is nothing being said about its completeness.
PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE
In Present Continuous, the action is on-going/ still going on and hence continuous.
PRESENT PERFECT TENSE
In Present Perfect, the action is complete or has ended and hence termed Perfect.
PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE
In Present Perfect Continuous, the action has been taking place for some time and is still ongoing.
PAST TENSES
SIMPLE PAST TENSE
In Simple Past, the action is simply mentioned and understood to have taken place in the past.
PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE
In Past Continuous, the action was ongoing till a certain time in the past.
PAST PERFECT TENSE
Past Perfect is used to express something that happened before another action in the past.
PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE
Past Perfect Continuous is used to express something that started in the past and continued until another time in the past.
FUTURE TENSES
SIMPLE FUTURE TENSE
Simple Future is used when we plan or make a decision to do something. Nothing is said about the time in the future.
FUTURE CONTINUOUS TENSE
The future continuous tense is used to express action at a particular moment in the future. However, the action will not have finished at the moment.
FUTURE PERFECT TENSE
Future Perfect expresses action that will occur in the future before another action in the future.
FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE
Future Perfect Continuous is used to talk about an ongoing action before some point in the future.
REGULAR AND IRREGULAR VERBS
In the context of verbs, we use the term inflection to talk about the process of changing a verb form to show tense, mood, number (i.e., singular or plural), and person (i.e. first person, second person, or third person). This section deals with inflecting verbs to show tenses and participles, and is divided into two main sections:
REGULAR VERBS
Many English verbs are regular, which means that they form their different tenses according to an established pattern. Such verbs work like this:
Verb |
3rd person singular |
3rd person singular |
past participle |
present participle |
present tense |
past tense |
|||
laugh |
he/she laughs |
he/she laughed |
laughed |
laughing |
love |
he/she loves |
he/she loved |
loved |
loving |
boo |
he/she boos |
he/she booed |
booed |
booing |
PRESENT TENSE FORMATION
In the present simple tense, the basic form of a regular verb only changes in the 3rd person singular, as follows:
Most verbs just add -s to the basic form (e.g., take/takes, seem/seems, look/looks).
Verbs that end with a vowel other than e add -es (e.g., go/goes, veto/vetoes, do/does).
Verbs that end with -s, -z, -ch, -sh, and -x add -es
(e.g., kiss/kisses, fizz/fizzes, punch/punches, wash /washes, mix/mixes).
If the verb ends in a consonant plus -y, change the y to an i before adding -es (e.g. hurry/hurries, clarify/ clarifies).
But if the verb ends in a vowel plus -y, just add -s (e.g. play/plays, enjoy/enjoys).
PAST TENSE FORMATION
Forming the past simple tense of regular verbs is mostly straightforward, and you use the same form for the first, second, and third persons, singular and plural:
If the basic form of the verb ends in a consonant or a vowel other than e, add the letters -ed to the end (e.g. seem/seemed, laugh/laughed, look/looked).
For verbs that end in -e, add -(/(e.g. love/loved, recede/receded, hope/hoped).
If the verb ends in a consonant plus -y, change they to an; before adding -ed (e.g. hurry/hurried, clarify/clarified).
But if the verb ends in a vowel plus -y, just add -ed (e.g. play/played, enjoy I enjoyed).
Verb tenses: adding -ed and -ing
The basic form of a verb is called the infinitive. It normally occurs with the word to as in 'I want to ask you a question.' Verbs may change their spelling according to which tense is being used.
The past tense refers to things that happened in the past. To make the past tense of regular verbs, the ending -ed is added to the infinitive ('I asked her a question'). The present participle refers to things that are still happening. To make the present participle, the ending -ing is added to the infinitive ('I am asking her a question').
Often there's no need to make any other spelling changes when you add -ed and -ing to the infinitive but there are some cases when it's necessary to do so. Here are some rules to help you get it right:
Verbs ending with a silent e
If the verb ends with an e that isn't pronounced (as in bake or smile), then you need to drop this final -e before adding -ed and -ing:
verb |
past tense |
Present participle |
bake |
baked |
baking |
smile |
smiled |
smiling |
Verbs ending in -ee, -ye, and -oe (such as free, dye, and tiptoe) do not drop the final -e when adding -ing:
verb |
past tense |
present participle |
Free |
freed |
freeing |
dye |
dyed |
dyeing |
tiptoe |
tiptoed |
tiptoeing |
Very few verbs keep the final -e when adding -ing to distinguish them from similar words. For example, singe becomes singeing rather than singing (which is the present participle of sing).
Verbs ending with a vowel plus -1
If the verb ends with a vowel plus-l (as in travel or equal), then you need to double the l before adding-ed and -ing in British English:
verb |
past tense |
present participle |
travel |
travelled |
travelling |
distil |
distilled |
distilling |
equal |
Equalled |
equalling |
Verbs ending with a single vowel plus a consonant
If the verb ends with a single vowel plus a consonant, and the stress is at the end of the word (e.g. refer), then you need to double the final consonant before adding -ed and -ing:
verb |
past tense |
present participle |
admit |
admitted |
admitting |
commit |
committed |
committing |
refer |
referred |
referring |
If the verb ends with a vowel plus a consonant and the stress is not at the end of the word, you don't need to double the final consonant when adding -ed and -ing:
verb |
past tense |
present participle |
inherit |
inherited |
inheriting |
target |
targeted |
targeting |
visit |
visited |
visiting |
If the verb has only one syllable and ends with a single vowel plus a consonant (e.g. stop), then you need to double the final consonant before adding -ed and -ing:
verb |
past tense |
present participle |
stop |
stopped |
stopping |
tap |
tapped |
tapping |
sob |
sobbed |
sobbing |
Verbs ending with two vowels plus a consonant
If the verb ends with two vowels plus a consonant, you should generally not double the final consonant:
verb |
past tense |
present participle |
treat |
treated |
treating |
wheel |
wheeled |
wheeling |
pour |
poured |
pouring |
Verbs ending in -c
If the verb ends in -c (e.g. panic), you need to add a -k before adding -ed and -ing, and also -er.
verb |
past tense |
present participle |
related noun |
picnic |
picnicked |
picnicking |
picnicker |
mimic |
mimicked |
mimicking |
mimicker |
traffic |
trafficked |
trafficking |
trafficker |
FORMING PARTICIPLES
To form the past participle of regular verbs, follow the same rules as for the past simple tense above.
To make the present participle of regular verbs:
If the basic form of the verb ends in a consonant or a vowel other than e, add the ending -ing (e.g. laugh/laughing, boot booing).
If the verb ends in e, drop the e before adding -ing (e.g. love/loving, hope/hoping).
If the basic form ends in y just add -ing (e.g. hurry/hurrying, clarify/clarifying).
IRREGULAR VERBS
There are many irregular verbs that don't follow the normal rules. Here are the forms of some of the most common irregular verbs:
verb |
3rd person singular present tense |
3rd person singular past tense |
past participle |
present participle |
be |
is |
was |
been |
being |
begin |
begins |
began |
begun |
beginning |
bite |
bites |
bit |
bitten |
biting |
break |
breaks |
broke |
broken |
breaking |
buy |
buys |
bought |
bought |
buying |
choose |
chooses |
chose |
chosen |
choosing |
come |
comes |
came |
come |
coming |
dig |
digs |
dug |
dug |
digging |
do |
does |
did |
done |
doing |
drink |
drinks |
drank |
drunk |
drinking |
eat |
eats |
ate |
eaten |
eating |
fall |
falls |
fell |
fallen |
falling |
feel |
feels |
felt |
felt |
feeling |
find |
finds |
found |
found |
finding |
get |
gets |
got |
got |
getting |
go |
goes |
went |
gone |
going |
grow |
grows |
grew |
grown |
growing |
have |
has |
had |
had |
having |
hide |
hides |
hid |
hidden |
hiding |
keep |
keeps |
kept |
kept |
keeping |
know |
knows |
knew |
known |
knowing |
lay |
lays |
laid |
laid |
laying |
lead |
leads |
led |
led |
leading |
leave |
leaves |
left |
left |
leaving |
lie |
lies |
lay |
lain |
lying |
lose |
loses |
lost |
lost |
losing |
make |
makes |
made |
made |
making |
meet |
meets |
met |
met |
meeting |
put |
puts |
put |
put |
putting |
read |
reads |
read |
read |
reading |
ride |
rides |
rode |
ridden |
riding |
ring |
rings |
rang |
rung |
ringing |
rise |
rises |
rose |
risen |
rising |
run |
runs |
ran |
run |
running |
say |
says |
said |
said |
saying |
see |
sees |
saw |
seen |
seeing |
sell |
sells |
sold |
sold |
selling |
set |
sets |
set |
set |
setting |
sing |
sings |
sang |
sung |
singing |
sit |
sits |
sat |
sat |
sitting |
stand |
stands |
stood |
stood |
standing |
stick |
sticks |
stuck |
stuck |
sticking |
take |
takes |
took |
taken |
taking |
teach |
teaches |
taught |
taught |
teaching |
think |
thinks |
thought |
thought |
thinking |
wake |
wakes |
woke |
woken |
waking |
Note that sometimes the spelling doesn't change but the pronunciation does (e.g. read). There are many more irregular verbs in English than those listed here.
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