Forming and using Verbs

FORMING AND USING VERBS

Verbs tenses are formed by combining one of principle parts of the verb with one or more auxiliary verbs.

In order to form verb tenses, you need a good grasp of the auxiliaries and the principal parts of the verb. There are four principal parts.

 1.     The basic form

 2.     The present participle

 3.     The past form

 4.     The past participle.

 1.     The basic form (or root of the verb is the form listed in the dictionary and is usually identical to the first person singular from of the present tense ( except in the case of the verb tobe):

Write

Walk

Run

Paint

Think

Draw

Grow

Sing

The infinitive from of the verb is a compound verb made up of the preposition to and the basic form of the verb:

To write

To walk

To run

To paint

To think

To grow

To draw

To sing

 2.     To form the present participle, add –ing to the basic form of the verb:

Writing

Walking

Painting

Thinking

Growing

Singing

Note: that you cannot use the present participle as a predicate unless you use an auxiliary verb with it----the word group:

“I walking to the market” is an incomplete and ungrammatical sentences, while word group “I am walking to the market” is a complete sentences.

You’ll often use the present participle as a modifier.

 3.     The past form of verbs is a little tackier. If the verb is regular (or weak, you can create the past form by adding –ed, -d or –t to the present form. see the section on spelling the words with double consonants).

Walked

Painted

Thought

Grew

Sang

 4.     The past participle of regular verbs is usually identical to the past form, while the past participle of irregular verbs is often different:

Walked

Painted

Thought

Grown

Sang

Irregular verbs

Irregular verbs from the past participle and the past form without – (e)d or –t, and frequently their past form and past participle are different. For example, the past form of the verb write is wrote and the past participle is written.

Read More

Verb Tenses in English Grammar

VERB TENSES

A verb indicates the time of an action, event or condition by changing its form. Through the use of a sequences of sentences in a sentences or in a paragraph, it is possible to indicate the complex temporal relationship of actions, events and conditions.

There are any ways of categorizing the twelve possible verb tense. The verb tense may be categorizing according to the time frame: past tense, present tense and future tense.

Verbs Tense: Time

The four present tenses

 1.     The simple present (I sing)

 2.     The present progressive (I am singing)

 3.     The present perfect (I have sung)

 4.     The present perfect progressive (I have been singing)

Note that the present perfect and present perfect progressive is in present and not in past tenses—the idea is that the speaker is currently in the state of having gone or having been going.

The four past tenses

 1.   The simple past (I sung)

 2.   The past progressive (I was singing)

 3.   The past perfect (I had sung)

 4.   The past perfect progressive (I had been singing)

The four future tenses

 5.   The simple future (I sung)

 6.   The future progressive (I will be singing)

 7.   The future perfect (I will have sung)

 8.   The future perfect progressive (I will have been singing)

Verb tense: Aspect

Verb aspect may also be grouped according to aspect. Aspect refers to the nature of the action described by the verb. There are three aspects:

Indefinite (or simple)

Complete (or perfect)

Continuing (or progressive)

The three indefinite tenses or simple tenses describes an action but not state the action is finished:

·       The simple past (I sung)

·       The simple present (I sing)

·       The simple future (I will sing)

A verb in the indefinite aspect is used when the beginning or ending of an action, an event, or condition is unknown or unimportant to the meaning of the sentence. The indefinite aspect is also used to be indicate a habitual or repeated action, event or condition.

The three complete tenses, or perfect tenses describes a finished action:

 ·       The past perfect (I had sung)

 ·       The present perfect (I have sung)

 ·       The future perfect (I will have sung)

Read More

English Grammar Function Of Verb Tenses

THE FUNCTIONS OF VERB TENSES

 A. The present tense

 1.   The simple present

The simple present tense is used to describe an action, an event or condition that is taking place in the present, at the moment of speaking or writing. The simple present is used when the precise beginning or ending of a present action, event, or condition is unknown or is unimportant to the meaning of the sentences.

Each of the highlighting verb in following sentences is in the simple present tense and each sentence describes an action that is taking place in the present:

 1.     Raj waits patiently while Vinay repairs the car.

 2.     The nurse holds the saline as the patient is moved to the stretcher.

 3.     The cat moves stealthily without making any noise.

 4.     Gaeta writes the composition as quickly as possible.

 5.     The Nosie annoys the student who is preparing for his examinations.

    The simple present is used to express general truths such as a scientific fact,   as in the following sentences:

 1.     Rectangles have four sides.

 2.     The moon circle the earth once every 28 days.

 3.     Calcium is important for the formations of strong bones.

 4.     Oxygen is essential for survival of all living things.

The simple present is used to indicate a habitual action, event or condition:

1.     Amit goes to the park every day.

2.     My parents go to church on Sundays.

3.     Michael goes to church on Sundays.

The simple present is also used when writing about works of art:

1.     Mona Lisa is one of the most valued paintings in the world.

2.     Panchatantra is the first collection of stories for children.

3.     The play ends with an epilogue spoken by the fool.

The simple present can also be used to refer to a future event when in conjunctions with an adverbial phrase:

1.     The gate opens in 30 minutes.

2.     The prime minster arrives on Tuesday.

3.     The college closes next week.

4.     The lunar eclipse begins in exactly 34 minutes .

 2.   The present progressive  (continues) tense

While the simple present and the present progressive are sometimes used interchangeably, the present progressive emphasis the containing nature of an act, event or condition. 

Read More

Participle, Gerund ,Infinitive Verbals

VERBALS

A verbal is a noun or adjective formed a verb. Verbal’s express action in a general way, without limiting the action to any time or asserting it to any subject.

There are three kinds of verbal’s.

 1.     Participle (which acts as an adjective)

 2.     Gerund (which acts as a noun)

 3.     Infinitive (which also acts as a noun)

The main differences between verbal’s and other nouns and adjectives is that verbal’s can take their own objects, even though they are no longer verbs.

 1.   The participle

A participle is an adjective formed from a verb. To make a present’s participle, you add –ing to the verb, sometimes doubling the final constant.

Sing becomes singing

Play becomes playing

Fall becoming falling

Run becoming running

Beg becoming begging

The second type of participle, the past participle, is a little more complained, since not all verbs form the past tense regularly. The following are all past participle.

The drunk man

A ruined city

A misspelled word

Note that only transitive verbs ca use their past participle as adjectives, and that unlike other verbal’s, past participle do not take objects (unless they are part of a compound verb).

 2.   The Gerund

A gerund is a noun formed from a verb. To make a gerund, you add –ing to the verb, just as with a present participle.

The gerund is like the participle is form, add like a noun in use.

The participle has been called an adjectival verbal; the gerund may be called a noun verbal. While the gerund expresses action, it has several attributes of noun---it may be governed as a noun; it may be the subject of a verb, or the object of a verb or a preposition; it is often proceeded by the definite articles; it is frequently modified by a possessive noun or pronoun.

 (a)  Organizing an event is a huge responsibility.

In this example, the noun phrase an event is the direct object of the verbal organizing, even though event is a noun rather than a verb.

Borrowing money is not a good habit.

Borrowing is a gerund. It is the subject of the sentences, “money” is the object of the gerund.

(b)Seeing is believing

In this example, there are two gerunds. The first, seeing, is the subject of the sentences. The second, believing, is the subject complement.

Read More

Infinitive Verbals in English Grammer

INFINITE VERBALS

          

An infinitive is the basic from of a verb as in to talk.

The infinite always consists of two and the base from of the verb. Often, but not always, these two parts are together.

To run-to eat-to cry- to shout- to jump- to play- to dance- to read- to eat- to cheat- to obey- to order- to buy

These are not infinitives:

Do does did doing want wanted wanting excel excels excelled excelling pass passes passed passing

An infinitive will almost always begin with to and followed by the simple from of the verb:

To + verb= infinitive

Important note:

Because an infinite is not a verb, we cannot add –s, -es, -ed or -ing in the world.

 Infinite can be used as nouns, adjectives and adverbs. Look at these examples.

 1.     To play is the only thing pari wants to do once she finished her exams. To  play functions as a noun because it is the subject of the sentence.

 2.     I know this play is brilliant but my friend refuses to watch. To watch     functions as a noun because it is the direct object for the verb refuses.

 3.     Wherever Shweta goes, she always carries a face wash to wash her face with.

  To wash functions as an adjectives because it modifies face wash.

An infinite will almost always begin with to. Exceptions do occur, however. An infinitive will lose it’s to when it follows certain verbs.

These verbs are: feel, hear, help, let, make, see and watch.

The pattern looks like this:

Special verb + direct object + infinitive – to

Here are some examples:

 (a)  As soon as sachin felt the heat burn his skin, he knew he had to get up and look for shelter.

Felt = special verb; heat = direct object; burn = infinitive minus to.

Using  verbals

There are two common problems’ that come up when we use verbals.

The first is that since verbal’s look like verbs, they sometimes cause students to write fragments sentences.

1.     Oh, to find true creativity!

2.     Amit, playing the most important game of his life.

The second problem is a very fine point. Although they look the same, gerunds and presents participle are different parts of speech, and need to be treated differently.

For example, consider the following two sentences.

1.     I admire the dog finishing the race.

2.     I admire the dog’s finishing the race.

Read More

Basic form, Present participle, Past form, Past participle

FORMING AND USING VERBS

Verbs tenses are formed by combining one of principle parts of the verb with one or more auxiliary verbs.

In order to form verb tenses, you need a good grasp of the auxiliaries and the principal parts of the verb. There are four principal parts.

 1.     The basic form

 2.     The present participle

 3.     The past form

 4.     The past participle.

 1.     The basic form (or root of the verb is the form listed in the dictionary and is usually identical to the first person singular from of the present tense ( except in the case of the verb tobe):

Write

Walk

Run

Paint

Think

Draw

Grow

Sing

The infinitives from of the verb are a compound verb made up of the preposition to and the basic form of the verb:

To write

To walk

To run

To paint

To think

To grow

To draw

To sing

 2.     To form the present participle, add –ing to the basic form of the verb:

Writing

Walking

Painting

Thinking

Growing

Singing

Note: that you cannot use the present participle as a predicate unless you use an auxiliary verb with it----the word group:

“I walking to the market” is an incomplete and ungrammatical sentences, while word group “I am walking to the market” is a complete sentences.

You’ll often use the present participle as a modifier.

 3.     The past form of verbs is a little tackier. If the verb is regular (or weak, you can create the past form by adding –ed, -d or –t to the present form. see the section on spelling the words with double consonants).

Walked

Painted

Thought

Grew

Sang

 4.     The past participle of regular verbs is usually identical to the past form, while the past participle of irregular verbs is often different:

Walked

Painted

Thought

Grown

Sang

Irregular verbs

Irregular verbs from the past participle and the past form without – (e)d or –t, and frequently their past form and past participle are different. For example, the past form of the verb write is wrote and the past participle is written.

Read More

Auxiliary verbs in English grammer

The verb is perhaps the most important part of the sentences.  A verb or compound verb asserts something about the subject of the sentences and express actions, events or states of being. The verb or compound verb is the critical element of the predicate of a sentences.

Verbs are necessary component of all sentences. Verbs have two important functions: some verbs put static object in into motion while other verbs help to clarify the object in meaningful ways. Look at the examples below.

 1.     My grumpy old teacher smiles at my essay.

 My grumpy old teacher= static object: smiled= verb.

 2.     The daredevil cockroach splashed into Sara’s soup.

The daredevil cockroach = static object; splashed= verb.

Examples:

The girl plays football.

The verb plays describes the girl’s action.

Vinita will sing at the show tonight.

Here the compound verb will sing describes an action that will take places in the future.

 1.   Auxiliary verbs

An auxiliary (also called helping verb, or verbal auxiliary) is a verb functioning to give further information about the main or full verb   following it. The extra meaning an auxiliary verb to have one or more of the following functions:

Passive: animals were washed away

Progressive: she is singing a song

Perfect: I think karthick has fallen in love with shruti.

Modal: he could do it.

Dummy: I don’t know the way

The most common auxiliaryverbs are be, do and have we may also use these verbs on their own. We use will and shall to express future time.

In each of the following examples, a verb commonly used as an auxiliary verb appears as a simple predicate.

He is the boss here.

The pans are on the half.

He does not like to drink coffee.

We do our homework every day.

She has her own car.

They have three children.

Other common auxiliaries are: can, could, may, night, ought, to, to, shall, should, will and would. A verb like these is called a modal auxiliary and expresses necessity, obligation, or possibility.

The highlighting word in each of the following sentences is a modal auxiliary.

 1.     Pamy was happy that they could successfully pass the exam.

 2.     I assured him that I would meet him at the cafeteria.

 3.     We shall gather at the club at 6’0 clock.

 4.     The teacher told that we ought to have our identity cars made immediately.

 5.     We might to go to the cinema tomorrow.

 6.     You must complete this task by today.

Read More