The Six Tenses: Subject-Verb Agreement

The Six Tenses:Subject-Verb Agreement Writing in the Disciplines (WID) G. Griggs & B. Morales CiViS

Verb Tenses Tenses represent the time of the action, which is indicated by a verb.

Present Tense: present action or action that occurs always, repeatedly, or habitually • The children are ready to leave for school. • David and Samuel take a bus every day. • Roxana eats cereal for breakfast. • Manuel rides his bike to school. • Jaime fishes with his grandfather on Saturdays. • The girls swim and dive at the community pool.

Third person singular takes a singular verb (with – s). Third person plural takes a plural verb (with out – s) Present Tense Tip!

Present Perfect Tense: Action completed (CM) at the present time or continuing (CNG) into the present Have or has + past participle (verb + -ed, -d, -t, -en, or -n • He has written a text message to his friend. (CM) • I have lived in Yauco for 10 years. (CNG) • They have been friends for five years. (____) • Felix has broken the 10 K world’s record. (____) • Brenda has brought a cake to the party. (____) • We have felt sick for two days. (____) CNG CM CM CNG

Exercises Present (Pr) & Present Perfect (PrP) Eat (Pr) Eat (PrP) Catch (Pr) Catch (PrP) Jump (Pr) Jump (PrP) Write (Pr) Write (PrP) eats has eaten • Juan __________ a hamburger. • Juan __________ a hamburger. • Yomi _________ the ball. • Yomi _________ the ball. • Susan _________ over the fence. • Susan _________ over the fence. • I ___________ every day. • I ___________ every day. catches has caught jumps has jumped write have written

Past Tense: A definite completed action in the past • The children left for school. • David and Samuel took a bus every day. • Roxana ate cereal for breakfast. • Manuel rode his bike to school. • Jaime fished with his grandfather on Saturdays. • The girls swam and dove at the community pool.

Regular verbs add –d or –ed in the past tense for all persons. Irregular verbs must be learned! Past Tense Tip!

Past Perfect Tense: Action completed before a stated or known time in the past Had + Past Participle(verb + -ed, -d, -t, -en, or -n • He had written a text message to his friend yesterday. • I had lived in Yauco for 10 years before I moved to Lajas. • They had been friends for five years when I met them. • Felix had broken the world’s record before Pedro. • Brenda had brought a cake to the party that day. • We had felt sick for two days during our vacation.

Exercises Past (Pa) & Past Perfect (PaP) Eat (Pa) Eat (PaP) Catch (Pa) Catch (PaP) Jump (Pa) Jump (PaP) Write (Pa) Write (PaP) ate had eaten • Juan __________ a hamburger. • Juan __________ a hamburger. • Yomi _________ the ball. • Yomi _________ the ball. • Susan _________ over the fence. • Susan _________ over the fence. • I ___________ every day. • I ___________ every day. caught had caught jumped had jumped wrote had written

Future Tense: Action that has not yet occurred but will take place in the future (uses “Will” or “going to”) • The children are going to leave for school. • David and Samuel will take a bus every day. • Roxana is going to eat cereal for breakfast. • Manuel will ride his bike to school. • Jaime will fish with his grandfather on Saturdays. • The girls will swim and dive at the community pool.

Future tenses use will or the proper present tense of be with going to FutureTense Tip!

Future Perfect Tense: Action that will be complete before a known time in the future Will have + Past Participle(verb + -ed, -d, -t, -en, or -n • He will have written a text message to his friend by noon. • I will have lived in Yauco for 10 years this September. • They will have been married for five years next week. • Felix will have broken the world’s record for 2 years. • Brenda will have brought a cake to the party tomorrow. • We will have felt sick for two days tomorrow.

Exercises Future (F) & Future Perfect (FP) Eat (F) Eat (FP) Catch (F) Catch (FP) Jump (F) Jump (FP) Write (F) Write (FP) will eat • Juan __________ a hamburger. • Juan __________ a hamburger. • Yomi _________ the ball. • Yomi _________ the ball. • Susan _________ over the fence. • Susan _________ over the fence. • I ___________ every day. • I ___________ every day. will have eaten is going to catch will have caught will jump will have jumped will write will have written

Summary • The present tense is used for actions in the present or actions that occurs repeatedly • Third person singular takes a singular verb (with –s) • Third person plural takes a plural verb (without –s) • The present perfect tense indicates an action completed in the present or continuing into the present • The present perfect tense uses “have” or “has” with the past participle of the verb (regular verb ending in -ed, -d, -t, -en, or –n)

Summary • The past tense indicates that an action was completed in the past • Add –d or –ed to regular verbs in the past tense. • Irregular verb tenses are tricky and must be learned. • The past perfect tense indicates that an action was completed before a stated or known time in the past • The past perfect tense uses “had” + the past participle of the verb (regular verb + -ed, -d, -t, -en, or –n)

Summary • The future tense indicates an action that has not yet occurred but will take place in the future • The future tense uses “will” or the proper present tense of “be” with “goingto” and the verb. • The future perfect tense indicates an action that will be complete before a known time in the future. • The future perfect tense uses “will have” + the past participle of the verb (regular verb + -ed, -d, -t, -en, -n). • For irregular verbs, see the irregular verbs handout.

The Six Tenses: Subject-Verb Agreement