Understanding the Principal Parts of Verbs

1. Language Network Verbs

2. Principal Parts of Verbs Verbs Here’s the Idea Regular Verbs Why It Matters Practice and Apply

3. Here’s the Idea Verb A verb is a word used to express an action, a condition, or a state of being.

4. Here’s the Idea Every verb has four basic forms, called itsprincipal parts: • the present • the present participle • the past • the past participle

5. Here’s the Idea These principal parts are used to make all of the formsand tenses of the verb.

6. PRESENT PAST Here’s the Idea The present and past tense are two principal parts of a verb. Stunt people take risks on screen. Polly Berson performed stunts for 27 years.

7. PRESENT PARTICIPLE PAST PARTICIPLE Here’s the Idea Helping verbs are used with the present and past participles. Stunt people are doing dangerous things all the time. Most stunt people have trained for many years.

8. Here’s the Idea There are two kinds of verbs: regular and irregular.

9. Here’s the Idea Regular Verb A regular verb is a verb whose past and past participle are formed by adding -ed or -d to the present.

10. looked REGULAR VERB Here’s the Idea Is look a regular verb? The stunt woman never looked nervous.

11. looking Here’s the Idea The present participle of a regular verb is formed by adding -ing to the present. I am looking for a job as a stunt person.

12. Why It Matters The principal parts of verbs let you express changes in time in your writing.

13. 1. Stunt people perform the dangerous scenes in movies. Practice and Apply Identify the verb in the following sentence. Is it the present, the present participle, the past, or the past participle?

14. 2. Many athletes have become stunt people. Practice and Apply Identify the verb in the following sentence. Is it the present, the present participle, the past, or the past participle?

15. 3. Often, stunt people are jumping off buildings all day. Practice and Apply Identify the verb in the following sentence. Is it the present, the present participle, the past, or the past participle?

16. Using Verb Tenses Verbs Here’s the Idea Writing About the Present Writing About the Past Writing About the Future Why It Matters Practice and Apply

17. Here’s the Idea A good writer uses different verb tenses to indicate that events occur at different times. If you do not need to indicate a change of time, do not switch from one tense to another.

18. Here’s the Idea You can write about the present using the present tense, the present perfect tense, and the present progressive form.

19. PRESENT TENSE Here’s the Idea The present tense places the actions in the present. Motion pictures work because of our vision. The brain sees a series of still pictures as moving.

20. PRESENT PERFECT TENSE Here’s the Idea The present perfect tense places the actions in the period of time leading up to the present. Filmmakers have created fantastic special effects. They have brought dinosaurs and alien beings to life.

21. PRESENT PROGRESSIVE FORMS Here’s the Idea The present progressive forms show the actions are in progress now. Directors are learning the use of computer effects.

22. Here’s the Idea The past tense conveys actions and conditions that came to an end in the past. When you write about the past, you can use past verb forms to indicate the order in which events occurred.

23. PAST TENSE Here’s the Idea The past tense shows an action that began and was completed in the past. Thomas Edison’s company launched the motion-picture industry. His employee William Dickson deviseda way of moving film through a camera.

24. PAST PERFECT TENSE FIRST PAST ACTION SECOND PAST ACTION Here’s the Idea The past perfect tense places the actions before other past actions. Other inventors had put sound with pictures before Edison did. After the Lumière brothers had developed a projector, Edison began projecting his films.

25. PAST PROGRESSIVE FORM Here’s the Idea The past progressive forms show that the actions in the past were in progress. More than 30 years ago, filmmakers were creating realistic space scenes.

26. Here’s the Idea The future tenses convey actions and conditions that are yet to come. By using the different future verb forms, you can show how future events are related in time.

27. FUTURE TENSE FUTURE TENSE Here’s the Idea The future tense shows that the actions have not yet occurred. Maybe everyone will make movies someday. The line between home movies and professional ones will blur.

28. SECOND ACTION FIRST ACTION Here’s the Idea The future perfect tense places the actions before other future actions. Before they can read, children already will have learned to use a camera.

29. FUTURE PROGRESSIVE FORM Here’s the Idea The future progressive forms show that the actions in the future will be continuing. Everyone will be watchingeveryone else’s movies.

30. Why It Matters When you use the right tense, you help your readers keep sequences of events straight.

31. 4. In the 1930s, filmmakers (were using, will be using) laughably bad special effects. Practice and Apply Choose the correct verb form in parentheses.

32. 5. Recently, filmmakers (have improved, improved) their special effects. Practice and Apply Choose the correct verb form in parentheses.

33. 6. These days, they (will build, are building) characters on a computer. Practice and Apply Choose the correct verb form in parentheses.

34. 7. Soon they (had shown, will show) realistic animated people. Practice and Apply Choose the correct verb form in parentheses.