Verb Forms

1. Verb Forms

2. Basic Structure of the Main Clause Subject/ Verb • Maria sang. • Subject / Verb/ Object • She sang a song. • Subject/ Verb/ Complement • Her voice was lovely. • Her voice = a lovely thing.

3. Variations • Dummy subject/linking verb/real subject. • There was a pretty bird sitting in the tree. • There were pretty birds sitting in the tree. • There was a flock of pretty birds in the tree. • It is raining. • The bird is a cardinal. It sits there every morning and sings. • This is a bird. These are trees.

4. Part of Sentences • Nouns • Verbs • Pronouns • Adjectives • Adverbs • Prepositions • Conjunctions

5. Verb Forms: Present Tense • Present tense—called “the plain form” or the “dictionary” form in your text • Used for present action, habitual or repeated action, a “fact”; used sometimes for dramatic effect in a story. • Maria sings in church every Sunday. • Maria’s voice is lovely. • The congregation is hushed and attentive as Maria sings.

6. Present Tense (continued) • For third person singular and plural (he, she, it, and they), remember that OFTEN-- • if there is no “s” on the subject, there should be an “s” or “es” on the verb. • The girl sings beautifully. • The girls sing beautifully. • The gardener waters the flowers every week. • The workers water the flowers every week.

7. Tenses: Present Progressive • Present progressive, the --ing form • Used when something is happening right now or when other events are occurring at the same time. • I am sitting at my computer right now. The sun is shining, and the sky is blue. • Maria is singing right now, and the congregation is listening intently.

8. Past Tense • Often it has a “d” or “ed” on the end. It is also used as the past participle with helping verbs. • He watered the flowers yesterday. • They watered the flowers when he was out of town. • Maria used to sing in church every Sunday. • She was supposed to sing last Sunday, but she got sick. (N.B., “to sing” is not a verb, but a verbal, and it does not have tense.)

9. Past Participles • Used with a helping verb to form past perfect, present perfect, and so on. • He has been watering the flowers on Sundays all summer. (Present perfect—Started in the past and is still going on) • He had been watering the flowers on Sundays for many years, but he changed the schedule last week. (Past perfect—past, finished and done)

10. Various Tenses • Some tenses are primarily used when the sentence has a time marker or when there is a contrast with another point in time. • I was walking in my neighborhood when I saw a dog running loose. • I have been walking in this neighborhood for years, but until this morning, I had never seen a dog on the street unaccompanied by its owner. • I will be looking for that dog this afternoon.