Language Network

Verbs
Here’s the Idea
Regular Verbs
Why It Matters
Practice and Apply

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

Here’s the Idea
Every verb has four basic forms, called its principal parts:
• the present
• the present participle
• the past
• the past participle

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here’s the Idea
The present participle of a regular verb is formed by adding -ing to the present.
stunt person.

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

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

Verbs
Here’s the Idea
Writing About the Present
Writing About the Past
Writing About the Future
Why It Matters
Practice and Apply

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.

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

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

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.
PRESENT PERFECT TENSE
They have brought dinosaurs and alien beings to life.

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

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.

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.
PAST TENSE
His employee William Dickson devised a way of moving film through a camera.

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

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.
PAST PROGRESSIVE FORM

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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