Verbs & Verb Tenses
English speakers form many verb tenses by combining one of principal parts of the verb
with one or more auxiliary/ helping verbs.
aux·il·ia·ry verb (n)
-a verb that is used with another verb to indicate person, number, mood, tense, or
aspect. Some auxiliary verbs in English are “be,” “have,” “will,” and “do.”
par·ti·ci·ple (n)
A form of a verb that is used to form complex tenses, such as “was loving” and “has
loved” in English, and may also be used as an adjective
In order to form verb tenses you need a good understanding of the auxiliaries and the
principal parts of the verb. There are four principal parts: the basic form, the present
participle, the past form, and the past participle.
The basic form or root of the verb is the form listed in the dictionary and is usually
identical to the first person singular form of the simple present tense (except in the case
of the verb "to be"):
walk
paint
Strike
Pitch
List three verbs in their basic form and use them in three different sentences.
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The infinitive form of the verb is a compound verb made up of the preposition "to" and
the basic form of the verb:
to walk
to paint
to think
to grow
to sing
List three verbs in the infinitive form and use them in three different sentences.
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The present participle tense is used when something that started in the past, continues
into the present tense.
To form the present participle, add "-ing" to the basic form of the verb:
walking
is 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 store" is an incomplete and
ungrammatical sentence, while the word group "We’ve walking to the store" is a
complete sentence. You will often use the present participle as a modifier.
List three verbs in the present participle tense and use them in three different sentences.
Examples:
I have been studying for nine years
He had wet the bed for ten years!!!
She had been working for Mr. Bush for eight years
Brilliant has been reading his book everyday.
Mr. Lucero has been following the Giants since 1984
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The past form of verbs is a little trickier. If the verb is regular, you can create the past
form by adding "-ed", "-d", or "-t" to the present form. When a basic form ends in "-y",
you change the "-y" to "-i”
The past form is used to describe an action that happened in the past.
walked (regular verb)
painted (regular verb)
thought (irregular verb)
grew (irregular verb)
sang (irregular verb)
Irregular Verbs
Irregular verbs form 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 "break" is "broke" and the past participle is "broken".
List three regular verbs in the past tense and use them in three different sentences.
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List three regular verbs in the past tense and use them in three different sentences.
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The past participle of verbs is usually identical to the past form and rephrases the
sentence in a passive voice. Example- (John threw the ball) is in the past tense and (The
ball was thrown by John) is in the past participle tense.
walked
painted
thought
grown
sung
List three regular verbs in the past participle tense and use them in three different
sentences.
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List three regular verbs in the past participle tense and use them in three different
sentences.
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Verb Review
1- Use the verb finish in the infinitive form in a sentence
2- Create three complete sentences using the auxiliary verbs
“be,” “have,” and “will”
3- List five verbs in their basic form.
4- Use the verb throw in the present participle form in the
third person plural.
5- Write a sentence in the present participle tense with the
auxiliary verb “be” in the first person singular using the
verb climb.
6- List five regular verbs in the past tense
7- Create a sentence using the verb salute in the past
participle tense with an auxiliary verb in the third person
singular.
8- Create a sentence using the verb paint in the present
participle tense with an auxiliary verb in the second person
plural.
9- Use your irregular verb chart to create five complete
sentences using irregular verbs in the past tense.
10Use your irregular verb chart to create five complete
sentences using irregular verbs in the past participle tense