Elements of Language
Chapter 17
Using Verbs
Principal Parts
English Verbs have four principal parts:
base form (sing)
present participle (singing)
past (sang)
past participle (sung)
Regular versus Irregular Verbs
Regular Verbs:
Past and past participle formed by adding -d or
-ed
Irregular Verbs: Irregular past and Past
Participle
Common Irregular Verbs
(See full list on 520-521)
Become: is becoming, became, has become
Buy: is buying, bought, has bought
Drink: is drinking, drank, has drunk
Go: is going, went, has gone
Pete says: “Take your Elements of Language to Practice and Always
Com-pete, Grammatically Speaking!”
Interesting/Interessant
English and German share similar principal parts, since
both are from the Germanic branch of the larger IndoEuropean family.
Can you guess the meanings based on the examples?
trinken trank getrunken
schwimmen schwamm geschwommen
beginnen begann begonnen
sehen sah gesehen
Wir sprechen Englisch!
Present Participle
Used to discuss action in progress:
formed with helping verb (to be) and present
participle (ending in -ing):
Ejemplos:
I am working (Estoy trabajando)
We are talking (Estamos hablando)
Present Perfect Tense
Actually does not describe the “present” in most cases, but
rather actions in the past of indefinite time. Sometimes,
these actions are still going on.
Created by fusion of a helping verb (have) with past
participle.
I have read James Joyce’s Ulysses.
I have never seen Sharknado. I was too busy studying
Latin and Ancient Greek.
She has worked at Jesuit since 2002.
Present Perfect vs. Past Simple
Difference between: I saw the movie (past simple) versus I
have seen the movie (present perfect).
Past simple=indicates single, completed action in the past.
Muy importante: always requires a time context (i.e.
yesterday, last week, this morning)
Present perfect=Does not matter when something
happened, but IF something happened. “Have you ever
seen Yoda in a forest?”
Right or Wrong?
1) I have read Hamlet yesterday.
2) I have never read Hamlet.
3) I never saw that movie.
4) We have never went to Italy.
5) She never gone there.
6) We saw the movie last night.
7) We have saw it.
8) They have seen it.
9) She has been to Dijon.
10)My brother went to Ireland last summer.
11)Did you ever go to Ireland?
12)Have you ever go there?
Present Perfect vs. Past Perfect
I have already done the homework.
I had already done the homework.
Question? What is the difference between
these two?
Present Perfect vs. Past Perfect
Both use the verb “have” and the past
participle.
However, past perfect signifies that one event
occurs before the other in the past.
Challenge
Working individually, craft an eloquent English
sentence using the past perfect tense!
Present Progressive/continuous
versus Past Progressive/continuous
I am working on a novel. (present progressive)
Ernest Hemingway was working on a novel.
(past progressive)
Was ist der Unterschied?
Present Progressive vs. Past Progressive
Present Progressive=Actions going on right
now. One is in the middle of the action.
Past Progressive=Actions taking place over a
period of time. Often interrupted by another
action in the simple past: “Telemachus was
talking to his maid when a suitor insulted him.”
When You See “Progressive” you know
there is an -ING involved
Overview of Progressive Forms
Present progressive (I am doing) (What you are doing now)
Past progressive (I was doing) (What you were doing when something else
happened)
Future progressive (I will be doing) (Process you will be involved in at a point in
the future).
Present perfect progressive (I have been doing) (What you have been doing
until now. (begins in past and continues to present)
Past perfect progressive (I had been doing) (Process in the past occurring
before another action)
Future perfect progressive (will have been doing) (rarely used; shows that a
process will continue up to a period in the future)
King Lear knows his verb tenses. Do
you?
Future Tense and Future Perfect
Future Tense: (“Will Do”)
Formed with helping verb “Will” (and “Shall” in
Britain)
Future Perfect: (“Will Have Done”)
Describes a state in the future in which an
action will have been finished.
Active versus Passive Voice
Active voice: I throw the ball. Ezio attacks the
bystander. Coco the gorilla sticks out his
tongue.
All of these actions involve a subject performing
an action.
Passive Voice
Expresses an action that is done to the subject.
The ball was struck by Federer.
The match was won by Nadal.
The grammar book was worshipped by the
Cyclops.
Mood
Technically not a tense!
Mood refers to the form a verb takes to indicate
a basic situation or attitude.
Indicative Mood
Most common mood
Used to express facts, opinions, and questions:
Ejemplos:
1) Strake Jesuit is an awesome school.
2) The Seahawks are mournful and lugubrious.
3) Did you finish reading Othello?
Imperative Mood!
Involves a command or request
Examples:
1) Take your grammar book out of the fridge
and read it!
2) Don’t sleep in class, Cinderella!
3) Please stop making goat sounds,
Melanthius!
Subjunctive Mood
More important in Latin, French, and Spanish
than in English
Used to express a suggestion, necessity, wish,
or contrary to fact condition:
Ex: If I were you, I would…
He wishes he were with T-Swift.
It is necessary that you be here on time!
Lie vs. Lay
Lie is intransitive (does not take a direct object).
I need to lie down.
The book is lying on the table.
Lay is transitive (has a D.O.)
Can you lay the book down on the table?
Now I lay myself to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
Principle parts: lie, is lying , lay, has lain
Lay, is laying, laid, has laid.
Sit vs. Set
Sit is intransitive, set is normally transitive (Can
you think of important exception?).
Sit down!
Set your book down!
How long have you sat here?
Rise versus Raise
Rise is intransitive, raise is transitive
Correct the mistakes:
Rise your hand, son!
The sun also raises.
Please raise for the prayer.
Jesus raised from the dead.
The river levels are raising steadily.
Early to bed, early to raise, keeps a man salubrious, opulent, and sagacious!
Correct the mistakes
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Marshawn is setting on the bench because he doesn’t want to speak.
We have came here today to express condolences.
He has ate up all his supper, the omnivore.
Where have you went, mi amor?
He has swum a mile yesterday.
They have rang the bell.
He spoken with great authority and eloquence.
What have you drank this morning?
We went to Amsterdam three times in our lives.
How many times did you go to Paris?
It is important that he does his homework.
We are laying in bed from sickness.
Would you lie your books down, si vous plait?
Jesus rose Lazarus from the dead.
Kanye and Kim have risen Little North well, right?
I sat the cups on the counter.