8/19/2019 Verb Tenses

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Verb Tenses

Hello! I'm Elizabeth

O'Brien, and my goal is to
get you jazzed about
grammar.

Verb tenses are an attribute of verbs that tell us

about time.

Remember that verbs are words that show

actions or states of being.

There are only six tenses for English verbs! You

can learn about six tenses! Three of them are If you don't want

called simple tenses, and three of them are to teach or learn

called perfect tenses. grammar by

yourself, click here
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There are three basic times when verbs can take place: past, present,
and future. These are the easy ones to remember. In fact, they are
called simple tenses.
1. Simple present tense verbs show actions that happen regularly or This is my first year
that are permanently happening. teaching English and
you have been very
helpful!
We play football in the backyard.
- Geoff, Classroom
My niece skips down the road. Teacher

2. Simple past tense verbs are verbs that show actions that took
place in the past.

We played football in the backyard.

My niece skipped down the road

3. Simple future tense verbs are verbs that show actions that have
not taken place yet, but that will take place in the future.

We will play football in the backyard.

My niece will skip down the road.

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English verbs also have three perfect verb tenses: present perfect
tense, past perfect tense, and future perfect tense. These tenses are
pretty cool, I guess, but I'm not sure that I'd call them perfect.
Whoever named these guys sure thought highly of them. At any rate,
all of these perfect tenses are formed with the helping verbs have, has,
had, will and shall and the past participles of the verb.
4. Present perfect tense verbs show actions that were finished
recently or ones that were completed at an indefinite time in the past.
These use has or have.

We have played football.

My niece has skipped down the road.

5. Past perfect tense verbs show actions that came directly before
another action in the past. These use had.

We had played football.

My niece had skipped down the road before I came.

6. Future perfect tense verbs show actions that will happen before
other future actions happen. These use will have and shall have.

By tomorrow, we will have played football.

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By noon, my niece will have skipped down the road.

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Progressive/Continuous Forms
Both simple and perfect verb tenses can also be made
into progressive verb forms. Sometimes they are also called continuous.
That just means that they show an action that is in progress or that is
continuing.

To form this type of verb, you add one of the forms of the
verb be with the present participle of the verb. (The present participle
ends in -ing.)

We are playing. (present progressive)

We were playing. (past progressive)
We will be playing. (future progressive)
We have been playing. (present perfect progressive)
We had been playing. (past perfect progressive)
We will have been playing. (future perfect progressive)

Regular Verbs
These aren't a different tense, but they're an important thing to
learn. Verbs that add - or - d ed to their present form to form the
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past tense are regular verbs. Here are some sentences
with regular verbs. Notice that they end in -d or -ed. HOME WELCOME THE BASICS SENTENCES & DIAGRAMS
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The dog jumped toward the squirrel.

We all noticed the stain on his shirt.
My grandmother knitted me this scarf.

Irregular Verbs
Irregular verbs aren't a different tense, but they're also an important
topic to study. The word irregular means not regular, so irregular
verbs are those that have unpredictable forms in the past tense.

Verbs that don't add - or - d ed to their present form to form the past
tense are irregular verbs. Here are some sentences with irregular
verbs written in the past tense. Notice that they don't end in - or - d
ed.

I ate my vegetables.
We swam across the lake.
My mother read me a bedtime story.

If you want to teach or learn grammar the easy way, follow

our step-by-step program that clearly lays everything out and

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allows you to move at your own pace. The Get Smart
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the videos and complete your assignments. Before you know
it, you'll be a grammar and sentence diagramming pro!

Thanks for stopping by!

Other Helpful Resources

Chabot College's PDF download of an ebook on verb tenses

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