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Navigating Verbal Tenses

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Verbal Tenses

• Verb tense is an inflectional form of verbs. It expresses the time at which the action described by the verb takes place.

• The major tenses are:

oPast

oPresent

oFuture

The Four Tenses

• The past, present, and future forms of verbs have the following tenses:

oSimple

oProgressive: be + -ing form the verb

oPerfect: have, had, will have, or shall have + the –ed form of the verb

oPerfect progressive: have or had + been + -ing form of the verb

Present Tense

• Present tense: verbs are used when expressing an

action that is currently going on or habitually

performed or a state that currently or generally exists.

• Present tense is commonly used when:

oIntroducing a topic with a general statement

oMaking statements about what is currently true

Simple Present

• The simple present is a verb tense with two main

uses. We use the simple present tense when an

action is happening right now or when it happens

regularly (or unceasingly, which is why it's sometimes

called present indefinite).

Present Progressive

• Present progressive (or present continuous) is

used when the action or activity is in progress, not

finished, or will be continued. It is created with a form of

be + -ing verb.

Present Perfect

• The present perfect is formed by combining the

auxiliary verb “has” or “have” with the past participle.

Because the present perfect is a compound tense

two verbs are required: the main verb and the

auxiliary verb.

Present Perfect Progressive

• Present perfect progressive refers to an action in

the past that continues to the present and may

continue into the future. The verb form uses has or

have + been + -ing.

Past Tense

• Past tense verbs refer to actions or events in the past. They can

be regular verbs that simply end with a "d" or an "ed" or they can

be irregular and change their spelling to show the past tense.

• Past tense verbs are commonly used to express activity, action,

state, or being in the past.

Simple Past

• The simple past tense is used to talk about a completed

action in a time before now. The simple past is the basic form of

past tense in English. The time of the action can be in the recent

past or the distant past. Action duration is not important.

Past Progressive

• Past progressive or past continuous is a verb form consisting

of an auxiliary be in the past tense followed by a present

participle. It is used especially to indicate that an action or event

was incomplete or in progress at a point of reference in the past.

• An auxiliary verb, usually called a helping verb, is used together

with a main verb to show the verb’s tense or to form a negative or

question. The most common auxiliary verbs are forms of have, be,

and do.

Past Perfect

• The past perfect tense indicates that an action was

completed (finished or "perfected") at some point in

the past before something else happened. This tense is

formed with the past tense form of "to have" plus

the past participle of the verb (regular or irregular).

Past Perfect Progressive

• The past perfect progressive tense indicates a

continuous action that was completed at some point in

the past. before something else happened. This tense is

formed with the modal “had” plus “been” plus the

present participle of the verb (with an –ing ending).

Future Tense

• Future tense verbs expresses an action that has not

yet happened or a state that does not yet exist.

• There are no inflected forms for the future in English

(nothing like those -ed or -s endings in the

other tenses). Instead, the future tense employs the

helping verbs will or shall with the base form of

the verb.

Simple Future

• Simple future verb tense is a form of the verb that

refers to an action or event that has not yet begun.

The simple future is also used to make a prediction or

to show ability, intention, or determination.

• The future progressive or future continuous

tense indicates continuing action – something that will

be happening or going on at some point in the future.

This tense is formed with the modal "will" plus "be"

plus the present participle of the verb (with an -ing

ending).

Future Progressive

Future Perfect

• The future perfect tense indicates that an action will

have been completed (finished or "perfected") at some

point in the future. This tense is formed with "will" plus

"have" plus the past participle of the verb (regular or

irregular).

• The future perfect continuous, also sometimes called

the future perfect progressive, describes actions that

will continue up until a point in the future. The future

perfect progressive consists of will + have + been + the

verb's present participle (verb root + -ing).

Future Perfect Progressive

Irregular verbs

• An irregular verb is a verb in which the past tense is not formed

by adding the usual -ed ending. Examples of irregular verbs are

sing (sang), feel (felt), and go (went).

• Irregular verbs form the past indicative and past participle parts in

irregular ways. There is no easy method to use. A vowel can change. A

consonant can be added. Or the form can remain the same across all

three parts (hurt/hurt/hurt). Only a good memory can account for the

many forms that irregular verbs take.

Examples of Irregular Verbs

Base (Present) Past Past Participle

Arise Arose Arisen

Deal Dealt Dealt

Dive Dived (or Dove) Dived

Fling Flung Flung

Lay Laid Laid

Prove Proved Proved (or Proven)

Shrink Shrank Shrunk

Spring Sprang Sprung

Strike Struck Struck

Teach Taught Taught

Wring Wrung Wrung

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