Nouns
Verbs
To write correctly, you need to know both how to form verb tenses and when to use them. Verb tenses are formed according to person, number, and tense. They are the key to coherent sentence structure.
Tense, person, and number
Person refers to the subject or object of the verb. Number identifies whether a verb is singular or plural. A few terms will help you to understand how verb tenses are formed.
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Tense: refers to time; when is the action (or state of being) of the verb taking place?
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Person: refers to the person (or thing) that is a subject or object.
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First person: I, we go; she spoke to me, us
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Second person: you, you (all) go; she spoke to you, you (all)
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Third person: he, she, it goes, they go; she spoke to him, her, it, them
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Number: simply refers to whether a verb is singular (he goes) or plural (they go)
In the sentence The horse runs in the pasture, runs is the third-person singular of the present tense of the verb run.
The six tenses
Although there are more, six tenses are commonly used in English.
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Present: action going on now
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Past: action that is over
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Future: action that has yet to take place
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Present perfect: action in past time in relation to present time
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Past perfect: action in past time in relation to another past time
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Future perfect: action in a future time in relation to another time farther in the future
Definitions of the perfect tenses are difficult to understand without examples. Tables
1 ,
2 ,
3 ,
4 ,
5 , and
6 show the regular verb
to
walk and the irregular verb
to
be in the six tenses. Regular verbs, like
to
walk, form the past tense and the perfect tenses by adding -
d or -
ed to the present tense. But like
to
be, many English verbs are irregular, forming their past tenses in various ways.
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Note that in the future tense, traditionally shall has been used for will in the first-person singular and plural: I shall walk, we shall walk. In modern usage, however, will has replaced shall almost entirely. Although either is correct, shall produces an unusually formal effect.
