Verb Tenses: All Tensed Up: Using Verb Tense Correctly

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Verb Tenses
All Tensed Up: Using Verb Tense Correctly
Verb Tenses
Introduction
Verb Tense: Nothing a Little Prozac Wouldn't Cure
All Tensed Up: Using Verb Tense Correctly
Okay, so now you know that verbs form different tenses to show different times. Now you have to
learn how to use the tenses correctly to show the timing of one event in relation to another. And we
all know that in life, timing is everything.
Get your bearings with the following table. It shows how the tenses are related.
Verb Tense and Time
Past
Present
Future
Simple past
Simple present
Simple future
Present perfect
Future perfect
Past perfect
Past progressive
Present perfect progressive
Present progressive
Future progressive
Future perfect
Progressive
Past perfect progressive
Use the two present forms (simple present and present progressive) to show events that
take place now.
Use the six past forms (simple past, present perfect, past perfect, past progressive, present
perfect progressive, and past perfect progressive) to show events that took place before the
present.
Use the four future forms (simple future, future perfect, future progressive, and future perfect
progressive) to show events that take place in the future.
Get the inside skinny in the following sections.

Past Tense
What's past may be past, but only if you get your past tenses straight. Use the following table to
leave the past in the past.
Past Tenses
Tense
Use
Example
Simple past
Completed action
We finished the tofu.
Completed condition
We were sad; no more tofu.
Completed action
We have finished the tofu.
Completed condition
We have been sad.
Continuing action
We have burped for hours.
Continuing condition
I have been here for days.
Action completed before another
I had eaten all the tofu before you r
Condition completed before another
I had been sad before the new tofu
Continuous completed action
I was snoring that week.
Present perfect
Past perfect
Past progressive
Present perfect progressive Action going into present

Past perfect progressive
I have been snoring all week.
Continuing action interrupted by another I had been snoring when the
Back to the Future

This table explains the future tenses.
Future Tenses
Tense
Use
Example
Simple future
Future action
The sponge will dry.
Future condition
I will be happy when it does.
Future action done before another
By the time you read this, the sponge will be d
Future condition done before

another
The sponge will have been on the window for
Future progressive
Continuing future action
They will be buying sponges this week.
Future perfect
progressive
Continuing future action done

before another
When we lunch next week, I will have been pu

iron for at least a week.
Future perfect
A Note on Verbs for Non-Native Speakers

Verbs present special problems for people whose first language is not English. Here are some
guidelines to make your life easier (at least as it relates to verbs).

1.
Use the correct form of verbs.

The following chart can help you remember how to use verbs correctly.
Nonstandard and Standard English

Nonstandard English
Present Tense
Standard English
you
you
we walks
we walk
they
they
he, she, it walk
he, she, it walks
Past Tense
2.
o
o
3.
you
you
we walk
we walked
they
they
he, she, it walk
he, she, it walked
When used as a helping verb, be, do, and have change form to agree with a third-person
singular subject. The main verb does not add -s.
Incorrect: Does the store opens at 10?
Correct: Does the store open at 10?
Can and could
o Can means am/is/are able. It may be used to show the present tense.
o Today, I can sleep late.
o I can clean the housebut I won't.
o Could means was/were able when used to show the past tense of can. Could also
means might be able, a possibility or wish.
o In the past, I could touch my toes.
o I wish I could touch my toes now.
o Can and could (along with might, must, shall, should, will, would) never change form.
4.
o
Idiomatic expressions with can, could, might, must, shall, should, will, would
These words are called modals. Here's a list of the most common expressions.
Idiomatic Expressions with Modals
5.
Example
Meaning
I would rather walk than ride.
I prefer to walk.
I would sleep during foreign films.
I always sleep in foreign movies.
Shall we meet again?
I'm inviting you to meet again.
Would you mind turning off the radio?
Would you be against doing this?
Do you mind turning it off?
Please turn it off.
Invert the subject and all or part of the verb to form questions.
The subject and verb change places to form questions. The following examples show
o
this.
Question Forms
6.
7.
o
o
Statements
Questions
He is absent today.
Is he absent today?
Mara can help us.
Can Mara help us?
They are working here.
Are they working here?
It has made this noise before.
Has it made this sound before?
It's All in the Timing

Here's the rule: Pick a tense and stick with it. Avoid shifting tenses in the middle of a
sentence or paragraph. This confuses readers and makes them battier than they are already.
Study this example:
Wrong: I was walking to lunch when a huge dog jumps up and attacks me.
Right: I was walking to lunch when a huge dog jumped up and attacked me.
The following recipe for chocolate cake (1040 version) contains many errors in tense. Rewrite the
paragraph to correct the tenses. Don't make the cake.
Chocolate Cake 1040

Line 1: Butter, a minimum of half a pound, but not to be exceeding 1 cup (see Line 4).
Line 2: Sugar, light brown or white, unless you or your spouse will be having a financial
account in a foreign account in 2004, in which case do not substitute molasses or honey.
Line 3: Eggs, six or a half-dozen, whichever was greater.
Line 4: Semisweet chocolate. Nonfarm families may chosen the optional method of using
cocoa powder. Multiplying by .9897 per ounce of substitution. For additional details on cocoa
conversion, seen Form 234a.
Line 5: Salt, 1/3 teaspoon (optional). If you was a head of household with dependents and be
born during a leap year, you must add salt. Now cream the mixture.
Line 6: Incorporate eggs, one at a time, into creamed mixture. If the eggs will be from a farm
of which you are the sole owner, you may have been eligible for a Fowl Credit. See Form 9871m,
For the Birds.
Note: If you weighed 20 percent more (or higher) than your ideal weight (see chart on page
56), ignore this recipe and complete Schedule F, Fresh Fruit Desserts.
Answers
Line 1: to exceed
Line 2: had
Line 3: is
Line 4: choose, multiply, add, see
Line 5: were, were
Line 6: are from a farm, be eligible
Note: weigh
Lord, how can I wrestle with You

When I'm already captivated by You
At times I want to let go of You
But
myself
still longing
Lord,I found
how can
I wrestle
with Youfor
You

But
myself
still longing
Lord,I found
how can
I wrestle
with Youfor
You

But
myself
still longing
Lord,I found
how can
I wrestle
with Youfor
You

Lord develop in me a Love
But I found myself still longing for
Cast all unreal Love
You
Compare to You love is the best
Compare
to You
they
Lord
develop
in me
a mean
Love any less

You
Compare
to You
they
Lord
develop
in me
a mean
Love any less

You
Compare
to You
they
Lord
develop
in me
a mean
Love any less

Human Love is unreliable
for human beings are incapable
Compare
to You
they mean any less
Of unending
romance

Compare
to You
they mean any less
Of unending
romance

Compare
to You
they mean any less
Of unending
romance
an everlasting divine romance

for
beings
incapable
Lordhuman
I'm willing
to are
break
my heart
Of
unending
romance
That I may satisfy Your heart
I want nothing for myself
But
Yourself
Lordeverything
I'm willing for
to break
my heart

for
beings
incapable
Lordhuman
I'm willing
to are
break
my heart
Of
unending
romance
But
Yourself
Lordeverything
I'm willing for
to break
my heart

for
beings
incapable
Lordhuman
I'm willing
to are
break
my heart
Of
unending
romance
But
Yourself
Lordeverything
I'm willing for
to break
my heart

Don't allow anyone to disturb me
Not let anything distract me
But everything for Yourself
Permit me not to seek any other love
But a heart
to pursue
Don't
allow anyone
to things
disturbfrom
me
above

But a heart
to pursue
Don't
allow anyone
to things
disturbfrom
me
above

But a heart
to pursue
Don't
allow anyone
to things
disturbfrom
me
above

My way are nothing compare to
But a heart to pursue things from
Yours
above
My thoughts are not an inch of Yours
So
lay to
hands
My Iway
areYour
nothing
compare to
All
of
my
life
and
plans
Yours

Yours
above
So
lay to
hands
My Iway
areYour
nothing
compare to
All
of
my
life
and
plans
Yours

Yours
above
So
lay to
hands
My Iway
areYour
nothing
compare to
All
of
my
life
and
plans
Yours

So I lay to Your hands
All of my life and plans



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Get the inside skinny in the following sections.

We finished the tofu.

We were sad; no more tofu.

We have finished the tofu.

We have been sad.

We have burped for hours.

I have been here for days.

Action completed before another

I had eaten all the tofu before you r

Condition completed before another

I had been sad before the new tofu

Continuous completed action

I was snoring that week.

Present perfect progressive Action going into present

I have been snoring all week.

Continuing action interrupted by another I had been snoring when the

Back to the Future

The sponge will dry.

I will be happy when it does.

Future action done before another

By the time you read this, the sponge will be d

Future condition done before

The sponge will have been on the window for

Continuing future action

They will be buying sponges this week.

Continuing future action done

When we lunch next week, I will have been pu

A Note on Verbs for Non-Native Speakers

guidelines to make your life easier (at least as it relates to verbs).

Use the correct form of verbs.

Nonstandard and Standard English

he, she, it walk

he, she, it walks

he, she, it walk

he, she, it walked

Idiomatic Expressions with Modals

I would rather walk than ride.

I would sleep during foreign films.

I always sleep in foreign movies.

Shall we meet again?

I'm inviting you to meet again.

Would you mind turning off the radio?

Would you be against doing this?

Do you mind turning it off?

Please turn it off.

Mara can help us.

Can Mara help us?

They are working here.

Are they working here?

It has made this noise before.

Has it made this sound before?

It's All in the Timing

Chocolate Cake 1040

Lord, how can I wrestle with You

Lord, how can I wrestle with You

Lord, how can I wrestle with You