YEAR ONE

ENGLISH GRAMMAR AND LANGUAGE

THE VERB PART I

Grammatical Verb Tense, Aspect, Mood, Voice

Name: __________________________________________________________________Date: __________

DEFINITIONS:
What is grammatical tense? Meriam-webster defines grammatical tense as a distinction of verb form to
express time or duration of the action or state it denotes.
In grammar, tense is the time of a verb's action or its state of being, such as present, past, or future. These are
called the verb's time frame.
In short, tense indicates the when of an action.
What is grammatical aspect? Meriam-webster defines grammatical aspect as the distinction of a verb
action concerning its beginning, duration, completion, or repetition and without reference to its position in
time.
Aspect is also described as a category or form which expresses the way in which time is denoted by a verb.
Aspect refers to how an action extends over time- did it happen in a single block of time, a continuous flow of
time, or was it a repetitive occurrence? The four aspects in English grammar include simple, progressive
(continuous), perfect or perfect progressive (continuous).

In short, aspect indicates the how of an action.

When tense and aspect are combined, such as Simple Present, we have the complete name of a verb tense, i.e.
simple present, past progressive (continuous), present perfect, etc.

Above you can see what the English tenses, aspects, voices, and moods are. In this lesson and the next few
lessons, we will be dealing only with Tense and Aspect.

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Each aspect has its corresponding auxiliary verb. Are you able to identify them in the chart above?

Simple Aspect

1. In which circumstances do we use the simple aspect? The simple aspect is used to refer to events, actions,
and conditions that are routine, habitual, facts or general truths that occur or exist now.

2. What is the auxiliary verb which corresponds to the simple aspect? All the forms of DO, which include
_________________________________________________________________________.

3. How do we use the auxiliary verb “do”? Auxiliary verbs have many uses:

 Affirmative statement: I swim every day. (NO AUXILIARY VERB IS USED IN THE SIMPLE ASPECT)

 Yes/No Question: _________________________________________________

 WH-question: _____________________________________________________

 Negative: _________________________________________________________

 Negative question: Don’t you swim every day?

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 Short answer: ______________________________________________________

 Emphasis: I do swim every day!

 Tag Question: _____________________________________________________

 To agree: I learned to swim when I was young. So______ I.

I didn’t learn to swim when I was young. Neither______I.

 Avoid repetition: I swim every day. Tim says he does too.

 Affirmative statement: My family has a kitten. (NO AUXILIARY VERB IS USED)

 Yes/No Question: _________________________________________________

 WH-question: _____________________________________________________

 Negative: _________________________________________________________

 Negative question: _________________________________________________

 Short answer: ______________________________________________________

 Emphasis: _________________________________________________________

 Tag Question: _____________________________________________________

 To agree: My family has a kitten. So______ mine.

My family doesn’t have a kitten. Neither________mine.

 Avoid repetition: ____________________________________________________

SIMPLE PRESENT WITH THE VERB BE – Do not implement the auxiliary verb do.

 Affirmative statement: We are a team. (FORM OF BE IN THE SIMPLE ASPECT)

 Yes/No Question: _________________________________________________

 WH-question: _____________________________________________________

 Negative: _________________________________________________________

 Negative question: _________________________________________________

 Short answer: ______________________________________________________

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  Emphasis: Indeed, we are a team! / We are, in fact, a team!

 Tag Question: _____________________________________________________

 To agree: ______________________________ So______ they.

_____________________________ Neither________ they.

 Avoid repetition: ____________________________________________________

Past

Simple Past:

The tense that is used to describe an event or action that happened in the past.

 Affirmative statement: Yesterday, I swam 10 laps. (NO AUXILIARY VERB IS USED)

 Yes/No Question: _________________________________________________

 WH-question: _____________________________________________________

 Negative: _________________________________________________________

 Negative question: ________________________________________________

 Short answer: ______________________________________________________

 Emphasis: ________________________________________________________

 Tag Question: _____________________________________________________

 Affirmative statement: Last night, we had chicken curry for dinner. (NO AUXILIARY VERB IS
USED)

 Yes/No Question: _________________________________________________

 WH-question: _____________________________________________________

 Negative: _________________________________________________________

 Negative question: ________ Didn´t you have ______________________?

 Short answer: ______________________________________________________

 Emphasis: _______ I did have ____________________________________!

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  Tag Question: _____________________________________________________

 Affirmative statement: We were prepared for the unexpected. (VERB BE USED IN SIMPLE

PAST. NO AUXILIARY VERB IS USED)

 Yes/No Question: _________________________________________________

 WH-question: _____________________________________________________

 Negative: _________________________________________________________

 Negative question: _______________________________________________

 Short answer: ______________________________________________________

 Emphasis: _________________________________________________________

 Tag Question: _____________________________________________________

Future Time:

The “tense” that is used to describe things that haven’t yet happened at the present time, but which are expected,
or likely to occur in the future.

[Technically, future is not a tense nor aspect, but a time because it requires the use of auxiliary verbs , such as
will, going to, etc.]

“I will swim more than 10 laps tomorrow.”

“You will see her again next week.”

 Affirmative statement: You will see her again next week.

 Yes/No Question: _________________________________________________

 WH-question: _____________________________________________________

 Negative: _________________________________________________________

 Negative question: _______________________________________________

 Short answer: ______________________________________________________

 Emphasis: _________________________________________________________

 Tag Question: _____________________________________________________

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 Simple Present and Past Quiz

Verb: GO My family goes on vacation in December.

Present Tense / Simple Aspect

 Yes/No Question: _________________________________________________

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  WH-question: _____________________________________________________

 Negative: _________________________________________________________

 Negative question: ________________________________________________

 Short answer: ______________________________________________________

 Emphasis: _________________________________________________________

 Tag Question: _____________________________________________________

Past Tense / Simple Aspect

 Yes/No Question: _________________________________________________

 WH-question: _____________________________________________________

 Negative: _________________________________________________________

 Negative question: ________________________________________________

 Short answer: ______________________________________________________

 Emphasis: _________________________________________________________

 Tag Question: _____________________________________________________