Verbs!

Verb forms
Review of tenses

(Subject-verb Agreement)

1
Timeline
Moved to
California
Was Born Traveled 2005
1980 to Europe wife
School graduates
@ Oxford
1999

Started Got married

School 1986 2008 3
 Draw a timeline of your life. List 8-
10 events on the time line.
Make sure you list your future
graduation date!
The Six English Verb Tenses
Three Simple Tenses Simple continuous
Present You walk. You are walking
I run. I am running.
Past You Walked You were walking.
I ran. I was running.
Future You will walk. You will be walking.
I will run. I will be running.
Three Perfect Tenses Perfect continuous
Present perfect you have You have been walking.
walked. I have been running.
I have run.
Past Perfect You had walked. You had been walking.
I had run. I had been running.
Future Perfect You will have You will have been walking.
walked I will have been running.
I will have run.
The Simple Present Tense
Expresses a habit or often repeated action.
Adverbs of frequency such as, often, seldom,
sometimes, never, etc. are used with this
tense.

She goes to work everyday.

They always eat lunch together.
On your paper, write one sentence that reflects
SIMPLE PRESENT: something you do often,
sometimes, never, seldom
The Simple Present Tense
This tense also expresses general truths or
facts that are timeless.

Snow falls in the December in Minnesota.

Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius.
 The Present Continuous
This tense is used to describe an action that
is occurring right now (at this moment, today,
this year, etc.). The action has begun and is
still in progress. It can be occuring now, but is
temporary Formed by adding
Is/are before the verb
and ing to the verb

She is typing a paper for her class.

He cant talk. He is fixing the sink right now.
On your paper, write one sentence that reflects
PRESENT CONTINUOUS: something that is
occurring right now.
 The Simple Past
We use the simple past to indicate exactly
when an action or event took place in the past.

I visited my sister yesterday.

We went out to dinner last night.
On your paper, write one sentence that reflects
SIMPLE PAST: something you did in the past that is
now completed (over, done).
 The Simple Past
The simple past is used to describe actions
and/or events that are now completed and no
longer true in the present.
Formed by adding
-ed to REGULAR Verbs
see IRREGULAR Verb forms

I attended MJC in 1998. (I no longer attend MJC.)

I saw a movie every weekend when I was a
teenager. (I dont see movies very much
anymore.)
 The Past Continuous
The past continuous is often used with the
simple past to show that one action was in
progress when another action occurred.
Formed by adding
Was/were before the verb
and ing to the verb

I was taking a bath when the doorbell rang.

They were eating dinner when the neighbors
stopped by for a visit.
 The Past Continuous
The past continuous is used to talk about an
activity that was in progress at a specific point
of time in the past. The emphasis is on the
duration of the activity in the past.

I was studying for an exam while my mother was

cooking dinner.
We were walking in the park around 7 p.m. last
night.
On your paper, write one sentence that reflects
PAST CONTINUOUS tense.
 The Present Perfect
The present perfect is used to talk about an
event that began in the past and continues up
to the present.
Formed by adding has/have
before the verb and ed to
the REGULAR verb

He has lived in Modesto for two years.

(He began living in Modesto two years ago and he still
lives there.)
 The Present Perfect
The present perfect is also used to talk
about an event that was completed in the past,
but the specific time of the event is not
important. Formed by adding
has/have before the
verb and ed to the
reugalr verb

I have seen that movie before.

He has already visited Vietnam.
(Specific dates and times are not mentioned.)
On your paper, write one sentence that reflects
PRESENT PERFECT tense.
Perfect tenses
Have or Has + the present participle
of the word
 Simple Past or Present
Perfect?
1. I __________
went to Mexico in 2002. (go)
2. I __________
have gone deep sea diving a few
times (go).
3. has studied
The drummer in the band __________
percussions since he was five. (study)
4. It __________
took the jury two hours to
reach their verdict yesterday.
5. Washington, D.C., _____________
has been the
capital of our country for many years.
(be)
Present Perfect Continuous
This tense is used to describe the duration
of an action that began in the past and
continues into the present.

He has been studying grammar for an hour.

She has been cooking all day.
(He is still studying and she is still cooking.)
Present Perfect Continuous
This tense is also used to describe events
that have been in progress recently and are
rather temporary.
Formed by adding has/have +
be verb (been) before the verb
and ing to the verb

She has been living in Taiwan for the last two

months, but she plans to move soon.
 The Past Perfect
This tense describes completed events that
took place in the past before another past
event.
it hit
Formed by adding
had received
has/have before the verb
had eaten my friend stopped by
and ed to the REGULAR
verb

The Titanic had received many warnings before it

hit the iceberg.
I had already eaten when my friend stopped by to
visit.
 Past Perfect Continuous
This tense is used to emphasize the
duration of an action that was completed
before another action or event in the past.
Formed by adding
had been has/have + be
driving she found the right office
verb(been) before the
verb and ing to the verb

She had been driving around the city for three

hours before she finally found the right office.
 The Future
Will and be + going + to are often used to
describe future actions.

Thomas will graduate in June.

Maria is going to go to Mexico next week.
 The Future
The simple present and present continuous
are also used to express future time. These
are often used used in connection with
schedules.

She is meeting a new client at eleven oclock.

The train leaves at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow.
 The Future Continuous
This tense is used to describe an event or
action that will occur over a period of time at a
specific point in the future.

Formed by adding at 10 a.m. tomorrow

[will have]+ing by the time you arrive

I will be teaching ESL 40 at 10 a.m. tomorrow.

They will be moving their furniture out of the house
by the time you arrive tomorrow.
 The Future Perfect
This tense is used to describe an event or
action that will be completed before another
event or time in the future.

will have finished the exam class ends

We will have finished the exam by the time class

ends tomorrow.
Future Perfect Continuous
This tense describes an action that has
been in progress for a duration of time before
another event or time in the future.

finishes law school

will have been living in the

U.S. for eight years

By the time he finishes law school, we will have

been living in the U.S. for eight years.
Practicing with sequence
1. The program will continue only after the
coughing and fidgeting have
__________
stopped.
(stop)
2. Because he was poor and unappreciated by
the music world when he died in 1791,
Mozart did not realize the importance his
music __________
would have in the future. (have)

3. will buy
Dad will tell us tonight if he ____________
a new car next month.
Practicing with sequence
4. Albert Einstein failed the entrance exam at the
Swiss Federal institute of technology because he
had never been
__________________ a very disciplined
student.
(be + never)

5. Einstein
liked studied only subjects that he
__________ . (like)

6. will soon
Cancer researchers think be
its likely that a cure for
most cancers ____________ found. (be + soon)
Unnecessary Shifts in Tense
Read this paragraph. Identify the verb tenses. Revise
the paragraph to be a consistent tense (pg 222).
The customer demanded to see the
manager. He was angry because
every jacket he tries on has
something wrong with it. A button
was missing on the first, the lining
did not hang properly on the second,
and the collar had a stain on the
third.
Past tense Present tense
Correct unnecessary shift

The customer demanded to see the

manager. He was angry because
every jacket he tried on had
something wrong with it. A button
was missing on the first, the lining
did not hang properly on the second,
and the collar had a stain on the
third.
 Correcting Shifts

Charles dickens was a nineteenth-century author

whose work is well known today. One of the
reasons Dickens remains
remained so popular is that so
many of his stories are available not only as
books but also as movies, plays, and television
productions.
We all know
knew from our childhood the famous story of
uncle Scrooge and Tiny Tim.

We often see
saw a television version of A Christmas
Carol at holiday time.
Change the verb in the bracket () into the correct form!
1. The functions of management (be) planning, organizing,
controlling, and leading.
2. What time (the banks / close) here?
3. Please dont make so much noise. I (try) to concentrate
on my work.
4. Frank (work) at the company until he can find another
better job.
5. The economic situation is already very bad and it (get)
worse.
6. The world (change). Things never stay the same.
7. For the time being, I (use) this software.
8. Susan has gone to work in England. At first, her English
(not be) very good, but now it (improve).
9. According to his schedule for next week, he (address)
the meeting on Monday morning.
10. The computer programmer (be) busy in the past few
days. At 8:30 yesterday morning, he (write) a program.
It is 9:30 now and he (examine) data. At 10:30
tomorrow morning, he (process) the data.
1. What (you / do) at 10:30 last night?
2. She is taking her exams tomorrow. She hasnt done any
work for them, and she is not intelligent. She (fail).
3. I bet Carter (get) the job. He (have) a lot of experience.
4. Microsoft (release) Access in 1991.
5. German industry (get) its real start through introduction
of its common market in the nineteenth century.
6. When he was in charge of the firm, he always (get) to
work on time.
7. Where (you / buy) this laptop?
8. Last Monday Ann (not work) because she (be) sick. Since
then, she (be) absent from work five times.
9. There (be) a lot of development in their country since
1989.
10.Susans father (be) a data processing manager since she
(be) seventeen.
1. (the staff members / be) busy with extra work up to now?
2. The effect of the use of computers on vast unemployment
among clerical workers (not / be) noticeable until now.
3. Dont submit the application form to the recruiting officer until
you (complete) it.
4. Database processing (change) continuously since 1970.
5. I (not feel) very well lately.
6. Tom (study) Information Management at Amikom college. He
(begin) studying when he (be) eighteen. So far, he (study) at
the college for five years. He (read) a lot of books about the
subject.
7. You look tired. (you / work) too hard?
8. A couple of days ago I (call) at his office. When I (come), he
(not be) there. He (go) home.
9. Before the speaker finished his speech, most of the audience
(disappear).
10.When the lecturer arrived, the students (wait) for him. They
(be) annoyed because he (be) late, and they (wait) for about an
hour.