1. Or, more than you really wanted
to know about tense, voice, mood,
person, and number.
By Mrs. W. Warren
2004
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2. Not only do you learn what kind of
action or state of being is
expressed through verbs, but they
also tell you:
•Tense = when the action happens:
past, present, or future.
•Person = who or what experiences
the action.
•Number = how many people or
objects act or receive the action.
•Mood = the attitude expressed
toward the action
•Voice = whether the subject does
the action or has the action happen
to it: active and passive voice.
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3. What is verb tense?
The tenses of verbs are the forms that
help show time.
There are six tenses in English:
3 Simple Tenses 3 PerfectTenses
present tense
present perfect
past tense
past perfect
future tense
future perfect
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4. Principal Parts of Verbs
•All verbs have 4 principal parts
and all the six verb tenses are
made from these principal parts.
•The principal parts are:
•base form
•present participle
•simple past
•past participle
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5. Ve rb Simple
Perfect Te n s e Tenses
Tenses T im e
L in e Future: action
or condition will
occur in the
Future Perfect :
future.
future action or
condition will
begin and end
before another
Present:
starts.
•action or
condition exists
only now;
•constant,
repeated, or
habitual action or
condition;
Present Perfect: •a general truth.
•action or condition
that occurred at an
indefinite past time;
•action began in past
and still occurs now.
Past: action or
condition was
started and
completed in the
past.
Past Perfect: past
action or condition
began and ended
before another past
action or condition
started.
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6. The Three Simple Tenses of Verbs
1. Present Tense
•The present tense is the same as the verb’s
base form, except for the 3rd-person singular,
which adds -s or -es. The exceptions are the
verb have (has) and the verb be.
•The present tense expresses a constant,
repeated, or habitual action or condition. It can
also express a general truth.
•It can also express an action or a condition that
exists only now.
•It’s sometimes used in historical writing to
express past events and , more often, in poetry,
fiction, and journalism to convey to the reader a
sense of being there. This usage is sometimes
called the historical present tense.
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7. 2. Past Tense
•The past tense is used to
express and action or
condition that was started
and completed in the past.
•Nearly all regular and
irregular verbs (except
be) have just one past-
tense form. It’s often
formed by adding a -d or -
ed.
3. Future Tense
•The future tense is used to
to express an action or a
condition that will occur in the
future.
•You form the future tense
of any verb by using the
auxiliary verb shall or will
with the base form of the
verb.
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8. Verb Conjugation
Present Tense (Base form on chart)
Singular Plural
I travel we travel
you travel you travel
he/she/it travels they travel
Past Tense (-d or -ed on regular verbs)
Singular Plural
I traveled we traveled
you traveled you traveled
he/she/it traveled they traveled
FutureTense ( will or shall + base form)
Singular Plural
I will travel we will travel
you will travel you will travel
he/she/it will travel they will travel
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9. The 3 Perfect Tenses of Verbs
1.Present Perfect
•Use the present perfect tense to express an
action or condition that occurred at some indefinite
time in the past.
•Forms the present perfect tense by using has or
have with the past participle of a verb.
•This tense expresses past time . The word present
in the name refers to the tense of the auxiliary
verb has or have.
•It can refer to completed action in past time only
in an indefinite way. Adverbs like yesterday cannot
be added to make the time more specific.
•To be specific about completed past time, you
would normally use the simple past tense.
•The present perfect tense can also be used to
express the idea that an action or a condition began
in the past and is still happening.
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10. 2. Past Perfect Tense
•The past perfect tense is used to
indicate that one past action or
condition began and ended before
another past action or condition
started.
•You form the past perfect tense
by using the auxiliary (helping)
verb had with the past participle
of a verb.
3. Future Perfect Tense
•Use the future perfect
tense to express one future
action or condition that will
begin and end before another
future event starts.
•Form the future perfect
tense by using will have or
shall have with the past
participle of a verb.
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11. *This means the
Verb Conjugation
tense of the
helping verb
Present PerfectTense (have/has + past participle)
Singular Plural
I have traveled we have traveled
you have traveled you have traveled
he/she/it has traveled they have traveled
Past Perfect Tense (had + past participle)
Singular Plural
I had traveled we had traveled
you had traveled you had traveled
he/she/it had traveled they had traveled
Future PerfectTense ( will or shall + have + past participle)
Singular Plural
I will have traveled we will have traveled
you will have traveled you will have traveled
he/she/it will have traveled they will have traveled
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12. Emphatic Forms (not a verb tense)
The simple present tense and the simple past tense each
have an additional form called the emphatic form.
The emphatic forms add special emphasis or force to
the verb.
You form the present emphatic by adding do or does to
the base form.
You form the past emphatic by adding did to the base
form of the verb.
Progressive Form (not a verb tense)
This verb form is used to show that an event is in
progress.
Progressive forms end with - ing.
They are formed by using the appropriate tense of
the verb be with the present participle.
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13. How to form Progressives
Present Progressive: am, is, or are + -ing form
Ex: I am traveling we are traveling
you are traveling you are traveling
he/she is traveling they are traveling
Past Progressive: was/were + -ing form
Ex: I was traveling we were traveling
you were traveling you were traveling
he/she was traveling they were traveling
Future Progressive: will/shall + be + -ing form
Ex: I will be traveling
Present Perfect Progressive: has/have + been + -ing form
Ex: I have been traveling
Past Perfect Progressive: had + been + -ing form
Ex: He had been traveling
**Future Perfect Progressive: will/shall + have + been+ -ing form.
Ex: I will have been traveling
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14. Comparing the Present Tenses (& forms)
Shows an action or a condition that is
continuously true.
Shows an action that is in progress now.
Shows an action or a condition that began
in the past and continues into the present.
Shows an action that began in the
past and is still in progress.
Comparing the Past Tenses (& forms)
Shows actions that were completed in the past.
Shows actions that continued over time in the
past.
Shows an action in the past that came
before other actions in the past.
Shows an action that was in
progress in the past when another
action happened.
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15. Comparing the Future Tenses (and forms)
Shows a condition that will occur in the future.
Shows an action that will be in progress in the
future.
Shows an action in the future that will occur
before another action.
Shows an action in progress
in the future when another
action will happen.
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