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Types of Verbs & Verb Tenses
Introduction
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Suppose you must give an oral presentation about what you did last summer. How do you make it clear that you are talking about the past and not about the present or the future? Using the correct verb tense can help you do this.
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It is important to use the proper verb tense. Otherwise, your listener might judge you harshly. Mistakes in tense often leave a listener or reader with a negative impression.
Learning Outcomes
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By the end of this learning experience, you should feel confident with the following:
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Classifying types of verbs.
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Comparing and contrasting verb tenses.
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Constructing sentences with the correct regular or irregular verb tense.
Regular Verbs
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Verbs indicate actions or states of being in the past, present, or future using tenses. Regular verbs follow regular patterns when shifting from the present to past tense. For example, to form a past-tense or past-participle verb form, add -ed or -d to the end of a verb. You can avoid mistakes by understanding this basic pattern.
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Verb tense identifies the time of action described in a sentence. Verbs take different forms to indicate different tenses. Verb tenses indicate
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an action or state of being in the present,
an action or state of being in the past,
an action or state of being in the future.
Helping verbs, such as be and have, also work to create verb tenses, such as the future tense.
Present Tense: Tim walks to the store. (Singular subject)
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Present Tense: Sue and Kimmy walk to the store. (Plural subject)
Past Tense: Yesterday, they walked to the store to buy some bread. (Singular subject)
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Practice
Once you have completed the practice quiz, scroll up inside the quiz box and
click "view score" and see the correct answers.
Irregular Verbs
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The past tense of irregular verbs is not formed using the patterns that regular verbs follow.
Tip
The best way to learn irregular verbs is to memorize them. With the help of a classmate, create flashcards of irregular verbs and test yourselves until you master them.
Table 2.1 Irregular Verbs
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Simple Present
be
become
begin
blow
break
bring
build
burst
buy
catch
choose
come
cut
dive
do
draw
drink
drive
eat
fall
feed
feel
fight
find
fly
forget
forgive
freeze
get
give
go
grow
have
hear
hide
hold
hurt
keep
know
lay
lead
leave
let
Past
was, were
became
began
blew
broke
brought
built
burst
bought
caught
chose
came
cut
dove (dived)
did
drew
drank
drove
ate
fell
fed
felt
fought
found
flew
forgot
forgave
froze
got
gave
went
grew
had
heard
hid
held
hurt
kept
knew
laid
led
left
let
Simple Present
lose
make
mean
meet
pay
put
quit
read
ride
ring
rise
run
say
see
seek
sell
send
set
shake
shine
shrink
sing
sit
sleep
speak
spend
spring
stand
steal
strike
swim
swing
take
teach
tear
tell
think
throw
understand
wake
wear
win
wind
Past
lost
made
meant
met
paid
put
quit
read
rode
rang
rose
ran
said
saw
sought
sold
sent
set
shook
shone (shined)
shrank (shrunk)
sang
sat
slept
spoke
spent
sprang
stood
stole
struck
swam
swung
took
taught
tore
told
thought
threw
understood
woke
wore
won
wound
Here we consider using irregular verbs.
Present Tense: Lauren keeps all her letters.
Past Tense: Lauren kept all her letters.
Future Tense: Lauren will keep all her letters.
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Practice
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Once you have completed the practice quiz, scroll up inside the quiz box and
click "view score" and see the correct answers.
Maintaining Consistent Verb Tense
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Consistent verb tense means the same verb tense is used throughout a sentence or a paragraph. As you write and revise, it is important to use the same verb tense consistently and to avoid shifting from one tense to another unless there is a good reason for the tense shift. In the following box, see whether you notice the difference between a sentence with consistent tense and one with inconsistent tense.
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Inconsistent tense:
The crowd starts cheering as Melina approached the finish line.
Consistent tense:
The crowd started cheering as Melina approached the finish line.
Consistent tense:
The crowd starts cheering as Melina approaches the finish line.
Tip
In some cases, clear communication will call for different tenses. Look at the following example:
When I was a teenager, I wanted to be a fire fighter, but now I am studying computer science.
If the time frame for each action or state is different, a tense shift is appropriate.
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Writing at Work
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Read the following excerpt from a work e-mail:
The inconsistent tense in the e-mail will very likely distract the reader from its overall point. Most likely, your coworkers will not correct your verb tenses or call attention to grammatical errors, but it is important to keep in mind that errors such as these do have a subtle negative impact in the workplace.
Key Takeaways
-Verb tense helps you express when an event takes place.
-Regular verbs follow regular patterns when shifting from present to past tense.
-Irregular verbs do not follow regular, predictable patterns when shifting from present to past tense.
-Using consistent verb tense is a key element to effective writing.
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Licenses and Attribution
The above is adapted from Chapter 2.3 of Writing For Success. Writing for Success by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.