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English grammar
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Verbs in the English language are a lexically and morphologically distinct part of speech which describes an action, an event, or a state. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States Grammar is the field of Linguistics that covers the Rules governing the use of any given natural language. English grammar is a body of rules ( Grammar) specifying how phrases and sentences are constructed in the English language. In Traditional grammar, a contraction is the formation of a new Word from one or more individual words Disputed English grammar denotes disagreement about whether given constructions constitute correct English. A compound is a word composed of more than one Free morpheme. In the English language an English Honorific is something that is attached to but not usually part of a name e The personal pronouns of English can have various forms according to gender, number, person, and case. In the English Language, Nouns are inflected for Grammatical number —that is singular or Plural. This article is focused mainly on usage of English relative clauses This is a paradigm of English verbs that is a set of conjugation tables for the model regular verbs and for some of the most common irregular verbs The English language has a large number of Irregular verbs. In the great majority of these the Past participle and/or Past tense is In the English language, a modal auxiliary verb is an Auxiliary verb (or helping verb) that can modify the Grammatical mood (or mode Gender in the English language has been the focus of two distinct debates For English usage of verbs see the wiki article English verbs. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States In Linguistics, the lexicon (from Greek Λεξικόν of a language is its Vocabulary, including its words and expressions Morphology is the field of Linguistics that studies the internal structure of words In Grammar, a lexical category (also word class, lexical class, or in traditional grammar part of speech) is a linguistic category of words (or

While English has many irregular verbs (see a list), for the regular ones the conjugation rules are quite straightforward. In contrast to Regular verbs irregular verbs are those Verbs that fall outside the standard patterns of conjugation in the Languages in which they A regular verb is any verb whose Conjugation follows the typical grammatical inflections of the language it belongs to In Linguistics, conjugation is the creation of derived forms of a Verb, Noun or Adjective from its Principal parts by Inflection Being partially analytic, English regular verbs are not very much inflected; all tenses, aspects and moods except the simple present and the simple past are periphrastic, formed with auxiliary verbs and modals. In morphological typology (in linguistics an isolating language (also analytic language) is any Language in which words are composed of In Grammar, inflection or inflexion is the way language handles grammatical relations and relational categories such as tense, mood, voice In Linguistics, periphrasis is a device by which a grammatical category or relationship is expressed by a Free morpheme (typically one or more Function In Linguistics, an auxiliary (also called helping verb, helper verb, auxiliary verb, or verbal auxiliary) is a Verb functioning

Contents

Principal parts

A regular English verb has only one principal part, the infinitive or dictionary form (which is identical to the simple present tense for all persons and numbers except the third person singular). In Language learning the principal parts of a Verb are those forms that a student must memorize in order to be able to conjugate the verb through all its All other forms of a regular verb can be derived straightforwardly from the infinitive, for a total of four forms (e. g. exist, exists, existed, existing)

English irregular verbs (except to be) have at most three principal parts:

  Part Example
1 infinitive write
2 preterite wrote
3 past participle written

Strong verbs like write have all three distinct parts, for a total of five forms (e. In Grammar, infinitive is the name for certain verb forms that exist in many languages This article is about the grammatical term To see the article relating to Eschatology and the Book of Revelation, see Preterism. In Linguistics, a participle (from Latin participium, a Calque of Greek μετοχη "partaking" is a derivative of a non-finite In the Germanic languages strong verbs are those which mark their past tenses by means of ablaut. g. write, writes, wrote, written, writing). The more irregular weak verbs also require up to three forms to be learned. In Germanic languages, including English, weak verbs are by far the largest group of verbs which are therefore often regarded as the norm though historically they

The highly irregular copular verb to be has eight forms: be, am, is, are, being, was, were, been, of which only one is derivable from a principal part (being is derived from be). On the history of this verb, see Indo-European copula. A feature common to all Indo-European languages is the presence of a Verb corresponding to the English verb to be.

Verbs had more forms when the pronoun thou was still in regular use and there was a number distinction in the second person. The word thou ( in most dialects is a second person singular Pronoun in English. To be, for instance, had art, wast and wert.

Most of the strong verbs that survive in modern English are considered irregular. Modern English is the form of the English language spoken since the Great Vowel Shift, completed in roughly 1550 Irregular verbs in English come from several historical sources; some are technically strong verbs (i. e. their forms display specific vowel changes of the type known as ablaut in linguistics); others have had various phonetic changes or contractions added to them over the history of English. In Linguistics, the term ablaut designates a system of Vowel gradation (i

See also: Wiktionary appendix: Irregular English verbs

Infinitive and basic form

Formation

The infinitive in English is the naked root form of the word. When it is being used as a verbal noun, the particle to is usually prefixed to it. A verbal noun is a Noun formed directly as an Inflexion of a Verb or a verb stem, sharing at least in part its constructions When the infinitive stands as the predicate of an auxiliary verb, to may be omitted, depending on the requirements of the idiom.

Uses

Third person singular

Formation

The third person singular in regular verbs in English is distinguished by the suffix -s. A regular verb is any verb whose Conjugation follows the typical grammatical inflections of the language it belongs to An affix is a Morpheme that is attached to a stem to form a word In English spelling, this -s is added to the stem of the infinitive form: run → runs. English orthography is the alphabetic spelling system used by the English language.

If the base ends in a sibilant sound like /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/ (see help:Pronunciation) that is not followed by a silent E, the suffix is written -es: buzz → buzzes; catch → catches. A sibilant is a type of Fricative or Affricate Consonant, made by directing a jet of air through a narrow channel in the Vocal tract towards Silent e is a writing convention in English Spelling. When reading the Silent letter e at the end of a Word signals

If the base ends in a consonant plus y, the y changes to an i and -es is affixed to the end: cry → cries.

Verbs ending in o typically add -es: veto → vetoes.

The third person singular present indicative in English is notable cross-linguistically for being a morphologically marked form for a semantically unmarked one. That is to say the third person singular is usually taken to be the most basic form in a given verbal category and as such, according to markedness theory, should have the simplest of forms in its paradigm. This is clearly not the case with English where the other persons exhibit the bare root and nothing more.

In Early Modern English, some dialects distinguished the third person singular with the suffix -th; after consonants this was written -eth, and some consonants were doubled when this was added: run → runneth. Early Modern English is the stage of the English language used from about the end of the Middle English period (the latter half of the 15th century to 1650

Usage

Exception

English preserves a number of preterite-present verbs, such as can and may. Following the convention in Historical linguistics, this article marks unattested reconstructed words with an asterisk These verbs lack a separate form for the third person singular: she can, she may. All surviving preterite-present verbs in modern English are auxiliary verbs. The verb will, although historically not a preterite-present verb, has come to be inflected like one when used as an auxiliary; it adds -s in the third person singular only when it is a full verb: Whatever she wills to happen will make life annoying for everyone else.

Present participle

Formation

The present participle is made by the suffix -ing: go → going.

If the base ends in silent e, it is dropped before adding the suffix: believe → believing.

If the e is not silent, it is retained: agree → agreeing.

If the base ends in -ie, change the ie to y and add -ing: lie → lying.

If:

then the final consonant is doubled before adding the suffix: set → setting; occur → occurring.

In British English, as an exception, the final <l> is subject to doubling even when the last syllable is not stressed: yodel → yodelling, travel → travelling; in American English, these follow the rule: yodeling, traveling. British English or UK English ( BrE, BE, en-GB) is the broad term used to distinguish the forms of the English language used in the Phonology North American English regional phonology In many ways compared to English English, North American English is conservative in its Phonology.

Irregular forms include:

Uses

Preterite

Formation

In weak verbs, the preterite is formed with the suffix -ed: work → worked. In Germanic languages, including English, weak verbs are by far the largest group of verbs which are therefore often regarded as the norm though historically they

If the base ends in e, -d is simply added to it: hone → honed; dye > dyed.

Where the base ends in a consonant plus y, the y changes to i before the -ed is added; deny → denied.

Where the base ends in a vowel plus y, the y is retained: alloy → alloyed.

The rule for doubling the final consonant in regular weak verbs for the preterite is the same as the rule for doubling in the present participle; see above.

Many strong verbs and other irregular verbs form the preterite differently, for which see that article. In the Germanic languages strong verbs are those which mark their past tenses by means of ablaut. In contrast to Regular verbs irregular verbs are those Verbs that fall outside the standard patterns of conjugation in the Languages in which they

Use

Past participle

Formation

In regular weak verbs, the past participle is always the same as the preterite. In Germanic languages, including English, weak verbs are by far the largest group of verbs which are therefore often regarded as the norm though historically they

Irregular verbs may have separate preterites and past participles; see Wiktionary appendix: Irregular English verbs.

Uses

Tenses

English verbs, like those in many other western European languages, have more tenses than forms; tenses beyond the ones possible with the five forms listed above are formed with auxiliary verbs, as are the passive voice forms of these verbs. Western Europe at its most general meaning means 'all the countries in the West of Europe ' In Linguistics, an auxiliary (also called helping verb, helper verb, auxiliary verb, or verbal auxiliary) is a Verb functioning In Grammar, the voice (also called gender or diathesis of a verb describes the relationship between the action (or state that the verb expresses and the participants identified Important auxiliary verbs in English include will, used to form the future tense; shall, formerly used mainly for the future tense, but now used mainly for commands and directives; be, have, and do, which are used to form the supplementary tenses of the English verb, to add aspect to the actions they describe, or for negation. In Grammar, the future tense is a verb form that marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet but expected to happen in the future (in an Absolute tense In Linguistics, the grammatical aspect of a Verb defines the temporal flow (or lack thereof in the described event or state

English verbs display complex forms of negation. In Logic and Mathematics, negation or not is an operation on Logical values for example the logical value of a Proposition While simple negation was used well into the period of early Modern English (Touch not the royal person!) in contemporary English negation almost always requires that the negative particle be attached to an auxiliary verb such as do or be. I go not is archaic; I do not go or I am not going are what the contemporary idiom requires.

English exhibits similar idiomatic complexity with the interrogative mood, which in Indo-European languages is not, strictly speaking, a mood. In Linguistics and grammar the interrogative mood is a Grammatical mood used for asking Questions by inflecting the main verb Like many other Western European languages, English historically allowed questions to be asked by inverting the position of verb and subject: Whither goest thou? Now, in English, questions are often trickily idiomatic, and require the use of auxiliary verbs, though occasionally, the interrogative mood is still used in Modern English.

Overview of tenses

In English grammar, tense refers to any conjugated form expressing time, aspect or mood. The large number of different composite verb forms means that English has the richest and subtlest system of tense and aspect of any Germanic language. This can be confusing for foreign learners; however, the English verb is in fact very systematic once one understands that in each of the three time spheres - past, present and future - English has a basic tense which can then be made either perfect or progressive (continuous) or both.

Simple Progressive Perfect Perfect progressive
Future I will write I will be writing I will have written I will have been writing
Present I write I am writing I have written I have been writing
Past I wrote I was writing I had written I had been writing

Because of the neatness of this system, modern textbooks on English generally use the terminology in this table. The future is commonly understood to contain all events that have yet to occur Present Tense is the first Sagittarius album released in 1968 by Columbia Records. PAST (short for Polska Akcyjna Spółka Telefoniczna, Polish Telephone Joint-stock Company) was a Polish telephone operator in the period between World War I What was traditionally called the "perfect" is here called "present perfect" and the "pluperfect" becomes "past perfect", in order to show the relationships of the perfect forms to their respective simple forms. Whereas in other Germanic languages, or in Old English, the "perfect" is just a past tense, the English "present perfect" has a present reference; it is both a past tense and a present tense, describing the connection between a past event and a present state.

However, historical linguists sometimes prefer terminology which applies to all Germanic languages and is more helpful for comparative purposes; when describing wrote as a historical form, for example, we would say "preterite" rather than "past simple".

This table, of course, omits a number of forms which can be regarded as additional to the basic system:

Some systems of English grammar eliminate the future tense altogether, treating will/would simply as modal verbs, in the same category as other modal verbs such as can/could and may/might. In the English language, a modal auxiliary verb is an Auxiliary verb (or helping verb) that can modify the Grammatical mood (or mode See Grammatical tense for a more technical discussion of this subject. Grammatical tense is a temporal linguistic quality expressing the time at during or over which a state or action denoted by a verb occurs

Present simple

Or simple present.

Note that the "simple present" in idiomatic English often identifies habitual or customary action:

He writes about beavers (understanding that he does so all of the time. )

It is used with stative verbs:

She thinks that beavers are remarkable

It can also have a future meaning (though much less commonly than in many other languages):

She goes to Milwaukee on Tuesday.

Put Tuesday in the plural, and She goes to Milwaukee on Tuesdays means that she goes to Milwaukee every Tuesday.

The present simple has an intensive or emphatic form with "do": He does write. In the negative and interrogative forms, of course, this is identical to the non-emphatic forms. It is typically used as a response to the question Does he write, whether that question is expressed or implied, and says that indeed, he does write.

The different syntactic behavior of the negative particle not and the negative inflectional suffix -n't in the interrogative form is also worth noting. In Logic and Mathematics, negation or not is an operation on Logical values for example the logical value of a Proposition In formal literary English of the sort in which contractions are avoided, not attaches itself to the main verb: Does he not write? When the colloquial contraction -n't is used, this attaches itself to the auxiliary do: Doesn't he write? This in fact is a contraction of a more archaic word order, still occasionally found in poetry: *Does not he write?

Present progressive

Or present continuous. A literary language is a register of a Language that is used in Literary Writing.

This form describes the simple engagement in a present activity, with the focus on action in progress "at this very moment". It too can indicate a future, particularly when discussing plans already in place: I am flying to Paris tomorrow. Used with "always" it suggests irritation; compare He always does that (neutral) with He is always doing that. Word order differs here in the negative interrogative between the hyperformal is he not writing and the usual isn't he writing?

Present perfect

Traditionally just called the perfect.

This indicates that a past event has one of a range of possible relationships to the present. This may be a focus on present result: He has written a very fine book (and look, here it is, we have it now). Or it may indicate a time-frame which includes the present. I have lived here since my youth (and I still do). Compare: Have you written a letter this morning? (it is still morning) with Did you write a letter this morning? (it is now afternoon). The perfect tenses are frequently used with the adverbs already or recently or with since clauses. Although the label “perfect tense” implies a completed action, the present perfect can identify habitual (I have written letters since I was ten years old. ) or continuous (I have lived here for fifteen years. ) action.

In addition to these normal uses where the time frame either is the present or includes the present, the “have done” construct is used in temporal clauses to define a future time: When you have written it, show it to me. It also forms a perfect infinitive, used when infinitive constructions require a past perspective: Mozart is said to have written his first symphony at the age of eight. (Notice that if not for the need of an infinitive, the simple past would have been used here: He wrote it at age eight. ) The past infinitive is also used in the conditional perfect.

Present perfect progressive

Or continuous.

Used for unbroken action in the past which continues right up to the present. I have been writing this paper all morning (and still am).

Present Perfect Continuous is used for denoting the action which was in progress and has just finished (a) or is still going on (b). For example,

a) Why are your eyes red? – I have been crying since morning. (The action has already finished but was in progress for some time)
b) She has been working here for two years already and she is happy. (The action is still in progress).

If we have to ask a question with “How long. . ?” we should use the present perfect continuous. For example,

How long have you been working here?

But with stative words (such as see, want, like, etc), or if the situation is considered permanent, we should use the present perfect simple. For example,

I have known her since childhood.

If we talk about the whole period of time, we use “for” and when we talk about the starting point of the action, we use “since”.

We should not use the present simple tense for denoting actions that began in the past and are still going on. For example,

I am ill since Monday. (It is not correct).
I have been ill since Monday. (It is correct).

Past simple

Or preterite. In older textbooks often called the imperfect.

The same change of word order in the negative interrogative that distinguishes the formal and informal register also applies to the preterite. Note also that the preterite form is also used only in the affirmative. When the sentence is recast as a negative or interrogative, he wrote not and wrote he? are archaic and not used in modern English. They must instead be supplied by periphrastic forms.

This tense is used for a single event in the past, sometimes for past habitual action, and in chronological narration. Like the present simple, it has emphatic forms with "do": he did write.

Although it is sometimes taught that the difference between the present perfect and the simple past is that the perfect denotes a completed action whereas the past denotes an incomplete action, this theory is clearly false. Both forms are normally used for completed actions. (Indeed the English preterite comes from the Proto-Indo-European perfect. ) And either can be used for incomplete actions. The real distinction is that the present perfect is used when the time frame either is the present or includes the present, whereas the simple past is used when the time frame is in the absolute past.

The "used to" past tense for habitual actions is probably best included under the bracket of the past simple. Compare:

When I was young I played football every Saturday.
When I was young I used to play football every Saturday.

The difference is slight, but "used to" stresses the regularity, and the fact that the action has been discontinued.

Past continuous

Or imperfect or past progressive.

This is typically used for two events in parallel:

While I was washing the dishes my wife was walking the dog.

Or for an interrupted action (the past simple being used for the interruption):

While I was washing the dishes I heard a loud noise.

Or when we are focusing on a point in the middle of a longer action:

At three o'clock yesterday I was working in the garden. (Contrast: I worked in the garden all day yesterday. )

Past perfect

Or the "pluperfect"

Past perfect progressive

Or "pluperfect progressive" or "continuous"

Relates to the past perfect much as the present perfect progressive relates to the present perfect, but tends to be used with less precision.

Future simple

See the article Shall and Will for a discussion of the two auxiliary verbs used to form the simple future in English. Shall and will are both Modal verbs in English primarily used to express the future. There is also a future with "go" which is used especially for intended actions, and for the weather, and generally is more common in colloquial speech:

I am going to write a book some day.
I think that it is going to rain.

But the will future is preferred for spontaneous decisions:

Jack: "I think that we should have a barbecue!"
Jill: "Good idea! I shall go get the coal. "

Future progressive

Used especially to indicate that an event will be in progress at a particular point in the future: This time tomorrow I will be taking my driving test.

Future perfect

Used for something which will be completed by a certain time (perfect in the literal sense) or which leads up to a point in the future which is being focused on.

I will have finished my essay by Thursday.
By then she will have been there for three weeks.

Future perfect progressive

Or future perfect continuous.

Conditional

Or past subjunctive.

Used principally in a main clause accompanied by an implicit or explicit doubt or "if-clause"; may refer to conditional statements in present or future time:

I would like to pay now if it is not too much trouble. (in present time; doubt of possibility is explicit)
I would like to pay now. (in present time; doubt is implicit)
I would do it if she asked me. (in future time; doubt is explicit)
I would do it. (in future time; doubt is implicit)

(A very common error by foreign learners is to put the would into the if-clause itself. A humorous formulation of the rule for the EFL classroom runs: "If and would you never should, if and will makes teacher ill!" But of course, both will and would CAN occur in an if-clause when expressing volition. A student of English may rarely encounter the incorrect construction as it can occur as an archaic form. )

Conditional perfect

Or pluperfect subjunctive/past-perfect subjunctive.

Used as the past tense of the conditional form; expresses thoughts which are or may be contrary to present fact:

I would have set an extra place if I had known you were coming. (fact that an extra place was not set is implicit; conditional statement is explicit)
I would have set an extra place, but I did not because Mother said you were not coming. (fact that a place was not set is explicit; conditional is implicit)
I would have set an extra place. (fact that a place was not set is implicit, conditional is implicit)

Conditional perfect progressive

Present subjunctive

The form is always identical to the infinitive. This means that, apart from the verb "to be", it is distinct only in the third person singular and the obsolete second person singular.

Used to refer to situations which are or may be contrary to fact in the present or future; the infactuality is rarely explicit:

I insist that he come at once. (present time; fact that the action is not currently occurring is implicit)
I insist that he come when I call. (future time; fact that the action may or may not occur is implicit)

(The present subjunctive is often interchangeable with the past subjunctive like so: I insist that he must come at once. )

Imperfect subjunctive

The use of the old term "imperfect" shows that this form is so rare that it has not been integrated into the modern system of English tense classification. The imperfect subjunctive is identical to the past simple in every verb except the verb "to be". With this verb, there is an option, but no longer a necessity, of using were throughout all forms (i. e. , I wish I were an Oscar Meyer wiener, vs. Oscar Mayer is an American Meat and Cold cut production company owned by Kraft Foods, known for its Hot dogs bologna, I wish I was a girl). This Desert Life is the third studio album from Counting Crows.

See also

References

External links

Tom McArthur is a former Australian rules football field umpire in the Queensland Australian Football League.
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