VERBS AND TENSES

VERBS

Verbs are the basic elements in sentences. They are that part of a sentence that indicates the action and the tense

Verbs are classified into three;

(a) Transitive verb

This is the verb that takes the object. Examples

I cooked —— (what?) —– rice.

I repaired—— (what?) —– the bicycle.

• Intransitive verb

This does not take an object and therefore you do not need to pose the question What? to make complete sentences. Examples

Dogs bark at strangers.

We pray every morning.

• Auxiliary verbs

These are commonly known as helping verbs. They assist the main verb in order to  make their complete meaning. E.g as, be, have, do, may, will, shall, can, has e.t.c – We shall complete the work tomorrow.

• He will ring you this afternoon.
• She is washing the dishes.
• They may come today.

TENSES

A tense is a form of a verb that shows time, continuance and completion of an action or state. The following are the main verb tenses (a) Present Tense:

These are divided into the simple (everyday tense) and continuous tenses Examples.

Simple: I drink water. (every day)

Continuous: I am drinking water. (still drinking)

• Past tense

This shows that the action of the past are divided into simple past and past continuous

Examples

Simple past: They enjoyed the music you played.

Past continuous: She was singing when we came.    

Simple past tense is used to describe a completed action in the past at a certain point and to describe habits of the past e.g He used to smoke.

The past continuous tense is used to tell what was happening when the most important action took place.

• Past perfect tense

The past perfect tense is formed with had + past participle. This tense is used to show that one action had already taken place before another action began.

Examples

• We had completed the exercise.
• She had informed the police about the theft.

(d) Perfect tense

The perfect tense is formed with the auxiliary have / has + past participle

Examples

• We have completed the exercise.
• She has informed the police about the theft.

(e) Future tense

These tenses are used to indicate actions of the future, things that have not happened and are yet to happen.

The future tenses use will and shall as basic words.

Shall is used with the subject I and We

Will is used with any subject Examples

• I shall tell her when she arrives.
• They will stay with us next holiday.
• Shall we travel tomorrow?

Note that the future tense is used in the main clause and the present in the subordinate clause to express future action. Example

I shall tell her when she arrives.

The future continuous expresses an action that will take place over some time in the future.

Example

• We shall be watching James bond next week.
• He will be waiting for us at the park.