Forms of Verbs

• Non-tensed
  1. Base form —————- take
  2. -ing form —————– taking
  3.  -en form —————– taken
• Tensed
  1. General present ——– take
  2. -s present —————- takes
  3. Past tense —————- took

Aspects

• Progressive
  • Action is ongoing or was ongoing
  • Form of be + -ing form of next verb to the right
    • Forms of be: be, is, are, am, was, were
    • Example: Jackie Chan is starring in a new movie.
• Perfect
  • Suggests action is terminal
  • Form of have + -en form of next verb to the right
    • Forms of have: have, has, had
    • Example: Jackie Chan has stolen Olivia’s heart.
• Both Perfect and Progressive Aspects
  • Sentences can have both aspects
  • Form of have + been + -ing form of next verb to the right
    • Example: Olivia has been picking some crazy blog post themes.

All Together Now

• Sentences can have multiple auxiliaries before reaching the lexical verb. All auxiliaries must follow this pattern:
  • Modal – Perfect – Progressive – Lexical Verb
• Tense must be carried on the leftmost verb.
  • Examples:
    • She has been acting strange.  –> Has carries the tense, so this sentence is present tense.
    • We were going there next. –> Were carries the tense, so this sentence is past tense.
  • Most modals cannot carry tense. Here are examples of ones that can.
    • She used to come here. –> Used to is what’s known as a generic past.
    • She is going to exercise later. –> Going to is known as prospective tense.
    • More examples and explanations can be found on Pg. 107 of your book.