Infinitives - the verb form to ___ Example: to be, to go, to want, to drive
Present Infinitive = action occurring at the same time or later than the main verb of the sentence Example: She wants to win. She wanted to win.
Present Perfect Infinitive = action before the main verb Example: She would like to have won.
Participles - the verb + ing Example: walking, washing, climbing, talking
Present Participle = action occurring at the same time as the main verb of the sentence Example: I saw Joe washing the car.
Present Perfect = action occuring before the main verb Example: Having washed the car, Joe felt happy.
Gerund - the verb + ing acting as a noun Example: I'm going swimming.
When a verb is conjugated in the present tense, it must agree with the subject. Singular subjects require singular verb forms, and plural subjects require plural verb forms.
Example:
The car (singular) needs to be washed.
The cars (plural) need to be washed.
Compound Subjects are created by joining two subjects with the word "and."
Example:
The car and the driveway (plural - they) need to be washed.
* Be careful not to confuse singular indefinite pronouns (ex. everyone, everybody) nor prepositional phrases (ex. along with, together with) as compound subjects. They are not.
Example:
Everybody is on time.
Example:
Joe along with the entire team is on time.
After the words or/nor, the last subject determines whether the verb is to agree with a singular or plural subject.
Example:
Joe or John (he) is washing the car.
Joe or his friends (they) are washing the car.
Regular Verbs form the Past Tense and Participle by adding ed to the Present Tense verb form. Example: wash, washed, washed / talk, talked, talked
Irregular Verbs form the Past Tense and Participle by changing the spelling of the Present Tense verb form. There is no rule for this. I have included a link here to a list of Irregular Verbs.
Verb Tenses are created by combining the present, past and participle form of the main verb with helper verbs. Once you have mastered the different tenses the only thing that changes is the main verb. The use of the helper verbs remains constant.
* Please see the Irregular Verbs link above for a conjugation of "to be," the most irregular verb in English.
Pronouns
I, You Except for "to be" these are conjugated the same
We, They
He, She There is always a change in the present tense to 's.'
It
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Example Verb: to go (irregular)
Present Tense
(I, You, We, They) go to school in the morning.
(He, She, It) goes to school in the morning.
Past Tense
(I, You, We, They, He, She, It) went to school yesterday.
Future Tense
(I, You, We, They, He, She, It) will go to school tomorrow.
Present Continuous (to be present + ing)
I am going to school today.
(You, We, They) are going to school today.
(He, She, It) is going to school today.
Past Continuous (to be past + ing)
I could not come. I was going to school last week.
(You, We, They) could not come. (You, We, They) were going to school last week.
(He, She, It) could not come. (He, She, It) was going to school last week.
Future Continuous (will be + ing)
(I, You, We, They, He, She, It) will be going to school next week.
Present Perfect (to have present + verb)
(I, You, We, They) have gone to school for a long time.
(He, She, It) has gone to school for a long time.
Rule 1. From the past continuing until now
(I, You, We, They) have gone to that school before.
(He, She, It) has gone to that school before.
Rule 2. No specific time in the past
(I, You, We, They) have gone to school for many years.
(He, She, It) has gone to school for many years.
Rule 3. More than one time in the past
Past Perfect (had + verb)
(I, You, We, They, He, She, It) had never gone to that school before.
Future Perfect (will have + verb) (I, You, We, They, He, She, It) will have gone to this school for five years before graduation.
Present Perfect Continuous (have been + ing)
(I, You, We, They) have been going to this school for more than one year.
(He, She, It) has been going to this school for more than one year.
* and are/is still going to this school
Past Perfect Continuous (had been + ing)
(I, You, We, They, He, She, It) had been going to this school before.
Future Perfect Continuous (will have been + ing)
(I, You, We, They, He, She, It) will have been going to this school for five years before graduating.
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