Download VERB and TENSES teaching notes

NOTE
Tenses are quite complicated to teach and usually cannot be done without prior
knowledge of the verb.
Many primary schools teach the principal parts of verbs using the well-known three
columns:
Present
Past
Past Participle
Sing
Break
Jump
sang
broke
jumped
sung
broken
jumped
What often wasn’t told was that the first column gave you the simple present tense,
the second column gave you the simple past tense and the third gave you the perfect
tense form of the verb. The prefect tense will always have ‘have, has or had’ in front
of it. I call the perfect tense the peHerfect tense – to make them remember that it
needs an ‘h’ word as auxiliary verb.
Example: I sing. I sang. I have sung. (I have sung = present perfect tense because
‘have’ is present time. I had sung. = past perfect. I shall have sung. = future prefect.)
It is important to realise that the auxiliary verbs (the verb in front of the
principal/main verb) give you the time. I am walking to school. The ‘am’ tells me
that it is taking place now, so it is present. The –ing tells me it is continuous. So here
the tense is ‘present continuous’. To change it to past continuous, all you do is
change the auxiliary verb ‘am’ to ‘was’. I was walking to school. The future
continuous will be I will be walking to school. The ‘will/shall’ tells me it is future
time and the –ing tells me it is continuous = future continuous.
Better to keep it very simple – see the power point. The following is extra stuff. I
would focus only on the sections I cleverly put into a box.
THE VERB
It is vital to understand the complexities of the VERB.
Deals with sentences, tenses, direct/reported speech,
active/passive voice, concord, ….
Definition: forms the predicate of the subject AND it tells of an
action OR a state of being.
TERMS:
1. Predicate = Fred
is a clever boy.
Subject
Predicate
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2.1 Transitive verb = has an object – action is transferred
John kicks the ball.
The boy bit the dog.
2.2 Intransitive verb = no ‘over-going’ action
John kicks hard.
The bird flies.
3. Auxiliary verb = helps to form the ‘time’ in the tense
was walking / is walking / will be walking
4. Coupling verb = has a complement – reflects back to subject
He is a pupil / he was a teacher
5. Concord = verb agrees with subject
6.1 Present Participle = adjective/verb ending in ‘-ing’ and
gives us the continuous tense
6.2. Past Participle = ends in ‘-en, -ed, -t’ and needs the
auxiliary verbs have/has/had in order to form
the perfect tense.
7. Gerund = noun/verb also ends in “-ing”
8. Tenses - name and time.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
GERUND AND PRESENT PARTICIPLE
Gerund is a verb which can function as a noun – ends in –ing
Swimming / speaking / dancing
Present participle is a verb which can function as an adjective
and ends in –ing
Swimming / speaking / dancing
Identify them by checking the function –
gerund/noun OR present participle/adjective OR principal verb
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“What/who?’ indicates a noun. “Which?” will indicate an
adjective.
1. Swimming is fun. (What is fun? Answer will be a noun or gerund = swimming
functions as a noun)
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
I love swimming.
The swimming team left for the gala. (Which team? – adj.)
Swimming is slimming.
I was swimming yesterday. (the principal verb of the verb cluster)
Swimming fish are alive.
We are swimming in the dam.
Tomorrow she will be swimming in the race.
The swimming pool is empty.
Participle
Adj
verb
Gerund
noun
FINITE AND NON-FINITE VERBS
a. Finite verbs – complete verbs
can be cluster of verbs : should have been running …
1. Transitive verbs : The boy bit the dog. (who? What?)
2. Intransitive verbs: The aeroplane flies.
3. Auxiliary verbs : help to form time in tenses – was running
(‘running’ is the principal verb and ‘was’ the auxiliary verb)
4. Coupling verbs: They were pupils at the school.
NOTE: ‘is’ could be a complete verb OR an auxiliary verb.
b. Non-finite verbs
1. Infinitives : to run / to smile / to sing / …
You to run in the race.
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Needs auxiliary verb ‘have’ to form a finite verb cluster.
NOTE: To run in the hall is wrong. (To run = noun function)
2. Present participle : infinitive and –ing ending. Walking.
I walking to school.
Needs auxiliary verb such as ‘was’ to form finite verb.
3. Past participle : infinitive and –ed, -en, -t, …. . Broken.
He broken the window.
Needs auxiliary verb ‘has’ or ‘had’ to form finite verb.
4. Gerund : infinitive and –ing.
TRANSITIVE AND INTRANSITIVE VERBS
Compare:
1. Rosey chews.
2. Rosey chews greedily.
3. Rosey chews chewing-gum.
Which sentence tells us what she chewed?
1 - does not tell us. Consists only of a principal verb.
2 - ‘greedily’ tells us how she chewed – no object.
3 - tells us what she chewed – object – Transitive Verb.
Transitive means ‘carrying over’.
In the following sentences identify whether they are
Verb Transitive (v.t.) OR Verb Intransitive (v.i.) :
1. Lucy sneered viciously.
2. The nurse smacked the child.
3. He praised the man.
4. John greeted the fireman.
5. John became a fireman.
6. The pony is a fighter.
7. The pony kicked the fighter.
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8. The teacher had to lie down.
9. The hen lay an egg.
PRINCIPAL PARTS OF THE VERB – TENSES
1. Present infinitive:
to go, to walk
2. Present time :go , walk
Simple present.
(He/she/it - add ‘s’ = goes, walks)
3. Past time : went, walked (often add –ed)
Simple past
4. Past participle : needs auxiliary verb Have, Has or Had.
Had gone, had walked
Perfect tense
5. Present participle : needs auxiliary verb to form time
Was going, was walking
Continuous tense
6. Summary of tenses – must have name and time
Simple
Perfect
Continuous
Present:
Kick
Present:
has/have kicked
Present:
is/am kicking
kicked
Past:
had kicked
Past:
was/were kicking
Future
will have kicked
Future:
will be kicking
Past:
Future:
will/shall kick
Simplest form.
Kicked remains –
Only in the ‘future ‘h’ auxiliary verb
tense’ do we add an indicates the time.
Kicking remains –
The auxiliary verb
indicates the time.
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auxiliary verb
– will or shall.
The ‘h’ auxiliary
verb indicates the
‘perfect tense’.
The –ing ending of
principal verb
indicates
‘continuous tense’.
The simple tense – the verb is merely one word except in future
time where we add ‘will/shall’ as auxiliary verb.
He runs. He ran. He will run.
The continuous tense – principal verb ends in ‘-ing’. The
auxiliary verb shows the time.
He is running. He was running. He will be running.
The peHerfect tense – has an auxiliary verb starting with an ‘H’.
This auxiliary verb also indicates the time.
So, to identify tenses you can do the following:
Only one verb and also with only ‘will/shall’ = simple tense.
Ending ‘-ing’ = continuous tense. Now look at auxiliary verb to
indicate time.
An ‘H’ word as auxiliary verb = perfect (peHerfect) tense. This
auxiliary verb also indicates the time.
He has run. He had run. He will have run.
Exercise.
Identify the tense of the following sentences:
1. I walk to the door.
2. I walked to the door.
3. I shall walk to the door.
4. I have walked to the door.
5. I had walked to the door.
6. I shall have walked to the door.
7. I am walking to the door.
8. I was walking to the door.
9. I shall be walking to the door.
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10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
I enjoy eating chocolate.
I have eaten a chocolate.
He had eaten the pie.
John has a car.
John had a car.
John has had a car.
John will have had a car.
Mary is choosing the team.
Mary will be choosing a new team.
Mary has chosen the team.
Mary will have chosen the new team.
Use the following sentence and rewrite it into the tenses as
indicated:
The wind (to blow) fiercely.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Simple present
Simple past
Simple future
Present perfect
Past perfect
Future perfect
Present continuous
Past continuous
Future continuous
The wind blows fiercely. etc
Some additional material - ACTIVE AND PASSIVE
NOTE the tense must remain the same when changing from active to passive.
I was kicking the ball. Was = past -ing = continuous THIS MEANS THAT IN
THE PASSIVE VOICE I MUST HAVE AN –ING AND SOME INDICATION
THAT IT TOOK PLACE IN THE PAST.
The ball was (shows past) being (-ing shows continuous) kicked by me.
The ball is being kicked by me. (is shows present)
The ball will be being kicked by me. (will shows future)
ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOICE
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Transitive verbs have two voices, viz. active and passive.
In the active voice the subject is the ‘do-er’ of the action.
In the passive voice the subject ‘suffers’ the action.
Active : The ball hit the girl.
/ The boy broke the window.
Passive: The girl was hit by the ball. / The window was broken
by the boy.
1. Change the subject and the object.
2. In passive voice the auxiliary verb keeps the same time and
we use the past participle form of the verb.
Examples:
Simple past –active voice
1. Mother baked the cake.
2. I caught that fish.
3. You wrote this letter.
Passive voice – past tense
The cake was baked by mother
That fish was caught by me
This letter was written by you
Past continuous - active
1.Mother was baking the cake
2.I was catching that fish
3.You were writing this letter
Past continuous – passive
The cake was being baked …
That fish was being caught …
This letter was being written ...
Exercise: rewrite into the passive voice.
1. The English fought a famous battle at Marathon.
2. The English are fighting a famous battle at Marathon.
3. You ought to water your garden regularly.
1. A famous battle at Marathon was fought by the English.
2. A famous battle at Marathon is being fought by the English.
3. Your garden ought to be watered regularly.
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ACTIVE
1. The servant is laying the
table
2. The servant was laying the
table
3. The servant has laid the
table
4. The child tears the book.
5. The child tore the book.
PASSIVE
The table is being laid by the
servant.
The table was being laid by the
servant.
The table had been laid by the
servant.
The book is torn by the child.
The book was torn by the
child.
6. The maid hangs up the
The washing is hung up by the
washing.
maid.
7. The maid hung up the
The washing was hung up by
washing.
the maid.
8. The maid has hung up the
The washing has been hung up
washing
by the maid
9. The maid will have hung up The washing will have been
the washing
hung up by the maid.
10. I prefer hockey.
Hockey is preferred by me.