VERBS AND VERB TENSE

Chapter 10 – Using Verbs Correctly Basic Past, Present, and Future Tense Explained Page 236-245 + Irregular Verbs and ESL Tips!

Consistent Verb Tense When we write, we need to keep our verb tense consistent unless there we shift to talking about a different time and it makes sense to change the tense. (See p. 240) This is a required (meaning correct, appropriate) tense shift: Even though she cleans the counter every day, (present – habitual action) she found ants in her kitchen last week. (past)

Consistent Tense Cont. This is an unnecessary, incorrect tense shift: I went to Disneyland last week. We go on all of the rides and buy souvenirs. How can we correct this sentence?

Consistent Tense Incorrect: I went to Disneyland last week. We go on all of the rides and buy souvenirs. Correct: I went to Disneyland last week. We went on all of the rides and bought souvenirs. The present tense verbs “go” and “buy” have been changed to reflect the fact that these events happened in the past (last week). I go to Disneyland every week. We go on all of the rides and buy souvenirs. I will go to Disneyland next week. We will go on all the rides. We will buy souvenirs.

Practice: As a class, we will do the 10 sentence exercise at the bottom of page 245 Make the verb tense consistent, and choose the tense that makes the most sense with what the sentence is saying. On your own, do Exercise 9-10 on page 246 This exercise includes shifts in person, number, and verb tense. Write the sentence correctly, and underline your correction. One of the sentences is already correct. Write “correct” beside that one.

Subject-Verb Agreement This is a problem area that occurs mostly with present tense verbs and third person nouns. Singular subjects = add an "s" or an "es" onto the end of the verb base  Plural subjects = no "s" Example: The student likes the teacher. The students like the teacher.

Tricky Subject-Verb Agreement P. 247 lists four situations where subject-verb agreement can be tricky: 1. Verbs that come before their subjects. Ex: There are three spiders on the floor. 2. Words are placed between the subject and the verb. Ex: The group of football players practices every afternoon. The football team practices every afternoon. The football players practice every afternoon. 3. Compound subjects (treat like a plural – no “s” on the verb) Rachel and Tina study before each test.

More Verb Tenses: Most of you know about simple past, simple present, and simple future tenses. Two of the most basic forms verbs take in English are the base (present tense) verb and the past tense form. (Add –ed to the base for regular verbs.) Example: work (present) and worked (past)

New Verb Forms Now, we're going to add two more verb forms: (There is a list of the different tenses on p. 525) These forms are called The Present Participle The Past Participle

The Present Participle The PRESENT PARTICIPLE of a verb is formed by adding –ing to the base of the verb. Simple present tense: drive Present Participle: is driving Remember, -ing verbs (present participles) MUST have helping verbs accompanying them. Wrong: The mayor running for reelection. This sentence is missing a helping verb. Right: The mayor is running for reelection. Added the helping verb "is."

The Past Participle The PAST PARTICIPLE of a verb is the form of the verb used with the helping verbs have, has, or had. For most verbs in English, the past participle of a verb is spelled the same way as the simple past form of the verb. Example: I have copied the chapter from the book so I can read it later. However, many verbs in English have irregular past participles. (List on p. 524) Example: I have spoken to the landlord about the problem. “spoken” is the past participle of “speak”

The Perfect Tenses Verb tenses using the Past Participle are called PERFECT TENSES. PRESENT PERFECT TENSE talks about an action that, at the present time, has already been completed. (Highlights the fact that the action is already done.) How to use it: Have/has + past participle I have finished my courses and I will receive my degree next week.

Perfect Tense Continued PAST PERFECT TENSE talks about an action that was completed in the past by the time that some other action happened. How to use it: Had + past participle By the time that I noticed the door was open, the three dogs had escaped. FUTURE PERFECT TENSE talks about an action that WILL BE completed in the future by some specific time in the future. . How to use it: Will +have + past participle In October, I will have owned my car for three years. (October is in the future…) When she comes back from her vacation, she will have spent three weeks in Hawaii. (She isn't back yet.)

Break Time!

Preparing to Write Your Rough Draft Create an Outline

Discuss Outline vs Rough Drafts Discuss differences between freewrites and paragraph rough drafts (which both use full sentences) and outlines (which often do not use full sentences but rather use words and phrases to stand-in for the full paragraph which will be written later). This allows you to quickly see your main points of support and what order they should go in.

Handy Tips Readers often pay the most attention to the points presented at the beginning of the text. BUT they also remember more easily what they read last. This is why introductions and conclusions are so important. Think of the outline as your writing plan. Remember readers often pay most attention to points presented at the beginning of a text, and if you present your most significant point first, it is likely to have the most profound impact on your reader. Develop your major points in descending order of importance. Think of the outline as your writing plan. It will make writing your draft easier.

Types of Outlines Scratch Chunking Topic and Sentence Outlines A scratch outline is a list of the essay’s main points. A scratch outline is helpful for brainstorming and for in-class essays. 2. Chunking: In chunking you use headings to describing the major points to be covered in the final document. The blocks of text under each heading are generally the same length. Chunking is very helpful in making a large task more manageable, by dividing the paper into smaller sections. The headings can later be taken out. 3. Topic and Sentence Outlines: They follow a conventional format of numbered and lettered headings and subheadings. Topic outlines simply name the topics and subtopics, whereas sentence outlines use complete or abbreviated sentences.

How do I develop an outline? First, Think! Determine the purpose of the paper – what are your trying to SAY about the connection between a specific culture/subculture and identity? Determine the audience you are writing for – a semi-academic audience of people who are somewhat familiar with the cultures/subcultures you are talking about, but might not have as much detail or perspective as you do. Develop the thesis of your paper – If you could compress the main point of your paper into one carefully crafted sentence, what would it be? First: determine the purpose of the paper (understand the assignment), determine the audience you are writing for, develop the thesis of your paper or at least have a working thesis.

Then, Get to Work! Brainstorm List all the ideas or points you want to include in your paper. Organize Group related ideas together Order Arrange material in subsections based around the points you are making Label Create main headings and subheadings. Labeling your paragraphs can help you to FOCUS them.

Work on Your Outlines: Get out your prompts. Look at the back of the prompt. Now that you know what your topic is, begin working on your essay outline. Use the outline form I have given you to help guide your essay outline. You will turn this in later, but not yet. Don’t lose it! Keep bringing it to class.