The Six Tenses: Subject-Verb Agreement Writing in the Disciplines (WID) G. Griggs & B. Morales

Verb Tenses Tenses represent the time of the action, which is indicated by a verb. PRESENT The baby cries. PRESENT PERFECT The baby has cried. PAST The baby cried. PAST PERFECT The baby had cried earlier. FUTURE The baby will cry later. FUTURE PERFECT The baby will have cried before sleeping. 2

Present Tense: present action or action that occurs always, repeatedly, or habitually The children are ready to leave for school. David and Samuel take a bus every day. David and Samuel take a bus every day. Roxana eats cereal for breakfast. Roxana eats cereal for breakfast. Manuel rides his bike to school. Manuel rides his bike to school. Jaime fishes with his grandfather on Saturdays. Jaime fishes with his grandfather on Saturdays. The girls swim and dive at the community pool. The girls swim and dive at the community pool. 3

Present Tense Tip! Third Person Singular (with –s) Third Person Plural (without –s) Edgardo runsThey run María swimsThey swim The article explainsThe books explain My teacher wantsThe supervisors want The magazine describesThe authors describe 4

He has written a text message to his friend. (CM) I have lived in Yauco for 10 years. (CNG) They have been friends for five years. (____) Felix has broken the 10 K world’s record. (____) Brenda has brought a cake to the party. (____) We have felt sick for two days. (____) Present Perfect Tense: Action completed (CM) at the present time or continuing (CNG) into the present Have or has + past participle (verb + -ed, -d, -t, -en, or -n CNG CM CNG 5

Exercises Present ( Pr ) & Present Perfect ( PrP ) 1. Juan __________ a hamburger. 2. Juan __________ a hamburger. 3. Yomi _________ the ball. 4. Yomi _________ the ball. 5. Susan _________ over the fence. 6. Susan _________ over the fence. 7. I ___________ every day. 8. I ___________ every day. Eat (Pr) Eat (PrP) Catch (Pr) Catch (PrP) Jump (Pr) Jump (PrP) Write (Pr) Write (PrP) eats has eaten has caught jumps has jumped have written write catches 6

Past Tense: A definite completed action in the past The children left for school. David and Samuel took a bus every day. David and Samuel took a bus every day. Roxana ate cereal for breakfast. Roxana ate cereal for breakfast. Manuel rode his bike to school. Manuel rode his bike to school. Jaime fished with his grandfather on Saturdays. Jaime fished with his grandfather on Saturdays. The girls swam and dove at the community pool. The girls swam and dove at the community pool. 7

Past Tense Tip! SingularPlural I ran; Edgardo ranWe ran; They ran I swam, María swamWe swam; They swam The article explainedThe books explained My teacher wantedThe supervisors wanted The magazine describedThe authors described 8

He had written a text message to his friend yesterday. I had lived in Yauco for 10 years before I moved to Lajas. They had been friends for five years when I met them. Felix had broken the world’s record before Pedro. Brenda had brought a cake to the party that day. We had felt sick for two days during our vacation. Past Perfect Tense: Action completed before a stated or known time in the past Had + Past Participle (verb + -ed, -d, -t, -en, or -n 9

Exercises Past ( Pa ) & Past Perfect ( PaP ) 1. Juan __________ a hamburger. 2. Juan __________ a hamburger. 3. Yomi _________ the ball. 4. Yomi _________ the ball. 5. Susan _________ over the fence. 6. Susan _________ over the fence. 7. I ___________ every day. 8. I ___________ every day. Eat (Pa) Eat (PaP) Catch (Pa) Catch (PaP) Jump (Pa) Jump (PaP) Write (Pa) Write (PaP) ate had eaten had caught jumped had jumped had written wrote caught 10

Future Tense: Action that has not yet occurred but will take place in the future (uses “Will” or “going to”) The children are going to leave for school. David and Samuel will take a bus every day. David and Samuel will take a bus every day. Roxana is going to eat cereal for breakfast. Roxana is going to eat cereal for breakfast. Manuel will ride his bike to school. Manuel will ride his bike to school. Jaime will fish with his grandfather on Saturdays. Jaime will fish with his grandfather on Saturdays. The girls will swim and dive at the community pool. The girls will swim and dive at the community pool. 11

Future Tense Tip! I am going to run; Edgardo will run We are going to run; They will run I will swim, María is going to swim We will swim; They are going to swim The article will explain / is going to explain The articles will explain /are going to explain My teacher will want / is going to want The supervisors will want /are going to want The magazine will describe / is going to describe The authors will describe / are going to describe 12

He will have written a text message to his friend by noon. I will have lived in Yauco for 10 years this September. They will have been married for five years next week. Felix will have broken the world’s record for 2 years. Brenda will have brought a cake to the party tomorrow. We will have felt sick for two days tomorrow. Future Perfect Tense: Action that will be complete before a known time in the future Will have + Past Participle (verb + -ed, -d, -t, -en, or -n 13

Exercises Future ( F ) & Future Perfect (F P ) 1. Juan __________ a hamburger. 2. Juan __________ a hamburger. 3. Yomi _________ the ball. 4. Yomi _________ the ball. 5. Susan _________ over the fence. 6. Susan _________ over the fence. 7. I ___________ every day. 8. I ___________ every day. Eat (F) Eat (FP) Catch (F) Catch (FP) Jump (F) Jump (FP) Write (F) Write (FP) will eat will have eaten will have caught will jump will have jumped will have written will write is going to catch 14

Summary 1. The present tense is used for actions in the present or actions that occurs repeatedly 2. Third person singular takes a singular verb (with –s) 3. Third person plural takes a plural verb (without –s) 4. The present perfect tense indicates an action completed in the present or continuing into the present 5. The present perfect tense uses “have” or “has” with the past participle of the verb (regular verb ending in -ed, -d, -t, -en, or –n) 15

Summary 6. The past tense indicates that an action was completed in the past 7. Add –d or –ed to regular verbs in the past tense. 8. Irregular verb tenses are tricky and must be learned. 9. The past perfect tense indicates that an action was completed before a stated or known time in the past 10. The past perfect tense uses “had” + the past participle of the verb (regular verb + -ed, -d, -t, -en, or –n) 16

Summary 11. The future tense indicates an action that has not yet occurred but will take place in the future 12. The future tense uses “will” or the proper present tense of “be” with “going to” and the verb. 13. The future perfect tense indicates an action that will be complete before a known time in the future. 14. The future perfect tense uses “will have” + the past participle of the verb (regular verb + -ed, -d, -t, -en, -n). 15. For irregular verbs, see the irregular verbs handout. 17