Main Verb Phrases Traditional grammar categorizes verbs by tense, then equates tense with real world time In reality, there are three grammatical concepts indicated in the main verb phrase Tense, Modality, and Aspect

Main Verb Phrases These concepts overlap real-world time, but are not the same thing Why three categories? The three categories occur as distinct forms In other words, they are marked in three different ways in the main verb phrase

Main Verb Phrases The Main Verb Phrase consists of the main verb, plus all the forms that show its tense, modality, and aspect Tense For our purposes, tense is a grammatical concept

Main Verb Phrases Tense determines the form of the verb For historical reasons buried in the past, English is inflected for only two tenses: past and present We show future, but in other ways

Main Verb Phrases Examples: “I walked my dog” (action in the past) “I walk my dog every day” (indicates habitual action) “Her plane leaves in three hours” (indicates future event)

Main Verb Phrases “Then I say . . . , then she says . . . , they I say” ( indicates past event) Tense must occur in a verb phrase serving as a predicate A verb that exhibits tense is said to be finite

Main Verb Phrases A verb that does not exhibit tense is said to be non-finite This is also called the base form

Main Verb Phrases Modality We also classify sentences in English according to purpose Indicative – makes statements “Polynesians ruled Hawaii until 1788”

Main Verb Phrases Interrogative – asks questions “Why does cancer frustrate microbiologists?” Imperative – gives commands “Turn in your homework by noon on Friday”

Main Verb Phrases Conditional - indicates possibility “Women athletes can compete against men in most sports” Normally we make the conditional by adding certain words called modal auxiliaries Page 195 of your book has the list – also on page 106

Main Verb Phrases If a modal auxiliaries occurs, it is always at the beginning of the main verb phrase Since they concern possibility, they have come to be associated with expressing futurity

Main Verb Phrases Aspect Indicates that the action of a verb is either completed or continuing Aspect occurs in two forms: Perfect Progressive

Main Verb Phrases Perfect Indicates completed action It is indicated by the auxiliary HAVE followed by a PAST PARTICIPLE Please note that HAVE = have, has, had, having (page 106)

Main Verb Phrases Examples: “The astrologist had predicted an earthquake in May” This is known as the PAST PERFECT “Political relationships have unraveled on almost every continent”

Main Verb Phrases This is known as the PRESENT PERFECT Note that both sentences refer to completed actions

Main Verb Phrases Therefore, you must understand that the word “past” in PAST PARTICIPLE does not refer to real-world time, but only to the form of HAVE

Main Verb Phrases To construct the PAST PARTICIPLE For regular verbs, add –ed For some, add –n or –en Driven Some don’t change Become - become

Main Verb Phrases Another way to think about it: A PAST PARTICIPLE is the form of the verb that can follow HAVE

Main Verb Phrases Progressive Refers to continuing action It is indicated by auxiliary BE followed by a PRESENT PARTICIPLE BE = be, am, is, are, was, were, been, being (page 106)

Main Verb Phrases Examples: “John Travolta was dancing in Brooklyn” This is known as the PAST PROGRESSIVE “Beth is crying” This is known as the PRESENT PROGRESSIVE

Main Verb Phrases Again the words “past” and “present” refer only to tense form, not real-world time The PRESENT PARTICIPLE is always -ing (no exceptions to this rule)

Main Verb Phrases Please note – don’t be fooled by form “Princess Diana was charming” Here, “charming” is an adjective vs. “The Pope was charming his American audience” Here, “charming” is a PRESENT PARTICIPLE

Main Verb Phrases Page 193 has a table listing the traditional names of English verb forms, along with examples of each We will now use this table to diagram the 12 different traditional English verb forms