English grammar drills part 18 potx

The six basic verb forms are the base, the present tense, the past tense, the infi nitive, the present participle, and the past participle.. The six forms are illustrated below by the

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Basic Verb Forms

This chapter deals with the six basic verb forms that are used as the raw material to make up the

tense system of English The six basic verb forms are the base, the present tense, the past tense,

the infi nitive, the present participle, and the past participle The next chapter covers the

forma-tion and meaning of the tenses created from these six verb forms and from the modal auxiliary

verbs

All verbs (with the important exceptions of be and the modal auxiliary verbs can, may, must,

shall, and will) have all six of the forms mentioned above The six forms are illustrated below by

the regular verb walk and the irregular verb run:

VERB FORMS

Base Present Past Infi nitive Present Past form tense tense participle participle

We will now look at each of these six forms in detail, seeing how each is formed

Base form

The base form is the form of the verb that is entered into the dictionary For example, if you were

to look up ran in the dictionary, it would refer you to the base form run Since the base form is

identical in nearly all cases to the present tense, it is diffi cult at fi rst to see how one could tell

the base form and present tense apart Fortunately, there is one verb in which the base form and

present-tense forms are different, the verb be:

Person Present-tense form

I am

he/she/it is

we are

they are

We can use the fact that the base form of be is different from all its present-tense forms to

deter-mine when base forms are used There are four places in which the base form is used: (1) to form

infi nitives, (2) after helping verbs when we talk about the future, (3) in imperative sentences

(commands), and (4) as part of the complement of some verbs

Infi nitives

All infi nitives are formed by putting to in front of the base form For example:

to have

to go

to talk

to sing

We can show that these verbs are indeed in the base forms by using the verb be If we substitute

any of the present-tense forms of be, the results are ungrammatical:

to be

X to am

X to are

X to is

Future tenses

The future tense is formed by using a base form after the helping verb will (and other modal

aux-iliary verbs can, may, must, and shall):

will have can go

We can show that these verbs are in the base forms by again using the verb be If we substitute

any of the present-tense forms, the results are again ungrammatical:

will be

X will am

X will are

X will is

Imperatives (commands)

Imperative sentences use the base form of the verb Here are some examples:

Go away!

Oh, stop that!

Answer the question, please.

When we use the verb be, we again see that present-tense forms are ungrammatical when used in

imperatives:

Be careful what you wish for!

X Am careful what you wish for!

X Are careful what you wish for!

X Is careful what you wish for!

Verb complements

Some verbs use base forms as part of their complements Here are some examples:

We made them walk to school.

I let them fi nish early.

John will have the offi ce send you a copy.

When we use the verb be, we again see that the present-tense forms are ungrammatical:

I made them be quiet.

X I made them am quiet.

X I made them are quiet.

X I made them is quiet.

Exercise 8.1

The verbs in the following sentences contain base forms as well as non-base forms Underline the

base forms and confi rm your answer by substituting the verb be for the base form You will need

to change the ending of the sentence to be compatible with the meaning of be.

The weather forecast said that it would rain tonight

The weather forecast said that it would be rainy tonight.

1 Drive carefully when you go home

2 My grandmother let the kids help with the cooking

3 We asked them if they wanted to act in the play

4 The teacher explained what they would do next

5 Alice wants to arrive on time for the party

6 Please make as little noise as you can

7 I thought that the train would arrive late as usual

8 My dog hates it when I have to go away

9 Come early if it is at all possible

10 I love to get invited to these meetings

Present tense

With the exception of the verb be (and the modal auxiliary verbs that we will discuss later in this

chapter), the present tense of all verbs is derived directly from the base form

However, the present tense differs signifi cantly from the base form in that all verbs in the

present tense must enter into a subject-verb agreement relationship with their subjects

(some-thing that base-form verbs can never do) This agreement is most easily seen in the unique use of

the third-person singular -(e)s when the subject noun phrase is a third-person singular pronoun

(he, she, it) or any grammatical structure that can be replaced by a third-person pronoun Here

are some examples of structures that can be replaced by third-person pronouns:

Single noun

She

Anita is going to fl y to Atlanta next week.

Singular noun phrase

He/She

Any person traveling in the Southeast must eventually fl y through Atlanta

Gerund phrase

It

Going anywhere in the Southeast requires you to go through Atlanta

Infi nitive phrase

It

To go anywhere in the Southeast means fl ying through Atlanta

Noun clause

It

Wherever else you want to fly makes no difference

Exercise 8.2

Replace incorrect base-form verbs with third-person singular present-tense verbs Confi rm your

answers by replacing the subject noun phrase with the appropriate third-person pronoun If the

sentence does not require a third-person singular present-tense verb, write OK.

The traffi c code in this city permit a left turn on a red light

The traffic code in this city permits a left turn on a red light.

It permits a left turn on a red light.

1 The econ class meet in room 103.

2 Knowing what to do be not the same as actually doing it

3 My son always want to eat the same thing every day

4 The train on track 2 only stop at Philadelphia and Washington

5 What the article said about the economy make a lot of sense to me

6 My wife commute to the city by train every day

7 The car that he was asking me about be an old Alfa Romeo

8 What happened only prove that I was right all along

9 The entire company shut down between Christmas and New Year’s

10 The couple in the apartment above me always play their TV too loud

While it is easy to see that third-person singular verbs enter into subject-verb agreement rela-tionships with their subjects, we should not forget that all other forms (other than third-person

singular) of the present tense equally enter into subject-verb agreement even though the verb does

not change form For example, the verbs in the following sentences all enter into a subject-verb

relationship with their subjects:

I refuse to answer the phone (fi rst-person singular pronoun subject)

The books on the desk have to be returned (plural noun phrase subject)

The third-person singular -(e)s is quite regular in pronunciation (the few irregular forms

are discussed below) It follows the same rules for pronunciation as the plural endings on regular

nouns

If the base ends in a sibilant sound, the ending is pronounced as a separate syllable /Ez/

rhym-ing with buzz Here are examples of the most common sibilant sounds that this rule applies to:

/s/ (sometimes spelled -ce) pass-passes; discuss-discusses; race-races; rinse-rinses

/š/ wish-wishes; rush-rushes; blush-blushes; splash-splashes

/č/ (spelled -ch or -tch) watch-watches; switch-switches; branch-branches

/ǰ/ (spelled -ge or -dge) rage-rages; page-pages; dodge-dodges

/z/ buzz-buzzes; phase-phases; raise-raises; lose-loses; cruise-cruises

If the verb ends in a voiceless consonant sound other than a sibilant, the ending is pronounced

/s/ The voiceless consonants are usually spelled p, t, k, ck, f, gh (if pronounced /f/) Here are some

examples:

back backs cough coughs cut cuts hop hops walk walks

If the verb ends in a vowel or a voiced consonant sound, the ending is pronounced /z/ For example:

call calls come comes read reads run runs row rows see sees snow snows

There are a few verbs with irregular third-person singular forms The most common, of

course, is be, with is as its third-person singular form.

The verb have is also irregular in the third-person singular:

have has