©2002The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Sentence Skills: A Workbook for Sentence Skills: A Workbook for Writers, Form AWriters, Form A

John LanganJohn Langan

Additional Information About VerbsAdditional Information About Verbs

©2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.Sentence Skills, Form A, 7E

Additional Information about Verbs

Additional Information about Verbs

Here are the two areas we’ll discuss in this section:

• Verb Tense

• Verbals

©2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.Sentence Skills, Form A, 7E

Additional Information about Verbs

Verb Tense. . .

. . . tells you the time of the action.

Let’s start with the simple

• present,• past, and• future.

©2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.Sentence Skills, Form A, 7E

Additional Information about Verbs

Present Tense

The present tense tells you that something is happening now.

Example:

Tom counts the sparrows.

?

©2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.Sentence Skills, Form A, 7E

Additional Information about Verbs

Past Tense

The past tense tells you that something happened before.

Example:

Sally counted the sparrows yesterday.

©2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.Sentence Skills, Form A, 7E

Additional Information about Verbs

Future Tense

The future tense tells you that something will happen later.

Example:

Tom and Sally will count the sparrows next weekend

©2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.Sentence Skills, Form A, 7E

Additional Information about Verbs

Verb Tense

But, we can also be a little more specific about time using these other tenses:

•Perfect Tense (Add a form of the verb “have”)

•Progressive Tense (Add a form of the verb “be”)

•Perfect Progressive Tense (Add both the verbs “have” and “be.”)

©2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.Sentence Skills, Form A, 7E

Additional Information about Verbs

Verbals

Verbals are words formed from verbs.

There are three kinds:• Infinitives• Participles• Gerunds

©2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.Sentence Skills, Form A, 7E

Additional Information about Verbs

Verbals

An is formed by adding the word “to” to the base form of the verb.

So, what is the infinitive of the verb “steal”?

Example:

Jesse James loved to steal money from bankers.

“to” + “steal” =

“to steal”

©2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.Sentence Skills, Form A, 7E

Additional Information about Verbs

Verbals

A is a verb form used as an adjective.

The present participle ends in -ing.

The past participle ends in -ed or is irregular.

Example:

Looking over her tax returns, the weeping accountant tugged her bleached hair.

©2002 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.Sentence Skills, Form A, 7E

Additional Information about Verbs

Verbals

A is the -ing

form of a verb used as a noun.

Example:

Bowling is not a sport, because you can smoke while you’re doing it.

Let’s make a gerund out of the verb “bowl.”

“Bowl” + “ing” = “Bowling”