{"id":945,"date":"2017-07-24T14:44:47","date_gmt":"2017-07-24T14:44:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-english1\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=945"},"modified":"2020-08-13T16:44:49","modified_gmt":"2020-08-13T16:44:49","slug":"verb-tenses-and-agreement-2","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-english1v2\/chapter\/verb-tenses-and-agreement-2\/","title":{"raw":"Verb Tenses and Agreement","rendered":"Verb Tenses and Agreement"},"content":{"raw":"<h2 class=\"p1\">Tenses<\/h2>\r\n<p class=\"p1\">There are three standard tenses in English: past, present and future.\u00a0All three of these tenses have simple and more complex forms. For now we'll just focus on the simple present (things happening now), the simple past (things that happened before), and the simple future (things that will happen later).<\/p>\r\n\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Simple Present:<\/b> work(s)<\/span><\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"li2\"><b>Simple Past:<\/b> worked<\/li>\r\n \t<li class=\"li2\"><b>Simple Future:<\/b> will work<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nThe singular third person requires a slightly different present then other persons. Look at the tables below to see the correct tenses for each person:\r\n<table>\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td><strong>Person<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td><strong>Past<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td><strong>Present<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td><strong>Future<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>I<\/td>\r\n<td>verb +\u00a0<em>ed<\/em><\/td>\r\n<td>verb<\/td>\r\n<td>will verb<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>We<\/td>\r\n<td>verb +\u00a0<em>ed<\/em><\/td>\r\n<td>verb<\/td>\r\n<td>will verb<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>You<\/td>\r\n<td>verb +\u00a0<em>ed<\/em><\/td>\r\n<td>verb<\/td>\r\n<td>will verb<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>He, She, It<\/td>\r\n<td>verb +\u00a0<em>ed<\/em><\/td>\r\n<td>verb + <em>s <\/em>(or <em>es<\/em>)<\/td>\r\n<td>will verb<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>They<\/td>\r\n<td>verb +\u00a0<em>ed<\/em><\/td>\r\n<td>verb<\/td>\r\n<td>will verb<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\nLet's look at the verb\u00a0<em>to walk<\/em> for an example:\r\n<table>\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td><strong>Person<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td><strong>Past<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td><strong>Present<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td><strong>Future<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>I<\/td>\r\n<td>walked<\/td>\r\n<td>walk<\/td>\r\n<td>will walk<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>We<\/td>\r\n<td>walked<\/td>\r\n<td>walk<\/td>\r\n<td>will walk<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>You<\/td>\r\n<td>walked<\/td>\r\n<td>walk<\/td>\r\n<td>will walk<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>He, She, It<\/td>\r\n<td>walked<\/td>\r\n<td>walks<\/td>\r\n<td>will walk<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>They<\/td>\r\n<td>walked<\/td>\r\n<td>walk<\/td>\r\n<td>will walk<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<h3>Irregular Verbs<\/h3>\r\nThere are a lot of irregular verbs. Unfortunately, there's a lot of memorization involved in keeping them straight. This video shows\u00a0a few of the irregular verbs\u00a0you'll have to use the most often (<em>to be<\/em>,\u00a0<em>to have<\/em>, <em>to do<\/em>, and\u00a0<em>to say<\/em>):\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/youtu.be\/ZKr--3HpP_A\r\n\r\nHere are the tables for\u00a0<em>to be<\/em> and\u00a0<em>to have<\/em> for a quick reference:\r\n<h4><em>To be<\/em><\/h4>\r\n<table>\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td><strong>Person<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td><strong>Past<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td><strong>Present<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td><strong>Future<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>I<\/td>\r\n<td>was<\/td>\r\n<td>am<\/td>\r\n<td>will be<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>We<\/td>\r\n<td>were<\/td>\r\n<td>are<\/td>\r\n<td>will be<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>You<\/td>\r\n<td>were<\/td>\r\n<td>are<\/td>\r\n<td>will be<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>He, She, It<\/td>\r\n<td>was<\/td>\r\n<td>is<\/td>\r\n<td>will be<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>They<\/td>\r\n<td>were<\/td>\r\n<td>are<\/td>\r\n<td>will be<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<h4><em>To have<\/em><\/h4>\r\n<table>\r\n<tbody>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td><strong>Person<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td><strong>Past<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td><strong>Present<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<td><strong>Future<\/strong><\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>I<\/td>\r\n<td>had<\/td>\r\n<td>have<\/td>\r\n<td>will have<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>We<\/td>\r\n<td>had<\/td>\r\n<td>have<\/td>\r\n<td>will have<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>You<\/td>\r\n<td>had<\/td>\r\n<td>have<\/td>\r\n<td>will have<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>He, She, It<\/td>\r\n<td>had<\/td>\r\n<td>has<\/td>\r\n<td>will have<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<tr>\r\n<td>They<\/td>\r\n<td>had<\/td>\r\n<td>have<\/td>\r\n<td>will have<\/td>\r\n<\/tr>\r\n<\/tbody>\r\n<\/table>\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/textimgs\/Developmental+Reading+and+Writing\/Irregular_Simple_Past_Tense_Verbs.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Here's a list of several irregular past tense verbs.<\/a>\r\n<h3>Tense Agreement<\/h3>\r\n<img class=\"alignright wp-image-2336\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1705\/2017\/04\/06215717\/Screen-Shot-2016-06-21-at-2.39.54-PM-300x246.png\" alt=\"Icon of two speech bubbles; one has a thumbs-up sign in it\" width=\"183\" height=\"150\" \/>The basic idea behind sentence agreement is pretty simple: all the parts of your sentence should match (or <strong>agree<\/strong>).\u00a0Verbs need to agree with their subjects in <strong>number<\/strong> (singular or plural) and in <strong>person<\/strong> (first, second, or third). In order to check agreement, you simply\u00a0need to find the verb and ask who or what is doing the action of that verb, for\u00a0example:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li><strong>I<\/strong> really <strong>am<\/strong> (first-person singular) vs. <strong>We<\/strong> really <strong>are<\/strong> (first-person plural)<\/li>\r\n \t<li>The <strong>boy sings<\/strong> (third-person singular) vs. The <strong>boys sing<\/strong> (third-person plural)<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\nCompound subjects are plural, and their verbs should agree. Look at the following sentence for an example:\r\n\r\nA pencil, a backpack, and a notebook <b>were<\/b> issued to each student.\r\n\r\nVerbs will never agree with nouns that are in phrases. To make verbs agree with their subjects, follow this example:\r\n\r\nThe direction of the three plays <b>is<\/b> the topic of my talk.\r\n\r\nThe subject of \"my talk\" is <i>the direction,<\/i> not <i>plays<\/i>, so the verb should be singular.\r\n\r\nIn the English language, verbs usually come after\u00a0subjects. But when this order is reversed, the writer must make the verb agree with the subject, not with a noun that happens to precede it. For example:\r\n\r\nBeside the house <b>stand<\/b> sheds filled with tools.\r\n\r\nThe subject is <i>sheds<\/i>; it is plural, so the verb must be <i>stand<\/i>.\r\n<h3><span style=\"background-color: #ffffff\">Consistency<\/span><\/h3>\r\nOne of the most common mistakes in writing is a lack of tense consistency. Writers often start a sentence in one tense but ended up in another. Look back at that sentence. Do you see the error? The first verb\u00a0<em>start<\/em> is in the present tense, but\u00a0<em>ended<\/em> is in the past tense. The correct version of the sentence would be \"Writers often start a sentence in one tense but end up in another.\"\r\n\r\nThese mistakes often occur when writers\u00a0change their\u00a0minds halfway through writing the sentence, or when they\u00a0come back and make changes but only end up changing\u00a0half the sentence. It is very important to maintain a consistent tense, not just in a sentence but across paragraphs and pages.\u00a0Decide if\u00a0something happened, is happening, or will happen and then stick with that choice.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/owl.purdue.edu\/owl\/general_writing\/grammar\/verb_tenses\/verb_tense_consistency.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Visit this page<\/a> for more information about verb tense consistency.","rendered":"<h2 class=\"p1\">Tenses<\/h2>\n<p class=\"p1\">There are three standard tenses in English: past, present and future.\u00a0All three of these tenses have simple and more complex forms. For now we&#8217;ll just focus on the simple present (things happening now), the simple past (things that happened before), and the simple future (things that will happen later).<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"li2\"><span class=\"s1\"><b>Simple Present:<\/b> work(s)<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"li2\"><b>Simple Past:<\/b> worked<\/li>\n<li class=\"li2\"><b>Simple Future:<\/b> will work<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The singular third person requires a slightly different present then other persons. Look at the tables below to see the correct tenses for each person:<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Person<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Past<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Present<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Future<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>I<\/td>\n<td>verb +\u00a0<em>ed<\/em><\/td>\n<td>verb<\/td>\n<td>will verb<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>We<\/td>\n<td>verb +\u00a0<em>ed<\/em><\/td>\n<td>verb<\/td>\n<td>will verb<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>You<\/td>\n<td>verb +\u00a0<em>ed<\/em><\/td>\n<td>verb<\/td>\n<td>will verb<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>He, She, It<\/td>\n<td>verb +\u00a0<em>ed<\/em><\/td>\n<td>verb + <em>s <\/em>(or <em>es<\/em>)<\/td>\n<td>will verb<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>They<\/td>\n<td>verb +\u00a0<em>ed<\/em><\/td>\n<td>verb<\/td>\n<td>will verb<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Let&#8217;s look at the verb\u00a0<em>to walk<\/em> for an example:<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Person<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Past<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Present<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Future<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>I<\/td>\n<td>walked<\/td>\n<td>walk<\/td>\n<td>will walk<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>We<\/td>\n<td>walked<\/td>\n<td>walk<\/td>\n<td>will walk<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>You<\/td>\n<td>walked<\/td>\n<td>walk<\/td>\n<td>will walk<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>He, She, It<\/td>\n<td>walked<\/td>\n<td>walks<\/td>\n<td>will walk<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>They<\/td>\n<td>walked<\/td>\n<td>walk<\/td>\n<td>will walk<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h3>Irregular Verbs<\/h3>\n<p>There are a lot of irregular verbs. Unfortunately, there&#8217;s a lot of memorization involved in keeping them straight. This video shows\u00a0a few of the irregular verbs\u00a0you&#8217;ll have to use the most often (<em>to be<\/em>,\u00a0<em>to have<\/em>, <em>to do<\/em>, and\u00a0<em>to say<\/em>):<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-1\" title=\"Introduction to irregular verbs | The parts of speech | Grammar | Khan Academy\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ZKr--3HpP_A?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Here are the tables for\u00a0<em>to be<\/em> and\u00a0<em>to have<\/em> for a quick reference:<\/p>\n<h4><em>To be<\/em><\/h4>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Person<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Past<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Present<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Future<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>I<\/td>\n<td>was<\/td>\n<td>am<\/td>\n<td>will be<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>We<\/td>\n<td>were<\/td>\n<td>are<\/td>\n<td>will be<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>You<\/td>\n<td>were<\/td>\n<td>are<\/td>\n<td>will be<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>He, She, It<\/td>\n<td>was<\/td>\n<td>is<\/td>\n<td>will be<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>They<\/td>\n<td>were<\/td>\n<td>are<\/td>\n<td>will be<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h4><em>To have<\/em><\/h4>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Person<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Past<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Present<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Future<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>I<\/td>\n<td>had<\/td>\n<td>have<\/td>\n<td>will have<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>We<\/td>\n<td>had<\/td>\n<td>have<\/td>\n<td>will have<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>You<\/td>\n<td>had<\/td>\n<td>have<\/td>\n<td>will have<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>He, She, It<\/td>\n<td>had<\/td>\n<td>has<\/td>\n<td>will have<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>They<\/td>\n<td>had<\/td>\n<td>have<\/td>\n<td>will have<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/textimgs\/Developmental+Reading+and+Writing\/Irregular_Simple_Past_Tense_Verbs.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Here&#8217;s a list of several irregular past tense verbs.<\/a><\/p>\n<h3>Tense Agreement<\/h3>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-2336\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1705\/2017\/04\/06215717\/Screen-Shot-2016-06-21-at-2.39.54-PM-300x246.png\" alt=\"Icon of two speech bubbles; one has a thumbs-up sign in it\" width=\"183\" height=\"150\" \/>The basic idea behind sentence agreement is pretty simple: all the parts of your sentence should match (or <strong>agree<\/strong>).\u00a0Verbs need to agree with their subjects in <strong>number<\/strong> (singular or plural) and in <strong>person<\/strong> (first, second, or third). In order to check agreement, you simply\u00a0need to find the verb and ask who or what is doing the action of that verb, for\u00a0example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>I<\/strong> really <strong>am<\/strong> (first-person singular) vs. <strong>We<\/strong> really <strong>are<\/strong> (first-person plural)<\/li>\n<li>The <strong>boy sings<\/strong> (third-person singular) vs. The <strong>boys sing<\/strong> (third-person plural)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Compound subjects are plural, and their verbs should agree. Look at the following sentence for an example:<\/p>\n<p>A pencil, a backpack, and a notebook <b>were<\/b> issued to each student.<\/p>\n<p>Verbs will never agree with nouns that are in phrases. To make verbs agree with their subjects, follow this example:<\/p>\n<p>The direction of the three plays <b>is<\/b> the topic of my talk.<\/p>\n<p>The subject of &#8220;my talk&#8221; is <i>the direction,<\/i> not <i>plays<\/i>, so the verb should be singular.<\/p>\n<p>In the English language, verbs usually come after\u00a0subjects. But when this order is reversed, the writer must make the verb agree with the subject, not with a noun that happens to precede it. For example:<\/p>\n<p>Beside the house <b>stand<\/b> sheds filled with tools.<\/p>\n<p>The subject is <i>sheds<\/i>; it is plural, so the verb must be <i>stand<\/i>.<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"background-color: #ffffff\">Consistency<\/span><\/h3>\n<p>One of the most common mistakes in writing is a lack of tense consistency. Writers often start a sentence in one tense but ended up in another. Look back at that sentence. Do you see the error? The first verb\u00a0<em>start<\/em> is in the present tense, but\u00a0<em>ended<\/em> is in the past tense. The correct version of the sentence would be &#8220;Writers often start a sentence in one tense but end up in another.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>These mistakes often occur when writers\u00a0change their\u00a0minds halfway through writing the sentence, or when they\u00a0come back and make changes but only end up changing\u00a0half the sentence. It is very important to maintain a consistent tense, not just in a sentence but across paragraphs and pages.\u00a0Decide if\u00a0something happened, is happening, or will happen and then stick with that choice.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/owl.purdue.edu\/owl\/general_writing\/grammar\/verb_tenses\/verb_tense_consistency.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Visit this page<\/a> for more information about verb tense consistency.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6525,"menu_order":12,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-945","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":576,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-english1v2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-english1v2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-english1v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-english1v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6525"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-english1v2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1177,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-english1v2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/945\/revisions\/1177"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-english1v2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/576"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-english1v2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/945\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-english1v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-english1v2\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=945"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-english1v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=945"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/suny-fmcc-english1v2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}