Entries for the ‘Verbs’ Category

Progressive Tenses

Tuesday, July 31st, 2007

“Progressive societies outgrow institutions as children outgrow clothes.” - Henry George

Progressive - Going forward or onward; passing successively from one member of a series to the next; proceeding step by step.

Progressive tenses show the continuity of an action instead of its completion. Progressives are often helped by (more…)

Perfect Tenses

Tuesday, July 31st, 2007

“Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It’s perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday.” - John Wayne

Perfect - A verb form expressing action completed prior to a fixed point of reference in time.

Tense - A set of forms indicating a particular time.

Perfect tense is sometimes referred to as “perfective aspect”. Perfect tense talks about an action that occurs at one time but is (more…)

Shall and Will

Tuesday, July 31st, 2007

“Knowing is not enough, you must apply; willing is not enough, you must do.” - Bruce Lee

Shall - plan to, intend to, or expect to.

Will - about to or going to.

Shall is for the first person. Will (or won’t) is used for (more…)

Future Time

Saturday, July 28th, 2007

“Let him who would enjoy a good future waste none of his present.” - Roger Babson

English grammar doesn’t have a future tense like other languages. Instead (more…)

Modal Auxiliaries

Saturday, July 28th, 2007

“Weakness of attitude becomes weakness of character.” - Albert Einstein

Modal auxiliaries - Verbs that express the degree of certainty of the action in the sentence, or the attitude or opinion of the writer concerning the action.

Modal - Noting or pertaining to mood.

Auxiliary - Additional; supplementary; reserve.

Modal auxiliaries express ideas and feelings. They do not change form for different subjects. (more…)