Transcript Verb Usage - Gordon State College

Verb Usage
Form, Voice, Mood
There’s a bit more to know about verbs in addition to tense. Let’s start with
form.
English verbs have 3 forms: simple, progressive, emphatic. Progressive has
a form of “to be” + the –ing form (called the “present participle”) of the
verb:
I am reading
We were helping
He is listening
They are watching
If you google “tenses,” you will find that some people say that English has
12 tenses, because they consider the progressive form verbs to be tenses.
This doesn’t make much sense, because there is really no time difference
between, for example, the simple past & the past progressive:
Yesterday I ate lunch at noon
Yesterday I was eating lunch at noon.
This is a difference of ASPECT, a difference we talked about in the previous
presentation regarding the difference between the past tense & the
present perfect.
simple
progressive
I eat
I ate
I will eat
I have eaten
I had eaten
I will have eaten
I am eating
I was eating
I will be eating
I have been eating
I had been eating
I will have been eating
Identify the progressive form verbs in the following excerpt from Twilight. Warning: not all
verbs that end with –ing are progressive form verbs. In order to be a progressive, it must
be preceded by a form of “to be” (is, are, was, were, be, being, been, am).
My mother drove me to the airport with the windows rolled down. It was
seventy-five degrees in Phoenix, the sky a perfect, cloudless blue. I was wearing my favorite
shirt – sleeveless, white eyelet lace; I was wearing it as a farewell gesture. My carry-on item
was a parka….
It was to Forks that I now exiled myself – an action that I took with
great horror. I detested Forks.
I loved Phoenix. I loved the sun and the blistering heat. I loved the vigorous,
sprawling city.
When I landed in Port Angeles, it was raining. I didn’t see it as an omen – just
unavoidable. I’d already said my goodbyes to the sun.
Charlie was waiting for me with the cruiser. This I was expecting, too. Charlie is
Police Chief Swan to the good people of Forks. My primary motivation behind buying a car,
despite the scarcity of my funds, was that I refused to be driven around town in a car with
red and blue lights on top. Nothing slows down traffic like a cop.
Charlie gave me an awkward, one-armed hug when I stumbled my way off the plane.
“It’s good to see you, Bells,” he said, smiling as he automatically caught and steadied me.
“You haven’t changed much. How’s Renée?”
My mother drove me to the airport with the windows rolled down. It was seventyfive degrees in Phoenix, the sky a perfect, cloudless blue. I was wearing my favorite shirt –
sleeveless, white eyelet lace; I was wearing it as a farewell gesture. My carry-on item was a
parka….
It was to Forks that I now exiled myself – an action that I took with great
horror. I detested Forks.
I loved Phoenix. I loved the sun and the blistering heat. I loved the vigorous,
sprawling city.
When I landed in Port Angeles, it was raining. I didn’t see it as an omen – just
unavoidable. I’d already said my goodbyes to the sun.
Charlie was waiting for me with the cruiser. This I was expecting, too. Charlie is
Police Chief Swan to the good people of Forks. My primary motivation behind buying a car,
despite the scarcity of my funds, was that I refused to be driven around town in a car with
red and blue lights on top. Nothing slows down traffic like a cop.
Charlie gave me an awkward, one-armed hug when I stumbled my way off the plane.
“It’s good to see you, Bells,” he said, smiling as he automatically caught and steadied me.
“You haven’t changed much. How’s Renée?”
The second form is the emphatic form. That’s when we
use “do,” “does,” or “did” + infinitive (- to) for emphasis:
I do believe you.
simple
I eat broccoli.
I ate broccoli.
emphatic
I do eat broccoli.
I did eat broccoli.
While you can use the progressive form in all 6 tenses,
you can use the emphatic form only with the present &
past, as above. We can’t say, “I do will eat” or “I do have
eaten.”
You may have figured out the third form: simple.
The progressive is “to be” + -ing; the emphatic is
do/does/did + infinitive (- “to”); and the simple is
everything else.
simple
I sing
I sang
I will sing
I have sung
I had sung
I will have sung
progressive
emphatic
I am singing
I do sing
I was singing
I did sing
I will be singing
I have been singing
I had been singing
I will have been singing
Voice
There are 2 different voices in English: active & passive. “Voice” has to do with the
relationship between the subject & the verb. ACTIVE voice means that the subject is
doing the action:
Carlos sneezed.
Elizabeth bought a cat.
Thomas read the book.
PASSIVE voice means that something happens to the subject:
The cat was bought by Elizabeth.
Tom was struck by a car.
The candy was sold for $5.00 a pound.
Note that a passive voice verb ALWAYS has a form of “to be” + past participle. It can
be in any tense:
Cars are sold every day here.
Cars were sold every day here.
Cars will be sold every day here.
Cars have been sold every day here.
Cars had been sold every day here.
Cars will have been sold every day here.
Chances are great that a professor has marked a passive voice verb on one of your papers.
Passive voice is considered a weak form of writing. Why say,
The cat was bought by Elizabeth
when you can say,
Elizabeth bought the cat
So when you reread & edit your papers, you need to look for passive voice verbs & see if
you can change them to active voice. There are some where it just isn’t natural:
The Old Testament was written before the birth of Christ.
How would you put that in active voice? That would be tough, because the Old Testament
had about 50 authors. In general, if the person who would be the subject just isn’t
important, passive voice is OK:
I am very happy that my entire pie was eaten at the picnic.
Look at the mosquito bites on that child’s arms! How many times was she bitten?
Now, we can put those sentences into the active voice if we absolutely have to, but it
would be an effort to make them sound natural:
I am very happy that the people at the picnic ate all my pie.
How many times did mosquitos bite the child’s arms?
That’s definitely not how we talk about mosquito bites, & the other sentence sounds more
natural in the passive voice as well. But if you have a professor who absolutely refuses to
let you have ANY passive voice verbs, you need to know how to change it to active voice.
Identify all the passive voice verbs in this excerpt from Harry Potter & the Chamber
of Secrets. The excerpt has a lot of phrases & clauses, so be sure you match the
subject with the correct verb. This may take a little more time & thought than
you’ve spent identifying other items in previous exercises. Don’t give this just a
passing glance. While passive voice isn’t the most important grammar item, you
need to be able to recognize it.
October arrived, spreading a damp chill over the grounds and into the castle. Madam
Pomfrey, the nurse, was kept busy by a sudden spate of colds among the staff and students.
Her Pepperup potion worked instantly, though it left the drinker smoking at the ears for
several hours afterward. Ginny Weasley, who had been looking pale, was bullied into taking
some by Percy. The steam pouring from under her vivid hair gave the impression that her
whole head was on fire.
Raindrops the size of bullets thundered on the castle windows for days on end; the lake
rose, the flower beds turned into muddy streams, and Hagrid's pumpkins swelled to the size
of garden sheds. Oliver Wood's enthusiasm for regular training sessions, however, was not
dampened, which was why Harry was to be found, late one stormy Saturday afternoon a
few days before Halloween, returning to Gryffindor Tower, drenched to the skin and
splattered with mud.
Even aside from the rain and wind it hadn't been a happy practice session. Fred and George,
who had been spying on the Slytherin team, had seen for themselves the speed of those
new Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones. They reported that the Slytherin team was no more
than seven greenish blurs, shooting through the air like missiles.
October arrived, spreading a damp chill over the grounds and into the castle. Madam
Pomfrey, the nurse, was kept busy by a sudden spate of colds among the staff and students.
Her Pepperup potion worked instantly, though it left the drinker smoking at the ears for
several hours afterward. Ginny Weasley, who had been looking pale, was bullied into taking
some by Percy. The steam pouring from under her vivid hair gave the impression that her
whole head was on fire.
Raindrops the size of bullets thundered on the castle windows for days on end; the lake
rose, the flower beds turned into muddy streams, and Hagrid's pumpkins swelled to the
size of garden sheds. Oliver Wood's enthusiasm for regular training sessions, however, was
not dampened, which was why Harry was to be found, late one stormy Saturday afternoon
a few days before Halloween, returning to Gryffindor Tower, drenched to the skin and
splattered with mud.
Even aside from the rain and wind it hadn't been a happy practice session. Fred and
George, who had been spying on the Slytherin team, had seen for themselves the speed of
those new Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones. They reported that the Slytherin team was no
more than seven greenish blurs, shooting through the air like missiles.
This phrase may have tripped you up. “Harry was found” would be passive voice; however,
since what follows “was” is an infinitive, not a past participle, it’s not passive voice.
If you misidentified anything else, check for both a form of “to be” (is, are, was, were, be,
being, been, am) + a past participle (have BROKEN, have EATEN, have SEEN, etc.).
Mood
Mood shows the speaker’s attitude about what he’s saying.
That’s clear, right? Let’s look at the three moods. Two will be very easy for
you.
The imperative mood is commands:
Sit down.
Eat your lunch.
Turn right at the corner.
Those are easy for us to recognize. We’re giving instructions, & the subject
is an understood “you”: (You) sit down!
The indicative mood is the default mood. That is, if it’s not imperative &
not subjunctive (the third mood), it’s indicative. The vast majority of verbs
you use & hear are indicative. Until this slide, where you see examples of
the imperative mood, every verb in this presentation was indicative mood.
In fact, it’s a pretty safe bet that every verb in this entire grammar series
thus far has been in the indicative or the imperative (where you were given
instructions to do something) mood, with no verbs at all in the subjunctive
mood.
Now for the illusive subjunctive mood. First of all, it’s used in contrary-to-fact
clauses:
If I were you (but I’m not), I’d take the job.
If it were raining (but it’s not), we’d stay home.
Contrast that with other “if” statements where we don’t know if the condition is
true or not:
If it’s raining (I don’t know if it is), they’ll cancel the game.
If you’re the teacher (I don’t know if you are), I need you to sign this.
The subjunctive is also used when someone is trying to influence something or
someone else:
I suggest he study (not studies) more.
I move that the meeting be (not is) adjourned.
When you use it with an “if,” you use “were”; when you use it to show someone
trying to use influence, you use the infinitive –(minus) “to.”
It’s good to recognize the subjunctive & be familiar with it. But it’s been fading
from use for years. Still, using “were” in contrary-to-fact clauses is something
educated people do, & of course, “I move that the meeting be adjourned,” is
regularly used in business meetings.
Identify the verb’s tense, form, mood, & voice.
The boy has eaten all his vegetables.
Tense?
Present perfect
Form?
Simple
Mood?
Indicative
Voice?
Active
The kids were singing a familiar song.
Tense?
Past
Form?
Progressive
Mood?
Indicative
Voice?
Active
The pizza will be baked in a stone oven.
Tense?
future
Form?
simple
Mood?
indicative
Voice?
passive
Do your homework before midnight.
Tense?
present
Form?
simple (Don’t be fooled by the word “do”; here it’s the MAIN verb.)
Mood?
imperative
Voice?
active
He did see his girlfriend’s parents.
Tense?
past
Form?
emphatic
Mood?
indicative
Voice?
active
Every bite of that cake will have been eaten by the time the guests leave.
Tense?
future perfect (“Will” makes it future; “have” + “been”—which is the past
participle of “to be”—make it perfect.)
Form?
simple
Mood?
indicative
Voice?
passive
I always insist that my son clean his room.
Tense?
present
Form?
simple
Mood?
subjunctive
Voice?
active
The children had been making sugar cookies.
Tense?
past perfect
Form?
progressive
Mood?
indicative
Voice?
active