Transcript Verb Form, Voice, Person, & Number

Verb Form, Voice, Person, &
Number
In the last slide presentation, you learned about
TENSE & MOOD. In English, there are 6 tenses
& 3 moods.
There are also 3 FORMS, 2 VOICES, 3 PERSONS,
& 2 NUMBERS.
Don’t get scared. You already know about
person & number, & you may already know
about voice.
English has 3 forms:
Simple
Progressive
Emphatic
Form
I speak
I am speaking
I do speak
All of the above are in present tense. We can put all of them in the past
tense:
Simple
Progressive
Emphatic
I spoke
I was speaking
I did speak
We can use the simple & progressive forms in the future tense:
Simple
Progressive
I will speak
I will be speaking
You can’t put the emphatic form in the future. You can’t say
*I will do speak.
Hopefully, you’ve figured out what’s meant by
form and how to identify each of the 3.
Emphatic: has DO or DID as a helping verb.
Progressive: has a tense of TO BE + -ing added to
the verb (the –ing verb is called a present
participle, incidentally)
Simple: the default form (just as indicative is the
default mood)
Spanish has only progressive (estoy hablando) &
simple (hablo). There’s no emphatic.
Voice
There are 2 voices in both English & Spanish: active &
passive.
Active: I threw the glass.
Passive: The glass was thrown.
In the active voice, the subject is doing something. In the
passive voice, something is happening to the subject.
The passive voice always consists of TO BE + the past
participle (the verb you use with “have”: have EATEN—
The banana was eaten; have SUNG—The song was sung)
Both voices can be in ANY tense:
I throw the glass.
The glass is thrown.
The glass was thrown.
The glass will be thrown.
The glass has been thrown.
The glass had been thrown.
I threw the glass.
I will throw the glass.
I have thrown the glass.
I had thrown the glass.
I will have thrown the glass. The glass will have been thrown.
The active voice can also be in any form:
I throw the glass. I do throw the glass. I am throwing the glass.
The passive voice cannot be used in the emphatic form, & the
progressive form can be used but is frequently awkward:
The glass is thrown. The glass is being thrown.
Now that you know how to form the passive voice, you
need to know that it should be avoided in formal
writing. In general, the active voice is considered a
stronger way to write.
But if you’re very clever & very observant, you’ll notice
that I used the passive voice twice in the previous
paragraph. In sentences like “the glass was thrown,” it’s
better to say “I threw the glass.” But in the above
sentences, where the subject isn’t important, passive
voice is OK. I remember writing in high school, “Writers
consider the active voice a stronger way to write,”
because I wasn’t supposed to use the passive voice. But
that’s not quite right, because it’s not just writers—it’s
also English teachers & maybe a few other people. So
there’s no way to write that sentence in the active voice
& make it correct & also make it sound natural.
Person & Number
This is easy. Person is first, second, or third.
I
you
he/she/it
Number is singular or plural:
1st
2nd
3rd
singular
I
you
he/she/it
plural
we
y’all
they
You can identify every very IN CONTEXT by all six
attributes:
He was washing his car.**The books will be published.
Indicative mood
Past tense
Progressive form
Active voice
3rd person
Singular
indicative mood
future tense
simple form
passive voice
3rd person
plural
Now let’s see if you can identify the attributes of the following
verbs.
You do read a lot.
Mood?
Indicative
Tense?
Present
Form?
Emphatic
Voice?
Active
Person?
3rd
Number?
Plural
We had been sitting in the living room.
Mood?
Indicative
Tense?
Past perfect
Form?
Progressive
Voice?
Active
Person?
1st
Number?
Plural
I recommend that he visit Glasgow.
Mood?
Subjunctive
Tense?
Present
Form?
Simple
Voice?
Active
Person?
3rd
Number?
singular
We will visit next year, because the church will have been
finished by then.
Mood?
Indicative
Tense?
Future perfect
Form?
Simple
Voice?
Passive
Person?
3rd
Number?
singular
Smile if you want to get out of a ticket.
Mood?
Imperative
Tense?
Present
Form?
Simple
Voice?
Active
Person?
2nd
Number?
singular