Regular and Irregular Verbs

Most verbs are regular verbs. This means that they form the past tense merely by adding -ed, -d, or -t to the main verb: climb, climbed. This simple procedure makes regular verbs easy to identify. Some verbs, however, do not form their past tense in this regular way. For this reason they are called irregular verbs. Most irregular verbs form the past tense by having a vowel spelling change in the word: sing, sang, sung or eat, ate, eaten. To decide if a verb is regular or irregular, remember to do these five things: 1. Do not use helping verbs because they do not determine whether a verb is regular or irregular. 2. Look only at the main verb because the main verb determines whether a verb is regular or irregular. 3. Decide how the main verb is made past tense: (-ed, -d, or -t ending) or (vowel spelling change). 4. If the main verb is made past tense with an -ed, -d -t ending, it is a regular verb. (climb, climbed) 5. If the main verb is made past tense with a vowel spelling change, it is an irregular verb. (sing, sang, sung) There are about seventy irregular verbs. A partial listing of the most common irregular verbs is on the irregular verb chart. Refer to this chart whenever necessary. Practice: Identify each verb as regular or irregular and put R or I in the blank. Then write the past tense of it. See if you only add ed, d, or t, of if you have to change a vowel. Those considerations will help you choose correctly.

Verb Tenses
When you are writing paragraphs, you must use verbs that are in the same tense. Tense means time. The tense of a verb helps show the time of the action. Verbs change from one tense to another tense depending on when the action takes place so that you can tell whether something is happening now, has happened in the past, or will happen in the future. There are six tenses that you use every day in your speaking and writing. These six tenses are present tense, past tense, future tense, present perfect tense, past perfect tense, and future perfect tense. Simple Tenses The present, past, and future tenses are called the simple tenses. 1. The simple present tense tells what happens now. (Examples: We climb over the rocks. We eat dinner.) A. Identify simple present tense verbs by their singular form -s or -es endings (climbs, eats) or by their plural form no -s or -es ending (climb, eat). B. Simple present tense verbs have a singular form and a plural form. C. No helping verbs are used with the simple present tense verbs. 2. The simple past tense tells what happened before now. (Examples: We climbed over the rocks. We ate dinner.) A. Identify past tense verbs by their -ed, -d, -t endings (climbed) or by their irregular past tense spelling (ate). B. Past tense verbs do not have a singular or plural form. C. No helping verbs are used with the simple past tense verbs. 3. The future tense tells what will happen later. (Examples: I will climb over the rocks. We will eat dinner.)

A. Identify future tense verbs by the helping verbs will or shall (will/shall climb, will/shall eat). B. Future tense verbs do not have a singular or plural form. C. Only the helping verbs will or shall can be used with the simple future tense.

Perfect Tenses The perfect tenses include the present perfect, the past perfect, and the future perfect. You can identify the perfect tenses easily by following the guidelines below. 1. Present perfect tense verbs are identified only by the helping verbs has or have. A. The helping verb has is singular, and the helping verb have is plural. B. Use has or have with a main verb. (has finished, have finished - has eaten, have eaten) 2. Past perfect tense verbs are identified only by the helping verb had. A. The helping verb had does not have a singular or plural form because it is past tense. B. Use had with a main verb. (had finished - had eaten). 3. Future perfect tense verbs are identified only by the helping verbs will have. A. Future perfect tense verbs do not have a singular or plural form. B. Use will/shall have with a main verb, (will have finished, shall have finished - will have eaten, shall have eaten) When you tell about something that is happening in two time periods, one earlier than the other, you will use the perfect tenses. The word perfect means something that is completed. Therefore, all perfect tenses tell about something that began at an earlier time and that is completed in a present, past, or future time. 4. The present perfect tense tells about an action that has begun in the past but is completed in the present. (Examples: He has finished his homework. We have eaten our dinner.) 5. The past perfect tense tells about an action that was completed before another event, which was also in the past. (Examples: He had finished his homework before Mom came home. We had eaten our dinner before company arrived.)

6. The future perfect tense tells about an action that will be completed at a certain time in the future. (Examples: By Friday, he will have finished his homework. We will have eaten our dinner by game time.) Practice: Underline each verb or verb phrase. Identify the verb tense by telling if it is present, past, future, present perfect, past perfect, or future perfect. Then circle R or I for regular or irregular verb status.

Guidelines for Finding the Simple and Perfect Tenses When you are writing paragraphs, it is best to keep your writing in the same tense. Simple and perfect tenses are used together to keep writing in the same tense. You are allowed to make a reference to another time frame by using other tenses to make that reference. Therefore, it is important to know how to recognize what determines the tense of each sentence you write. You have learned about the six tenses: the three simple tenses and the three perfect tenses. To keep from becoming confused about what tense you are in, just train yourself to quickly recognize four things: 1. If there is only one verb in a sentence, the tense will be either simple present or simple past. 2. If there is a will or shall helping verb with a main verb, the tense will be simple future. 3. If there is a has, have or had helping verb with a main verb, the tense will be either present perfect or past perfect. 4. If there is a will or shall plus the helping verb have with a main verb, the tense will be future perfect tense. If you have a verb phrase, it is the helping verb, not the main verb that determines the tense. If you have a present perfect tense helping verb, your writing will be in present perfect tense even though a main verb has an -ed ending. Use the regular verb examples below and the helping verb chart at the bottom of the page to help you learn the simple and perfect tenses. (Present tense and past tense are not included in the helping verb chart because there are no helping verbs with the simple present and past tenses.) _______________________________________________________________________ _______ Simple Present Tense: What to look for: one verb with -s, -es, or plain ending. 1. He walks to the park.

2. They walk to the park. Simple Past Tense: What to look for: one verb with -ed ending. 3. He walked to the park. 4. They walked to the park. Simple Future Tense: What to look for: will or shall with a main verb. 5. He will walk to the park. 6. They shall walk to the park. _______________________________________________________________________ ______ Present Perfect Tense: What to look for: has or have with a main verb. 1. He has walked to the park. 2. They have walked to the park. Past Perfect Tense: What to look for: had with a main verb. 3. He had walked to the park. 4. They had walked to the park. Future Perfect: What to look for: will/shall have with a main verb. 5. He will have walked to the park. 6. They shall have walked to the park. _______________________________________________________________________ _______ Study the conjugation of the verb climb below. Use it as an example as you conjugate other verbs. Example of the Conjugation of the Verb climb Present Past Future Perfect No HV No HV will or shall have Singular/Plural climbs / climb climbed will climb climbed shall climb climbed Present Perfect has or have Past Perfect had Future will/shall

has climbed have climbed

had climbed

will have shall have

Principal Parts of Verbs

Every verb has four principal parts, or basic forms that are used to make the six different tenses of verbs. In order to speak and write correctly, you must learn how to use the principal parts to form the different verb tenses with ease and confidence. The four principal parts are called present, past, past participle, and present participle. Study the principal parts and examples below. Principal Parts Regular Verbs made_______________________ Present climb Past climbed Past participle climbed Present participle climbing How they are climb (climbs) climb + ed climb + ed climb + ing

Principal Parts Needed Present Past Past participle Present participle was,

Irregular Verbs sing sang sung singing

How they are made sing (sings) sang (vowel change) sung (vowel change) sing + ing

Helping Verb none none has, have,had am, is, are,

were, be, been 1. Simple present tense is made from the present principal part (see the chart above). (climb, sing)

2. Simple past tense is made from the past principal part (see the chart above). (climbed, sang) 3. Simple future tense is made with the helping verb will and the present principal part (see the chart above). (will/shall climb, will/shall sing) Principal Parts Used to Make the Perfect Tenses 1. Present perfect tense is made with the helping verbs has or have and the past participle part (see the chart above). (has/have climbed, has/have sung) 2. Past perfect tense is made with the helping verbs had and the past participle (see the chart above). (had climbed, had sung) 3. Future perfect tense is made with the helping verbs will and have and the past participle part (see the chart above). (will/shall have climbed, will/shall have sung)

Progressive and Emphatic Forms of Verbs

Progressive form. Some principal parts are also used to make other verb forms of the six tenses. Progressive verbs are made by using the present participle (-ing verb) and one of the be helping verbs: am, is, are, was, were, be, been. Progressive verbs are used to show continuous action by using -ing verbs. Progressive verbs can be made with all six tenses. 1. Present progressive verbs are made with the helping verbs am, is or are and the present participle (.ing verb). (am/is/are climbing, am/is/are singing) 2. Past progressive verbs are made with the helping verbs was or were and the present participle (-ing verb). (was/were climbing, was/were singing) 3. Future progressive verbs are made with the helping verbs will/shall and be and the present participle (-ing verb), (will/shall be climbing, will/shall be singing) 4. Present perfect progressive verbs are made with the helping verbs has, have and been and the present participle (-ing verb). (has/have been climbing, has/have been singing) 5. Past perfect progressive verbs are made with the helping verbs had and been and the present participle (-ing verb). (had been climbing, had been singing)

6. Future perfect progressive verbs are made with the helping verbs will/shall and have and been and the present participle (-ing verb). (will/shall have been climbing, will/shall have been singing) Emphatic form. Emphatic verbs are made by using the present principal part and one of the do, does, did helping verbs. Emphatic verbs are used to give special emphasis to the action of a verb. Emphatic verbs can be made in only two tenses: present and past. 7. Present emphatic verbs are made with the helping verbs do or does and the present principal part. (do/does climb, do/does sing) 8. Past emphatic verbs are made with the helping verb did and the present principal part. (did climb, did sing). Guidelines for Finding the Tense of the Progressive and Emphatic Verb Forms Remember, it is important to know how to recognize which verb to use to keep your writing in the same tense. There are six tenses. Above, you just learned about the progressive and emphatic forms and how they depend heavily on helping verbs; therefore, it is important that you expand your knowledge of helping verbs. Since the helping verb determines the tense of a verb phrase, you must be able to quickly recognize the tense of a helping verb as soon as you see it. When you look at the verb phrase to tell what tense it is, look at the helping verb, not the main verb. The progressive verb form can be made in all six tenses. The emphatic verb form can be made in only two tenses: present and past. Use the Helping Verb Chart below to help you learn the helping verbs which form the progressive and emphatic verb forms. (Present and past tense are not included in the chart because they have no helping verbs.) Present Progressive
Singular: am, is Plural: are

Past Progressive
Singular: was Plural: were

Future Progressive
Singular or Plural: will (shall) + be He will/shall be They will/shall be

I am eating. eating. He is eating. eating.

They are eating.

He was eating. They were eating.

Present Perfect Progressive Progressive Singular: Plural: has + been have + been

Past Perfect Progressive Singular: had + been Plural: had + been

Future Perfect Singular or Plural: will/shall + have been

He has been eating. eating. They have been eating. been eating.

He had been eating. They had been eating.

He will/shall have been They will/shall have

Present Emphatic Past Emphatic________________________________ Singular: does Plural: do Singular: did He does eat. They do eat. He did eat.

Plural: did They did eat.