Diploma in English

Elementary level (A2)

Verbs
&
Tenses

2024 Dr. Mie Mie Khaing (PhD)

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 What is a verb?

S essential part of speech,

indicate what the subject is
doing
Verbs S express an action , an event or a
state
S verbs referring to actions,
experiences or feelings and a
state or condition
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Action verbs: involve the
movement of one’s body in one
way or the other
Verbs referring
Walk Cough Break
Run Sleep Tow

to actions Talk Jump Toss

Sit Drink Hug
Read Teach Fight
Write Present
Jog Build
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feel or experience and do not
necessarily involve a movement
of any kind
Verbs referring
Love Sense
Hate Know
to experiences or Envy
Believe
Recognise
Understand
Trust Comprehend
feelings Feel
Entrust
Like
Need
Experience Adore
Care Loathe
Cherish Appreciate
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Verbs situations or the state of being.

All forms of ‘to be’ verbs

referring to a
Am Will be

state or Is
Are
Appear
Seem
Was Become
Were Been
condition Have
Has
Being
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Model: used to denote the
possibility, probability, capability or
necessity of something happening.

Types of : Modal verbs, unlike other

auxiliary verbs, cannot be used as a
Verbs main verb in a sentence.

: Can, Could, Will, Would,

May, Might, Should, Must, Ought
to
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Phrasal : combining two or more

parts of speech (verb and a
preposition) that performs the same
Types of function as a verb in a sentence
Go by, Lay off, Log in, Get off,
Verbs Run out, Go all out, Think through,
Fed up, Taken aback, Act on,
Back away, Back up, Look up, Mix
up, Opt out, Pop in
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Linking; link the subjects in a

sentence to the other parts of the

Types of sentence so that it is meaningful

: connects the subject to the

Verbs object, an adjective and even a

prepositional phrase

:‘to be’ , seem’ and ‘become’

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Regular & Irregular

Regular verb: conjugated to show if

Types of the action takes place in the past or if

the action is taking place

Verbs continuously

: Past form of the verb is

formed by adding an ‘ed’ to the root

verb
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Regular & Irregular

Types of Irregular verb: have their own

Verbs unique forms not follow the rule of

adding an ‘ed’ to the root verb

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Transitive verbs: verbs that take a

direct object alone

Types of Intransitive verbs: verbs that do

not take either a direct object or an

Verbs indirect object

Ditransitive verbs: verbs that take

both the direct object and the indirect
object
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Root Verb

The raw or original form of the

Verbs Forms verb, how it originally exists in the

English language, without any

inflexions or conjugations, is called

the root verb.

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Simple Present
(Third Person Singular)
▪ verb in the singular form

Verbs Forms ▪ third person singular pronouns

such as he, she and it, the verb is
singular (mostly done just by
adding an ‘s’ to the root verb) so
that it agrees with the subject in
the sentence
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Present Participle
• used in the continuous form of
tenses to indicate an action that is
continuing or in progress at that

Verbs Forms particular moment or sometime in

the past or in the future
• adding an ‘ing’ to the root verb
• ending with an ‘e’, removing the ‘e’
and then adding ‘ing’ to the
remaining portion of the verb
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Simple Past & Past participle
Simple past: used to indicate the past
Past participle: used to denote the
perfect tense forms in a sentence

Verbs Forms In some cases, the past tense and the

past participle remain the same, but
there are a number of verbs that have
different spellings when used as a
simple past tense verb and a past
participle
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Gerunds
o adding ‘ing’ to the root verb to
make gerunds, can be used as

Verb Forms nouns

o verb when used with an auxiliary
verb to indicate an action that is
continuing at a particular period
of time
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Infinitives

Infinitives, like gerunds, can be

Verb Forms used to turn verbs into nouns by

adding a preposition ‘to’ in

front of the root verb.

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Active Voice & Passive Voice 8

▪ According to the position of the

subject and object in a sentence,
the voice of the verb can be
determined
Verb Forms ▪ Active voice: A sentence in which
the subject does the action
▪ Passive voice: A sentence in
which the indirect object or the
direct object is switched to make it
the subject
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Conjugating Verbs

❖ 4 tense forms, namely the simple

tense, the continuous tense, the

Verb Forms perfect tense & the perfect

continuous tense

❖ 3 time periods such as the present,

past and future

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Helping Verbs
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Verb that helps another verb and is

employed in a sentence to modify the

tense, voice or mood of the sentence

Helping Verb We are having spaghetti for dinner tonight.

The children have been waiting to have ice
cream.
The Pavilion Apartments was built by M &
M Builders.
You cannot change your parents.
Do you need any help?
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Am Were Will 2

Is Have Can

Are Has

Auxiliary Was Do

Modal verbs can be used as a helping verb &

that is used to denote the possibility,
Verb probability, capability or necessity of something
happening.
Modal verbs, unlike other auxiliary verbs,
cannot be used as a main verb in a sentence.
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Modal auxiliary verbs 3

can

could
Main auxiliary verbs
dare
be may

do might

must
have
should

will

would
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❖Future tenses (will) 4

❖Continuous tenses (be)

❖Perfect tenses (have)
❖Perfect continuous tenses (be
When do you use auxiliary
and have)
verbs ? ❖Other uses for auxiliary
verbs: Negatives (do), Passive
voice (be), Yes/no questions (do,
have, and modal verbs), Tag
questions (all), Emphasis (do)
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▪ Stand alone in all its tenses,
including has, have, having,
had, and hadn’t or had not
▪ Denote ownership & used to
Have
discuss ability or describe
appearance
▪ Substitute for the verbs “eat”
and “drink
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▪ Teamed up with another verb
to create a complete verb
phrase, making it easy to
differentiate between uses
Have Jerry has a large coffee stain on his
shirt.
Jerry has bought a new shirt to
replace the one that was ruined
earlier.
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I have a car.
Main
Do you have an eraser?
Verb
I do not have a cat.

I have eaten an apple.

Have Auxiliary
Have you been to Bagan?
verb
I have not studied my lessons yet.

I have to study tonight.

Modal Do you have to finish your lessons
verb
tonight?
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Have
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1. Have + past participle
(finished an action)
E.g., I have finished my lunch.
2. Have + something + past participle
Have
( make someone finished)
E.g., I have my hair cut.
3. Have + been + past participle
(passive)
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▪ Used as an action verb that stands
alone in all its tenses, including to
do, do, does, done, did and didn’t,
doesn’t or did not
▪ Used as an auxiliary verb, do is
Do
always paired up with another verb
to create a complete verb phrase
▪ Used to add emphasis:
“I did put the garbage out!”
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▪ Used to form questions and

negated clauses.

▪ Used in elliptical sentences, where

Do the main verb is understood and is

omitted as a result.

“He plays piano well, doesn’t he?”

“They all had dinner, but I didn’t.”

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▪ Used as an action verb that stands
alone in all its tenses including be,
to be, been, am, are, is, was, were,
wasn’t, was not aren’t, are not,

Be weren’t and were not

▪ Used as an auxiliary verb, be is
always paired with another verb to
create a complete verb phrase
▪ Singular or plural, present or past
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▪ Negative sentences are formed by

adding the word “not”

Jerry is messy. (action verb)

Although he is always complaining

Be
about his accidents, Jerry fails to

pay attention. (auxiliary verb)

Jerry is going to be doing extra

laundry for the rest of his life.

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Simple
Present continuous
Present Present perfect
Present perfect continuous

Tenses Simple
of Past
Present continuous
Present perfect
Verb Present perfect continuous

• Simple
• Present continuous
Future • Present perfect
• Present perfect continuous
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Uses
▪ General truth
Simple
▪ Habitual actions
present
▪ Schedule events
tense ▪ Unchanged situation
▪ Instruction/ Direction
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Uses
Present ▪ Current action
continuous ▪ Future plan
tense ▪ Current stage of being
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Uses
Actions that continue into the present:
"I've played the guitar ever since I was a
Present Perfect Tense teenager"
Recently completed actions:
Action or situation that
"He has just left"
happened in the past and has a Repeated actions:

connection to the present "They have seen that film six times"
Actions that happened in the past but are
important in the present:
"I've lost my keys"
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Uses
Sub + have/has + been + present participle
(verb+ing) + the rest of the sentence
I have been working on this project for a week.
Present Perfect • progress of an unfinished action that

Continuous started in the past until now

• finished action that started in the
tense
past and just stopped recently
• temporary or habitual action that
started in the past and continues in
the present
It is your turn

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Simple Uses
▪ Action completed in the past
past
▪ Past stage of being
tense
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Uses
▪ Parallel or simultaneous actions
Mercy was studying while her mom was
cooking breakfast.
Past She wasn’t listening properly when I was
Continuous speaking.

tense ▪ Overlapping action

I was watering the plants when my brother
came home.
When Joe was playing cricket, he sprained
his ankle.
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Uses
▪ Indicate an action at an
Past
overlapping time
Continuous At five o’clock, I was studying for the
tense Maths exam.
Yesterday, she was waiting for me in the
evening.
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Uses
▪ Emphasise an action or event that
Past was taking place at some point in
Continuous the past.
tense He was working on his project all day.
My mom was looking for these keys the
whole day.
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Uses
▪ You want to give details about the
Past background of a story.
Continuous When she woke up, the sun was shining, the

tense birds were chirping, and the wind was

swirling.
The children were playing cricket, and the
parents were watching happily.
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Uses
▪ To indicate the order of more than
one past event
Past Perfect ▪ To denote the time until a certain
tense point in the past.
▪ To inform that an action was
incomplete and not done at a
specific time in the past when a
simple past action took place.
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▪ Indicating the order of events in 5

the past
When my mom arrived, my friends had left.
The train had arrived on the second platform

Past Perfect when we reached the station.

▪ Denoting the time until a specific

tense
point in the past
Ann had completed all eight grades of
western music by the time she was 15 years
old.
Had Brian and Courtney arrived when I called
you yesterday?
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▪ Representing an incomplete action

that was not done in a specific time
in the past before another simple
Past Perfect past action
tense The students had gone for their games period
before the teacher could inform them about
the assignment they had to do.
It was so unfortunate that Finn had died
before the series was over.
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❖ To denote an action that has been

the cause of another action or
event in the past.
Past Perfect ❖ To represent an action that started
Continuous tense at some point in the past and
continued or progressed till a
particular time in the recent past.
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Denoting an action that is the cause of 8
another action in the past
Asha was completely exhausted as she had been
travelling continuously for three days.
George was angry because he had been waiting
for them the whole day.
Past Perfect Representing an action that progressed in
Continuous tense the past until another action in the past
Do you know for how long Anitha had been
working at the college before she moved to
Pollachi?
I had been waiting to hear from the admissions
officer for more than a month before I applied
to other colleges.
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• To represent events or actions that are about to

take place in the near future.
• To make guesses or predictions about someone or
something in the future.

Simple Future • To state or express some factual statement about

the future.
• To ask questions about something or someone
doing something in the future.
• To think about future consequences, conditions or
possibilities.
• To give orders or make commands as in
imperative sentences.
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Representing events or actions that

are about to happen in the near future
• Danny and Sid will go to the gym in the evening.
• Agnes will be here in an hour.
Simple Future Making guesses or predictions about
the future
• The weather forecast said that there will be
hailstorms tomorrow.
• I guess the red curtain will look good for the
backdrop.
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Expressing a factual statement about

the future
• The house they are looking for will cost them a

Simple Future fortune.

• The country will see a change in the weather next
month like it has never before.

Asking questions about the future

• Will you be able to complete it in time?
• Won’t she be ready to give the chief guest
address on the annual day?
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Thinking about future consequences, 2

possibilities or conditions
• Larry told me that he will be able to come to the
party only if his sister agrees to drop him off at the
venue.

Simple Future • If she does not take this seriously, she will get
into a lot of trouble.

Giving orders or commands

• You will have to submit all your assignments by
Monday.
• You will need to provide all the supporting
documents if you want the loan to be sanctioned
as soon as possible.
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▪ Denote an action that takes place 3
at a specific time in the future.
▪ Express an action that will take
place over a period of time and
does not happen all at once in that
Future
time.
Continuous tense ▪ Compare between the present and
the future.
▪ Indicate that there is more than
one action taking place at the same
point in time in the future.
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Denoting an action that takes place 4

at a point of time in the future

I will be watching the new marvel movie along
with my brother at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow.
Susan will not be sleeping at that time.

Future Expressing an action that will take

Continuous tense place over a period of time and not
all at once
The judges will be announcing the winners of the
competition at 5 p.m on Tuesday.
According to the plan, we will be meeting at the
park around 11 a.m.
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Comparing between the present and

the future
Future This time next month, we will be travelling to
Canada.
Continuous tense He might not be bold enough to make a decision
now, but he will definitely be living a good life in
the future.
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Indicating more than one action

taking place at the same time in the
future
Future I will be going to school at 8 a.m, so I can drop her
Continuous tense off as well.
Sheena told me that she cannot make it to the
reception tomorrow because she will be travelling
to Bangalore.
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I will be writing the letter tomorrow.

The baby will be playing the whole night.
I will be helping my mother to make breakfast.
Sheldon will be eating the cake later.

Future Penny will be running in the marathon

tomorrow.
Continuous tense She will be taking her dog for a walk.
Ritz will be coming to our place soon.
My mother won’t be working tomorrow.
The series won’t be releasing this month.
Who will be waiting for John at the railway
station?
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Will I be sleeping here?

I will be arriving at the station by 5:00 P.M.
My friends will be coming over for lunch
tomorrow.

Future Will you be doing laundry tonight?

I will be watering the plants tomorrow morning.
Continuous tense Shyam will be visiting his aunt tomorrow.
I will be joining the new office from next week.
My parents will be flying to Delhi tomorrow.
I will not be working tomorrow.
Rajesh will be staying at the hotel on Friday.
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Should always have a time frame,

adverbs that can be used with the
Future Perfect Tense
Future Perfect
Before, By the time, By (a specific
tense time), When, After, By (date/year),
By then, Until, By the end of, Till, By
the year 2024
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Express a conviction about something that will

happen at a certain time in the future.
Used when you want to speak about an action

Future Perfect or event that will take place at some time in

the future.
tense Used when you want to speak about an action
or event that will take place at a certain time
in the future before another action or event.
Refer to actions that happen in the future
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Show the sequence of events or

actions that happen before a specific
Future Perfect time in the future clearly.

tense Speak about an action that happens

before another action in the future.
Diana will reach home on Monday.
Diana will have reached home by Monday.
 Referring to an action or event will be 6
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over within a certain time in the future
Harry will have planted all the saplings in the
garden by 4 p. m.
Lakshmi will have arrived by then.

Referring to an action or event which

Future Perfect
will happen before another action or
tense
event in the future
The train will have left by the time you reach the
station.
The children are very smart. They will have learnt
how to do it by themselves before we appoint
someone else to teach them.
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Making a conviction about something

that will or will not happen at a time in
the future
Future Perfect
I don’t think Mithuna will have cleaned the house
tense completely by the time we reach.
Karishma and her friends will not have finished
their work by Monday, considering how things are
going on now.
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Denoting an action that will continue
till a certain point of time
• Blaine will have been waiting for more than five
hours by the time Kurt arrives.
• Remya will have been working at the company
Future Perfect for twelve years in 2022.

Continuous tense • Will they have been living in the United States
for three years when they finish their
postgraduate studies?
• How long will she have been playing the piano
when she graduates?
• Next month, I will have been following a diet for
three months.
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Depicting an action or event that is
the cause of another action or event
that will happen in the future
• I think my sister will be exhausted when she gets
Future Perfect here as she will have been working out for two
hours continuously.
Continuous tense • I will be tired by the time my cousins get home
because I will have been studying for many hours.
• Monica will be well-versed in all the concepts of
geometry by 2022, as she will have been
specialising in mathematics for more than five
years.
 It is your turn
Challenge for 12 Tenses

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