TUGAS 10 : Verb Phrases & Tenses

Verb Phrases & Tenses

·         In traditional grammar, a verb phrase (often abbreviated as VP) is a word group that includes a main verb and its auxiliaries (helping verbs). Also called a verbal phrase.

·         In generative grammar, a verb phrase is a complete predicate: that is, a lexical verb and all the words governed by that verb except a subject.Examples and Observations

Verb Phrases can be identified by substitution procedures. Consider the sentence Lou cried, where cried constitutes the VP. Among many others, the following strings can substitute for cried in the slot Lou . They thus fit the frame and are VPs (the verb in each VP is italicized):

·         Lou fell.

·         Lou lost the race,

·         Lou won a prize for his efforts in the tournament.

Example :

·         I was cooking my dinner when you called.

·         Yes, Stephanie does remember your pet hamsters.

You can find most phrases in the predicate of the sentence. However, there are also times when a phrase contains an adjective clause or adverb phrase. These modifiers give us more information on what’s happening in the sentence. For example:

·         Cleaning the house, which we haven’t done yet, happens on Saturday mornings.

·         Danny’s father frantically cleared the table for dinner.

Tenses

a verb-based method used to indicate the time, and sometimes the continuation or completeness, of an action or state in relation to the time of speaking.

From a general view of tenses, this module will go on to discuss each tense in detail with examples. The table below gives a glimpse of the way tenses are used using the verb 'play'

	Past	Present	Future
Simple	Played (verb+ed)	Plays (verb+s)	will/shall play (will/shall+verb)
Perfect	had played (had+past participle)	has/have played (has/have+past participle)	will/shall have played(will/shall+past participle)
Continuous	was/were playing(was/were+verb+ing)	is/am/are playing(is/am/are+verb+ing)	will/shall be playing(will/shall be+verb+ing)
Perfect Continuous	had been playing (had been+verb+ing)	has/have been playing(has/have been+verb+ing)	will/shall have been playing(will/shall have been+verb+ing)

PAST TENSE

i. Simple Past Tense

Indicates an action took place before the present moment and that has no real connection with the present time.

For example, "He danced in the function." (The action took place in the past, is finished and is completely unrelated to the present)

                         "He flew to London yesterday."

Note

a.the verb 'flew' is an irregular verb which does not take 'ed' in the past tense like regular verbs.

b. the form of Simple Past Tense is - verb + ed

ii. Past Perfect Tense

Indicates an action in the past that had been completed before another time or event in the past.

For example, "He had exercised before it started to rain."

                         "He had slept before I came back from the market."

Note

a.       The form of Past Perfect Tense is- had + verb (past participle form or the 3rd form of the verb)

iii. Past Continuous Tense

Indicates an action going on at some time in the past or an action in the past that is longer in duration than another action in the past. 

For example, "It was getting darker."

                        "The light went out while theywere reading."

Note

a.       The form of Past Continuous Tense is- was/were + verb + ing

iv. Past Perfect Continuous Tense

Indicates an action in the past that took place before another time or event in the past and continued during the second event/time point in the past.

For example, "At that time, he had been writing a novel for two months."

                         "He had been exercising when I called."

Note

a.       The form of Past Perfect Continuous Tense is- had + been + verb + ing

PRESENT TENSE

i. Simple Present Tense

Indicates an action that is generally true or habitual. That is, it took place in the past , continue to take place in the present, and will take place in the future. This tense is used to denote

-a habitual action- for instance, "He walk to school."

-general truths- for instance, "The sun rises in the east", "Honesty is the best policy."

-a future event that is part of a fixed timetable- for instance, "The match starts at 9 o' clock."

Note

a. The form of Simple Present Tense is- verb (infinitive without 'to' and agreeable with the subject)

ii. Present Perfect Tense

Indicates an action that has been completed sometime before the present moment, with a result that affects the present situation.

For example, "He has finished the work."

                         "He has slept."

Note

a.       The form of Present Perfect Tense is- has/have + verb (past participle form or 3rd form of the verb)

iii.  Present Continuous Tense

Indicates an action that is taking place at the moment of speaking.

For example, "She is walking."

"I am studying."

Note

a. the form of Present Continuous Tense is- is/am/are + verb + ing

iv. Present Perfect Continuous Tense

Indicates an action that started in the past and is continuing at the present time.

For example, "He has been sleeping for an hour."

Note

a.       The form of Present Perfect Continuous Tense is- has/have + been + verb + ing

FUTURE TENSE

i. Simple Future Tense

Indicates an action that will take place after the present time and that has no real connection with the present time.

For example, "She will visit her ailing grandmother soon."

                        "He will walk home."

Note

a. the form of Simple Future Tense is- will/shall + verb

ii. Future Perfect Tense

Indicates an action in the future that will have been completed before another time or event in the future.

For example, "By the time we arrive, he will have studied."

Note

a.       The form of Future Perfect Tense is- will/shall have + verb(past participle form or 3rd form of the verb)

iii. Future Continuous Tense

Indicates an action in the future that is longer in duration than another action in the future.

For example, "He will be walking when it starts to rain."

Note

a. The form of Future Continuous Tense is-will/shall be + verb + ing

iv. Future Perfect Continuous Tense

Indicates an action in the future that will have been continuing until another time or event in the future.

For example, "He will have been exercising an hour at 2:00."

Note

a. The form of Future Perfect Continuous Tense is- will/shall have been + verb + ing