VERBS: ITS TENSES; ASPECTS; MOODS AND VOICES

Note: This week's post is all about the Tenses and Aspects. Since elementary, I know most of us have learned about tenses --- the present, past and future forms of a particular verb. However, not all of us are probably aware about the aspects and its importance to English grammar.

We have tackled little about tenses of verbs on last week's post. Know it further as well as the aspects as you go through this article.

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TENSES AND ITS FORMS



There are, basically, three (3) tenses in English grammar --- the present, past and the future tenses. Each tenses have four forms: 
  • simple form
  • progressive form
  • perfect form
  • perfect progressive form
                                                               
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                                                  SIMPLE FORMS


The simple form of verb are also known as " the base form" or "the infinitive".


SIMPLE PRESENT

Simple present tense indicates an action in the present time which is not finished. It is used for stating habitual actions; unchanging actions; and  general truths.

Formula:      base form of the verb + -s/-es

Examples:     Jomari walks home alone. (habitual actions)
                       Male Kpop superstars are tall and handsome. (unchanging actions)
                       Philippines is an Asian country. (general truth)


SIMPLE PAST

Simple past indicates an action that started in the past and ended in the past. Regular verbs in past tense ends in -d or -ed. However, irregular verbs have special past tense forms that need to be memorized.

Formula:       base form of the verb + -d/-ed; or -ied

Examples:    Jomari walked home yesterday. (regular past tense)
                      She went to her grandmother's house last month. (irregular past tense)


SIMPLE FUTURE

Simple future indicates an action that will occur in the future.

Formula:      will/shall + base form
                      is / am / are with "going to" + base form

Examples:    Jomari will walk home later.
                      He is going to have his final exam this Saturday.


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                                      PROGRESSIVE FORMS


Progressive form is also called as "continuous form". It expresses an action that is ongoing with respect to a point in time or another action.


PRESENT PROGRESSIVE 

Present progressive tense describes an ongoing action that is happening at the same time the statement is written.

Formula:      am / is / are + -ing 

Examples:    Jomari is walking home alone.
                      Shhh, don't be noisy. Mother is sleeping.


PAST PROGRESSIVE

Past progressive describes a past action which was happening when another action occurred.

It also indicates continuing action; something that was happening, going on, at some point in the past.

Formula:      was / were + -ing of the verb

Examples:    Jomari was walking home when the rain poured.
                      The teachers were conducting a meeting when the students had a fight.


FUTURE PROGRESSIVE

Future progressive describes an ongoing or continuous action that will take place in the future.

Formula:       will be / shall be + -ing form of the verb

Examples:    Jomari will be walking home this afternoon.
                      Dr. Jones will be presenting ongoing research on sexist language next week.


     ------------

PERFECT FORMS


Perfect tense are used in describing action that has already completed.

PRESENT PERFECT

Present perfect tense describes an action that happened at an indefinite time in the past or that began in the past and continues in the present.

Formula:      has / have + past participle of the verb

Examples:   Jomari have voted last national election.
                     We have visited various universities to conduct our survey.


PAST PERFECT

Past perfect tense describes an action that took place in the past before another past action.

Formula:    had + past participle

Examples:  Jomari had slept for twelve straight hours.
                    I had seen the pictures you are talking about.


FUTURE PERFECT

Future perfect tense describes an action that will occur in the future before some other action.

Formula:    will / shall + have + past participle

Examples:  Jomari will have walked home by the time you get to school.
                    I will have eaten the cookies.

                                                                                     ------------

     PERFECT PROGRESSIVE FORMS


Perfect progressive form is a verb form that describes an action that:
  • are continuing in the present time
  • repeated over a period of time
  • continues to happen

PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE TENSE

Present perfect tense describes an action that happened at an indefinite time in the past or that began in the past and continues in the present.


Formula:       has / have been + been + -ing

Examples:    Jomari has been walking for hours now.
                      They have been seeing  each other for months now.


PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE TENSE

Past perfect progressive tense describes a past, ongoing action that was completed before some past action.

Formula:       had + been + -ing

Examples:    Jomari had been eating alone before they arrived.
                      The students had been attending seminars before the budget cuts.
                       

FUTURE PERFECT PROGRESSIVE TENSE

Future perfect progressive tense describes a future, ongoing action that will occur before some specified future time.

Formula:      will/ shall + have + been + -ing

Examples:    Jomari will have been studying before his tutor arrived.
                      They will have been finishing the house works by the time their Mother                                    finished the laundry.


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ASPECTS


Aspects are the expressions of the temporal structure of an action. It depicts ongoing action or state with or without distinct endpoint.

There are four types of ASPECTS:

1. SIMPLE

Simple aspect is also known as indefinite aspect. It expresses single actions, habits and routines.

Examples:     I carry the book.
                       He took the photos.

The Simple Aspect (Indefinite Aspect)Example
simple past tenseI went
simple present tenseI go
simple future tenseI will go


2. PERFECT

Perfect aspect is also known as the complete aspect. It expresses consequences resulting from a previous action

Examples: I have carried the book.
                   He had taken the photos by the time the owner arrived.

The Perfect Aspect (Completed Aspect)Example
past perfect tenseI had gone
present perfect tenseI have gone
future perfect tenseI will have gone


3. PROGRESSIVE

Progressive aspect is also known as the complete aspect. It expresses incomplete or ongoing action or state at a specific time

Examples: I am carrying the book.
                   He was taking the photos when the owner arrived.

The Progressive Aspect (Continuing Aspect)Example
past progressive tenseI was going
present progressive tenseI am going
future progressive tenseI will be going

4. PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

Perfect progressive aspect expresses incomplete or ongoing actions or states that began in the past and continue to a specific time.

Examples: I had been carrying this heavy book since we left school.
                   He had been taking the photos before the owner arrived.

The Perfect Progressive AspectExample
past perfect progressive tenseI had been going
present perfect progressive tenseI have been going
future perfect progressive tenseI will have been going


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 To summarize the Tense and the Aspects:

3 Tenses of Verbs

  • Present
  • Past
  • Future

4 Aspects of Verbs

  • Simple
  • Present
  • Progressive
  • Perfect Progressive


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                                                         VERB MOODS
The mood of a verb is the manner in which the action or condition is conceived or intend.

 The  moods in English are:

 1. Indicative 

 Indicating a state of factuality and reality. Most sentences in English are in the indicative mood. It states or describe facts about something, or give details about reality.

 Example:    It will rain soon.
                    Joe plays outside.

 2. Interrogative

 Indicate a state of questioning. One marker pf the interrogative is that frequently, the speaker inverts the subject-verb order by placing the helping verb first, before the subject. Sometimes, the interrogative appears with requests for a course of action or requests of information.

 Example:    Will you leave me alone now?

 3. Imperative

 Indicating a command. One marker of imperative is that the subject frequently does not appear iin the sentence but is only implied.

 Example:    Give me back my money.

 4. Conditional

 Indicating a conditional state that will cause something else to happen. The conditional is marked by the words, might, could and would. 
Example:    The bomb will explode if I jiggle that switch.

 5. Subjunctive

 Indicating a hypothetical state, a state contrary to reality, such as wish, a desire, or an imaginary situation.

 Example:    I would do it if I had the time.

There is a link between the conditional and subjunctive: in an unreal present conditional statement (one hypothetical) or contrary to the fact), the main clause (the result) is in the conditional while the subordinate clause (the condition) is in the subjunctive.
                                ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                               VOICES OF VERBS

Voice is defined as the relationship between the subject and the action of the sentence. There are two types of voices of verbs: the active and the passive voice.

1. ACTIVE VOICE

In active voice, the subject of the sentence is the doer of the action. English speakers usually used the Active form in everyday conversation.

Form:     (Doer of the action) + (Verb) + |(receiver of the action)

Example:         Peter Berger wrote the "Invitation of Sociology in 1963.
                               DOER                   V                              RECEIVER 

 2. PASSIVE VOICE
In passive voice, the subject of the sentence is the receiver of the action.

Form:        (Receiver of the action) + (be) + (past participle of the verb) + ( by) + (doer of the                                     action)

 Example:         The Invitation to Sociology was written by Peter Berger
                                                   RECEIVER                     BE      P.P.       BY       DOER
When to use the passive voice?

  • When the actor is unknown
Example: The cave painting of Lascaux were made in the upper Old Stone Age.

  • When the actor is irrelevant
Example:  Baby Sophia was delivered at 3:30 am yesterday. (passive)
                   
                       compared to
       
                Dr. Susan delivered baby Sophia at 3:30 am yesterday.  (active)


  • When you want to be vague about who is responsible for the action
Example: 100 votes are required to pass the bill.  (passive)


                       compared to

                  The bill requires 100 votes to pass.  (active)

  • When we are writing a formal or scientific text.


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 Note: According to my American professor, many native English speakers are not aware about verb tenses, and know little about terms aspect, voices or moods of verbs, yet, they can all speak English fluently and effectively. 

 On the other hand, many English learners, like me, worry about tenses. But, come to think of it -- we, Filipinos, don't really worry about Tagalog grammar rules concerning "PANDIWA" like for example: nagsasalita, nagsalita, at magsasalita. So, if we nailed speaking Tagalog effectively without worrying about tenses, we can also be like those native English speakers. We can also speak English fluently. :) We should just speak naturally!
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Additional Reference:

http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/grammar/tenses.html


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