Did you know that there are 12 different verb tenses in the English Language?  It's easiest to think of them in four groups: simple, continuous, perfect, and perfect continuous. Remember, some textbooks refer to the continuous as "progressive."

To form these tenses, one must use one or more of the 4 Principal Parts of a Verb. These include 1) the base/present form, 2) the past form, 3) the past participle form, and 4) the present participle form.   

From these, you can also create the 3 Verbals found in the English language (more on those another time).

If you would like to print out a chart of 12 verb tenses, click here.

If you wish to review the 4 Principal Parts, click here.

​[The excerpt below is taken from towson.edu. It was written by Margaret L. Benner. ​To read more about the topic, click the link at the bottom.]


Although you are probably already familiar with basic subject-verb agreement, this chapter begins with a quick review of basic agreement rules.

Subjects and verbs must AGREE with one another in number (singular or plural).  Thus, if a subject is singular, its verb must also be singular; if a subject is plural, its verb must also be plural.

In the present tense, nouns and verbs form plurals in opposite ways: nouns ADD an s to the singular form; verbs REMOVE the s from the singular form.

To read more and to practice, click on the link below:

SUBJECT VERB AGREEMENT 


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Click on the link below to review and practice the -ed endings. Included are explanations and examples of the three possible "ed" ending pronunciations (t, d, id). 
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Free online pronouncing "ed" endings lessons and exercises.

Also, be sure to check out the video below which will help you review the three endings. 

"​The simple past is a verb tense that is used to talk about things that happened or existed before now. Imagine someone asks what your brother Wolfgang did while he was in town last weekend.

• Wolfgang entered a hula hoop contest.
• He won the silver medal.

The simple past tense shows that you are talking about something that has already happened. Unlike the past continuous tense, which is used to talk about past events that happened over a period of time, the simple past tense emphasizes that the action is finished."

To read more about the Past Tense, how to formulate it, how to make it negative, and how to make a question, click here. 

To practice the past tense, click on the following: 

Past Tense Practice 1
Past Tense Practice 2
Past Tense Practice 3

Irregular Past Tense Practice 1 
Irregular Past Tense Practice 2
Irregular Past Tense Practice 3

The Present Perfect tense is all about "unspecified" or non-specific time in the past. This can be very confusing. The Present Perfect can be used in several ways. 1) It may be used to describe your personal experience. For example, you might say, "I have seen that man before." Or, "I have never been to Florida." 2) You can also use the Present Perfect to talk about change that has happened over time. For instance, you might say something like this: "Cell phones have become a necessity to many people." Or, "My English has gotten better since I started taking English classes." 

Those are two ways that we commonly use the Present Perfect tense. To review other usages of this tense, click here.

Click on the links below to practice the Present Perfect Tense.

Present Perfect Practice #1
Present Perfect Practice #2

"Many languages have one form to speak about the future, but there are four ways of using the future tense in English! These can often cause some confusion, so here are brief and basic explanations of the most common uses for each one.

Which form of the future tense should you use?"To keep reading this article about the Future Tense, click HERE

Here are some more thoughts on the Future Tense (from FluentU):
"Consider this: right now, we’re in the present. In a minute, we will be in the future. You read those sentences, and now that is all in the past.

Crazy, right? Everything that has not happened yet is part of the future.

It might happen after a few seconds, a few years or even after hundreds and thousands of years. It is hard to think about things that will happen that far ahead…but it is very easy to talk about them.

Talking about the future makes it possible to make plans and predictions, create schedules and wonder what the weather will be like this weekend.

To speak about the future in English, you need to learn some important facts about the English future tense. 

To read about 6 Surprising Facts About the English Future Tense, click HERE! 

To practice using the Future Tense, click on the links below:
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Future Tense Practice 1 
Future Tense Practice 2
Future Tense Practice 3

A gerund is not a verb. It is a verb form, and it has an -ing ending (also known as a present participle). Most any action verb can be used as a gerund. An infinitive is the most basic form a verb. It is "to + verb." The infinitive does not act like a verb. Instead it acts like a noun, adjective, or adverb might in a sentence. Both gerunds and infinitives are considered verbals. 

Sometimes referred to as "verb complements," gerunds and infinitives often follow verbs. When this happens, they are functioning as subjects or objects.  

To learn more about gerunds and infinitives and to practice using them correctly, click on this link: Englishpage.com.

Other helpful resources on this topic:

• When to Use Gerunds and Infinitives: 5 Simple Rules for English Learners
• Using Gerunds and Infinitives
• Verb Lists: Gerunds and Infinitives

 

​The following excerpt is from ELC Study Zone: 

​These three verbs are modal verbs.

• should
• ought to
• had better

Modal verbs are helping/auxiliary verbs that express ideas like ability, advice, and obligation. Many modal verbs have more than one meaning. They are always followed by the simple form of a verb.

For example:
Amanda should go to the doctor.
This shows that we think it is a good idea for Amanda to visit the doctor.

To learn about Modals for Advice and to practice using them correctly, click on the following links:

Modals for Advice Practice Exercises 1
Modals for Advice Practice Exercises 2 

What are modal verbs?
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Modals (also called modal verbs, modal auxiliary verbs, modal auxiliaries) are special verbs which behave irregularly in English. They are different from normal verbs like "work, play, visit..." They give additional information about the function of the main verb that follows it. They have a great variety of communicative functions.
Here are some characteristics of modal verbs:

• They never change their form. You can't add "s", "ed", "ing"...
• They are always followed by an infinitive without "to" (e.i. the bare infinitive.)
• They are used to indicate modality allow speakers to express certainty, possibility, willingness, obligation, necessity, ability

To read more about modals or to practice using modals, go to My English Pages.com

Here are some other links to practice exercises:

• Perfect English Grammar
• English Page