future continuous
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This article describes the uses of various
verb A verb () is a word ( part of speech) that in syntax generally conveys an action (''bring'', ''read'', ''walk'', ''run'', ''learn''), an occurrence (''happen'', ''become''), or a state of being (''be'', ''exist'', ''stand''). In the usual descr ...
forms in modern standard
English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the ...
. This includes: *
Finite verb Traditionally, a finite verb (from la, fīnītus, past participle of to put an end to, bound, limit) is the form "to which number and person appertain", in other words, those inflected for number and person. Verbs were originally said to be ''fin ...
forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of such forms with auxiliary verbs, such as ''was going'' and ''would have gone'' The uses considered include expression of tense (time reference), aspect, mood and
modality Modality may refer to: Humanities * Modality (theology), the organization and structure of the church, as distinct from sodality or parachurch organizations * Modality (music), in music, the subject concerning certain diatonic scales * Modaliti ...
, in various configurations. For details of how inflected forms of verbs are produced in English, see
English verbs Verbs constitute one of the main parts of speech (word classes) in the English language. Like other types of words in the language, English verbs are not heavily inflected. Most combinations of tense, aspect, mood and voice are expressed peri ...
. For the grammatical structure of clauses, including word order, see
English clause syntax This article describes the syntax of clauses in the English language, chiefly in Modern English. A clause is often said to be the smallest grammatical unit that can express a complete proposition. But this semantic idea of a clause leaves out ...
. For certain other particular topics, see the articles listed in the adjacent box. For non-standard dialect forms and antique forms, see individual dialect articles and the article, thou.


Inflected forms of verbs

A typical English verb may have five different
inflected In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and de ...
forms: *The base form or plain form (''go'', ''write'', ''climb''), which has several uses—as an
infinitive Infinitive ( abbreviated ) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all languages. The word is de ...
, imperative, present
subjunctive The subjunctive (also known as conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of the utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude towards it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality s ...
, and present
indicative A realis mood ( abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood which is used principally to indicate that something is a statement of fact; in other words, to express what the speaker considers to be a known state of affairs, as in declarative sentences. Mos ...
except in the third-person singular *The ''-s'' form (''goes'', ''writes'', ''climbs''), used as the present indicative in the third-person singular *the
past tense The past tense is a grammatical tense whose function is to place an action or situation in the past. Examples of verbs in the past tense include the English verbs ''sang'', ''went'' and ''washed''. Most languages have a past tense, with some ha ...
or
preterite The preterite or preterit (; abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense or verb form serving to denote events that took place or were completed in the past; in some languages, such as Spanish, French, and English, it is equivalent to the simple ...
(''went'', ''wrote'', ''climbed'') *The
past participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
(''gone'', ''written'', ''climbed'') – this is identical to the past tense in the case of regular verbs and some irregular ones (here the first two verbs are irregular and the third regular) *The ''
-ing ''-ing'' is a suffix used to make one of the inflected forms of English verbs. This verb form is used as a present participle, as a gerund, and sometimes as an independent noun or adjective. The suffix is also found in certain words like ''morn ...
'' form (''going'', ''writing'', ''climbing''), used as a
present participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived fro ...
,
gerund In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, one that functions as a noun. In English, it has the properties of both verb and noun, such as being modifiab ...
, and (de)verbal noun The verb ''be'' has a larger number of different forms (''am'', ''is'', ''are'', ''was'', ''were'', etc.), while the
modal verbs A modal verb is a type of verb that contextually indicates a modality such as a ''likelihood'', ''ability'', ''permission'', ''request'', ''capacity'', ''suggestion'', ''order'', ''obligation'', or ''advice''. Modal verbs generally accompany the b ...
have a more limited number of forms. Some forms of ''be'' and of certain other auxiliary verbs also have contracted forms (''s'', '' 're'', '' 've'', etc.). For full details of how these inflected forms of verbs are produced, see
English verbs Verbs constitute one of the main parts of speech (word classes) in the English language. Like other types of words in the language, English verbs are not heavily inflected. Most combinations of tense, aspect, mood and voice are expressed peri ...
.


Verbs in combination

In English, verbs frequently appear in combinations containing one or more auxiliary verbs and a nonfinite form (infinitive or participle) of a main (lexical) verb. For example: ::The dog was barking very loudly. ::My hat has been cleaned. ::Jane does not really like us. The first verb in such a combination is the
finite verb Traditionally, a finite verb (from la, fīnītus, past participle of to put an end to, bound, limit) is the form "to which number and person appertain", in other words, those inflected for number and person. Verbs were originally said to be ''fin ...
, the remainder are nonfinite (although constructions in which even the leading verb is nonfinite are also possible – see below). Such combinations are sometimes called
compound verb In linguistics, a compound verb or complex predicate is a multi- word compound that functions as a single verb. One component of the compound is a '' light verb'' or ''vector'', which carries any inflections, indicating tense, mood, or aspec ...
s; more technically they may be called verb catenae, since they are not generally strict grammatical
constituent Constituent or constituency may refer to: Politics * An individual voter within an electoral district, state, community, or organization * Advocacy group or constituency * Constituent assembly * Constituencies of Namibia Other meanings * Consti ...
s of the clause. As the last example shows, the words making up these combinations do not always remain consecutive. For details of the formation of such constructions, see
English clause syntax This article describes the syntax of clauses in the English language, chiefly in Modern English. A clause is often said to be the smallest grammatical unit that can express a complete proposition. But this semantic idea of a clause leaves out ...
. The uses of the various types of combination are described in the detailed sections of the present article. (For another type of combination involving verbs – items such as ''go on'', ''slip away'' and ''break off'' – see
Phrasal verb In the traditional grammar of Modern English, a phrasal verb typically constitutes a single semantic unit composed of a verb followed by a particle (examples: ''turn down'', ''run into'' or ''sit up''), sometimes combined with a preposition (e ...
.)


Tenses, aspects and moods

As in many other languages, the means English uses for expressing the three categories of tense (time reference), aspect and mood are somewhat conflated (see
tense–aspect–mood Tense–aspect–mood (commonly abbreviated ) or tense–modality–aspect (abbreviated as ) is a group of grammatical categories that are important to understanding spoken or written content, and which are marked in different ways by different la ...
). In contrast to languages like
Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...
, though, English has only limited means for expressing these categories through verb
conjugation Conjugation or conjugate may refer to: Linguistics *Grammatical conjugation, the modification of a verb from its basic form * Emotive conjugation or Russell's conjugation, the use of loaded language Mathematics *Complex conjugation, the change ...
, and tends mostly to express them periphrastically, using the verb combinations mentioned in the previous section. The tenses, aspects and moods that may be identified in English are described below (although the terminology used differs significantly between authors). In common usage, particularly in English language teaching, particular tense–aspect–mood combinations such as "present progressive" and "conditional perfect" are often referred to simply as "tenses".


Tenses

Verb tenses are
inflectional In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and definit ...
forms which can be used to express that something occurs in the past, present, or future. In English, the only tenses are past and non-past, though the term "future" is sometimes applied to periphrastic constructions involving modals such as ''will''.


Present

Present tense The present tense ( abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense whose principal function is to locate a situation or event in the present time. The present tense is used for actions which are happening now. In order to explain and understand present ...
is used, in principle, to refer to circumstances that exist at the present time (or over a period that includes the present time) and general truths (see gnomic aspect). However the same forms are quite often also used to refer to future circumstances, as in "He's coming tomorrow" (hence this tense is sometimes referred to as ''present-future'' or ''non-past''). For certain grammatical contexts where the present tense is the standard way to refer to the future, see
conditional sentences Conditional sentences are natural language sentences that express that one thing is contingent on something else, e.g. "If it rains, the picnic will be cancelled." They are so called because the impact of the main clause of the sentence is ''con ...
and dependent clauses below. It is also possible for the present tense to be used when referring to no particular real time (as when telling a story), or when recounting past events (the
historical present In linguistics and rhetoric, the historical present or historic present, also called dramatic present or narrative present, is the employment of the present tense when narrating past events. It is widely used in writing about history in Latin ( ...
, particularly common in headline language). The present perfect intrinsically refers to past events, although it can be considered to denote primarily the resulting present situation rather than the events themselves. The present tense has two moods, indicative and subjunctive; when no mood is specified, it is often the indicative that is meant. In a present indicative construction, the finite verb appears in its base form, or in its ''-s'' form if its subject is third-person singular. (The verb ''be'' has the forms ''am'', ''is'', ''are'', while the
modal verbs A modal verb is a type of verb that contextually indicates a modality such as a ''likelihood'', ''ability'', ''permission'', ''request'', ''capacity'', ''suggestion'', ''order'', ''obligation'', or ''advice''. Modal verbs generally accompany the b ...
do not add ''-s'' for third-person singular.) For the present subjunctive, see
English subjunctive While the English language lacks distinct inflections for mood, an English subjunctive is recognized in most grammars. Definition and scope of the concept vary widely across the literature, but it is generally associated with the description ...
. (The present subjunctive has no particular relationship with present time, and is sometimes simply called the subjunctive, without specifying the tense.) For specific uses of present tense constructions, see the sections below on simple present,
present progressive The present continuous, also called the present progressive or present imperfect, is a verb form used in modern English that combines the present tense with the continuous aspect. It is formed by the present tense form of be and the present part ...
, present perfect, and
present perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
.


Past

Past tense The past tense is a grammatical tense whose function is to place an action or situation in the past. Examples of verbs in the past tense include the English verbs ''sang'', ''went'' and ''washed''. Most languages have a past tense, with some ha ...
forms express circumstances existing at some time in the past, although they also have certain uses in referring to hypothetical situations (as in some
conditional sentences Conditional sentences are natural language sentences that express that one thing is contingent on something else, e.g. "If it rains, the picnic will be cancelled." They are so called because the impact of the main clause of the sentence is ''con ...
, dependent clauses and expressions of wish). They are formed using the finite verb in its preterite (simple past) form. Certain uses of the past tense may be referred to as
subjunctive The subjunctive (also known as conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of the utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude towards it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality s ...
s; however the only distinction in verb conjugation between the past indicative and past subjunctive is the possible use of ''were'' in the subjunctive in place of ''was''. For details see
English subjunctive While the English language lacks distinct inflections for mood, an English subjunctive is recognized in most grammars. Definition and scope of the concept vary widely across the literature, but it is generally associated with the description ...
. For specific uses of past tense constructions, see the sections below on simple past, past progressive, past perfect, and
past perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
. In certain contexts, past events are reported using the present perfect (or even other present tense forms—see above).


Future

English lacks a morphological future tense, since there is no verb
inflection In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and ...
which expresses that an event will occur at a future time. However, the term "future tense" is sometimes applied to periphrastic constructions involving modals such as ''
will Will may refer to: Common meanings * Will and testament, instructions for the disposition of one's property after death * Will (philosophy), or willpower * Will (sociology) * Will, volition (psychology) * Will, a modal verb - see Shall and wi ...
'', ''shall'', and '' going to''. For specific uses of future constructions formed with ''will/shall'', see the sections below on
simple future This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
,
future progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
, future perfect, and
future perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
. ::Don't go near that bomb! It will explode! (periphrastic future) ::Don't go near that bomb! It's going to explode! The morphological present tense can be used to refer to future times, particularly in
conditional sentences Conditional sentences are natural language sentences that express that one thing is contingent on something else, e.g. "If it rains, the picnic will be cancelled." They are so called because the impact of the main clause of the sentence is ''con ...
and dependent clauses. ::If the world ends tomorrow, I won't be surprised. ::If next year is worse than this one, I will be surprised. The morphologically past variants of future modals can be used to create a periphrastic '' future-in-the-past'' construction. Here the sentence as a whole refers to some particular past time, but ''would win'' refers to a time in the future relative to that past time. See . :::''She knew that she would win the game.''


Aspects


Simple

"Simple" forms of verbs are those appearing in constructions not marked for either progressive or perfect aspect (''I go'', ''I don't go'', ''I went'', ''I will go'', etc., but not ''I'm going'' or ''I have gone''). Simple constructions normally denote a single action (perfective aspect), as in ''Brutus killed Caesar'', a repeated action (habitual aspect), as in ''I go to school'', or a relatively permanent state, as in ''We live in Dallas''. They may also denote a temporary state (imperfective aspect), in the case of stative verbs that do not use progressive forms (see below). For uses of specific simple constructions, see the sections below on simple present, simple past,
simple future This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
, and
simple conditional This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
.


Progressive

The progressive or continuous aspect is used to denote a temporary action or state that began at a previous time and continues into the present time (or other time of reference). It is expressed using a form of the auxiliary verb ''to be'' (conjugated appropriately for tense etc.) together with the
present participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived fro ...
(''-ing'' form) of the main verb: ''I am reading''; ''Were you shouting?''; ''He will be sitting over there''. Certain
stative verb According to some linguistics theories, a stative verb is a verb that describes a state of being, in contrast to a dynamic verb, which describes an action. The difference can be categorized by saying that stative verbs describe situations that are ...
s make limited use of progressive aspect. Their non-progressive forms (
simple Simple or SIMPLE may refer to: *Simplicity, the state or quality of being simple Arts and entertainment * ''Simple'' (album), by Andy Yorke, 2008, and its title track * "Simple" (Florida Georgia Line song), 2018 * "Simple", a song by Johnn ...
or non-progressive perfect constructions) are used in many situations even when expressing a temporary state. The main types are described below. *The copular verb ''to be'' does not normally use progressive forms (''I am happy'', not *''I am being happy''). However its progressive aspect is used in appropriate situations when the verb expresses the
passive voice A passive voice construction is a grammatical voice construction that is found in many languages. In a clause with passive voice, the grammatical subject expresses the ''theme'' or '' patient'' of the main verb – that is, the person or thing ...
(''We are being followed''), and when it has the meaning of "behave" or "act as" (''You are being very naughty''; ''He's being a pest''). *The verb ''to have'' does not use progressive forms when it expresses possession, broadly understood (''I have a brother'', not *''I'm having a brother''), but it does use them in its active meanings (''I'm having a party''; ''She's having a baby''; ''He was having a problem starting his car''). See also ''have got'' below. Other verbs expressing a state of possession or similar, such as ''possess'', ''own'', ''belong'' and ''owe'', also do not normally use progressive forms. *Verbs of mental state, sense perception and similar (''know'', ''believe'', ''want'', ''think'', ''see'', ''hear'', ''need'', etc.) are generally used without progressive aspect, although some of them can be used in the progressive to imply an ongoing, often temporary situation (''I am feeling lonely''), or an activity (''I am thinking about a problem''). See also ''can see'' below. *Verbs denoting positional state normally do use the progressive if the state is temporary: ''He is standing in the corner.'' (Compare permanent state: ''London stands on the banks of the Thames.'') For specific uses of progressive (continuous) constructions, see the sections below on
present progressive The present continuous, also called the present progressive or present imperfect, is a verb form used in modern English that combines the present tense with the continuous aspect. It is formed by the present tense form of be and the present part ...
, past progressive,
future progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
, and conditional progressive. For progressive infinitives, see . For the combination of progressive aspect with the perfect (''he has been reading'') see
perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
.


Perfect

The perfect aspect is used to denote the circumstance of an action's being complete at a certain time. It is expressed using a form of the auxiliary verb ''have'' (appropriately conjugated for tense etc.) together with the
past participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
of the main verb: ''She has eaten it''; ''We had left''; ''When will you have finished?'' Perfect forms can also be used to refer to states or habitual actions, even if not complete, if the focus is on the time period before the point of reference (''We had lived there for five years''). If such a circumstance is temporary, the perfect is often combined with progressive aspect (see the following section). The implications of the present perfect (that something occurred prior to the present moment) are similar to those of the simple past, although the two forms are generally not used interchangeably—the simple past is used when the time frame of reference is in the past, while the present perfect is used when it extends to the present. For details, see the relevant sections below. For all uses of specific perfect constructions, see the sections below on the present perfect, past perfect, future perfect, and conditional perfect. By using non-finite forms of the auxiliary ''have'', perfect aspect can also be marked on infinitives (as in ''should have left'' and ''expect to have finished working''), and on participles and gerunds (as in ''having seen the doctor''). For the usage of such forms, see the section below on perfect and progressive non-finite constructions. Although all of the constructions referred to here are commonly referred to as perfect (based on their grammatical form), some of them, particularly non-present and non-finite instances, might not be considered truly expressive of the perfect aspect. This applies particularly when the perfect infinitive is used together with modal verbs: for example, ''he could not have been a genius'' might be considered (based on its meaning) to be a past tense of ''he cannot/could not be a genius''; such forms are considered true perfect forms by some linguists but not others. For the meanings of such constructions with the various modals, see
English modal verbs The English modal verbs are a subset of the English auxiliary verbs used mostly to express modality (properties such as possibility, obligation, etc.). They can be distinguished from other verbs by their defectiveness (they do not have participle ...
.


Perfect progressive

The perfect and progressive (continuous) aspects can be combined, usually in referring to the completed portion of a continuing action or temporary state: ''I have been working for eight hours''. Here a form of the verb ''have'' (denoting the perfect) is used together with ''been'' (the past participle of ''be'', denoting the progressive) and the
present participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived fro ...
of the main verb. In the case of the stative verbs, which do not use progressive aspect (see the above section on the progressive), the plain perfect form is normally used in place of the perfect progressive: ''I've been here for half an hour'' (not *''I've been being here...''). For uses of specific perfect progressive (perfect continuous) constructions, see the sections below on the
present perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
,
past perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
,
future perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
, and
conditional perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
. For perfect progressive infinitives, participles and gerunds, see .


Moods


Indicative

Indicative mood, in English, refers to finite verb forms that are not marked as
subjunctive The subjunctive (also known as conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of the utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude towards it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality s ...
and are not imperatives or
conditional Conditional (if then) may refer to: *Causal conditional, if X then Y, where X is a cause of Y *Conditional probability, the probability of an event A given that another event B has occurred *Conditional proof, in logic: a proof that asserts a co ...
s. They are the verbs typically found in the
main clause An independent clause (or main clause) is a clause that can stand by itself as a ''simple sentence''. An independent clause contains a subject and a predicate and makes sense by itself. Independent clauses can be joined by using a semicolon or ...
s of
declarative sentence In linguistics and grammar, a sentence is a linguistic expression, such as the English example " The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." In traditional grammar, it is typically defined as a string of words that expresses a complete thoug ...
s and questions formed from them, as well as in most
dependent clause A subordinate clause, dependent clause, subclause, or embedded clause is a clause that is embedded within a complex sentence. For instance, in the English sentence "I know that Bette is a dolphin", the clause "that Bette is a dolphin" occurs as th ...
s (except for those that use the subjunctive). The information that a form is indicative is often omitted when referring to it: the simple present indicative is usually referred to as just the simple present, etc. (unless some contrast of moods, such as between indicative and subjunctive, is pertinent to the topic).


Subjunctive

Certain types of clause, mostly
dependent clause A subordinate clause, dependent clause, subclause, or embedded clause is a clause that is embedded within a complex sentence. For instance, in the English sentence "I know that Bette is a dolphin", the clause "that Bette is a dolphin" occurs as th ...
s, use a verb form identified with the
subjunctive mood The subjunctive (also known as conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of the utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude towards it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality ...
. The present subjunctive takes a form identical to the bare infinitive, as in ''It is necessary that he be restrained.'' There is also a past subjunctive, distinct from the indicative only in the possible use of ''were'' in place of ''was'' in certain situations: ''If I were you, ...'' For details of the formation and usage of subjunctive forms in English, see
English subjunctive While the English language lacks distinct inflections for mood, an English subjunctive is recognized in most grammars. Definition and scope of the concept vary widely across the literature, but it is generally associated with the description ...
.


Imperative

An independent clause in the
imperative mood The imperative mood is a grammatical mood that forms a command or request. The imperative mood is used to demand or require that an action be performed. It is usually found only in the present tense, second person. To form the imperative mood, ...
uses the base form of the verb, usually with no subject (although the subject ''you'' can be added for emphasis). Negation uses ''do''-support (i.e. ''do not'' or ''don't''). For example: ::Now eat your dinner. ::You go and stand over there! ::Don't ever say that word again. Sentences of this type are used to give an instruction or order. When they are used to make requests, the word ''please'' (or other linguistic device) is often added for
politeness Politeness is the practical application of good manners or etiquette so as not to offend others. It is a culturally defined phenomenon, and therefore what is considered polite in one culture can sometimes be quite rude or simply eccentric in an ...
: ::Please pass the salt. First person imperatives ( cohortatives) can be formed with ''let us'' (usually contracted to ''let's''), as in "Let's go". Third person imperatives (
jussive The jussive (abbreviated ) is a grammatical mood of verbs for issuing orders, commanding, or exhorting (within a subjunctive framework). English verbs are not marked for this mood. The mood is similar to the ''cohortative'' mood, which typically a ...
s) are sometimes formed similarly, with ''let'', as in "Let him be released". More detail can be found in the
Imperative mood The imperative mood is a grammatical mood that forms a command or request. The imperative mood is used to demand or require that an action be performed. It is usually found only in the present tense, second person. To form the imperative mood, ...
article.


Conditional

The status of the conditional mood in English is similar to that of the
future tense In grammar, a future tense ( abbreviated ) is a verb form that generally marks the event described by the verb as not having happened yet, but expected to happen in the future. An example of a future tense form is the French ''aimera'', meaning ...
: it may be considered to exist provided the category of mood is not required to be marked morphologically. The English conditional is expressed periphrastically with verb forms governed by the auxiliary verb ''would'' (or sometimes ''should'' with a first-person singular subject; see ''shall'' and ''will''). The modal verb ''could'' is also sometimes used as a conditional (of ''can''). In certain uses, the conditional construction with ''would/should'' may also be described as " future-in-the-past". For uses of specific conditional constructions, see the sections below on
simple conditional This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
, conditional progressive, conditional perfect, and
conditional perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
, as well as the section on
conditional sentences Conditional sentences are natural language sentences that express that one thing is contingent on something else, e.g. "If it rains, the picnic will be cancelled." They are so called because the impact of the main clause of the sentence is ''con ...
(and the main article on English conditional sentences).


Active and passive voice

The active voice (where the verb's subject is understood to denote the doer, or
agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...
, of the denoted action) is the unmarked
voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound producti ...
in English. To form the
passive voice A passive voice construction is a grammatical voice construction that is found in many languages. In a clause with passive voice, the grammatical subject expresses the ''theme'' or '' patient'' of the main verb – that is, the person or thing ...
(where the subject denotes the undergoer, or
patient A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other heal ...
, of the action), a periphrastic construction is used. In the canonical form of the passive, a form of the auxiliary verb ''be'' (or sometimes ''get'') is used, together with the
past participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
of the lexical verb. Passive voice can be expressed in combination together with tenses, aspects and moods, by means of appropriate marking of the auxiliary (which for this purpose is not a stative verb, i.e. it has progressive forms available). For example: ::This room is tidied regularly. ( simple present passive) ::It had already been accepted. ( past perfect passive) ::Dinner is being cooked right now. (
present progressive The present continuous, also called the present progressive or present imperfect, is a verb form used in modern English that combines the present tense with the continuous aspect. It is formed by the present tense form of be and the present part ...
passive) The uses of these various passive forms are analogous to those of the corresponding tense-aspect-mood combinations in the active voice. The passive forms of certain of the combinations involving the progressive aspect are quite rare; these include the
present perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
(''it has been being written''),
past perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
(''it had been being written''),
future progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
(''it will be being written''),
future perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
(''it will have been being written''), conditional progressive (''it would be being written'') and
conditional perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
(''it would have been being written''). Because of the awkwardness of these constructions, they may be paraphrased, for example using the expression ''in the process of'' (''it has been in the process of being written'', ''it will be in the process of being written'', and similar). For further details of passive constructions, see English passive voice.


Negation and questions

Negation In logic, negation, also called the logical complement, is an operation that takes a proposition P to another proposition "not P", written \neg P, \mathord P or \overline. It is interpreted intuitively as being true when P is false, and false ...
of verbs usually takes place with the addition of the particle ''not'' (or its shortened form ''n't'') to an auxiliary or copular verb, with ''do''-support being used if there is otherwise no auxiliary. However, if a sentence already contains a negative word (''never'', ''nothing'', etc.), then there is not usually any additional ''not''. Questions (
interrogative An interrogative clause is a clause whose form is typically associated with question-like meanings. For instance, the English sentence "Is Hannah sick?" has interrogative syntax which distinguishes it from its declarative counterpart "Hannah is ...
constructions) are generally formed using
subject–auxiliary inversion Subject–auxiliary inversion (SAI; also called subject–operator inversion) is a frequently occurring type of inversion in English, whereby a finite auxiliary verb – taken here to include finite forms of the copula ''be'' – appears to "inv ...
, again using ''do''-support if there is otherwise no auxiliary. In negative questions, it is possible to invert with just the auxiliary (''should we not help?'') or with the contracted negation (''shouldn't we help?''). For full details on negation and question formation, see ''do''-support,
English auxiliaries and contractions English auxiliary verbs are a small set of English verbs, which include the English modal verbs and a few others. Although definitions vary, as generally conceived an auxiliary lacks inherent semantic meaning but instead modifies the meaning of ...
, and the
Negation In logic, negation, also called the logical complement, is an operation that takes a proposition P to another proposition "not P", written \neg P, \mathord P or \overline. It is interpreted intuitively as being true when P is false, and false ...
and Questions sections of the English Grammar article.


Modal verbs

English has the modal verbs ''can'', ''could'', ''may'', ''might'', ''must'', ''shall'', ''should'', ''will'', ''would'', and also (depending on classification adopted) ''ought (to)'', ''dare'', ''need'', ''had (better)'', ''used (to)''. These do not add ''-s'' for the third-person singular, and they do not form infinitives or participles; the only inflection they undergo is that to a certain extent ''could'', ''might'', ''should'' and ''would'' function as preterites (past tenses) of ''can'', ''may'', ''shall'' and ''will'' respectively. A modal verb can serve as the finite verb introducing a verb catena, as in ''he might have been injured then''. These generally express some form of
modality Modality may refer to: Humanities * Modality (theology), the organization and structure of the church, as distinct from sodality or parachurch organizations * Modality (music), in music, the subject concerning certain diatonic scales * Modaliti ...
(possibility, obligation, etc.), although ''will'' and ''would'' (and sometimes ''shall'' and ''should'') can serve—among their other uses—to express
future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that current ...
time reference and
conditional Conditional (if then) may refer to: *Causal conditional, if X then Y, where X is a cause of Y *Conditional probability, the probability of an event A given that another event B has occurred *Conditional proof, in logic: a proof that asserts a co ...
mood, as described elsewhere on this page. For details of the uses of modal verbs, see
English modal verbs The English modal verbs are a subset of the English auxiliary verbs used mostly to express modality (properties such as possibility, obligation, etc.). They can be distinguished from other verbs by their defectiveness (they do not have participle ...
.


Uses of verb combination types


Simple past

The '' simple past'' or ''past simple'', sometimes also called the ''
preterite The preterite or preterit (; abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense or verb form serving to denote events that took place or were completed in the past; in some languages, such as Spanish, French, and English, it is equivalent to the simple ...
'', consists of the bare past tense of the verb (ending in ''-ed'' for regular verbs, and formed in various ways for irregular ones, with the following spelling rules for regular verbs: verbs ending in -e add only –d to the end (e.g. live – lived, not *liveed), verbs ending in -y change to -ied (e.g. study – studied) and verbs ending in a group of a consonant + a vowel + a consonant double the final consonant (e.g. stop – stopped) —see
English verbs Verbs constitute one of the main parts of speech (word classes) in the English language. Like other types of words in the language, English verbs are not heavily inflected. Most combinations of tense, aspect, mood and voice are expressed peri ...
for details). In most questions (and other situations requiring
inversion Inversion or inversions may refer to: Arts * , a French gay magazine (1924/1925) * ''Inversion'' (artwork), a 2005 temporary sculpture in Houston, Texas * Inversion (music), a term with various meanings in music theory and musical set theory * ...
), when negated, and in certain emphatic statements, a periphrastic construction consisting of ''did'' and the bare infinitive of the main verb is generally used instead—see ''do''-support. The simple past is used for a single event in the past, for past habitual action, or for a past state: ::He took the money and ran. ::I visited them every day for a year. ::I knew how to fight even as a child. However, for action that was ongoing at the time referred to, the past progressive is generally used instead. For stative verbs that do or do not use progressive aspect when expressing a temporary state, see § Progressive aspect. For the use of ''could see'' in place of ''saw'' etc., see ''have got'' and ''can see'' below. The simple past is often close in meaning to the present perfect. The simple past is used when the event is conceived as occurring at a particular time in the past, or during a period that ended in the past (i.e. it does not last up until the present time). This time frame may be explicitly stated, or implicit in the context (for example the past tense is often used when describing a sequence of past events). ::I was born in 1980. ::We turned the oven off two minutes ago. ::She placed the letter on the table, sighed, and left the house. For further discussion and examples, see below. Various compound constructions exist for denoting past habitual action. The sentence ''When I was young, I played football every Saturday'' might alternatively be phrased using '' used to'' (''... I used to play ...'') or using '' would'' (''... I would play...''). In exceptional cases, the present simple can be used instead of the past simple as a stylistic tool, both as a way of literary expression and in everyday speech. Typical examples include telling jokes (as in ''Three men walk into a bar''), emotional storytelling (as in ''So I come home and I see this giant box in front of my door'') and referring to historical events (as in ''King Henry wins his last victory in 1422.''). The past simple is also used without past reference in some instances: in condition clauses and some other dependent clauses referring to hypothetical circumstances (see and below), and after certain expressions of wish. For the past subjunctive (''were'' in place of ''was''), see
English subjunctive While the English language lacks distinct inflections for mood, an English subjunctive is recognized in most grammars. Definition and scope of the concept vary widely across the literature, but it is generally associated with the description ...
. For the use of the past tense in indirect speech and similar contexts, see below. The -ed ending of regular verbs is pronounced as follows: * Regular verb endings with voiced consonants + /d/, e.g. ''hugged'' /hʌɡd/. * Regular verb endings with unvoiced consonants + /t/, ''stopped'' /stɒpt/. * Regular verb endings with /t/ or /d/ + /ɪd/, e.g. ''needed'' /niːdɪd/.


Past progressive/continuous

The ''past progressive'' or ''past continuous'' construction combines progressive aspect with
past The past is the set of all events that occurred before a given point in time. The past is contrasted with and defined by the present and the future. The concept of the past is derived from the linear fashion in which human observers experience ...
tense, and is formed using the past tense of ''be'' (''was'' or ''were'') with the
present participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived fro ...
of the main verb. It indicates an action that was ongoing at the past time being considered: ::At three o'clock yesterday, I was working in the garden. For stative verbs that do not use the progressive aspect, the simple past is used instead (''At three o'clock yesterday we were in the garden''). The past progressive is often used to denote an action that was interrupted by an event, or for two actions taking place in parallel: ::While I was washing the dishes, I heard a loud noise. ::While you were washing the dishes, Sue was walking the dog. (Interrupted actions in the past can also sometimes be denoted using the
past perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
, as described below.) The past progressive can also be used to refer to past action that occurred over a range of time and is viewed as an ongoing situation: ::I was working in the garden all day yesterday. That could also be expressed using the simple past, as ''I worked...'', which implies that the action is viewed as a unitary event (although the effective meaning is not very different). The past progressive shares certain special uses with other past tense constructions; see , , , and .


Past perfect

The ''past perfect'', sometimes called the '' pluperfect'', combines
past The past is the set of all events that occurred before a given point in time. The past is contrasted with and defined by the present and the future. The concept of the past is derived from the linear fashion in which human observers experience ...
tense with perfect aspect; it is formed by combining ''had'' (the past tense of the auxiliary ''have'') with the
past participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
of the main verb. It is used when referring to an event that took place prior to the time frame being considered. This time frame may be stated explicitly, as a stated time or the time of another past action: ::We had finished the job by 2 o'clock. ::He had already left when we arrived. The time frame may also be understood implicitly from the previous or later context: ::I was eating ... I had invited Jim to the meal but he was unable to attend. (i.e. I invited him before I started eating) ::I had lost my way. (i.e. this happened prior to the time of the past events I am describing or am about to describe) Compare ''He had left when we arrived'' (where his leaving preceded our arrival), with the form with the simple past, ''He left when we arrived'' (where his leaving was concurrent with or shortly after our arrival). Unlike the present perfect, the past perfect can readily be used with an adverb specifying a past time frame for the occurrence. For example, while it is incorrect to say *''I have done it last Friday'' (the use of ''last Friday'', specifying the past time, would require the simple past rather than the present perfect), there is no such objection to a sentence like "I had done it the previous Friday".Comrie, Bernard, ''Tense'', Cambridge Univ. Press, 1985, pp. 78–79. The past perfect can also be used for states or repeated occurrences pertaining over a period up to a time in the past, particularly in stating "for how long" or since when". However, if the state is temporary and the verb can be used in the progressive aspect, the
past perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
would normally be used instead. Some examples with the plain past perfect: ::I had lived in that house for 10 years. ::The children had been in their room since lunchtime. For other specific uses of the past perfect, see , , , and .


Past perfect progressive

The ''past perfect progressive'' or ''past perfect continuous'' (also known as the ''pluperfect progressive'' or ''pluperfect continuous'') combines
perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
aspect with
past The past is the set of all events that occurred before a given point in time. The past is contrasted with and defined by the present and the future. The concept of the past is derived from the linear fashion in which human observers experience ...
tense. It is formed by combining ''had'' (the past tense of auxiliary ''have''), ''been'' (the past participle of ''be''), and the
present participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived fro ...
of the main verb. Uses of the past perfect progressive are analogous to those of the
present perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
, except that the point of reference is in the past. For example: :: I was tired because I had been running. :: By yesterday morning they had already been working for twelve hours. :: Among the witnesses was John Smith, who had been staying at the hotel since July 10. This form is sometimes used for actions in the past that were interrupted by some event (compare the use of the past progressive as given above). For example: :: I had been working on my novel when she entered the room to talk to me. This implies that I stopped working when she came in (or had already stopped a short time before); the plain past progressive (''I was working...'') would not necessarily carry this implication. If the verb in question does not use the progressive aspect, then the plain past perfect is used instead (see examples in the previous section). The past perfect progressive may also have additional specific uses similar to those of the plain past perfect; see , , , and .


Simple present

The '' simple present'' or ''present simple'' is a form that combines
present tense The present tense ( abbreviated or ) is a grammatical tense whose principal function is to locate a situation or event in the present time. The present tense is used for actions which are happening now. In order to explain and understand present ...
with "simple" (neither perfect nor progressive) aspect. In the indicative mood it consists of the base form of the verb, or the ''-s'' form when the subject is third-person singular (the verb ''be'' uses the forms ''am'', ''is'', ''are''). However, with non-auxiliary verbs it also has a periphrastic form consisting of ''do'' (or third-person singular ''does'') with the bare infinitive of the main verb—this form is used in questions (and other clauses requiring
inversion Inversion or inversions may refer to: Arts * , a French gay magazine (1924/1925) * ''Inversion'' (artwork), a 2005 temporary sculpture in Houston, Texas * Inversion (music), a term with various meanings in music theory and musical set theory * ...
) and negations, and sometimes for emphasis. For details of this, see ''do''-support. The principal uses of the simple present are given below. More examples can be found in the article Simple present. *To refer to an action or event that takes place habitually. Such uses are often accompanied by frequency adverbs and adverbial phrases such as ''always'', ''often'', ''from time to time'' and ''never''. Examples: ::I always take a shower. ::He writes for a living. :This contrasts with the
present progressive The present continuous, also called the present progressive or present imperfect, is a verb form used in modern English that combines the present tense with the continuous aspect. It is formed by the present tense form of be and the present part ...
, which is used for actions taking place at the present moment. *With
stative verb According to some linguistics theories, a stative verb is a verb that describes a state of being, in contrast to a dynamic verb, which describes an action. The difference can be categorized by saying that stative verbs describe situations that are ...
s in senses that do not use progressive aspect, to refer to a present or general state, whether temporary, permanent or habitual. (In senses that do use progressive aspect, the present simple is used when the state is permanent or habitual.) ::You are happy. ::I know what to do. ::Denmark lies to the north of Germany. *When quoting someone or something, even if the words were spoken in the (usually very recent) past: ::The label says "External use only". ::Mary says she's ready. *To refer to a single completed action, as in recounting the events of a story in the present tense (see
historical present In linguistics and rhetoric, the historical present or historic present, also called dramatic present or narrative present, is the employment of the present tense when narrating past events. It is widely used in writing about history in Latin ( ...
), and in such contexts as newspaper headlines, where it replaces the present perfect: ::In ''Hamlet'', Ophelia drowns in a stream. ::40-year-old wins gold medal. *Sometimes to refer to an arranged future event, usually with a reference to time: ::We leave for Berlin tomorrow at 1 pm. *In providing a commentary on events as they occur, or in describing some theoretical sequence of events: ::I chop the chives and add them to the mixture. ::According to the manager's new idea, I welcome the guests and you give the presentation. *In many
dependent clause A subordinate clause, dependent clause, subclause, or embedded clause is a clause that is embedded within a complex sentence. For instance, in the English sentence "I know that Bette is a dolphin", the clause "that Bette is a dolphin" occurs as th ...
s referring to the future, particularly condition clauses, clauses expressing place and time, and many relative clauses (see below): ::If he finds your sweets, he will eat them. ::We will report as soon as we receive any information. *In certain situations in a temporal adverbial clause, rather than the present progressive: :: We can see the light improving as we speak. In colloquial English it is common to use ''can see'', ''can hear'' for the present tense of ''see'', ''hear'', etc., and ''have got'' for the present tense of ''have'' (denoting possession). See ''have got'' and ''can see'' below. For the present subjunctive, see
English subjunctive While the English language lacks distinct inflections for mood, an English subjunctive is recognized in most grammars. Definition and scope of the concept vary widely across the literature, but it is generally associated with the description ...
. For uses of modal verbs (which may be regarded as instances of the simple present) see
English modal verbs The English modal verbs are a subset of the English auxiliary verbs used mostly to express modality (properties such as possibility, obligation, etc.). They can be distinguished from other verbs by their defectiveness (they do not have participle ...
.


Present progressive

The ''present progressive'' or ''present continuous'' form combines
present The present (or here'' and ''now) is the time that is associated with the events perceived directly and in the first time, not as a recollection (perceived more than once) or a speculation (predicted, hypothesis, uncertain). It is a period of ...
tense with progressive aspect. It thus refers to an action or event conceived of as having limited duration, taking place at the present time. It consists of a form of the simple present of ''be'' together with the
present participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived fro ...
of the main verb and the ending ''-ing''. ::We are cooking dinner now. This often contrasts with the simple present, which expresses repeated or habitual action (''We cook dinner every day''). However, sometimes the present continuous is used with ''always'', generally to express annoyance about a habitual action: ::You are always making a mess in the study. Certain
stative verb According to some linguistics theories, a stative verb is a verb that describes a state of being, in contrast to a dynamic verb, which describes an action. The difference can be categorized by saying that stative verbs describe situations that are ...
s do not use the progressive aspect, so the present simple is used instead in those cases (see above). The present progressive can be used to refer to a planned future event: ::We are tidying the attic tomorrow. It also appears with future reference in many condition and time clauses and other dependent clauses (see below): ::If he's sleeping when you arrive, wake him up. ::I will finish the job while the children are playing. It can also refer to something taking place not necessarily at the time of speaking, but at the time currently under consideration, in the case of a story or narrative being told in the present tense (as mentioned above under present simple): ::The king and queen are conversing when Hamlet enters. For the possibility of a present subjunctive progressive, see
English subjunctive While the English language lacks distinct inflections for mood, an English subjunctive is recognized in most grammars. Definition and scope of the concept vary widely across the literature, but it is generally associated with the description ...
.


Present perfect

The '' present perfect'' (traditionally called simply the ''perfect'') combines
present The present (or here'' and ''now) is the time that is associated with the events perceived directly and in the first time, not as a recollection (perceived more than once) or a speculation (predicted, hypothesis, uncertain). It is a period of ...
tense with perfect aspect, denoting the present state of an action's being completed, that is, that the action took place before the present time. (It is thus often close in meaning to the simple past tense, although the two are not usually interchangeable.) It is formed with the present tense of the auxiliary ''have'' (namely ''have'' or ''has'') and the
past participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
of the main verb. The choice of present perfect or past tense depends on the frame of reference (period or point in time) in which the event is conceived as occurring. If the frame of reference extends to the present time, the present perfect is used. For example: ::I have written a letter this morning. (if it is still the morning) ::He has produced ten plays. (if he is still alive and professionally active) ::They have never traveled abroad. (if they are still alive and considered capable of traveling) If the frame of reference is a time in the past, or a period that ended in the past, the past tense is used instead. For example: ''I wrote a letter this morning'' (it is now afternoon); ''He produced ten plays'' (he is now dead or his career is considered over, or a particular past time period is being referred to); ''They never traveled abroad'' (similarly). See under Simple past for more examples. The simple past is generally used when the occurrence has a specific past time frame—either explicitly stated (''I wrote a book in 1995''; ''the water boiled a minute ago''), or implied by the context (for example, in the narration of a sequence of events). It is therefore normally incorrect to write a sentence like *''I have written a novel yesterday''; the present perfect cannot be used with an expression of past time such as ''yesterday''. With ''already'' or ''yet'', traditional usage calls for the present perfect: ''Have you eaten yet? Yes, I've already eaten.'' Current informal American speech allows the simple past: ''Did you eat yet? Yes, I ate already.'', although the present perfect is still fully idiomatic here and may be preferred depending on area, personal preference, or the wish to avoid possible ambiguity. Use of the present perfect often draws attention to the present consequences of the past action or event, as opposed to its actual occurrence. The sentence ''she has come'' probably means she is here now, while the simple past ''she came'' does not. The sentence, “Have you been to the fair?” suggests that the fair is still going on, while the sentence, “Did you go to the fair?” could mean that the fair is over. (See also ''been'' and ''gone'' below.) Some more examples: ::I have eaten. (implies that I'm no longer hungry) ::We have made the dinner. (implies that the dinner is now ready to eat) ::The weather has gotten cloudier. (implies that it is now more cloudy than previously) It may also refer to an ongoing state or habitual action, particularly in saying ''for how long'', or ''since when'', something is the case. For example, ::I have lived in Paris for five years. ::He has held the record since he won his Olympic gold. ::We have eaten breakfast together every morning since our honeymoon. This implies that I still live in Paris, that he still holds the record and that we still eat together every morning (although the first sentence may also refer to some unspecified past period of five years). When the circumstance is temporary, the
present perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
is often appropriate in such sentences (see below); however, if the verb is one that does not use the progressive aspect, the basic present perfect is used in that case too: ::Amy has been on the swing for ten minutes. The present perfect may refer to a habitual circumstance, or a circumstance being part of a theoretical or story narrative being given in the present tense (provided the circumstance is of an event's having taken place previously): ::Whenever I get home, John has usually already arrived. ::According to the plan, the speeches have already been given when the cake is brought out. The present perfect may also be used with future reference, instead of the future perfect, in those dependent clauses where future occurrence is denoted by present tense (see below). For example: ::When you have written it, show it to me. For the possibility of a present perfect subjunctive, see
English subjunctive While the English language lacks distinct inflections for mood, an English subjunctive is recognized in most grammars. Definition and scope of the concept vary widely across the literature, but it is generally associated with the description ...
. For special use of the present perfect of ''get'' to express possession or obligation, see ''have got'' below. For the use of ''have been'' in place of ''have gone'', see ''been'' and ''gone'' below.


Present perfect progressive/continuous

The ''present perfect continuous'' (or ''present perfect progressive'') construction combines some of this
perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
aspect with
present The present (or here'' and ''now) is the time that is associated with the events perceived directly and in the first time, not as a recollection (perceived more than once) or a speculation (predicted, hypothesis, uncertain). It is a period of ...
tense. It is formed with the present tense of ''have'' (''have'' or ''has''), the past participle of ''be'' (''been''), and the
present participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived fro ...
of the main verb and the ending ''-ing''. This construction is used for ongoing action in the past that continues right up to the present or has recently finished: ::I have been writing this paper all morning. ::Why are his eyes red? He has been crying. It is frequently used when stating ''for how long'', or ''since when'', something is the case: ::She has been working here since 1997. ::How long have you been sitting there? ::They have been arguing about it for two weeks. In these sentences the actions are still continuing, but it is the past portion of them that is being considered, and so the perfect aspect is used. (A sentence without perfect aspect, such as ''I am sitting here for three hours'', implies an intention to perform the action for that length of time.) With stative verbs that are not used in the progressive, and for situations that are considered permanent, the present perfect (non-progressive) is used instead; for examples of this see above.


Simple future

The term ''simple future'', ''future simple'' or ''future indefinite'', as applied to English, generally refers to the combination of the modal auxiliary verb ''will'' with the bare infinitive of the main verb. Sometimes (particularly in more formal or old-fashioned English) ''shall'' is preferred to ''will'' when the subject is first person (''I'' or ''we''); see ''shall'' and ''will'' for details. The auxiliary is often contracted to'' 'll''; see
English auxiliaries and contractions English auxiliary verbs are a small set of English verbs, which include the English modal verbs and a few others. Although definitions vary, as generally conceived an auxiliary lacks inherent semantic meaning but instead modifies the meaning of ...
. This construction can be used to indicate what the speaker views as facts about the future, including confident predictions: ::The sun will rise tomorrow at 6:14. ::It will rain later this week. It may be used to describe future circumstances that are subject to some condition (see also ): ::He will go there if he can. However English also has other ways of referring to future circumstances. For planned or scheduled actions the
present progressive The present continuous, also called the present progressive or present imperfect, is a verb form used in modern English that combines the present tense with the continuous aspect. It is formed by the present tense form of be and the present part ...
or simple present may be used (see those sections for examples). There is also a ''going-to'' future, common in colloquial English, which is often used to express intentions or predictions (''I am going to write a book some day''; ''I think that it is going to rain''). Use of the ''will/shall'' construction when expressing intention often indicates a spontaneous decision: ::I know! I'll use this book as a door stop. Compare ''I'm going to use...'', which implies that the intention to do so has existed for some time. Use of present tense rather than future constructions in condition clauses and certain other dependent clauses is described below under and . The modal verbs ''will'' and ''shall'' also have other uses besides indicating future time reference. For example: ::I will pass this exam. (often expresses determination in addition to futurity) ::You will obey me! (insistence) ::I will not do it! (negative insistence, refusal) ::At this moment I will tolerate no dissent. (strong volition) ::He hasn't eaten all day; he will be hungry now. (confident speculation about the present) ::One of his faults is that he will make trouble unnecessarily. (habit) ::Shall we get to work? (suggestion) For more examples see ''will'' and ''shall'' in the article on modal verbs, and the article ''shall'' and ''will''.


Future progressive

The ''future progressive'' or ''future continuous'' combines progressive aspect with
future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that current ...
time reference; it is formed with the auxiliary ''will'' (or ''shall'' in the first person; see ''shall'' and ''will''), the bare infinitive ''be'', and the
present participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived fro ...
of the main verb. It is used mainly to indicate that an event will be in progress at a particular point in the future: ::This time tomorrow I will be taking my driving test. ::I imagine we will already be eating when you arrive. The usual restrictions apply, on the use both of the future and of the progressive: simple rather than progressive aspect is used with some stative verbs (see ), and present rather than future constructions are used in many dependent clauses (see and below). The same construction may occur when ''will'' or ''shall'' is given one of its other uses (as described under ), for example: ::He will be sitting in his study at this time. (confident speculation about the present)


Future perfect

The '' future perfect'' combines aspect with
future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that current ...
time reference. It consists of the auxiliary ''will'' (or sometimes ''shall'' in the first person, as above), the bare infinitive ''have'', and the
past participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
of the main verb. It indicates an action that is to be completed sometime prior to a future time of perspective, or an ongoing action continuing up to a future time of perspective (compare uses of the present perfect above). :: I shall have finished my essay by Thursday. :: When I finally search him he will have disposed of the evidence. :: By next year we will have lived in this house for half a century. For the use of the present tense rather than future constructions in certain dependent clauses, see and below. The same construction may occur when ''will'' or ''shall'' is given one of its other meanings (see under ); for example: ::He will have had his tea by now. (confident speculation about the present) ::You will have completed this task by the time I return, is that understood? (giving instruction)


Future perfect progressive

The ''future perfect progressive'' or ''future perfect continuous'' combines
perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
aspect with
future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that current ...
time reference. It is formed by combining the auxiliary ''will'' (or sometimes ''shall'', as above), the bare infinitive ''have'', the past participle ''been'', and the
present participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived fro ...
of the main verb. Uses of the future perfect progressive are analogous to those of the
present perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
, except that the point of reference is in the future. For example: :: He will be very tired because he will have been working all morning. :: By 6 o'clock we will have been drinking for ten hours. For the use of present tense in place of future constructions in certain dependent clauses, see and below. The same construction may occur when the auxiliary (usually ''will'') has one of its other meanings, particularly expressing a confident assumption about the present: ::No chance of finding him sober now; hell have been drinking all day.


Simple conditional

The ''simple conditional'' or ''conditional simple'', also called ''conditional present'', and in some meanings '' future-in-the-past simple'', is formed by combining the modal auxiliary ''would'' with the bare infinitive of the main verb. Sometimes (particularly in formal or old-fashioned English) ''should'' is used in place of ''would'' when the subject is first person (''I'' or ''we''), in the same way that ''shall'' may replace ''will'' in such instances; see ''shall'' and ''will''. The auxiliary is often shortened to'' 'd''; see
English auxiliaries and contractions English auxiliary verbs are a small set of English verbs, which include the English modal verbs and a few others. Although definitions vary, as generally conceived an auxiliary lacks inherent semantic meaning but instead modifies the meaning of ...
. The simple conditional is used principally in a main clause accompanied by an implicit or explicit condition (''if''-clause). (This is described in more detail in the article on English conditional sentences; see also below.) The time referred to may be (hypothetical) present or future. For example: ::I would go tomorrow (if she asked me). ::If I were you, I would see a doctor. ::If she had bought those shares, she would be rich now. In some varieties of English, ''would'' (or '''d'') is also regularly used in the ''if''-clauses themselves (''If you'd leave now, you'd be on time''), but this is often considered nonstandard. This is widespread especially in spoken American English in all registers, though not usually in more formal writing. There are also situations where ''would'' is used in ''if''-clauses in British English too, but these can usually be interpreted as a modal use of ''would'' (e.g. ''If you would listen to me once in a while, you might learn something'').''The English-Learning and Languages Review''
"Questions and Answers". Retrieved 3 December 2012.
For more details, see . For the use of ''would'' after the verb ''wish'' and the expression ''if only'', see . The auxiliary verbs ''could'' and ''might'' can also be used to indicate the conditional mood, as in the following: ::If the opportunity were here, I could do the job. (= ... I would be able to do ... ) ::If the opportunity were here, I might do the job. (= ... maybe I would do ...) Forms with ''would'' may also have " future-in-the-past" meaning: ::We moved into the cottage in 1958. We would live there for the next forty years. See also and . For other possible meanings of ''would'' and ''should'' (as well as ''could'' and ''might''), see the relevant sections of
English modal verbs The English modal verbs are a subset of the English auxiliary verbs used mostly to express modality (properties such as possibility, obligation, etc.). They can be distinguished from other verbs by their defectiveness (they do not have participle ...
.


Conditional progressive

The ''conditional (present) progressive'' or ''conditional continuous'' combines
conditional Conditional (if then) may refer to: *Causal conditional, if X then Y, where X is a cause of Y *Conditional probability, the probability of an event A given that another event B has occurred *Conditional proof, in logic: a proof that asserts a co ...
mood with progressive aspect. It combines ''would'' (or the contraction ''d'', or sometimes ''should'' in the first person, as above) with the bare infinitive ''be'' and the
present participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived fro ...
of the main verb. It has similar uses to those of the
simple conditional This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
(above), but is used for ongoing actions or situations (usually hypothetical): :: Today she would be exercising if it were not for her injury. :: He wouldn't be working today if he had been given the time off. It can also have future-in-the-past meanings: ::We didn't know then that we would be waiting another three hours. For the use of ''would'' in condition clauses, see above (see also and below). For use in indirect speech constructions, see . For other uses of constructions with ''would'' and ''should'', see
English modal verbs The English modal verbs are a subset of the English auxiliary verbs used mostly to express modality (properties such as possibility, obligation, etc.). They can be distinguished from other verbs by their defectiveness (they do not have participle ...
. For general information on conditionals in English, see English conditional sentences (and also below).


Conditional perfect

The '' conditional perfect'' construction combines
conditional Conditional (if then) may refer to: *Causal conditional, if X then Y, where X is a cause of Y *Conditional probability, the probability of an event A given that another event B has occurred *Conditional proof, in logic: a proof that asserts a co ...
mood with perfect aspect, and consists of ''would'' (or the contraction ''d'', or sometimes ''should'' in the first person, as above), the bare infinitive ''have'', and the
past participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
of the main verb. It is used to denote conditional situations attributed to past time, usually those that are or may be contrary to fact. ::I would have set an extra place if I had known you were coming. ::I would have set an extra place (but I didn't because someone said you weren't coming). (implicit condition) For the possibility of use of ''would'' in the condition clauses themselves, see (see also below). For more information on conditional constructions, see below, and the article English conditional sentences. The same construction may have " future-in-the-past" meanings (see
Indirect speech In linguistics, indirect speech (also reported speech or indirect discourse) is a grammatical mechanism for reporting the content of another utterance without directly quoting it. For example, the English sentence ''Jill said she was coming' ...
). For other meanings of ''would have'' and ''should have'', see
English modal verbs The English modal verbs are a subset of the English auxiliary verbs used mostly to express modality (properties such as possibility, obligation, etc.). They can be distinguished from other verbs by their defectiveness (they do not have participle ...
.


Conditional perfect progressive

The ''conditional perfect progressive'' or ''conditional perfect continuous'' construction combines
conditional Conditional (if then) may refer to: *Causal conditional, if X then Y, where X is a cause of Y *Conditional probability, the probability of an event A given that another event B has occurred *Conditional proof, in logic: a proof that asserts a co ...
mood with
perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
aspect. It consists of ''would'' (or sometimes ''should'' in the first person, as above) with the bare infinitive ''have'', the past participle ''been'' and the
present participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived fro ...
of the main verb. It generally refers to a conditional ongoing situation in hypothetical (usually counterfactual) past time: ::I would have been sitting on that seat if I hadn't been late for the party. Similar considerations and alternative forms and meanings apply as noted in the above sections on other conditional constructions.


''Have got'' and ''can see''

In colloquial English, particularly British English, the present perfect of the verb ''get'', namely ''have got'' or ''has got'', is frequently used in place of the simple present indicative of ''have'' (i.e. ''have'' or ''has'') when denoting possession, broadly defined. For example: ::Formal: ''I have three brothers''; ''Does he have a car?'' ::Informal: ''I've got three brothers''; ''Has he got a car?'' In American English, the form ''got'' is used in this idiom, even though the standard past participle of ''get'' is ''gotten''. The same applies in the expression of present obligation: ''I've got to go now'' may be used in place of ''I have to (must) go now''. In very informal registers, the contracted form of ''have'' or ''has'' may be omitted altogether: ''I got three brothers''. Another common idiom is the use of the modal verb ''can'' (or ''could'' for the
past The past is the set of all events that occurred before a given point in time. The past is contrasted with and defined by the present and the future. The concept of the past is derived from the linear fashion in which human observers experience ...
tense or
conditional Conditional (if then) may refer to: *Causal conditional, if X then Y, where X is a cause of Y *Conditional probability, the probability of an event A given that another event B has occurred *Conditional proof, in logic: a proof that asserts a co ...
) together with verbs of perception such as ''see'', ''hear'', etc., rather than the plain verb. For example: ::I see three houses ''or'' I can see three houses. ::I hear a humming sound ''or'' I can hear a humming sound. Aspectual distinctions can be made, particularly in the past tense: ::I saw it (event) ''vs.'' I could see it (ongoing state).


''Been'' and ''gone''

In perfect constructions apparently requiring the verb '' go'', the normal past participle ''gone'' is often replaced by the past participle of the copula verb ''be'', namely ''been''. This gives rise to sentences of contrasting meaning. When ''been'' is used, the implication is that, at the time of reference, the act of going took place previously, but the subject is no longer at the place in question (unless a specific time frame including the present moment is specified). When ''gone'' is used, the implication is again that the act of going took place previously, but that the subject is still at (or possibly has not yet reached) that place (unless repetition is specified lexically). For example: ::My father has gone to Japan. (he is in Japan, or on his way there, now) ::My father has gone to Japan five times. (he may or may not be there now) ::My father has been to Japan. (he has visited Japan at some time in his life) ::My father has been in Japan for three weeks. (he is still there) ::When I returned, John had gone to the shops. (he was out of the house) ::By the time I returned, John had gone to the shops three times. (he may or may not still be there) ::When I returned, John had been to the shops. (the shopping was done, John was likely back home) ::When I returned, John had been at the shops for three hours. (he was still there) ''Been'' is used in such sentences in combination with ''to'' as if it were a verb of motion (being followed by adverbial phrases of motion), which is different from its normal uses as part of the copula verb ''be''. Compare: ::Sue has been to the beach. (as above; Sue went to the beach at some time before now) ::Sue has been on the beach. (use of ''been'' simply as part of ''be''; she spent time on the beach) The above sentences with the present perfect can be further compared with alternatives using the simple past, such as: ::My father went to Japan. As usual, this tense would be used if a specific past time frame is stated ("in 1995", "last week") or is implied by the context (e.g. the event is part of a past narrative, or my father is no longer alive or capable of traveling). Use of this form does not in itself determine whether or not the subject is still there.


Conditional sentences

A conditional sentence usually contains two clauses: an ''if''-clause or similar expressing the condition (the ''protasis''), and a main clause expressing the conditional circumstance (the ''apodosis''). In English language teaching, conditional sentences are classified according to type as first, second or third conditional; there also exist "zero conditional" and mixed conditional sentences. A "first conditional" sentence expresses a future circumstance conditional on some other future circumstance. It uses the
present The present (or here'' and ''now) is the time that is associated with the events perceived directly and in the first time, not as a recollection (perceived more than once) or a speculation (predicted, hypothesis, uncertain). It is a period of ...
tense (with
future reference The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...
) in the condition clause, and the
future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that current ...
with ''will'' (or some other expression of future) in the main clause: ::If he comes late, I will be angry. A "second conditional" sentence expresses a hypothetical circumstance conditional on some other circumstance, referring to nonpast time. It uses the
past The past is the set of all events that occurred before a given point in time. The past is contrasted with and defined by the present and the future. The concept of the past is derived from the linear fashion in which human observers experience ...
tense (with the past
subjunctive The subjunctive (also known as conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of the utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude towards it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality s ...
''were'' optionally replacing ''was'') in the condition clause, and the
conditional Conditional (if then) may refer to: *Causal conditional, if X then Y, where X is a cause of Y *Conditional probability, the probability of an event A given that another event B has occurred *Conditional proof, in logic: a proof that asserts a co ...
formed with ''would'' in the main clause: ::If he came late, I would be angry. A "third conditional" sentence expresses a hypothetical (usually counterfactual) circumstance in the past. It uses the past perfect in the condition clause, and the conditional perfect in the main clause: ::If he had come late, I would have been angry. A "mixed conditional" mixes the second and third patterns (for a past circumstance conditional on a not specifically past circumstance, or vice versa): ::If I knew Latin, I wouldn't have made that mistake just now. ::If I had gotten married young, I would have a family by now. The "zero conditional" is a pattern independent of tense, simply expressing the dependence of the truth of one proposition on the truth of another: ::If Brian is right then Fred has the jewels. See also the following sections on expressions of wish and dependent clauses.


Expressions of wish

Particular rules apply to the tenses and verb forms used after the verb ''wish'' and certain other expressions with similar meaning. When the verb ''wish'' governs a
finite clause In language, a clause is a constituent that comprises a semantic predicand (expressed or not) and a semantic predicate. A typical clause consists of a subject and a syntactic predicate, the latter typically a verb phrase composed of a verb with ...
, the past tense ( simple past or past progressive as appropriate) is used when the desire expressed concerns a present state, the past perfect (or
past perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
) when it concerns a (usually counterfactual) past state or event, and the
simple conditional This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
with ''would'' when it concerns a desired present action or change of state. For example: ::I wish you were here. (past tense for desired present state) ::Do you wish you were playing in this match? (past progressive for present ongoing action) ::I wish I had been in the room then. (past perfect for counterfactual past state) ::I wish they had locked the door. (past perfect for counterfactual past action) ::I wish you would shut up! (desired present action) ::Do you wish it would rain? (desired present change of state) The same forms are generally used independently of the tense or form of the verb ''wish'': ::I wished you were there. (past tense for desired state at the time of wishing) The same rules apply after the expression ''if only'': ::If only he knew French! ::If only I had looked in the bedroom! ::If only they would stop talking! In finite clauses after ''would rather'', ''imagine'' and ''it's (high) time'', the past tense is used: ::I'd rather you came with me. ::Try to imagine they made an album with these songs. ::Try to imagine a tool that made that easy for citizens. ::It's time they gave up. After ''would rather'' the present
subjunctive The subjunctive (also known as conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of the utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude towards it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality s ...
is also sometimes possible: ''I'd rather you/he come with me.'' After all of the above expressions (though not normally ''it's (high) time'') the past subjunctive ''were'' may be used instead of ''was'': ::I wish I were less tired. ::If only he were a trained soldier. Other syntactic patterns are possible with most of these expressions. The verb ''wish'' can be used with a ''to''-infinitive or as an ordinary
transitive verb A transitive verb is a verb that accepts one or more objects, for example, 'cleaned' in ''Donald cleaned the window''. This contrasts with intransitive verbs, which do not have objects, for example, 'panicked' in ''Donald panicked''. Transiti ...
(''I wish to talk''; ''I wish you good health''). The expressions ''would rather'' and ''it's time'' can also be followed by a ''to''-infinitive. After the verb ''hope'' the above rules do not apply; instead the logically expected tense is used, except that often the present tense is used with future meaning: ::I hope you get better soon.


Indirect speech

Verbs often undergo tense changes in
indirect speech In linguistics, indirect speech (also reported speech or indirect discourse) is a grammatical mechanism for reporting the content of another utterance without directly quoting it. For example, the English sentence ''Jill said she was coming' ...
. This commonly occurs in
content clause In grammar, a content clause is a dependent clause that provides content implied or commented upon by an independent clause. The term was coined by Danish linguist Otto Jespersen. They are also known as noun clauses. English In English, there ...
s (typically ''that''-clauses and
indirect question In grammar, a content clause is a dependent clause that provides content implied or commented upon by an independent clause. The term was coined by Danish linguist Otto Jespersen. They are also known as noun clauses. English In English, there ...
s), when governed by a predicate of saying (thinking, knowing, etc.) which is in the
past The past is the set of all events that occurred before a given point in time. The past is contrasted with and defined by the present and the future. The concept of the past is derived from the linear fashion in which human observers experience ...
tense or
conditional Conditional (if then) may refer to: *Causal conditional, if X then Y, where X is a cause of Y *Conditional probability, the probability of an event A given that another event B has occurred *Conditional proof, in logic: a proof that asserts a co ...
mood. In this situation the following tense and aspect changes occur relative to the original words: * changes to
past The past is the set of all events that occurred before a given point in time. The past is contrasted with and defined by the present and the future. The concept of the past is derived from the linear fashion in which human observers experience ...
: ::"I like apples." → He said that he liked apples. ::"We are riding." → They claimed that they were riding. ::"You have sinned." → I was told that I had sinned. * changes to past perfect (and sometimes past progressive to
past perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
): ::"They finished all the wine earlier." → He thought they had finished all the wine earlier. :This change does not normally apply, however, when the past tense is used to denote an unreal rather than a past circumstance (see expressions of wish,
conditional sentences Conditional sentences are natural language sentences that express that one thing is contingent on something else, e.g. "If it rains, the picnic will be cancelled." They are so called because the impact of the main clause of the sentence is ''con ...
and dependent clauses): ::"I would do anything you asked." → He said he would do anything she asked. * changes to
conditional Conditional (if then) may refer to: *Causal conditional, if X then Y, where X is a cause of Y *Conditional probability, the probability of an event A given that another event B has occurred *Conditional proof, in logic: a proof that asserts a co ...
, also referred to as future-in-the-past (i.e. ''will/shall'' changes to ''would/should''): ::"The match will end in a draw." → He predicted that the match would end in a draw. *The modals ''can'' and ''may'' change to their preterite forms ''could'' and ''might'' : ::"We may attend." → She told us that they might attend. Verb forms not covered by any of the above rules (verbs already in the past perfect, or formed with ''would'' or other modals not having a preterite equivalent) do not change. Application of the above rules is not compulsory; sometimes the original verb tense is retained, particularly when the statement (with the original tense) remains equally valid at the moment of reporting: ::"The earth orbits the sun." → Copernicus stated that the earth orbits the sun. The above tense changes do not apply when the verb of saying (etc.) is not
past The past is the set of all events that occurred before a given point in time. The past is contrasted with and defined by the present and the future. The concept of the past is derived from the linear fashion in which human observers experience ...
or
conditional Conditional (if then) may refer to: *Causal conditional, if X then Y, where X is a cause of Y *Conditional probability, the probability of an event A given that another event B has occurred *Conditional proof, in logic: a proof that asserts a co ...
in form; in particular there are no such changes when that verb is in the present perfect: ''He has said that he likes apples.'' For further details, and information about other grammatical and lexical changes that take place in indirect speech, see
indirect speech In linguistics, indirect speech (also reported speech or indirect discourse) is a grammatical mechanism for reporting the content of another utterance without directly quoting it. For example, the English sentence ''Jill said she was coming' ...
and
sequence of tenses The sequence of tenses (known in Latin as ''consecutio temporum'', and also known as agreement of tenses, succession of tenses and tense harmony) is a set of grammatical rules of a particular language, governing the agreement between the tenses o ...
. For related passive constructions (of the type ''it is said that'' and ''she is said to''), see .


Dependent clauses

Apart from the special cases referred to in the sections above, many other
dependent clause A subordinate clause, dependent clause, subclause, or embedded clause is a clause that is embedded within a complex sentence. For instance, in the English sentence "I know that Bette is a dolphin", the clause "that Bette is a dolphin" occurs as th ...
s use a tense that might not logically be expected – in particular the
present The present (or here'' and ''now) is the time that is associated with the events perceived directly and in the first time, not as a recollection (perceived more than once) or a speculation (predicted, hypothesis, uncertain). It is a period of ...
tense is used when the reference is to future time, and the
past The past is the set of all events that occurred before a given point in time. The past is contrasted with and defined by the present and the future. The concept of the past is derived from the linear fashion in which human observers experience ...
tense is used when the reference is to a hypothetical situation (in other words, the form with ''will'' is replaced by the present tense, and the form with ''would'' by the past tense). This occurs in condition clauses (as mentioned above), in clauses of time and place and in many relative clauses: ::If he finds your sweets, he will eat them. ::We will report as soon as we receive any information. ::The bomb will explode where it lands. ::Go up to the first person that you see. In the above examples, the simple present is used instead of the
simple future This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
, even though the reference is to future time. Examples of similar uses with other tense–aspect combinations are given below: ::We will wash up while you are tidying. (
present progressive The present continuous, also called the present progressive or present imperfect, is a verb form used in modern English that combines the present tense with the continuous aspect. It is formed by the present tense form of be and the present part ...
instead of
future progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
) ::Please log off when you have finished working. ( present perfect instead of future perfect) ::If we were that hungry, we would go into the first restaurant that we saw. ( simple past instead of
simple conditional This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
) ::We would be searching the building while you were searching the grounds. ( past progressive instead of conditional progressive) ::In that case the dogs would find the scent that you had left. ( past perfect instead of conditional perfect) The past tense can be used for hypothetical situations in some noun clauses too: ::Try to imagine he had serious conflicts of interest. ::Suppose this happened to you. The use of present and past tenses without reference to present and past time does not apply to all dependent clauses, however; if the future time or hypothetical reference is expressed in the dependent clause independently of the main clause, then a form with ''will'' or ''would'' in a dependent clause is possible: ::This is the man who will guide you through the mountains. ::We entered a building where cowards would fear to tread.


Uses of nonfinite verbs

The main uses of the various nonfinite verb forms (infinitives, participles and gerunds) are described in the following sections. For how these forms are made, see above. For more information on distinguishing between the various uses that use the form in ''-ing'', see ''-ing'': Uses.


Bare infinitive

A bare
infinitive Infinitive ( abbreviated ) is a linguistics term for certain verb forms existing in many languages, most often used as non-finite verbs. As with many linguistic concepts, there is not a single definition applicable to all languages. The word is de ...
(the base form of the verb, without the particle ''to''), or an infinitive phrase introduced by such a verb, may be used as follows: *As complement of the auxiliary ''do'', in negations, questions and other situations where ''do''-support is used: ::Do you want to go home? ::Please do not laugh. *As complement of ''will'' (''shall'') or ''would'' (''should'') in the
future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that current ...
and
conditional Conditional (if then) may refer to: *Causal conditional, if X then Y, where X is a cause of Y *Conditional probability, the probability of an event A given that another event B has occurred *Conditional proof, in logic: a proof that asserts a co ...
constructions described above: ::The cat will come home. ::We should appreciate an answer at your earliest convenience. *More generally, as complement of any of the
modal verbs A modal verb is a type of verb that contextually indicates a modality such as a ''likelihood'', ''ability'', ''permission'', ''request'', ''capacity'', ''suggestion'', ''order'', ''obligation'', or ''advice''. Modal verbs generally accompany the b ...
''can'', ''could'', ''may'', ''might'', ''must'', ''shall'', ''should'', ''will'', ''would'' (including ''would rather''), and also ''dare'' and ''need'' in their modal-like uses: ::I can speak Swedish. ::Need you use so much flour? ::I dare say he will be back. *As complement of the expression '' had better'': ::You had better give back that telephone. *As second complement of the
transitive verb A transitive verb is a verb that accepts one or more objects, for example, 'cleaned' in ''Donald cleaned the window''. This contrasts with intransitive verbs, which do not have objects, for example, 'panicked' in ''Donald panicked''. Transiti ...
s ''let'' (including in the expression "let's ...", short for "let us"), ''make'', ''have'' (in the sense of cause something to be done) and ''bid'' (in archaic usage). These are examples of raising-to-object verbs (the logical subject of the governed infinitive is raised to the position of
direct object In linguistics, an object is any of several types of arguments. In subject-prominent, nominative-accusative languages such as English, a transitive verb typically distinguishes between its subject and any of its objects, which can include b ...
of the governing verb): ::That made me laugh. (but passive voice: ''I was made to laugh''; see under ''to''-infinitive below) ::We let them leave. ::Let's play Monopoly! ::I had him look at my car. ::She bade me approach her. (archaic) *As second or sole complement of the verb ''help'' (the ''to''-infinitive can also be used): ::This proposal will help (to) balance the budget. ::Can you help me (to) get over this wall? *As second complement of verbs of perception such as ''see'', ''hear'', ''feel'', etc., although in these cases the
present participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived fro ...
is also possible, particularly when an ongoing state rather than a single action is perceived: ::We saw him try to escape. (with present participle: ''We saw him trying to escape.'') ::She felt him breathe on her neck. (with present participle: ''She felt him breathing on her neck.'') *As a
predicative expression A predicative expression (or just predicative) is part of a clause predicate, and is an expression that typically follows a copula (or linking verb), e.g. ''be'', ''seem'', ''appear'', or that appears as a second complement of a certain type of ...
in pseudo- cleft sentences of the following type: ::What I did was tie the rope to the beam. ::What you should do is invite her round for dinner. *After ''why'', in elliptical questions: ::Why bother? The form of the bare infinitive is also commonly taken as the dictionary form or citation form (
lemma Lemma may refer to: Language and linguistics * Lemma (morphology), the canonical, dictionary or citation form of a word * Lemma (psycholinguistics), a mental abstraction of a word about to be uttered Science and mathematics * Lemma (botany), ...
) of an English verb. For perfect and progressive (continuous) infinitive constructions, see below.


''To''-infinitive

The ''to''-infinitive consists of the bare infinitive introduced by the particle ''to''. Outside dictionary
headword In morphology and lexicography, a lemma (plural ''lemmas'' or ''lemmata'') is the canonical form, dictionary form, or citation form of a set of word forms. In English, for example, ''break'', ''breaks'', ''broke'', ''broken'' and ''breaking'' ...
s, it is commonly used as a
citation form In morphology and lexicography, a lemma (plural ''lemmas'' or ''lemmata'') is the canonical form, dictionary form, or citation form of a set of word forms. In English, for example, ''break'', ''breaks'', ''broke'', ''broken'' and ''breaking'' ...
of the English verb ("How do we conjugate the verb ''to go''?") It is also commonly given as a translation of foreign infinitives ("The French word ''boire'' means 'to drink'.") Other modifiers may be placed between ''to'' and the verb (as in ''to boldly go''; ''to slowly drift away''), but this is sometimes regarded by some as a grammatical or stylistic error – see
split infinitive A split infinitive is a grammatical construction in which an adverb or adverbial phrase separates the "to" and " infinitive" constituents of what was traditionally called the full infinitive, but is more commonly known in modern linguistics as th ...
for details. The main uses of ''to''-infinitives, or infinitive phrases introduced by them, are as follows: * As complement of the modal and auxiliary verbs ''ought (to)'' and '' used (to)'': ::We ought to do that now. ::I used to play outside every day when I was a child. *As complement of many other verbs used intransitively, including ''need'' and ''dare'' (when not used as modal-like verbs), ''want'', ''expect'', ''try'', ''hope'', ''agree'', ''refuse'', etc. These are raising-to-subject verbs, where the logical subject is promoted to the position of subject of the governing verb. With some verbs the infinitive may carry a significantly different meaning from a gerund: compare ''I stopped to talk to her'' with ''I stopped talking to her'', or ''I forgot to buy the bread'' with ''I forgot buying the bread''. ::I need to get to a telephone. ::Try not to make so many mistakes. ::They refused to assist us. *As second complement of certain transitive verbs. These are mostly raising-to-object verbs, as described above for the bare infinitive; however, in some cases, it is the subject of the main clause that is the logical subject of the infinitival clause, as in "John promises Mary to cook", where the person who will cook is John (the subject of the main sentence), and not Mary (the object). ::I want him to be promoted. ::He expects his brother to arrive this week. *As an adverbial modifier expressing purpose, or sometimes result (also expressible using ''in order to'' in the first case, or ''so as to'' in either case): ::I came here to listen to what you have to say. ::They cut the fence to gain access to the site. ::She scored three quick goals to level the score. *As a subject of a sentence or as a
predicative expression A predicative expression (or just predicative) is part of a clause predicate, and is an expression that typically follows a copula (or linking verb), e.g. ''be'', ''seem'', ''appear'', or that appears as a second complement of a certain type of ...
. (A
gerund In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, one that functions as a noun. In English, it has the properties of both verb and noun, such as being modifiab ...
can often be used for this also."Being is doing" may be more natural than the abstract and philosophical sounding "To be is to do." Se
English Page – Gerunds and Infinitives Part 1
/ref>) ::To live is to suffer. ::For them to be with us in this time of crisis is evidence of their friendship. *In apposition to a subject expletive pronoun ''it'', in sentences of the following type: ::It is nice to live here. ::It makes me happy to feed my animals. *Alone in certain exclamations or elliptical sentences, and in certain sentence-modifying expressions: :: Oh, to be in England ... ::To think that he used to call me sister. ::To be honest, I don't think you have a chance. *In certain fixed expressions, such as ''in order to'' (see above), ''so as to'', ''as if to'', ''about to'' (meaning on the point of doing something), '' have to'' (for obligation or necessity). For more on the expression ''am to'', ''is to'', ''were to'', etc. (usually expressing obligation or expectation), see '' am to''. ::We are to demolish this building. ::He smiled as if to acknowledge his acquiescence. *In elliptical questions (direct or indirect), where no subject is expressed (but for those introduced by ''why'', see bare infinitive above): ::Well, what to do now? ::I wondered whether to resign at that point. *As a modifier of certain nouns and adjectives: ::the reason to laugh ::the effort to expand ::anxious to get a ticket *As a relative clause (see ). These modify a noun, and often have a passive-like construction where the object (or a preposition complement) is
zero 0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. In place-value notation such as the Hindu–Arabic numeral system, 0 also serves as a placeholder numerical digit, which works by Multiplication, multiplying digits to the left of 0 by th ...
in the infinitive phrase, the gap being understood to be filled by the noun being modified. An alternative in the prepositional case is to begin with a prepositional phrase containing a relative pronoun (as is done sometimes in finite relative clauses). ::the thing to leave behind (''the thing'' understood as the object of ''leave'') ::a subject to talk loudly about (''a subject'' understood as the complement of ''about''; see also stranded preposition) ::a subject about which to talk loudly (alternative to the above, somewhat more formal) ::the man to save us (no passive-like construction, ''the man'' understood as the subject of ''save'') *As a modifier of an adjective, again with a passive-like construction as above, here with the gap understood to be filled by the noun modified by the adjective phrase: ::easy to use ::nice to look at In many of the above uses, the implied subject of the infinitive can be marked using a prepositional phrase with ''for'': "This game is easy for a child to play", etc. However this does not normally apply when the infinitive is the complement of a verb (other than the copula, and certain verbs that allow a construction with ''for'', such as ''wait'': "They waited for us to arrive"). It also does not apply in elliptical questions, or in fixed expressions such as ''so as to'', ''am to'', etc. (although it does apply in ''in order to''). When the verb is implied, the ''to''-infinitive may be reduced to simply ''to'': "Do I have to?" See
verb phrase ellipsis In linguistics, verb phrase ellipsis (VP-ellipsis or VPE) is a type of elliptical construction and a type of anaphora in which a verb phrase has been left out (elided) provided that its antecedent can be found within the same linguistic context. ...
. For perfect and progressive infinitives, such as ''(to) have written'' and ''(to) be writing'', see below.


Present participle

The
present participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived fro ...
is one of the uses of the ''-ing'' form of a verb. This usage is adjectival or
adverb An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, determiner, clause, preposition, or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering ...
ial. The main uses of this participle, or of
participial phrase In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
s introduced by it, are as follows. (Uses of gerunds and verbal nouns, which take the same ''-ing'' form, appear in sections below.) *In progressive and
perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
constructions, as described in the relevant sections above: ::The man is fixing my bike. ::We had been working for nine hours. *As an adjective phrase modifying a noun: ::the flower opening up ::the news supporting the point *As an adjectival phrase modifying a noun phrase that is the object of a verb, provided the verb admits this particular construction. (For alternative or different constructions used with certain verbs, see the sections on the bare infinitive and ''to''-infinitive above.) ::I saw them digging a hole. ::We prefer it standing over there. *As an adverbial phrase, where the role of subject of the nonfinite verb is usually understood to be played by the subject of the main clause (but see dangling participle). A participial clause like this may be introduced by a conjunction such as ''when'' or ''while''. ::Looking out of the window, Mary saw a car go by. (it is understood to be Mary who was looking out of the window) ::We peeled the apples while waiting for the water to boil. *More generally, as a clause or sentence modifier, without any specifically understood subject ::Broadly speaking, the project was successful. *In a nominative absolute construction, where the participle is given an explicit subject (which normally is different from that of the main clause): ::The children being hungry, I set about preparing tea. ::The meeting was adjourned, Sue and I objecting that there were still matters to discuss. For present participle constructions with perfect aspect (e.g. ''having written''), see below. Present participles may come to be used as pure adjectives (see Types of participle). Examples of participles that do this frequently are ''interesting'', ''exciting'', and ''enduring''. Such words may then take various adjectival prefixes and suffixes, as in ''uninteresting'' and ''interestingly''.


Past participle

English
past participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...
s have both active and passive uses. In a passive use, an object or preposition complement becomes
zero 0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. In place-value notation such as the Hindu–Arabic numeral system, 0 also serves as a placeholder numerical digit, which works by Multiplication, multiplying digits to the left of 0 by th ...
, the gap being understood to be filled by the noun phrase the participle modifies (compare similar uses of the ''to''-infinitive above). Uses of past participles and participial phrases introduced by them are as follows: *In perfect constructions as described in the relevant sections above (this is the chief situation where the participle is active rather than passive): ::He has fixed my bike. ::They would have sung badly. *In forming the
passive voice A passive voice construction is a grammatical voice construction that is found in many languages. In a clause with passive voice, the grammatical subject expresses the ''theme'' or '' patient'' of the main verb – that is, the person or thing ...
: ::My bike was fixed yesterday. ::A new church is being built here. *As an adjectival
predicative expression A predicative expression (or just predicative) is part of a clause predicate, and is an expression that typically follows a copula (or linking verb), e.g. ''be'', ''seem'', ''appear'', or that appears as a second complement of a certain type of ...
used in constructions with certain verbs (some of these are described under English passive voice): ::Will you have your ear looked at by a doctor? ::I found my bike broken. *As an adjective phrase directly modifying a noun (see also reduced relative clause): ::The bag left on the train cannot be traced. *Used adverbially, or (with a subject) in a nominative absolute construction: ::Hated by his family, he left the town for good. ::The bomb defused, he returned to his comrades. The last type of phrase can be preceded with the preposition ''with'': ''With these words spoken, he turned and left.'' As with present participles, past participles may function as simple adjectives: "the ''burnt'' logs"; "we were very ''excited''". These normally represent the passive meaning of the participle, although some participles formed from intransitive verbs can be used in an active sense: "the ''fallen'' leaves"; "our ''fallen'' comrades".


Lack of contrast between past and past-participle verb forms

In standard English, there are three derivational forms of the verb: non-past, past and past participle, as in ''go, went, have gone'', though not all verbs distinguish all three (for example, ''say, said, have said'', where the participle uses the past form, or ''come, came, have come'', where it uses the non-past form). However, a great many English speakers only distinguish two of these, using the same form for the past and past participle with all verbs. For most verbs, it's the past-tense form that's used as the participle, as in "I should have went" for "I should have gone", or "this song could've came out today" for "this song could've come out today". With very few verbs, such as ''do'', ''see'' and ''be'', it's the past-participle form that is used for the simple past, as in "I seen it yesterday" and "I done it".


Gerund

The
gerund In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, one that functions as a noun. In English, it has the properties of both verb and noun, such as being modifiab ...
takes the same form (ending in ''-ing'') as the present participle, but is used as a noun (or rather the verb phrase introduced by the gerund is used as a noun phrase). Many uses of gerunds are thus similar to noun uses of the infinitive. Uses of gerunds and gerund phrases are illustrated below: *As subject or
predicative expression A predicative expression (or just predicative) is part of a clause predicate, and is an expression that typically follows a copula (or linking verb), e.g. ''be'', ''seem'', ''appear'', or that appears as a second complement of a certain type of ...
: ::Solving problems is satisfying. ::My favorite activity is spotting butterflies. *As object of certain verbs that admit such constructions: ::I like solving problems. ::We tried restarting the computer. *In a passive-type construction after certain verbs, with a gap (
zero 0 (zero) is a number representing an empty quantity. In place-value notation such as the Hindu–Arabic numeral system, 0 also serves as a placeholder numerical digit, which works by Multiplication, multiplying digits to the left of 0 by th ...
) in object or complement position, understood to be filled by the subject of the main clause (see ): ::That floor wants/needs scrubbing. ::It doesn't bear thinking about. *As complement of certain prepositions: ::No one is better at solving problems. ::Before jogging, she stretches. ::After investigating the facts, we made a decision. ::That prevents you from eating too much. ::Instead of the writing on the object being changed, it should have disappeared. It is considered grammatically correct to express the
agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...
(logical subject) of a gerund using a
possessive A possessive or ktetic form ( abbreviated or ; from la, possessivus; grc, κτητικός, translit=ktētikós) is a word or grammatical construction used to indicate a relationship of possession in a broad sense. This can include strict ow ...
form (''they object to my helping them''), although in informal English a simple noun or pronoun is often used instead (''they object to me helping them''). For details see
fused participle In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, one that functions as a noun. In English, it has the properties of both verb and noun, such as being modifiable ...
. For gerund constructions with perfect aspect (e.g. ''(my) having written''), see below.


Perfect and progressive nonfinite constructions

There are also nonfinite constructions that are marked for perfect, progressive or
perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
aspect, using the infinitives, participles or gerunds of the appropriate auxiliaries. The meanings are as would be expected for the respective aspects: perfect for prior occurrence, progressive for ongoing occurrence at a particular time. (
Passive voice A passive voice construction is a grammatical voice construction that is found in many languages. In a clause with passive voice, the grammatical subject expresses the ''theme'' or '' patient'' of the main verb – that is, the person or thing ...
can also be marked in nonfinite constructions – with infinitives, gerunds and present participles – in the expected way: ''(to) be eaten'', ''being eaten'', ''having been eaten'', etc.) Examples of nonfinite constructions marked for the various aspects are given below. Bare infinitive: ::You should have left earlier. ( perfect infinitive; for similar constructions and their meanings see
English modal verbs The English modal verbs are a subset of the English auxiliary verbs used mostly to express modality (properties such as possibility, obligation, etc.). They can be distinguished from other verbs by their defectiveness (they do not have participle ...
) ::She might be revising. (progressive; refers to an ongoing action at this moment) ::He must have been working hard. (perfect progressive; i.e. I assume he has been working hard) ''To''-infinitive: ::He is said to have resigned. (perfect infinitive; for this particular construction see '' said to'') ::I expect to be sitting here this time tomorrow. (progressive) ::He claims to have been working here for ten weeks. (perfect progressive) Present participle: ::Having written the letter, she went to bed. (perfect) ::The man having left, we began to talk. (perfect, in a nominative absolute construction) ::Having been standing for several hours, they were beginning to feel tired. (perfect progressive) Past participle: ::We have been waiting a long time. (progressive, used only as part of a
perfect progressive This article describes the uses of various verb forms in modern standard English language. This includes: * Finite verb forms such as ''go'', ''goes'' and ''went'' * Nonfinite forms such as ''(to) go'', ''going'' and ''gone'' * Combinations of ...
construction) Gerund: ::My having caught the spider impressed the others. (perfect) ::We are not proud of having been drinking all night. (perfect progressive) Other aspectual, temporal and modal information can be marked on nonfinite verbs using periphrastic constructions. For example, a " future infinitive" can be constructed using forms such as ''(to) be going to eat'' or ''(to) be about to eat''.


Deverbal uses

Certain words are formed from verbs, but are used as common nouns or adjectives, without any of the grammatical behavior of verbs. These are sometimes called verbal nouns or adjectives, but they are also called deverbal nouns and
deverbal adjective An attributive verb is a verb that modifies (expresses an attribute of) a noun in the manner of an attributive adjective, rather than express an independent idea as a predicate. In English (and in most European languages), verb forms that can be u ...
s, to distinguish them from the truly "verbal" forms such as gerunds and participles. Besides its nonfinite verbal uses as a
gerund In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, one that functions as a noun. In English, it has the properties of both verb and noun, such as being modifiab ...
or
present participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived fro ...
, the ''
-ing ''-ing'' is a suffix used to make one of the inflected forms of English verbs. This verb form is used as a present participle, as a gerund, and sometimes as an independent noun or adjective. The suffix is also found in certain words like ''morn ...
'' form of a verb is also used as a deverbal noun, denoting an activity or occurrence in general, or a specific action or event (or sometimes a more distant meaning, such as ''building'' or ''piping'' denoting an object or system of objects). One can compare the construction and meaning of noun phrases formed using the ''-ing'' form as a gerund, and of those formed using the same ''-ing'' form as a deverbal noun. Some points are noted below: *The gerund can behave like a verb in taking objects: ''crossing the river cost many lives''. The deverbal noun does not take objects, although the understood object may be expressed by a
prepositional phrase An adpositional phrase, in linguistics, is a syntactic category that includes ''prepositional phrases'', ''postpositional phrases'', and ''circumpositional phrases''. Adpositional phrases contain an adposition (preposition, postposition, or ci ...
with ''of'': ''the crossing of the river cost many lives'' (an indirect object is expressed using ''to'' or ''for'' as appropriate: ''the giving of the award to John''). *The gerund takes modifiers (such as
adverb An adverb is a word or an expression that generally modifies a verb, adjective, another adverb, determiner, clause, preposition, or sentence. Adverbs typically express manner, place, time, frequency, degree, level of certainty, etc., answering ...
s) that are appropriate to verbs: ''eating heartily is good for the health''. The deverbal noun instead takes modifiers appropriate to nouns (especially
adjective In linguistics, an adjective ( abbreviated ) is a word that generally modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Traditionally, adjectives were considered one of the ...
s): ''his hearty eating is good for his health''. *The deverbal noun can also take
determiner A determiner, also called determinative ( abbreviated ), is a word, phrase, or affix that occurs together with a noun or noun phrase and generally serves to express the reference of that noun or noun phrase in the context. That is, a determine ...
s, such as the definite article (particularly in denoting a single action rather than a general activity): ''the opening of the bridge was delayed''. Gerunds do not normally take determiners except for possessives (as described below). *Both deverbal nouns and gerunds can be preceded by
possessive A possessive or ktetic form ( abbreviated or ; from la, possessivus; grc, κτητικός, translit=ktētikós) is a word or grammatical construction used to indicate a relationship of possession in a broad sense. This can include strict ow ...
determiners to indicate the agent (logical subject) of the action: ''my taking a bath'' (see also above under
gerund In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, one that functions as a noun. In English, it has the properties of both verb and noun, such as being modifiab ...
and at
fused participle In linguistics, a gerund ( abbreviated ) is any of various nonfinite verb forms in various languages; most often, but not exclusively, one that functions as a noun. In English, it has the properties of both verb and noun, such as being modifiable ...
for the possible replacement of ''my'' with ''me''); ''my taking of a bath''. However, with the deverbal noun there are also other ways to express the agent: **Using a prepositional phrase with ''of'', assuming that no such phrase is needed to express an object: ''the singing of the birds'' (with a gerund, this would be ''the birds singing''). In fact both possessives and ''of'' phrases can be used to denote both subjects and objects of deverbal nouns, but the possessive is more common for the subject and ''of'' for the object; these are also the assumed roles if both are present: ''John's wooing of Mary'' unambiguously denotes a situation where John wooed Mary, not vice versa. **Using a prepositional phrase with ''by'' (compare similar uses of ''by'' with the
passive voice A passive voice construction is a grammatical voice construction that is found in many languages. In a clause with passive voice, the grammatical subject expresses the ''theme'' or '' patient'' of the main verb – that is, the person or thing ...
): ''the raising of taxes by the government''. This is not possible with the gerund; instead one could say ''the government's raising taxes''. *Where no subject is specified, the subject of a gerund is generally understood to be the subject (or "interested party") of the main clause: ''I like singing loudly'' means I like it when I myself sing; ''Singing loudly is nice'' implies the singer is the person who finds it nice. This does not apply to deverbal nouns: ''I like loud singing'' is likely to mean that I like it when others sing loudly. This means that a sentence may have alternative meanings depending on whether the ''-ing'' form is intended as a gerund or as a deverbal noun: in ''I like singing'' either function may be the intended one, but the meaning in each case may be different (I like to sing, if gerund; I like hearing others sing, if deverbal noun). Some ''-ing'' forms, particularly those such as ''boring'', ''exciting'', ''interesting'', can also serve as deverbal adjectives (distinguished from the present participle in much the same way as the deverbal noun is distinguished from the gerund). There are also many other nouns and adjectives derived from particular verbs, such as ''competition'' and ''competitive'' from the verb ''compete'' (as well as other types such as
agent noun In linguistics, an agent noun (in Latin, ) is a word that is derived from another word denoting an action, and that identifies an entity that does that action. For example, "driver" is an agent noun formed from the verb "drive". Usually, ''deriv ...
s). For more information see verbal noun, deverbal noun and
deverbal adjective An attributive verb is a verb that modifies (expresses an attribute of) a noun in the manner of an attributive adjective, rather than express an independent idea as a predicate. In English (and in most European languages), verb forms that can be u ...
. For more on the distinction between the various uses of the ''-ing'' form of verbs, see ''
-ing ''-ing'' is a suffix used to make one of the inflected forms of English verbs. This verb form is used as a present participle, as a gerund, and sometimes as an independent noun or adjective. The suffix is also found in certain words like ''morn ...
''.


Notes

{{Reflist


References

*Raymond Murphy, ''English Grammar in Use'', 3rd edition, 2004


External links


The past tense description on Learniv
English verbs