Getting Even with English Grammar Part 2

Verbs are like salt - they are upfront in everything. You find them everywhere, as we speak. They are like viruses - they often mutate - very adaptable indeed. They just change forms and are good to go. However, it's not all the time that you see them that they are playing their required role of being a verb. In analogizing this, a hockey stick is designed to play the sport called hockey. However, sometimes a player might use the crooked pole to bash another opponent in his head. The hockey stick thus becomes a beating stick or a weapon at the moment it was employed to deliver blows. Similarly, verbs sometimes overstep their boundaries to do other work outside their scope. For example, cooking is considered the present participle from the infinitive to cook. The present participle of a verb is normally used with the helping verb be to form the present continuous tense (to be addressed when we get to assessing the compound tenses). However if you should see She loves cooking as a sentence, the word cooking is being used as a noun called a gerund, not as a verb per se. Other forms of gerunds that we use daily are: dancing, gardening, singing, running and jogging. (For example, She loves dancing, jogging, singing etc.). On the other hand, if you should see, She is cooking something sweet, the word cooking is being used as a verb in this instance, combining with be (is) to form the present continuous tense.

Similarly, the verbs in their past participle forms can operate outside their circle as adjectives and nouns. For instance, He is a known thief. The word 'known' is used as an adjective. She is afraid of both the known and the unknown, the word known is used as a noun. There will be elaboration of the past participle of verbs when dealing with the compound tenses. However, suffice it is to say that these parts of speech switch places sometimes, but in order to get even with English grammar, you need to be able to spot the camouflages. For, just like we have verbs playing the part of nouns, for instance, we also have nouns acting as verbs too. For example, we know that dog, horse, foot, hand, head, toe etc. are nouns. However, sometimes they pose as verbs and hence, you will find them in the following formats: dogged, dogging, horsed, horsing, footed, footing, headed, heading, toeing, toed etc.

The perfect tense is formed by using HAVE plus the PAST PARTICIPLE of the verb. Past participles are sometimes irregular and users of the language should pay careful attention to the difference between past tense and past participle. In some cases, the past participle and the past tense might be the same, in which case it makes it easier to remember. Before advancing any further, it might be instrumental to tabulate some verbs according to the headings given.

An auxiliary verb is one that helps with the formation of a tense. The two principal auxiliary verbs are have and be. Have is used to help form the Perfect Tenses and be is used in helping to form the Passive Voice. Although we are here concerned about the Perfect Tenses and not ready to address the Passive Voice, the conjugation of be is also made available for easy reference when the time comes. To make it easy along the way, we will look at the four core tenses of both verbs:

The present perfect tense is formed by using the present tense of Have plus the past participle of the verb. Hence let's form the present perfect tense of these two infinitive verbs: To walk and To talk. Taking the present tense of have, we would apply them with walked and talked respectively:

Walk: I have walked, you have walked, she has walked, he has walked, it has walked, you (plural) have walked, they have walked.

Talk: I have talked, you have talked, she has talked, he has talked, it has talked, you (plural) have talked, they have talked.

When to use the present perfect tense: It's easy to prescribe when you use the present perfect tense, but learners can run into a brick wall doing what they are told. However, for a start, try using the present perfect tense with adverbs such as: yet, still, already, never, ever, before, always etc. After practicing them for a while you will get the understanding of when to apply them in your speech.

Examples: I have seen that movie already. I have never been to Africa. She has done that kind of exercise before. Have you ever eaten fried rice?

Rules: In the meantime, bear a few rules in mind. Use the present perfect tense when there is an indefinite action that started from God knows when and now runs right into the present. For example, She has never broken a bone. Another rule is to use the tense when an experience from the past impacts your life even now. For example, He has still not gotten over his mother's death. Refer to: http://hubpages.com/hub/Getting-Even-with-English-Grammar.

More about the perfect tenses in Part 3.