English in Use – Verbs
In addition to using verbs for singular and plural nouns, verbs also tell the reader when something happens. In English, a verb uses different tenses to tell the reader if it is an action happening in the past, present, or future. Read this page to review verb tenses.
Verbs are the parts of speech that show action or indicate a state of being. We put them with nouns, and we create complete sentences. Like nouns, verbs are foundational in our vocabulary, and we learned verbs as children shortly
after we learned nouns. There really is a lot to consider when it comes to verbs, such as making our subjects and verbs agree, using active versus passive voice, and keeping our verbs in the same tenses.
Verbs can be in the present tense, present progressive tense, past tense, past progressive, present perfect, or past perfect. It's important to understand tense because you want to be consistent with your verb tenses in your writing. It's a common mistake to shift tenses without realizing it. This discussion of tenses can increase your "tense awareness", which will lead to fewer errors.
Let's take the verb to eat as an example and see how it looks in the different tenses with the subject I.
| Tense |
Example |
|---|---|
| present tense (present point in time) |
I eat dinner. |
| present progressive (present action of limited duration) |
I am eating dinner. |
| past tense (specific point in the past) |
I ate dinner yesterday. |
| past progressive (past action of limited duration) |
I was eating. |
| present perfect (completed action from a point in the past ending at or near present) |
I have eaten dinner. |
| past perfect (past action completed before another action also in the past) |
I had just eaten dinner when the phone rang. |
When it comes to verb tenses, it's important to be consistent and to be aware of any shifts. If you shift, there needs to be a reason for the shift. Also, APA format will often require past tense in your essays, while MLA format requires present tense, even if the words have been written in the past.
Complete this Exercise
Check your understanding of verb tense by completing this activity.
Source: Excelsior OWL, https://owl.excelsior.edu/grammar-essentials/parts-of-speech/verbs/tenses/
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