Choosing Appropriate Verb Tenses

In order to understand verb tenses, it’s important to understand what verb tense refers to. In general, verb tense gives us information about three different areas.

First, the tense of a verb usually gives readers a sense of time. In other words, verb tense explains if the action in the sentence took place previously (past tense), is taking place right now (present tense), or will take place some time in the future (future tense).

Second, tense can indicate continual or recurring action (progressive), action that has completely taken place as of a certain time (perfect), and action that began in the past but continues or recurs through the present time (perfect progressive).

Finally verbs can indicate person (first, second, or third) and number (singular or plural).

The following image gives a broad overview of how a verb can communicate whether an action is occurring in the past, present, or future; if the action is complete, recurring, or continuing from the past; and what the person and number of the subject is. In this image, progressive tense is called “continuous”:

 

Verb tenses allow you to attach timing to sentences you write and say. To make your meaning clear, you need to choose the correct tense for the timing and you need to be sure to include all the needed words for that tense.

Verb Tenses	Timing of Action	Additional Words and Endings Needed to Complete Verb	Examples
Simple present	Taking place right now	None	I hike.
			You hike.
			She hikes.
Simple past	Started and finished in the past	Add –ed to verb.	I hiked.
			You hiked.
			She hiked.
Simple future	Will take place after now	Add will or shall to the present-tense verb	I will hike.
			You will hike.
			She will hike.
Present progressive	Taking place right now and will continue to take place	Add am, is, or are to the verb + –ing	I am hiking
			You are hiking.
			He is hiking.
Past progressive	Took place in the past at the same time that another action took place	Add was or were to the verb + –ing	I was hiking.
			You were hiking.
			He was hiking.
Future progressive	Will take place in the future and will continue on indefinitely	Add will be or shall be to the verb + –ing	I will be hiking.
			You will be hiking.
			He will be hiking.
Present perfect	Happened at an indefinite time in the past or started in the past and continues now	Add has or have to the past participle of the verb (usually-ed)	I have hiked this trail before. (in the past)
			I have hiked this trail since I was five years old. (in the past and continues)
Past perfect	Took place before some other past action	Add had to the past participle of the verb (usually –ed)	By the time I saw Jenny, I had hiked past the food station.
Future perfect	Will take place some time in the future before some other action	Add will have to the past participle of the verb (usually-ed)	I will have hiked for two hours before you even wake up.
Present perfect progressive	Began in the past, continues now, and might continue into the future	Add has or have been to the verb + ing	I have been hiking for a while.
Past perfect progressive	Took place on an ongoing basis in the past and was completed before another past action	Add had been to the verb + –ing	You had been walking for an hour when you saw the swans.
Future perfect progressive	Takes place in the future on an ongoing basis	Add will have been to the verb + –ing	They will have been hiking once a week by then.

In this chart, you can see how the verb “to run” changes depending on the time, state of action, person, and number: 

Person	Singular Present	Plural Present	Singular Past	Plural Past	Singular Past Participle	Plural Past Participle	Singular Progressive	Plural Progressive
First	I run.	We run.	I ran.	We ran.	I have run.	We have run.	I am running.	We are running.
Second	You run.	You all run.	You ran.	You all ran.	You have run.	You all have run.	You are running.	You all are running.
Third	He/she/it runs.	They run.	He/she/it ran.	They ran.	He/she/it has run.	They have run.	He/she/it is running.	They are running.

Here is a video reviewing all of the tenses and how they work:

Using Irregular Verbs Correctly

Irregular verbs are verbs that do not follow the expected verb tense patterns. Note the difference between regular and irregular verbs in the two tables below:

Regular Verbs
Base	Past Tense	Past Participle (Preceded by Form of “to Have”)
accept	accepted	accepted
bump	bumped	bumped
dry	dried	dried
hop	hopped	hopped
observe	observed	observed
print	printed	printed
shrug	shrugged	shrugged
wobble	wobbled	wobbled

Irregular Verbs
Base	Past Tense	Past Participle (Preceded by Form of “to Have”)
break	broke	broken
bite	bit	bitten
catch	caught	caught
teach	taught	taught
awake	awoke	awoke/awakened
arise	arose	arisen
bear	bore	borne
bring	brought	brought
choose	chose	chosen
come	came	come
do	did	done
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	got/gotten
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
run	ran	run
drink	drank	drunk
ring	rang	rung
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
lie	lay	lain
ride	rode	ridden
rise	rose	risen
say	said	said
see	saw	saw
shine*	shone	shone
shine*	shined	shined
take	took	taken
*Note that some words have more than one conjugation based on meaning. For example, the sun and lights shine/shone/shone, but when we deal with shoes, we shine/shined/shined.

Now look at how a regular and irregular verb are conjugated side by side:

Verb Tenses for the Regular Verb “Look” and the Irregular Verb “Eat”

Tense	Number and Person	Past	Present	Future
Simple Past: main verb + –ed or irregular variations Present: main verb Future: will or shall + main verb	First-person singular	I looked.	I look.	I will look.
		I ate.	I eat.	I will eat.
	First-person plural	We looked.	We look.	We will look.
		We ate.	We eat.	We will eat.
	Second-person singular	You looked.	You look.	You will look.
		You ate.	You eat.	You will eat.
	Second-person plural	You looked.	You look.	You will look.
		You ate.	You eat.	You will eat.
	Third-person singular	He looked.	He looks.	He will look.
		She ate.	She eats.	She will eat.
	Third-person plural	They looked.	They look.	They will look.
		They ate.	They eat.	They will eat.
Progressive Verb + –ing and a form of the verb “to be” Past: was, were Present: am, is, are Future: will be	First-person singular	I was looking.	I am looking.	I will be looking.
		I was eating.	I am eating.	I will be eating.
	First-person plural	We were looking.	We are looking.	We will be looking.
		We were eating.	We are eating.	We will be eating.
	Second-person singular	You were looking.	You are looking.	You will be eating.
		You were eating.	You are eating.	You will be looking.
	Second-person plural	You were eating.	You are eating.	You will be eating.
		You were looking.	You are looking.	You will be looking.
	Third-person singular	He was looking.	He is looking.	He will be looking.
		She was eating.	She is eating.	She will be eating.
	Third-person plural	They were looking.	They are looking.	They will be looking.
		They were eating.	They are eating.	They will be eating.
Perfect Past participle and a form of the verb “to be” Past: had Present: has, have Future: will have	First-person singular	I had looked.	I have looked.	I will have looked.
		I had eaten.	I have eaten.	I will have eaten.
	First-person plural	We had looked.	We have looked.	We will have looked.
		We had eaten.	We have eaten.	We will have eaten.
	Second-person singular	You had looked.	You have looked.	You will have looked.
		You had eaten.	You have eaten.	You will have eaten.
	Second-person plural	You had looked.	You have looked.	You will have looked.
		You had eaten.	You have eaten.	You will have eaten.
	Third-person singular	He had looked.	He has looked.	He will have looked.
		She had eaten.	She has eaten.	She will have eaten.
	Third-person plural	They had looked.	They have looked.	They will have looked.
		They had eaten.	They have eaten.	They will have eaten.
Perfect progressive Verb + –ing and a form of the verb “to be” Past: had been Present: has been, have been Future: will have been	First-person singular	I had been looking.	I have been looking.	I will have been looking.
		I had been eating.	I have been eating.	I will have been eating.
	First-person plural	We had been looking.	We have been looking.	We will have been looking.
		We had been eating.	We have been eating.	We will have been eating.
	Second-person singular	You had been looking.	You have been looking.	You will have been looking.
		You had been eating.	You have been eating.	You will have been eating.
	Second-person plural	You had been looking.	You have been looking.	You will have been looking.
		You had been eating.	You have been eating.	You will have been eating.
	Third-person singular	He had been looking.	He has been looking.	He will have been looking.
		She had been eating.	She has been eating.	She will have been eating.
	Third-person plural	They had been looking.	They have been looking.	They will have been looking.
		They had been eating.	They have been eating.	They will have been eating.

Handling Specific Problematic Verbs

Some verbs are especially problematic either because their meanings are confused or because some of their forms sound alike. Handle these verbs by knowing which ones give you trouble and then focusing on the conjugation of those specific verbs. Some of these most commonly troublesome verbs are in the following table. You need to know two key verb types to read this table: transitive (when an object receives the action of the verb; in other words, something is done to something) and intransitive (a verb that does not act on an object).

Problematic Verb Set (Base, Past, P. Part.)	Guidelines	Examples
borrow…lend	The verb borrow means “to temporarily get from someone else,” and lend means “to temporarily give to someone else.”	I borrowed Kyle’s backpack since I had lent mine to Alice.
borrow, borrowed, borrowed
lend, lent, lent
bring…take	The starting point of the action causes the confusion between these two verbs. If you bring something, you have to start somewhere else and end up at the common location. If you take something, you have to start at the common location and end up somewhere else.	He brought his clean life jacket to the river and took away a filthy life jacket.
bring, brought, brought
take, took, taken
feel…think	The verb feel is emotion based and the verb think is logic based.	I feel excited about the tree-top ride, but I think it might cost more than I can afford.
feel, felt, felt
think, thought, thought
lay…lie	The verb lay is transitive and means “to put,” so whenever you put something down, use lay. If you could replace the verb with put or place, you should use lay. The verb lie means “to rest” or “to tell a falsehood.”	I laid my sunglasses down on a rock.
lay, laid, laid		I lay on the rock myself for twenty minutes.
lie, lay, lain (rest)		The ranger jokingly lied about the trail being a short one.
lie, lied, lied (fib)
learn…teach	The verb learn always means to “take in information” and to teach always means to “give out information.”	I learned that Yellowstone was the first national park in the United States. When we go there this summer, I’m going to see what Old Faithful can teach me about geysers.
learn, learned, learned
teach, taught, taught
raise…rise	The verb raise is transitive, so you always have to raise something. The verb rise means to “go up” or “get up.”	We are planning to rise early so that we are ready to start hiking when the sun rises, so raise your hand now if you have a problem with that plan.
raise, raised, raised
rise, rose, risen
set…sit	The verb sit is always intransitive and set usually transitive. The most common confusion is when referring to putting something down. Whenever the meaning is to put, use set.	The squirrel set his nut on the ground and sat looking at me.
set, set, set
sit, sat, set

Matching Infinitives and Participles to Verb Tenses

Verbals are words formed from verbs that function as other parts of speech. One type of verbals, gerunds (laughing, eating), always function as nouns (e.g., “Laughing is good for you”). Present, past, and present perfect participles are verbals that function as adjectives (e.g., “The sound of laughing children always cheered him up,” “The sight of the broken tricycle left in the rain made him gloomy”). Infinitives (to laugh, to have eaten) are another main type of verbals that function as nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. When using any of these verbals, make sure you match the tense of the verb in the sentence.

Infinitives

When the action of the infinitive takes place after or at the same time as the action of the main verb, use the present tense:

We plan to camp in the National Redwood Forest this week.

When the action of the infinitive takes place before the action of the main verb, present the infinitive in perfect tense:

We planned to have been camping in the National Redwood Forest last week.

Participle Phrases

Participle phrases can begin with the present participle, past participle, or present perfect participle.

The present participle is the correct choice when the action of the participle is happening at the same time as the action of the main verb:

Resulting in large openings called goosepen scars, fire ravages redwood trees without killing them.

When the action of the participle takes place before the action of the main verb, you can use either a past participle or a present perfect participle:

Scarred by a fire years ago, the large redwood tree still stands tall and awesome. (past participle in participle phrase)

Having posed for several pictures inside the redwood trunk, we climbed out and previewed the shots.

Exercise 1

1. Identify the verb tense used in each of the following sentences:

• I have heard that saying before.
• Joey seemed uncomfortable when he was at my house yesterday.
• You will be running in the second heat this afternoon.
• Lois is writing a letter to the editor.
• By ten o’clock tonight, we will have been walking for twenty hours.

2. Write three sentences using simple tense, three using progressive tense, three using perfect tense, and three using perfect progressive tense. Make sure to include each of the following variations at least once: past, present, future, first person, second person, third person, singular, and plural.

3. Write a set of three sentences each using one of the verbs go, went, and gone.

4. Write a sentence using the verb freeze in present progressive tense.

5. Write a sentence using the verb ride in past perfect progressive tense.

6. Write a sentence using the verb lie in simple future tense.

7. Write a sentence using the verb learn in past perfect tense.

8. Write three sentences using each of the following verbs as gerunds, infinitives, and participle phrases. Identify the part of speech in each case.

• love
• kick
• play
• eat
• drive

Managing Mood

The mood of a verb can be imperative, indicative, or subjunctive. Although those three words might make mood sound somewhat complicated, in reality you are likely quite familiar with the different moods. Study this table for clarification.

Problems with mood occur when the mood shifts within a sentence, as shown in the following table. In the table, the revisions were all made to match the mood that the sentence initially used. You could also choose to make different revisions that are equally acceptable.

By the time you reach college, you probably have a fairly well-developed sense of whether a sentence sounds right. In fact, that’s one of the main reasons why you should get into the habit of reading your drafts aloud before you submit them for peer or instructor review. Or better yet, ask a friend to read your draft back to you. You’ll be surprised how many careless errors you catch just from hearing them.

One key aspect that can make a sentence sound incorrect is if the subject and verb do not agree. Sometimes this happens because the subject and verb are separated by a prepositional phrase or other words that confuse the writer. In any case, the rules for subject verb agreement are very clear cut.

In properly written sentences, the subjects and verbs must agree in number and person. Agreeing in number means that a plural subject is matched up with the plural form of the verb. Although the plural of a noun often ends in –s, it is the singular of a verb that usually ends in –s.

Agreeing in person means, for example, a third-person noun must be matched with the proper third-person verb. This chart shows first, second, and third person for a few present-tense verbs. As you can see, most of the verbs are the same in all columns except for the third-person singular. The verb “to be” at the bottom also varies in the first-person singular column. So to match subjects and verbs by person, you could choose, for example, to say “I am,” but not “I are.”

1. Pete and Tara is siblings.

   A subject that includes the word “and” usually takes a plural verb even if the two nouns are singular.

   The sentence should read “Pete and Tara are siblings.”

2. Biscuits and gravy are my favorite breakfast.

   Sometimes the word and connects two words that form a subject and are actually one thing. In this case, “biscuits and gravy” is one dish. So even though there are two nouns connected by the word “and,” it is a singular subject and should take a singular verb.

   The sentence should read “Biscuits and gravy is my favorite breakfast.”

3. The women who works here are treated well.

   Relative pronouns (that, who, and which) can be singular or plural, depending on their antecedents (the words they stand for). The pronoun has the same number as the antecedent. In this case, “who” stands for “women” and “women” is plural, so the verb should be plural.

   The sentence should read “The women who work here are treated well.”

4. One of the girls sing in the chorus.

   A singular subject is separated by a phrase that ends with a plural noun. This pattern leads people to think that the plural noun (“girls” in this case) is the subject to which they should match the verb. But in reality, the verb (“sing”) must match the singular subject (“one”).

   The sentence should read “One of the girls sings in the chorus.”

5. The data is unclear.

   The words “data” and “media” are both considered plural at all times when used in academic writing. In more casual writing, some people use a singular version of the two words.

   The sentence should read “The data are unclear.”

6. The basketball players with the most press this month is the college men playing in the Final Four tournament.

   In some sentences, like this one, the verb comes before the subject. The word order can cause confusion, so you have to find the subject and verb and make sure they match.

   The sentence should read “The basketball players with the most press this month are the college men playing in the Final Four tournament.”

7. I is ready to go.

   A subject and verb must agree in person. In this case, “I” is a first-person noun, but “is” is a third-person verb.

   The sentence should read “I am ready to go.”

8. What we think are that Clyde Delber should resign immediately.

   Words that begin with “what” can take either a singular or a plural verb depending on whether “what” is understood as singular or plural. In this case, “we” collectively think one thing, so the verb should be singular even though “we” is plural.

   The sentence should read “What we think is that Clyde Delber should resign immediately.”

9. Either the dog or the cats spends time on this window seat when I’m gone.

   The word “or” usually indicates a singular subject even though you see two nouns. This sentence is an exception to this guideline because at least one of the subjects is plural. When this happens, the verb should agree with the subject to which it is closest.

   The sentence should read “Either the dog or the cats spend time on this window seat when I’m gone.”

10. Molly or Huck keep the books for the club, so one of them will know.

    The word “or” usually indicates a singular subject even though you see two nouns. An exception to this guideline is that if one of the subjects is plural, the verb should agree with the subject to which it is closest.

    The sentence should read “Molly or Huck keeps the books for the club, so one of them will know.

11. The wilderness scare me when I think of going out alone.

    When a singular noun ends with an -s, you might get confused and think it is a plural noun.

    The sentence should read “The wilderness scares me when I think of going out alone.”

12. Each of the girls are happy to be here.

    Indefinite pronouns (anyone, each, either, everybody, and everyone) are always singular. So they have to always be used with singular verbs.

    The sentence should read “Each of the girls is happy to be here.”

Attributions

• “Managing Mood” from the book Writers’ Handbook (v. 1.0). For details on it (including licensing), click here.
•  “Avoiding General Verb Problems”, section 20.2 from the book Writers’ Handbook (v. 1.0). For details on it (including licensing), click here.
• “Making Sure Subject and Verbs Agree”, section 20.1 from the book Writers’ Handbook (v. 1.0). For details on it (including licensing), click here.
• “Making Sure Subjects and Verbs Agree”, section 15.3 from the book Writers’ Handbook (v. 1.0). For details on it (including licensing), click here.