The complete idiot guide part 9 pps

Chapter
5:
Altered
States:
Verbs
63
Present
Tense
dive
do
draw
drink
drive
eat
fall
fight
fly
forget
forgive
freeze
get
give
g°
grow
hang
hang
(execute)
hide
hold
hurt
kneel

know
lay
lead
lie
(horizontal)
lie
(falsehood)
lose
prove
ride
ring
rise
run
say
Past
Tense
dived or dove
did
drew
drank
drove
ate
fell
fought
flew
forgot
forgave
froze
got
gave

went
grew
hung
hanged
hid
held
hurt
knelt
knew
laid
led
lay
lied
lost
proved
rode
rang
rose
ran
said
Past
Participle
dived
done
drawn
drunk
driven
eaten
fallen
fought

flown
forgotten
forgiven
frozen
gotten or got
given
gone
grown
hung
hanged
hidden
held
hurt
knelt
known
laid
led
lain
lied
lost
proved or proven
ridden
rung
risen
run
said
continues
6*1
Part
Z:

Under
the
Grammar
tamer
continued
Present
Tense
see
shake
show
shrink
sing
sink
speak
spring
steal
strive
swear
swim
take
teach
tear
throw
wake
wear
write
Past
Tense
saw
shook

showed
shrank
sang
sank
spoke
sprang
stole
strove
swore
swam
took
taught
tore
threw
r
woke or waked
wore
wrote
Past
Participle
seen
shaken
showed or shown
shrunk
sung
sunk
spoken
sprung
stolen
striven

sworn
swum
taken
taught
torn
thrown
woken or waked
worn
written
Now
I
Uy
Ik
Lay
Me
Down
to
Sleep
You can argue
whether
men are from Mars and women are from Venus, but everyone
agrees
that
lie
and lay are definitely from another planet. These two verbs may be the
most commonly confused pair of words in
English.
Here's the problem: They're just
plain
evil.

Seriously,
lie is an irregular verb
that
conjugates
lie,
lay,
lain.
Lay,
in contrast, is a regular verb
that
con-
jugates
lay,
laid, laid.
Because
lay is
both
the present
tense of
to
lay and the past tense of
lie,
many speakers
and
writers use
lay
when they mean lie.
To add to the confusion, lie and lay have different
meanings.
Lie means "to repose"; lay means "to put."

It's enough to make you learn Esperanto.
Danger,
Will
Robinson
The
verb to be is the
most
irregular verb in
English.
Beware
of this quick-change artist.
Its
principal parts are: be, being,
was,
were, been, am, are, is.
Chapter
5:
Altered
States:
Verbs
65
Try these hints to sort out
lie/lay:
•
Lie means "to repose";
lay
means "to put."
•
Lie is an intransitive verb.
That

means
that
it never takes a direct object. For
example: "If you are tired, you should lie
down."
•
Lay is a transitive verb.
That
means
that
lay always takes a direct object. For
example:
u
Lay
the book on the table,
please."
Study the following table to further clarify lie
and
lay.
Or have it
tattooed
in your palm for
ready
reference.
You
Could
Look
It Up
When
you

conjugate
a
verb,
you list the singular and
plural forms of the verb in a
spe-
cific
tense.
^
y
Quoth
the
Maven
_
Something
must be laid, noth-
ng can be lied.
The Various
Forms
of
Lie
and Lay
Verb
Meaning
Examples
lie
to repose flat Present tense: Fido lies down.
Past
tense: Fido lay down.
Future tense: Fido will lie down.

Perfect tense: Fido has lain
down,
lay
to put down Present tense: Lay your cards down.
Past
tense: He laid the cards down.
Future tense: He will lay his cards down.
Perfect tense: He has laid his cards down.
Party
Pooper: Test Time
I
know you need this quiz like Sinatra needs
singing
lessons,
but humor me. Circle the
correct form of each verb in parentheses. Then identify the verb as regular or irregular.
1.
Martin Buser (took/taking/taked) his third Iditarod
title
in the grueling Alaskan
dogsled
race. However, the team from
Beverly
Hills has yet to finish. Apparently,
French poodles weren't the way to go.
The verb is (regular/irregular).
66
Part
Z:
Under

the
Grammar
Hammer
2.
President Clinton has (proposed/proposing) free TV
time
for candidates. "Not
good,"
said one commentator. "This could mean Sonny Bono will be back on
television."
The verb is (regular/irregular).
3.
NBA's Dennis Rodman's announcement
that
he would (choose/chose) profes-
sional
wrestling has caused a stir. "I hope
that
sport doesn't
turn
him into some
weird spectacle," said one viewer.
The verb is (regular/irregular).
4.
When
he heard
that
Tonya Harding described herself
as
"the Charles

Barkley
of
figure
skating,"
Barkley
was (going/went/gone) to sue Tonya Harding for
defamation of character. "But
then
I realized
that
I had no character," he said.
The verb is (regular/irregular).
5.
The feud between East Coast and
West
Coast rappers continues. It all (started/
starting)
over the usual: Who controls
what,
who insulted whom,
whether
the
theories of
Kierkegaard
still have relevance
The verb is (regular/irregular).
6. My karma just (run/ran) over your dogma.
The verb is (regular/irregular).
Answers
1.

took; irregular
2.
proposed; regular
3.
choose; irregular
4.
going;
irregular
5.
started; regular
6. ran; irregular
All Tensed Up: Using Verb Tense Correctly
Okay, so now you know
that
verbs form different tenses to show different times. Now
you have to learn how to use the tenses correctly to show the timing of one event in
relation to another. And we all know
that
in
life,
timing is
everything.
Chapter
5: Altered
States:
Verbs
67
Get your bearings
with
the following table. It shows how the tenses are related.

Verb
Tense
and
Time
Past
Present
Future
Simple
past
Present
perfect
Past
perfect
Past
progressive
Present
perfect progressive
Progressive
Past
perfect progressive
Simple
present
Present
progressive
Simple
future
Future perfect
Future progressive
Future perfect
•

Use the two present forms
(simple
present
and
present
progressive)
to show events
that
take place now.
•
Use the six past forms
(simple
past,
present
perfect,
past
perfect,
past
progressive,
present
perfect
progressive,
and
past
perfect
progressive)
to show events
that
took place before
the present.

•
Use the four future forms
(simple
future,
future
perfect,
future
progressive,
and
future
perfect
progressive)
to show events
that
take place in the future.
Get the inside skinny in the following sections.
Past Tense
What's past may be past, but only if you get your past tenses straight. Use the follow-
ing
table to leave the past in the past.
Past Tenses
Tense
Use
Example
Simple
past
Present
perfect
Completed action
Completed condition

Completed action
Completed condition
Continuing action
Continuing condition
We
finished
the tofu.
We were sad; no more tofu.
We have finished the
torn.
We have been sad.
We have burped for hours.
I
have been here for
days.
continues
68
Part
2:
Under
the
Grammar
Hammer
Past
Tenses
(continued)
Tense
Use
Example
Past

perfect
Past
progressive
Present
perfect
progressive
Past
perfect
progressive
Action completed before
another
Condition completed
before another
Continuous completed
action
Action
going
into
present
Continuing action
interrupted by another
I
had eaten all the torn before
you
returned.
I
had been sad before the new torn
arrived.
I
was snoring

that
week.
I
have been snoring all week.
I
had been snoring when the
house
collapsed.
Back
to the Future
This
table explains the future tenses.
Future
Tenses
Tense
Use
Example
Simple
future Future action
Future condition
Future perfect Future action done before
another
Future condition done
before another
Future progressive Continuing future action
Future perfect
progressive
Continuing future action
done before another
The sponge will dry.

I
will be happy when it does.
By
the time you read this, the
sponge
will be dry.
The sponge will have been on
the window for a week.
They will be buying sponges this
week.
When
we lunch
next
week,
I
will have been pumping iron
for
at least a week.
A
Note
on Verbs for Non-Native Speakers
Verbs present special problems for people whose first
language
is not
English.
Here are
some
guidelines to make your
life
easier (at least as it relates to

verbs).
Chapter
S:
Altered
States:
Verbs
69
1.
Use the correct form of verbs.
The following chart can help you remember how to use verbs correctly.
Nonstandard
and
Standard
English
Nonstandard
English
Present
Tense
Standard English
I
I
you
we
walk?
they
he, she, it walk
you
we walk
they
he, she, it

walk?
Past
Tense
I
you
we walk
they
he, she, it walk
you
we walked
they
he, she, it
walked
2.
When
used as a helping verb,
be, do,
and have change form to
agree
with
a
third-
person
singular
subject. The main verb does not add -s.
Incorrect:
Does the store opens at 10?
Correct:
Does the store open at 10?
3.

Can and
could
•
Can means
am/is/are
able.
It may be used to show the
present
tense.
Today, I can sleep late.
I
can clean the
house—but
I
won't.
•
Could
means
was/were
able
when used to show the past
tense
of
can.
Could
also
means "might be able, a possibility or wish."
In the past, I could
touch
my toes.

I
wish I could
touch
my toes now.
Can
and
could
(along
with
might, must,
shall,
should,
will,
would)
never change form.
70
Part
2:
Under
the
Grammar
Hammer
4.
Idiomatic expressions
with
can,
could,
might, must,
shall,
should,

will,
would
These words are called
"modals."
Here's a list of the most common expressions.
Idiomatic
Expressions
with
Modals
Example
Meaning
I
would
rather walk than ride.
I
would
sleep
during foreign films.
Shall
we
meet
again?
Would
you mind turning off
the radio?
Do you
mind turning it
off?
I
prefer to walk.

I
always sleep in foreign movies.
I'm inviting you to
meet
again.
Would
you be against doing this?
Please
turn
it off.
5.
Invert the subject and all or
part
of the verb to form questions.
The subject and verb change places to form questions. The following examples
show this.
Question
Forms
Statements
Questions
He is absent today.
Mara
can
help us.
They
are working here.
It
has
made this noise before.
Is

he
absent today?
Can
Mara help us?
Are
they
working here?
Has it made this sound before?
It's
All
in
the Timing
Here's the rule: Pick a tense and stick
with
it. Avoid shifting tenses in the middle of
a
sentence or paragraph. This confuses readers and makes
them
battier
than they are
already.
Study this example:
Wrong:
I
was
walking to lunch when a huge
dog
jumps
up and
attacks

me.
Right: I
was
walking to lunch when a huge
dog
jumped
up and
attacked
me.
The following recipe for chocolate cake (1040 version) contains many errors in tense.
Rewrite the paragraph to correct the tenses.
Don't
make the cake.
Chapter
S:
Altered
States:
Verbs
71
Chocolate Cake 1040
Line
1
:
Butter, a minimum of half
a
pound, but not to be exceeding
1
cup
(see Line 4).
Line

2
:
Sugar, light brown or white, unless you or your spouse will be having a
financial account in a foreign account in
2004,
in which case do not substitute
molasses
or honey.
Line
3
:
Eggs,
six or a half-dozen, whichever was greater.
Line
4:
Semisweet
chocolate. Nonfarm families may chosen the optional
method of using cocoa powder. Multiplying by .9897 per ounce of substitution.
For
additional details on cocoa conversion, seen Form
234a.
Line
5: Salt,
l
A
teaspoon (optional). If you was a head of household
with
depend-
ents and be born during a leap year, you must add salt. Now cream the mixture.
Line

6: Incorporate
eggs,
one at a time, into creamed mixture. If the
eggs
will be
from a farm of which you are the sole owner, you may have been eligible for a
Fowl Credit. See Form 9871m, "For the
Birds."
Note:
If
you weighed 20 percent more (or higher) than your ideal weight (see chart
on page 56), ignore this recipe and complete Schedule F, "Fresh Fruit Desserts."
Answers
Line
1
:
to exceed
Line
2:
had
Line
3: is
Line
4: choose, multiply, add, see
Line
5: were, were
Line
6: are from a farm, be eligible
Note:
weigh

Person,
Number,
and
Mood
Verbs do it all. Well, not
everything.
They can't do the laundry,
sing
on key, or draw a
straight line. I lied; so sue me. Actually, verbs
can
do a whole lot. Here are
three
things
they show:
72
Part
2:
Under
the
Grammar
Hammer
•
They show person.
•
They show number.
•
They show mood.
In
detail, maestro

Person
Remember
that,
concerning verbs,
person
is who or what experiences the action.
Here's the crowd:
•
First person: the person speaking (I, me)
•
Second person: the one being spoken to (you)
•
Third person: the person being spoken about (he, she, they)
Number
Number shows how many subjects act or receive the action.
•
One subject:
singular
verb
•
More than one subject: plural verb
Mood
Mood
shows the
attitude
expressed toward the action. It refers to the ability of verbs
to convey a writer's
attitude
toward a subject.
English

has three moods:
indicative,
imperative,
and
subjunctive.
1.
Indicative:
used for statements and questions of
You
Could
Look
It
Up
_,
fact For
example:
•
Ohio rejected this license plate motto:
Don't judge us by Cleveland.
Mood
shows
the
attitude
expressed
toward the action. It
refers
to the ability of
verbs
to
convey

a writer's
attitude
toward
a
subject.
Kentucky did not like this motto: Tobacco
is
a vegetable.