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VERBS: TENSE, VOICE, ASPECT

AND MODALITY

by Don L. F. Nilsenand Alleen Pace Nilsen

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Active vs. Passive Headlines

• American Bomb Kills 10 Iraqi Civilians

• Ten Iraqi Civilians Killed by American Bomb

• Ten Iraqi Civilians Killed

• Ten Iraqi Citizens Are Casualties

(Smith & Wilhelm 19)

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Active vs. Passive Headlines

• IN A NEW YORK PAPER:– Sox Win Another One!– Sox Trounce Yanks in Extra Innings

• IN A BOSTON PAPER:– Yankees Beaten Again– Bronx Bombers Let Another One Slip Away

• In discussing these headlines, explain “the curse of the Babe.”

(Smith & Wilhelm 20)

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Subject-Verb Agreement

• Smith & Wilhelm suggest that if students want their subjects and verbs to agree, they should:

• “cross out all of the words that separate subjects from their predicates and then check that their verb choice was correct.”

• Remember that each, either, every, everyone, everybody, someone, and somebody are grammatically singular.

(Smith & Wilhelm 124-126)

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Verbs are the boss

• In “The chair laughed,” the verb takes control.– This sentence personifies “chair.”– It does not depersonify “laughed.”

• Verbs (like the sun in the solar system) control the nouns and prepositional phrases that surround them (their case frames).

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Transitivity• dance• Mary dances beautifully.

• slap• Mary slapped John.

• be• Obama is President/smart/here.

• give• Mary gave John a new car.

• elect• The country elected Obama President.

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Irregular Verbs

Auxiliary Verbs

Be (suppletive)

Have

Do

Bring

Buy

Dive

Drive

Go (suppletive)

Cf. wend

Hang (2)

Hit

Lie/Lay

Rise/Raise

Sit/Set

Sell

Swim (Smith & Wilhelm 250-269)

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Irregular-Verb Paradox

• Rare verbs tend to become regular.

• Therefore, in all languages, the most common verbs tend to be the most irregular.

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Converses

Break:

John broke the window with a hammer

A hammer broke the window

The window broke.

Buy & Sell

Rent to & Rent From

Sense Verbs

Feel

Smell

Hear/Sound

Look at/Look

Taste

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TENSE: Past: -edPresent: -sFuture: will or shall

ASPECT: Perfect (have + -en)Progressive (be + -ing)

VOICE:Passive (be + -en)

MODALITY:can couldwill wouldshall shouldmay mightmust

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TENSE:

Past: -ed

Present: -s

Future: will or shall

ASPECT:

Perfect (have + -en)*

Progressive (be + -ing)*

VOICE:

Passive (be + -en)*

MODALITY:

can could

will would

shall should

may might

must

*NOTE:

Past Participles usually end in –ed or –en

Present Participles always end in

–ing

Gerunds always end in -ing

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TIME: TRUTH: ASPECT: VOICE: | | / \ |TENSE (MODAL) (PERFECT) (PROGRESSIVE) (PASSIVE) VERB

past can could (have + -en) (be + -ing) (be + -en) drivepresent will wouldfuture shall should

may might must

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can = be able to

will = be going to

shall = be going to

should = be supposed to

may = be expected to

might = be expected to

must = be obligated to

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EXPLAIN THE FOLLOWING IN TERMS OF SOUNDS AND MEANINGS:

John supposed that the meeting had begun.John was supposed to do something.

I have two wives.I have to leave school early.

Alleen has two husbands.Mary has to prepare dinner for her husbands.

Mary used all of the medicine.Mary used to be ill.

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The cake was eaten (passive)The cake got eaten (get passive)

John doesn’t have a book. (AmericanJohn hasn’t a book. (British)

Does John have a book? (American)Has John a book? (British)

John is eating the cake. (progressive)The cake is eaten. (passive)John is an idiot. (main verb: set membership)

John has eaten the cake. (perfect)John has a new car. (main verb: possessive)

John doesn’t know what to do. (do-support)John does the dishes once a week. (main verb)

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TIME OF SPEAKING: ^TIME OF EATING: before )

TIME OF ARRIVING: !

1). I had eaten before you arrived (past perfect).

_____)!_________^____________

2). I have eaten. (present perfect)

_______________)^____________

3). I will have eaten when you arrive (future perfect).

________________^______)!_____

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4). I was eating when you arrived. (past progressive)

------==!===---------^------------------

5). I am eating. (present progressive)

-----------------====^=====---------

6). I will be eating when you arrive (future progressive)

------------------------^------====!===

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7). A prisoner ate the cake The cake was eaten by a prisoner. (past passive)

8). Rust corrodes iron. Iron is corroded by rust (present passive)

9). A prisoner will eat the cake. The cake will be eaten by a prisoner. (future passive)

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!EXPLAIN THE TENSE, VOICE AND ASPECT OF THE FOLLOWING SENTENCES!

1). Ryan is driving a taxi.

2). Sally has baked a cake.

3). Jeri had finished her homework before you left for work.

4). Mark will have finished the repairs tomorrow morning.

5). Brenda had been eating cherries all morning.

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!!6). The new kid was being beaten by some gang members.

7). The presidency will be won by the hardest campaigner.

8). The article is being written by a real sports enthusiast.

9). Mikey has been eating this kind of cereal for years.

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!!!AND NOW FOR THE MOST DIFFICULT SENTENCE IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

10). The taxi might have been being driven by a nut.

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References:

Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman, and Nina Hyams. An Introduction to Language, Seventh Edition. Boston, MA: Thomson/Heinle, 2003.

Smith, Michael W., and Jeffrey D. Wilhelm. Getting It Right: Fresh Approaches to Teaching Grammar, Usage and Correctness. New York, NY: Scholastic, 2007