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2017-05-08 - Parts of Speech: Verbs

Parts of Speech

Last time I said we were going to look at pronouns next, but I've decided it's better to look at verbs first. Verbs usually have a subject which is a noun identifying what is doing the verb. Verbs can also have an object which is a noun identifying what the verb is being done against. The subject/object difference has the most impact on pronouns which is why I wanted to mention verbs first.

Verbs are action words. They describe what something is doing. Words like "walk", "think", and "imagine" are verbs. Verbs are one of the most complicated parts of speech and they can have many forms. because of this the inflections of a verb are special and called conjugations.

Verb forms are constructed from several principal parts. The infinitive is the base form of a verb. The past participle is formed by adding -ed to the base form and the present participle is formed by adding -ing to the base form. A gerund is the form of a verb when used as a noun and usually matches the infinitive.

Verbs are mainly conjugated to indicate the time period over which the action is occurring. Tense describes the point in time at which the action is happening. Past tense means an action occurred in the past, present tense means an action is occurring in the present and future tense means it is occurring in the future.

Aspect is used to indicate when the action started and ended. Simple aspect indicates an action occurring regularly in the time frame indicated by its tense. Perfect aspect indicates an action starting before the time frame indicated by its tense but completed by that time. Progressive aspect indicates an action started before and continuing after the time frame indicated by its tense. Perfect Progressive aspect indicates an action started before but ending at the time frame indicated by its tense. Aspects can be thought of as modifications of tenses and so the term tense is sometimes used to refer to a specific combination of tense and aspect. The following list shows tenses and examples.

Tense Example Part Description
Simple Past I walked Past Participle An action occurred in the past
Past Perfect I had walked Past Participle An action occurred and ended before a specific  point in the past
Past Progressive I was walking Present Participle An action was occurring at a specific point in the past
Past Perfect Progressive I had been walking Present Participle An action was occurring and had just stopped at a specific point  in the past
Simple Present I walk Infinitive An action occurs in the present
Present Perfect I have walked Past Participle An action occurred and ended before the present
Present Progressive I am walking Present Participle An action is occurring in the present
Present Perfect Progressive I have been walking Present Participle An action was occurring and had just stopped before the present
Simple Future I will walk Infinitive An action will occur in the future
Future Perfect I will have walked Past Participle An action occurred in the future and ended before a specific point in the future
Future Progressive I will be walking Present Participle An action will be occurring at a specific point in the future
Future Perfect Progressive I will have been walking Present Participle An action will have been occurring and will have stopped just before a specific point in the future

Note that not all verbs follow the rules. Irregular verbs are those which have unusual participles or tense forms. Tenses themselves are also used in a variety of ways which makes it difficult to give them exact definitions. We may talk more about verbs at a later date since they are one of the most complicated parts of language.

Next time we will talk about pronouns, for real this time.

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