VERBS: TENSE, VOICE, ASPECT AND MODALITY

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VERBS TENSE, VOICE, ASPECTAND MODALITY

• by Don L. F. Nilsen
• and 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 -ed Present -s Future will or
shall ASPECT Perfect (have -en) Progressive
(be -ing) VOICE Passive (be
-en) MODALITY can could will would shall shou
ld may might must
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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)
drive present will would future
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 doesnt have a book.
(American John hasnt 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 doesnt 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