Verbs. Summary of verb tenses, present, past,future, conditional.

Summary of Verb Tenses in English

Present tenses

Simple present: She wants a drink.
Present continuous: They are walking home.

Past tenses

Simple past: Peter lived in China in 1965.
Past continuous: I was reading when she arrived.

Perfect tenses

Present Perfect: I have lived here since 1987.
Present perfect continuous: I have been living here for years.
Past perfect: We had been to see her several times before she visited us.
Past perfect continuous: He had been watching her for some time when she turned and smiled.
Future perfect: We will have reached USA by the time you get this letter.
Future perfect continuous: By the end of your course, you will have been studying for five years.

Future tenses

Simple future: They will go to Italy next week.
Future continuous: I will be traveling by train.

Conditional tenses

Present conditional: If he had the money he would go
Present continuous conditional: He would be getting up now if he was in Australia.
Perfect conditional: She would have visited me if she had had time.
Perfect continuous conditional: I would have been playing tennis if I hadn't broken my arm.

THE INFINITIVE

1. Form

The infinitive is the base form of a verb. It may be preceded by 'to' (the to-infinitive) or stand alone (the base or zero infinitive).

2. Infinitive with or without 'to'

The to-infinitive is used:

after certain verbs. e.g. want, wish, agree, fail, mean, decide, learn
after the auxiliaries to be to, to have to, and ought to
in the pattern 'it is + adjective + to-infinitive'

Examples

with 'to'

The elephant decided to marry the mouse
The mouse agreed to marry the elephant
You will have to ask her
You are to leave immediately
He ought to relax
She has to go to Berlin next week
It's easy to speak English
It is hard to change jobs after twenty years
It's stupid to believe everything you hear

without 'to'

I would rather visit Rome.
She would rather live in Italy.
Would you rather eat steak or fish?
He would rather work in a bank.

I'd rather b a......

VERBS NORMALLY FOLLOWED BY THE INFINITIVE

A. The to-infinitive is used after the verbs in this group, without a preceding noun. The verbs marked * can also be followed by a 'that-clause'

Example:

VERB	TO-INFINITIVE
I hope...	to see you next week.
	THAT- CLAUSE
I hope...	that I'll see you next week

List of verbs normally followed by the infinitive

afford
agree¹
aim
appear¹
arrange¹
bother
care
claim¹
condescend
consent
decide¹
demand¹
determine¹
endeavour

fail
guarantee¹
happen ¹
hasten
have (= be obliged)
hesitate
hope¹
learn
long
manage
offer
prepare
pretend¹
proceed

promise¹
propose
prove (= turn out)
refuse resolve¹
seek
seem¹
strive
swear¹
tend
threaten¹
trouble
undertake
volunteer
vow¹

These verbs can only be followed by a 'that-clause' when they have the subject 'it'.

Example

It appeared that no-one had locked the door.

Examples:

He claimed to be an expert.
I managed to reach the top of the hill.
I know you're only pretending to love me!
Don't pretend that you know the answer.
She failed to explain the problem clearly.
The customs man demanded to search our luggage.
I can't afford to go out tonight.st than a tree.

VERBS NORMALLY FOLLOWED BY THE INFINITIVE

B. These are the most common of the verbs that are normally followed by a noun + infinitive. The verbs marked * may also be followed by a 'that-clause'.

Example

VERB	NOUN	INFINITIVE
He reminded	me	to buy some eggs.
		THAT-CLAUSE
He reminded	me	that I had to buy some eggs.

accustom
aid
appoint
assist
cause
challenge
command*
defy
direct*
drive
empower
enable
encourage
entice

entitle
entreat
force
get
implore*
incite
induce
inspire
instruct*
invite
lead
leave (make someone responsible)
oblige

order*
persuade*
press
prompt
provoke
remind*
require*
stimulate
summon
teach
tell
tempt
trust*
warn*

Notes:

* command, direct, entreat, implore, order, require, trust:
there is no noun between these verbs and a 'that-clause':

The general commanded his men to surrender.
The general commanded that his men should surrender.

persuade and remind:
there is always a noun between these verbs and a 'that-clause':

You can't persuade people to buy small cars.
You can't persuade people that small cars are better.

instruct, teach, warn:
the noun is optional between these verbs and a 'that-clause':

She taught her students to appreciate poetry.
She taught her students that poetry was valuable.
She taught that poetry was valuable.

Examples

The professor challenged his students to argue with his theory.
This law empowers the government to charge more taxes.
You can't force me to do something I don't agree with.
You are obliged to drive on the left in England.
I invited the new student to have dinner with me.
What inspired you to write this poem?
The elephant told the mouse to climb up his tail.

THE INFINITIVE

VERBS NORMALLY FOLLOWED BY THE INFINITIVE

C. These are the most common of the verbs followed by a to-infinitive, with or without a noun.

Example

I asked him to show me the book.
I asked to see the book.

ask*
beg*
choose
dare
desire*
elect

expect*
help
mean* (=intend)
request*
want
wish*

The verbs marked * can also be followed by a that-clause

Note:

dare: In negative and interrogative sentences the infinitive with or without 'to' is possible, though it is more common to omit the 'to':

I never dared tell him what happened.
Dare you tell him the news?
Would you dare (to) jump out of a plane?

Examples

We've chosen John to represent the company at the conference.

The driver didn't try to stop after the accident.
We expect you to do your best in the exam.
Do you want to go to the beach?
Do you want me to go with you to the beach?
You are requested to be quiet in this library.

Conditional : Unreal Past

The past tense is sometimes used in English to refer to an 'unreal' situation. So, although the tense is the past, we are usually talking about the present, e.g. in a Type 2 conditional sentence:

If an elephant and a mouse fell in love, they would have many problems.

Although fell is in the past tense, we are talking about a hypothetical situation that might exist now or at any time, but we are not referring to the past. We call this use the unreal past.

Other situations where this occurs are:

after other words and expressions like 'if' (supposing, if only, what if);
after the verb 'to wish';
after the expression 'I'd rather..'

Expressions like 'if'

The following expressions can be used to introduce hypothetical situations:
- supposing, if only, what if. They are followed by a past tense to indicate that the condition they introduce is unreal:

Supposing an elephant and a mouse fell in love? (= but we know this is unlikely or impossible)
What if we painted the room purple? (= that would be very surprising)
If only I had more money. (= but I haven't).

These expressions can also introduce hypothetical situations in the past and then they are followed by the past perfect.

Examples

If only I hadn't kissed the frog (= I did and it was a mistake because he turned into a horrible prince, but I can't change it now.)
What if the elephant had trodden on the mouse? (She didn't, but we can imagine the result!)
Supposing I had given that man my money! (I didn't, so I've still got my money now.)

The verb to wish

The verb to wish is followed by an 'unreal' past tense when we want to talk about situations in the present that we are not happy about but cannot change:

I wish I had more money (=but I haven't)
She wishes she was beautiful (= but she's not)
We wish we could come to your party (but we can't)

When we want to talk about situations in the past that we are not happy about or actions that we regret, we use the verb to wish followed by the past perfect:

I wish I hadn't said that (= but I did)
He wishes he hadn't bought the car (= but he did buy it.)
I wish I had taken that job in New York (= but I didn't, so I'm stuck in Bristol)

NOTE: When we want to talk about situations we are not happy about and where we want someone else to change them, we use to wish followed by would + infinitive:

I wish he would stop smoking. (= I don't like it, I want him to change it)
I wish you would go away. (= I don't want you here, I want you to take some action)
I wish you wouldn't squeeze the toothpaste from the middle! (= I want you to change your habits.)

I'd rather and it's time...

These two expressions are also followed by an unreal past. The verb is in the past tense, but the situation is in the present.

When we want to talk about a course of action we would prefer someone else to take, we use I'd rather + past tense:

I'd rather you went
He'd rather you called the police
I'd rather you didn't hunt elephants.

NOTE: the stress can be important in these sentences, to show what our preference is:

I'd rather you went = not me,
I'd rather you went = don't stay
He'd rather you called the police = he doesn't want to
He'd rather you called the police = not the ambulance service

Similarly, when we want to say that now is a suitable moment to do something, either for ourselves or for someone else, we use it's time + past tense:

. It's (high) time I went.

. It's time you paid that bill.

. Don't you think it's time you had a haircut?

View Other Resources:

1- Click here to go to " Nouns " page.

2-Amideast Forum, Phrasal Verbs.

3-Amideast Forum, Grammar Lessons.

4-Amideast Forum, Grammar Exercises

5-Grammar resources

6-list of all English Tenses.

7-Beginner&Elementary Exercises.

8-Intermediate Exercises