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Verbs are the words that portray action. The can tell you about a
certain event, some action taking place or even how a person/object is.
Verbs are Action Words!
For eg: I was jumping with joy when I got the Harvard admission
email
I dont feel that good
What is up with these children running all around the house
Vanessa realized she had not completed her assignment that was due
today
The underlined words in the above sentences are all verbs.
There are 4 attributes of a verb
1) The count singular or plural
2) Tense or timing of the sentence
3) Mood of the sentence
4) Voice active or passive
Tense:
Tenses show the time of the action or the state indicated by the verb.
You might remember from your schooldays that there are 3 types of
tenses Past, Present and Future, and each of them is further divided
into Simple, Continuous (also known as Progressive), Perfect and
Perfect Continuous.
There are keywords for each tenses
Simple Past went, left, lost, won, celebrated
Past Continuous were going, were leaving, were losing, were winning,
were celebrating (can use was instead of were if singular)
Past Perfect had went, had left, had lost, had won, had celebrated
Past Perfect Continuous had been going, had been leaving, had been
losing, had been winning, had been celebrating
Simple Present go, leave, lose, win, celebrate (can use the s or es
form if singular. For eg: goes, leaves, etc.)
Present Continuous are going, are leaving, are losing, are winning,
are celebrating (can use is or be instead of are if singular)
Present Perfect has went, has left, has lost, has won, has celebrated
Present Perfect Continuous has been going, has been leaving, has
been losing, has been winning, has been celebrating (can use have
instead of has if plural)
Simple Future will go, will leave, will lose, will win, will celebrate (can
use shall too in case of I and We)
Future Continuous will be going, will be leaving, will be losing, will be
winning, will be celebrating
Future Perfect will have gone, will have left, will have lost, will have
won, will have celebrated
Future Perfect Continuous will have been going, will have been
leaving, will have been losing, will have been winning, will have been
celebrating
So, continuous involves a -ing form of the verb.
The perfect involves has, have, had or will have, depending on the
tense.
The perfect continuous is simply Perfect + Continuous, i.e. has, have,
had or will have + -ing form of the verb.
Now, we will categorize these tenses in a slightly different manner such
that they indicate the actual time of occurrence. At first it may sound
really weird as to why do we need a different type of categorization,
but lets take an example and understand this.
They have left for the movie theatre
What is the tense of the verb left?
There is a have so it has to be present perfect. It is not present
perfect continuous because the verb is left and not leaving. So,
Present Perfect
Now, the word Present in Present Perfect makes us think that the
event is still happening. But, is the action in the sentence still
happening?
The sentence says They have left for.., i.e. they have already left.
In other words, the action of leaving happened at some time in the
past and not present. This is one of the most common confusion that
candidates face while answering SC questions on tenses.
To simplify this problem, we are categorizing tenses by the actual time
of occurrence of events.
Event actually occurring Now; in Present Simple Present
Present Continuous
Simple Past
Past Continuous
Present Perfect
Present Perfect Continuous
Past Perfect
Past Perfect Continuous
Event is yet to occur; in the Future
Simple Future
Future Continuous
Using going to
There are more ways to refer to future events, well get to them soon.
Lets explore some more things about tenses first.
1) Simple Tenses:
Universal facts are always stated in the simple present tense.
For eg: The sun rises in the east
Ice is lighter than water
Most of the definitions should also be made in Simple Present Tense.
Simple tenses (Simple Present, Simple Past, or Simple Future) are used
to refer to routine events or undisputed facts.
The GMAT focuses on brevity and clarity. The Simple tenses are both
concise and clear. Therefore, as far as possible, one should prefer
choosing options containing Simple tenses.
Here we would also like to highlight the difference among a few words
used Simple Future Tense.
Will vs Shall:
There is no major difference, and will is used universally. Still, if
somewhere you have to break the tie, prefer using Shall for 1 st
person words like I or We.
For eg: I shall not tolerate their nonsense anymore.
Will vs Would:
Will is used to
a) talk about future
b) make commitments and offers
---
The correct sentence is Tom and Sandra will meet for dinner
tomorrow
For eg: The plane had left by the time they reached the airport
The sentence says that the plane had left before they could
reach the airport.
Notice the fact that, the earlier past event is represented by a
Past Perfect Tense, and the later past event is represented by a
Simple Past Tense.
The Past Perfect Tense can also be used to establish the timeline
of 2 events that occurred in the past.
Jackie knew that John and Mary had been close friends since
college
The verb with Simple Past Tense knew obviously occurred after
the verb with Past Perfect Tense had been close friends.
Rob has completed his homework, but his dog has eaten
it
This sentence says that Rob has finished his homework at some
point in the past and now it is complete, and his dog has started
eating his homework at some point in the past and is still eating
it.
So, what is the present state of the homework? Is it completed or
has it been eaten by the dog???
This sentence is ambiguous as the timeline is not consistent.
Hence, this sentence is wrong.
The Future Perfect Tense is used to describe events that are
going to occur in the past from a future point of view. In other
words, Future Perfect talks about the Past of the Future.
For eg: By the Year 2022, the world will have witnessed two
more Olympic Games.
What we just illustrated above is how to find out whether the tenses
are correctly used or not by checking for timeline consistency.
Moods:
Moods are another important attribute of a verb (after count and
tenses). They essentially tell you the intent of what is being said in the
sentence. There are 3 moods of a verb
1) Indicative:
The ubiquitous mood; the most basic of them all. It is present in
almost all sentences.