For Learners of English as a Second

Language
  What is a sentence?
• A sentence is at least a subject and a verb. “John sang”
is a sentence.
 John is the subject, and sang is the verb.
 The sentence should be written:
 John sang.
• A sentence is a complete thought.
 In the sentence John sang, John is the topic of the
sentence, but there is no idea yet. You might ask, “What
about John?” The verb sang answers the question,
completing the idea—that John did something.
 The topic of the sentence.

 John is an opera singer.

◦ John is the topic, but he is not doing anything.

 The actor in a sentence.

 John sings opera.

◦ John is the topic, and he is doing something.
 Subjects are nouns.
 A single or compound noun is the simple subject
of a sentence.
 The simple subject might be compound.
 A compound subject has more than one noun
linked by and, or, or nor:

◦ John and Mary had dinner together.

◦ (Neither) John nor Mary had time for dinner.

◦ (Either) Macaroni or penne will be fine for this recipe.

 A noun can be described by many other
words, phrases, and clauses:

◦ Adjectives (big, red, happy, etc.)

◦ Prepositional phrases (on the hill, at the beach)
◦ Relative clauses (who, whom, which, that . . . )
◦ Participial phrases ( -ing . . . , -ed . . . , )

 The complete subject of a sentence is the

simple subject plus all these descriptors.
The young (woman) sitting next to me, who
was holding too many books on her lap,
suddenly dropped them all on the floor.

In this sentence, the complete subject has been

underlined, the simple subject is in ( . . . ), and
the verb is in red.
 The action performed by the actor (subject)
This is the so-called “action verb.”

◦ John sang an aria.

 A state of being or transition

This is the so-called “linking verb.”

◦ John is an opera singer.

◦ John became an opera singer.
 There are more action verbs than linking verbs.
 Linking verbs have the meaning ‘equal(s)’
 If you have a verb and try to substitute “be” or
“equals” for it, and it does not make sense, the
verb is an action verb.
 Some Common Linking Verbs:

 appear seem
 become smell
 feel sound
 grow taste
 look be
 Present—expressing the here and now

 Past—expressing time gone by, from seconds

to eons

 Future—expressing what is to come

 Right this minute:
◦ I am typing a slide for a presentation right now.
 All the time:
◦ I type on the computer every day.
 The result of something done in the past:
◦ I have typed this slide (so it now exists).
◦ I have eaten (so I am not now hungry).
◦ I have visited your country (so it is now part of my
experience; I know it now).
 At a specific point in the past:

◦ I ate lunch at one o’clock yesterday.

◦ The runner sprinted across the finish line.

 Before another past event:

◦ Before I ate lunch yesterday, I had worked out at the

gym.

◦ I had thought he was home before she told me he was

traveling.
 The most common:
◦ I am going to go to school tomorrow.

 Possibly equally common:

◦ I am going to school tomorrow.

 Less common, indicating willingness or intention:

◦ I will go to school tomorrow (if I/you want).

 Least common, for scheduled events:

◦ I go to school tomorrow (for the first time?).
 Look at the following sentences:

I am going to eat now.

I am eating now.
 The word now affects the meaning.
 If you replace now with tomorrow or later,
what happens?

 “Not hungry at the moment.”

 See the next slide:

Summary:
With the word now “I am going to eat” is
really future, though very soon.

With the word now “I am eating” is

immediate present, happening as you speak.

With words like tomorrow or later, both

sentences are future.
 Verb tenses rely on the point of reference of the
writer and the characters and events in a piece of
writing.

 The point of reference is a point in time from

which specified actions are viewed.

 Points of reference may be in the past, the

present, or the future.

 The present point of reference in a piece of

writing is the author’s time of writing.
◦ For example, I am speaking now (my point of
reference) about something I know I will do
tomorrow:
 I know I will see the doctor tomorrow (as I now speak).

◦ But if the point of reference is in the past:

 I knew yesterday that I would see the doctor today.

◦ Notice the change in the verbs in red.

◦ The point of reference is in the underlined verbs.
 English verbs normally form the past by
adding the suffix –ed.

◦ Example: He washed the dishes.

 Some English verbs form the past in other

ways, and they are called irregular.

◦ There are many different patterns and some mixed

patterns of irregular past forms.
◦ Irregular past forms must be learned.
 1. sing, sang, sung

◦ Ring rang rung

◦ Spring sprang sprung
◦ Drink drank drunk
◦ Sink sank sunk
◦ Stink stank stunk
◦ Swim swam swum
◦ Cling clung clung
◦ Hang hung hung
◦ Sting stung stung
◦ Swing swung swung
◦ Wring wrung wrung

◦ Run ran run

◦ Begin began begun
◦ Come came come (similar to this group)

 Notice that cling, hang, sting, swing, and wring are irregular within the pattern.
Come, run, and begin seem to follow this pattern even though they do not end in the
velar nasal and run and come do not have the high front vowel.
 Example of the sing, sang, sung pattern:

◦ I drink a glass of wine sometimes.

◦ I drank a glass of wine last night.
◦ I have drunk wine for many years.

 Note: You will sometimes hear native English

speakers break this pattern by using the past
form for the passive participle: have drank.
 2. –ought or –aught

◦ Some verbs form the past with these spellings. The

simple past and passive participle forms are the same.

◦ Bring brought brought

◦ Think thought thought
◦ Fight fought fought
◦ Buy bought bought
◦ Seek sought sought
◦ Work *wrought *wrought
◦ Teach taught taught
◦ Catch caught caught
 Example of the –ought or –aught pattern:

◦ I buy my groceries at Stop and Shop.

◦ I bought groceries last Friday.
◦ I have bought my groceries at Stop and Shop for
five years.

Note: You will hear some native speakers of English

use boughten for the third form, but this is
uncommon, maybe local to the Northeast USA.
 3. Verbs that do not change form—a pretty big group!

◦ Bet bet bet

◦ Cast cast cast
◦ Cost cost cost
◦ Hit hit hit
◦ Hurt hurt hurt
◦ Knit *knit *knit
◦ Let let let
◦ Put put put
◦ Rid rid rid
◦ Set set set
◦ Shed shed shed
◦ Shut shut shut
◦ Slit slit slit
◦ Spit spit spit
◦ Split split split
◦ Spread spread spread
◦ Sweat *sweat *sweat
◦ Upset upset upset
◦ Wed *wed *wed
◦ Wet *wet *wet

 Notice what these verbs have in common: single syllable (upset is built from set, and in this
case is conjugated in the same way as set), all ending in –t or –d. Does the vowel seem to
matter? If any of these verbs are prefixed, they still have the same past forms (see upset).
 Example of the no-change pattern:

◦ I shut the door whenever I go out.

◦ I shut the door when I left home today.
◦ I have always shut the door when leaving home.
 4.verbs with a vowel change and –en/-n in the passive participle. Another large group
(the largest?):
◦ Awake awoke awoken
◦ Bear bore borne/born
◦ Break broke broken
◦ Choose chose chosen
◦ Dive dove dived
◦ Drive drove driven
◦ Freeze froze frozen
◦ Get got gotten
◦ Ride rode ridden
◦ Rise rose risen
◦ Shake shook shaken
◦ Shear *shore *shorn
◦ Shred *shred *shred
◦ Speak spoke spoken
◦ Steal stole stolen
◦ Stride strode stridden [ei], [u], [ai], [i]  [o:], [ʊ]
◦ Strive *strove *striven
◦ Take took taken [ɛ]  [ɔ]
◦ Tear tore torn
◦ Thrive *throve *thriven
◦ Tread trod trodden
◦ Wake *woke *woken
◦ Wear wore worn
◦ Weave wove woven
◦ Write wrote written
◦
◦ Bid *bade *bidden
◦ Eat ate eaten
◦ Give gave given [ai], [i], [I]  [ei]
◦ Lie lay lain
◦
◦ Bite bit bitten
◦ Hide hid hidden [ai]  [ɪ]
◦ Slide slid slidden
◦
◦ Blow blew blown
◦ Grow grew grown
◦ Know knew known
◦ Draw drew drawn [o:], [ai], [ei]  [u:]
◦ Fly flew flown
◦ Slay slew slain
◦ See saw seen
◦ Fall fell fallen
 5. Verbs with a vowel change and the addition of –t:

◦ Bereave breaved bereft/bereaved

◦ Creep crept crept
◦ Deal dealt dealt
◦ Dream *dreamt *dreamt
◦ Feel felt felt
◦ Keep kept kept
◦ Kneel *knelt *knelt
◦ Lean *leant *leant
◦ Leap *leapt *leapt
◦ Leave left left
◦ Lose lost lost (odd man out!)
◦ Mean meant meant
◦ Sleep slept slept
◦ Sweep swept swept
◦ Weep wept wept

 Note that bereave is inconsistent, almost regular. All of these verbs have the high front
vowel in the infinitive [i]. This sound becomes [ɛ] in the past and passive participle.
 6. Verbs that form the past and passive participle by adding –t
with no vowel change:

◦ Bend bent bent

◦ Build built built
◦ Burn *burnt *burnt
◦ Dwell *dwelt *dwelt
◦ Gild *gilt *gilt
◦ Learn *learnt *learnt
◦ Send sent sent
◦ Lend lent lent
◦ Smell *smelt *smelt
◦ Spell *spelt *spelt
◦ Spend spent spent
◦ Spill *spilt *spilt
◦ Spoil *spoilt *spoilt

 Note that when the verb ends in d, the d simply becomes t. These verbs are
almost regular in the way they form the past. The vowel in the infinitive is short.
 7. Verbs whose vowel is [i] in the infinitive and form the past
by changing [i] to [ɛ]:

◦ Bleed bled bled

◦ Breed bred bred
◦ Feed fed fed
◦ Flee fled fled
◦ Lead led led
◦ Meet met met
◦ Read read read
◦ Speed *sped *sped

 Note that the spelling can vary, as in read and lead.

 8. Verbs that form the past by adding –d, sometimes with a
vowel change and sometimes not:

◦ Have had had

◦ Hear heard heard
◦ Make made made
◦ Pay paid paid
◦ Say said said
◦ Sell sold sold
◦ Tell told told
◦ Hold held held
◦ Clothe *clad *clad

 Notice that have and make lose <v> and <k>, and there are other spelling
changes. These verbs could almost be considered regular. Vowels in red have
changed.
 9. Verbs that form the past by a vowel change only:

◦ Bind bound bound

◦ Find found found
◦ Grind ground ground
◦ Wind wound wound
◦ Win won won
◦ Dig dug dug
◦ Stick stuck stuck
◦ Strike struck struck
◦ Light lit lit
◦ Slide slid slid/slidden
◦ Sit sat sat
◦ Spit spat spat
◦ Shine shone shone
◦ Shoot shot shot
◦ Tread trod trod
◦ Stand stood stood

 Notice that this is a significant group with much variation. The verbs are grouped by their
similarities.
 10. Verbs that form the past by the addition of –ed
and the passive participle by the addition of –en/-n:

◦ Prove proved *proven

◦ Sew sewed *sewn
◦ Shave shaved *shaven
◦ Show showed *shown
◦ Sow sowed *sown
◦ Swell swelled *swollen

 These verbs seem almost to be stuck in transition from irregular

to regular verbs. As the asterisk shows, regular forms of the
passive participle with –ed can be used.
 These three verbs do not fit any of the ten “classes” of verbs yet
discussed, though do could find a home in “class 10” with some
imagination as the past is formed by adding –d (with a vowel
change), and the passive participle is formed by adding –n.

◦ Do did done

 Like do, go forms the passive participle by adding –n, but the
simple past form is quite irregular.

◦ Go went gone

 Be is the least regular of all the verbs; however, the passive

participle is formed by the addition of –n like many other verbs.
It is the only verb which has both singular and plural forms of
the simple past tense.

◦ Be was/were been
 Specific prepositions are used after certain
adjectives.
 There is no definite rule for which preposition
should be used with which adjective.
 We simply need to learn them.
 Learning them takes a little time.
 A list of some commonly used adjectives and
the prepositions normally used with them can
be found at:
http://www.englishleap.com/grammar/preposi
tions-after-adjectives