TipsForTeachingGrammar

ConjugationsoftheEnglishVerb

Toconjugateaverbmeanstomakeasystematiclistofallofitsvariousforms.Weusedifferent
formsofthesameverbinsituationslikethechangefromcounttocountstocounted,andsoon.
Therearetwogeneralareasinwhichconjugationoccurs;forpersonandfortense.Conjugationfor
personoccurswhentheverbchangesform,dependingonwhetheritisgovernedbyafirst,second,
orthirdpersonsubject.Thisgivesthreeconjugationsforanyverbdependingonwhoisactingas
thesubjectoftheverb.Forexample,wehaveIcount,youcount,andhecounts.Notethatonlythe
thirdconjunctionreallyshowsadifference.Inadditiontotheabove,wecanhavethesamethree
personsinthepluralform.
WhilemostEnglishverbssimplydonotshowextensiveconjugationformsforperson,anexception
istheverbtobe."Tobe"isconjugatedforpersonasfollows:
tobe

past

present

future

FirstPerson

was

am

willbe

SecondPerson

were

are

willbe

ThirdPerson

was

is

willbe

FirstPersonPlural

were

are

willbe

SecondPersonPlural

were

are

willbe

ThirdPersonPlural

were

are

willbe

Inadditiontoperson,conjugationsfortensearesignificantforallverbs.Allconjugationsstartwith
theinfinitiveformoftheverb.Theinfinitiveissimplythetoformoftheverb.Fromthere,theverb
takesondifferentformsdependingonthetensetypeandtime.
tocount

past

present

future

simple counted

count

willcount

perfect hadcounted

have/hascounted

willhavecounted

progressive wascounting
perfectprogressive hadbeencounting

am/is/arecounting

willbecounting

have/hasbeencounting

willhavebeencounting

Thereallyteachableaspectsofthischarthavetodowiththesystematicqualityofthechanges.
Thereisaformulathatapplieswithexactregularity.Usingthisformula,wecanderiveeach
conjugation.Thestudentscancometoseesomethingaboutthesystematicqualityoflanguage(and
theextentofunconsciousknowledgethatweallcarryaroundaboutthesystemoflanguage).

Theformulaforsimpletypetenseis"verb+tenseform."
Thetenseformisedforpast,nothingforpresent,andwillforfuture.

Theformulaforperfecttypetenseis(tohave+tenseform)+pastparticipleofthemain
verb.
Noticethatinalloftheperfectforms,thewordcounteddoesn'tchange.Itisonlythe
firstpartoftheconjugationthatchanges,thepartwithtohave.Itchangesfromhad,to
haveorhas,towillhave;butcountedstaysthesameinallthreeconjugations.Inthe
perfecttense,theauxiliaryverbishaveandthemainverbiswhatevertheverbis,inthis
casecount.Itistheauxiliaryverbthatcarriesallofthechangesinformandallofthe
informationabouttenseandtime.

Theformulafortheprogressivetypetenseis(tobe+tenseform)+presentparticipleofthe
mainverb.
Thepresentparticipleistheingformoftheverb.Whichevertensetime,theverbcount
isalwaysintheingform.Itisonlytheauxiliarythatchangesformaccordingtothe
tensetime.Again,itistheauxiliarythatcarriesmostoftheinformationabouttense.

Theformulafortheperfectprogressivetypetenseis[(tohave+tenseform)+past
participleoftobe]+presentparticipleofthemainverb.
Onlytheformoftohavechangesinthisconjugation.Thepastparticipleoftobe,i.e.,
been,remainsthesameineachconjugation,asdoesthepresentparticipleofthemain
verb,inthiscase,count.

Itshouldbenotedthatthisformulapatternistotallysystematicfortheconjugationchart,butisnot
sofortheactualusageoftheverbsineverydaylanguage.Linguistswillcorrectlypointoutthatthe
presentformcanbeusedtomeanthefuture(asin"Tomorrow,wegobacktothecourthouseand
counttheballotsagain").Theactualusageofverbsappearstobealotlessregularthantheabove
chartofconjugations.Nonetheless,masteringtheverbconjugationsgivesstudentsarealsenseof
accomplishment.Itisconcreteknowledgeoflanguage,anditprovidesforcleardirectionsforboth
teachingandtestingthematerial.
RobertEinarsson.http://www.ateg.org/grammar/tips/t12.htm
WRITINGCENTER.Handouts.TipsforTeachingGrammar.ConjugationsoftheEnglishVerb.CFS.06.22.10

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WesleyCollege
2010