6/30/11  

1  

Subject-Verb Agreement

W r i t i n g i n t h e D i s c i p l i n e s (W I D )

G . G r i g g s & B . M o r a l e s

           

Verb Tenses

Tenses  represent  the  time  of  the  action,  which  is  indicated  by  a  

verb.  

PRESENT  The  baby  cries.  

PRESENT  PERFECT  The  baby  has  cried.  

PAST  The  baby  cried.  

PAST  PERFECT  The  baby  had  cried  

earlier.  

FUTURE  The  baby  will  

cry  later.  

FUTURE  PERFECT  The  baby  will  have  

cried  before  sleeping.  

Present Tense: present action or action

that occurs always, repeatedly, or habitually

!  The  children  are  ready  to  leave  for  school.  !    David  and  Samuel  take  a  bus  every  day.  

!    Roxana  eats  cereal  for  breakfast.  !    Manuel  rides  his  bike  to  school.  

!    Jaime  fishes  with  his  grandfather  on  Saturdays.  

!    The  girls  swim  and  dive  at  the  community  pool.    

Present

Tense Tip!

Third Person Singular (with –s)  

Third Person Plural (without –s)  

Edgardo  runs   They  run  María  swims   They  swim  

The  article  explains   The  books  explain  My  teacher  wants   The  supervisors  want  

The  magazine  describes   The  authors  describe  

!  He  has  written  a  text  message  to  his  friend.  (CM)  !   I  have  lived  in  Yauco  for  10  years.  (CNG)  

!  They  have  been  friends  for  five  years.  (____)    !  Felix  has  broken  the  10  K  world’s  record.  (____)  

!  Brenda  has  brought  a  cake  to  the  party.  (____)  !  We  have  felt  sick  for  two  days.  (____)  

Present Perfect Tense: Action

completed (CM) at the present time or continuing (CNG) into the present

Have or has + past participle (verb + -ed, -d, -t, -en, or -n

CNG

CM

CM

CNG

Exercises Present (Pr) & Present Perfect (PrP)

1.  Juan  __________  a  hamburger.  2.  Juan  __________  a  hamburger.  

3.  Yomi  _________  the  ball.  4.  Yomi  _________  the  ball.  

5.  Susan  _________  over  the  fence.  6.  Susan  _________  over  the  fence.  7.  I  ___________  every  day.  

8.  I  ___________  every  day.  

Eat  (Pr)  Eat  (PrP)  

Catch  (Pr)  Catch  (PrP)  

Jump  (Pr)  

Jump  (PrP)  Write  (Pr)  

Write  (PrP)  

eats  has  eaten  

has  caught  

jumps  has  jumped  

have  written  

write  

catches  

6/30/11  

2  

Past Tense: A definite completed action in

the past

!  The  children  left  for  school.  !    David  and  Samuel  took  a  bus  every  day.  

!    Roxana  ate  cereal  for  breakfast.  !    Manuel  rode  his  bike  to  school.  

!    Jaime  fished  with  his  grandfather  on  Saturdays.  

!    The  girls  swam  and  dove  at  the  community  pool.    

Past

Tense Tip!

Singular Plural

I  ran;  Edgardo  ran   We  ran;  They  ran  I  swam,  María  swam   We  swam;  They  swam  The  article  explained   The  books  explained  My  teacher  wanted   The  supervisors  wanted  

The  magazine  described   The  authors  described  

!  He  had  written  a  text  message  to  his  friend  yesterday.    !   I  had  lived  in  Yauco  for  10  years  before  I  moved  to  Lajas.    

!  They  had  been  friends  for  five  years  when  I  met  them.  !  Felix  had  broken  the  world’s  record  before  Pedro.  

!  Brenda  had  brought  a  cake  to  the  party  that  day.  !  We  had  felt  sick  for  two  days  during  our  vacation.  

Past Perfect Tense: Action

completed before a stated or known time in the past

Had + Past Participle (verb + -ed, -d, -t, -en, or -n

Exercises Past (Pa) & Past Perfect (PaP)

1.  Juan  __________  a  hamburger.  2.  Juan  __________  a  hamburger.  

3.  Yomi  _________  the  ball.  4.  Yomi  _________  the  ball.  

5.  Susan  _________  over  the  fence.  6.  Susan  _________  over  the  fence.  7.  I  ___________  every  day.  

8.  I  ___________  every  day.  

Eat  (Pa)  Eat  (PaP)  

Catch  (Pa)  Catch  (PaP)  

Jump  (Pa)  

Jump  (PaP)  Write  (Pa)  

Write  (PaP)  

ate  had  eaten  

had  caught  

jumped  had  jumped  

had  written  

wrote  

caught  

Future Tense: Action that has not yet

occurred but will take place in the future (uses “Will” or “going to”)

!  The  children  are  going  to  leave  for  school.  !    David  and  Samuel  will  take  a  bus  every  day.  

!    Roxana  is  going  to  eat  cereal  for  breakfast.  !    Manuel  will  ride  his  bike  to  school.  

!    Jaime  will  fish  with  his  grandfather  on  Saturdays.  

!    The  girls  will  swim  and  dive  at  the  community  pool.    

Future

Tense Tip!

I  am  going  to  run;  Edgardo  will  run  

We  are  going  to  run;  They  will  run  

I  will  swim,  María  is  going  to  swim  

We  will  swim;  They  are  going  to  swim  

The  article  will  explain  /  is  going  to  explain  

The  articles  will  explain    /are  going  to  explain  

My  teacher  will  want  /  is  going  to  want  

The  supervisors  will  want  /are  going  to  want  

The  magazine  will  describe  /  is  going  to  describe  

The  authors  will  describe  /  are  going  to  describe  

6/30/11  

3  

!  He  will  have  written  a  text  message  to  his  friend  by  noon.    !   I  will  have  lived  in  Yauco  for  10  years  this  September.  

!  They  will  have  been  friends  for  five  years  next  week.  !  Felix  will  have  broken  the  world’s  record  for  2  years.  

!  Brenda  will  have  brought  a  cake  to  the  party  tomorrow.  

!  We  will  have  felt  sick  for  two  days  tomorrow.  

Future Perfect Tense: Action

that will be complete before a known time in the future

Will have + Past Participle (verb + -ed, -d, -t, -en, or -n

Exercises Future (F) & Future Perfect (FP)

1.  Juan  __________  a  hamburger.  2.  Juan  __________              a  hamburger.  

3.  Yomi  _________                    the  ball.  4.  Yomi  _________                  the  ball.  

5.  Susan  _________  over  the  fence.  6.  Susan  _________            over  the  fence.  7.  I  ___________  every  day.  

8.  I  ___________            every  day.  

Eat  (F)  Eat  (FP)  

Catch  (F)  Catch  (FP)  

Jump  (F)  

Jump  (FP)  Write  (F)  

Write  (FP)  

will  eat  will  have  eaten  

will  have  caught  

will  jump  

will  have  jumped  

will  have  written  

will  write  

is  going  to  catch  

Summary

1.  The  present  tense  is  used  for  actions  in  the  present  or  actions  that  occurs  repeatedly  

2.  Third  person  singular  takes  a  singular  verb  (with  an  –s)  

3.  Third  person  plural  takes  a  plural  verb  (without  –s)  

4.  The  present  perfect  tense  indicates  an  action  completed  in  the  present  or  continuing  into  the  present  

5.  The  present  perfect  tenses  uses  “have”  or  “has”  with  the  past  participle  of  the  verb  (ending  with  –ed,  -­‐d,  -­‐t,  -­‐en,  or  –n)  

Summary

6.  The  past  tense  indicates  that  an  action  was  completed  in  the  past  

7.  Add  –d  or  –ed  to  regular  verbs  in  the  past  tense.  

8.  Irregular  verb  tenses  must  be  learned.  

9.  The  past  perfect  tense  indicates  that  an  action  was  completed  before  a  stated  or  known  time  in  the  past  

10. The  past  perfect  tense  uses  “had”  +  the  past  participle  of  the  verb  (verb  +  -­‐ed,  -­‐d,  -­‐t,  -­‐en,  or  –n)  

Summary

11. The  future  tense  indicates  an  action  that  has  not  yet  occurred  but  will  take  place  in  the  future  

12. The  future  tense  uses  “will”  or  the  proper  present  tense  of  “be”  with  “going  to”  and  the  verb.  

13. The  future  perfect  tense  indicates  an  action  that  will  be  complete  before  a  known  time  in  the  future.  

14. The  future  perfect  tense  uses  “will  have”  +  the  past  participle  of  the  verb  (verb  +  -­‐ed,  -­‐d,  -­‐t,  -­‐en,  or  –n).  

15. For  irregular  verbs,  see  the  irregular  verbs  hand-­‐out.