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Standard English Conventions: Form, Structure, and Sense — Verbs

Verb finiteness and verb tense and aspect, drawn as a timeline where each clause pins its event and a verbal pins nothing at all.

10 topics · 38 questions

Each topic is a path, not a menu: work down it in order and every question builds on the one above. Click any of them to watch the answer draw itself.

Finite Verbs versus Verbals

  1. How it worksHow do you spot the single word in a clause that is marked for time and tied to a doer?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through labelling every verb form in 'Hoping to finish, the crew working through the night.'
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't 'running' a verb in 'The stream running past the cabin' when it clearly describes an action?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens to that same phrase the moment you insert the word 'is' in front of 'running'?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A trail guide is being edited for a park with 19 marked routes. Which choice is a complete sentence?

The Sentence With No Main Verb at All

  1. How it worksHow do you audit a twenty-word sentence for the one word that is carrying the tense?
  2. Worked exampleShow me what is missing from 'The observatory, built in 1897 and restored twice since, on a ridge above town.'
  3. Common mistakeWhy doesn't a participle like 'built' count as the verb that finishes a sentence?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens to a verbless sentence the moment you convert one of its participles into a tensed verb?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A student writes: 'The observatory, built in 1911 and restored twice since, on a ridge above town.' Which choice best describes what the word group lacks?

Gerunds, Participles, and Infinitives

  1. How it worksHow do you tell a gerund from a participle by looking at the job the word is doing?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through labelling 'swimming' in 'Swimming builds endurance' and in 'The girl swimming laps is my sister.'
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't every -ing word a gerund, given that a participle wears exactly the same ending?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens when an infinitive like 'to finish' tries to serve as the main verb of a sentence?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A coach's notes contain two sentences: 'Swimming builds endurance.' and 'The 15 girls swimming laps are on the relay team.' Which choice describes 'swimming' in each sentence?

Having Mapped versus Mapped

  1. How it worksHow does 'having finished' mark an action as already over before the main clause even begins?
  2. Worked exampleShow me the time order inside 'Having mapped the cave, the team published its survey.'
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't 'having mapped' ever the main verb of the sentence it opens?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A survey report reads: 'Having mapped the 18 kilometers of cave, the team published its survey.' Which choice describes the time order?

The Simple Tenses on a Timeline

  1. How it worksHow do past, present, and future put one event at three different points on a single line?
  2. Worked exampleFind the tense error in 'Last winter the harbor freezes and the ferries stop for a month.'
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't the present tense a claim about this exact moment in 'Iron rusts when it meets damp air'?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A harbor bulletin reads: 'Last winter the harbor freezes and the 9 ferries stop for a month.' Which choice conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

The Progressive Aspect

  1. How it worksHow does a form of 'be' plus an -ing verb turn an action into something still underway?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through why 'The glacier was retreating when the survey began' nests one event inside another.
  3. Common mistakeWhy doesn't the progressive belong on a verb like 'know' or 'belong' that names a state rather than an action?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens when a writer uses a progressive verb for a permanent fact like a mountain standing?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A glaciology report covers a survey that began in 1999. Which choice conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

The Perfect Aspect

  1. How it worksHow does the present perfect draw a bridge from a point in the past all the way to now?
  2. Worked exampleShow me what the timeline does differently for 'She worked here ten years' and 'She has worked here ten years.'
  3. Going furtherWhat happens to the perfect when its helping verb moves into the future as 'will have'?
  4. Common mistakeWhy doesn't 'has taught' mean the same thing as 'taught' when both describe years already gone?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A staff notice has to say that a teacher started 22 years ago and is still teaching at the school. Which choice conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

The Past Perfect and the Earlier Past

  1. How it worksHow does the word 'had' pin one event to the left of another event already sitting in the past?
  2. Common mistakeWhy isn't 'had' correct in every past sentence simply because the event happened a long time ago?
  3. Worked exampleWalk me through repairing 'When the archivist opened the box, someone already removed two of the letters.'
  4. Going furtherWhat happens to 'had' once the sentence already states in plain words which event came first?
Your turneasy1 of 3
An archivist's note reads: 'When the archivist opened the box, ______ 15 of the letters.' Which choice completes the text so that it conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

Sequence of Tenses Across Clauses

  1. How it worksHow does pushing 'said' into the past reach inside the reported idea and shift its verb as well?
  2. Worked exampleWalk me through why 'She announced that she will resign' becomes 'would resign' in a past-tense report.
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't forcing every verb in a sentence into one tense a safe way to dodge a sequence error?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens to that rule when the reported clause states something that is still true today?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A news brief reports an announcement made last week: 'She announced that she will resign after 18 years on the board.' Which choice conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

Tense Consistency in a Narrative

  1. How it worksHow does one governing tense set a default that every other verb has to justify leaving?
  2. Worked exampleShow me which verb breaks the pattern in 'The hikers set out at dawn, cross the ridge, and camped by the lake.'
  3. Common mistakeWhy isn't every tense change inside a paragraph an error, given that time itself keeps moving?
  4. Going furtherWhat happens when a passage about a long-dead author switches to the present to describe their book?
Your turneasy1 of 3
A trip report reads: 'The hikers set out at dawn, cross the 22-kilometer ridge, and camped by the lake.' Which choice conforms to the conventions of Standard English?

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