Research Guides: English as an Additional Language: Verbs Tenses

Verbs and Verb Tenses

Appropriate use of verbs and verb tenses is important when communicating time and events in all forms of communication. A verb expresses action or being, and the tense expresses the period an action or event occurred. An action can take place in the present, past or future. These are the three basic verb tenses with variant timelines.

All in all, there are twelve main verb tenses. While variations of all tenses are generally acceptable in speaking, in academic writing, four are most commonly used: simple present, simple past, future, and present perfect. The American Psychological Association (APA) has outline these most commonly used verb tenses in academic writing and when to use them in reporting information. Most other academic writing styles use similar verb tenses.

Review the table below to learn more about the different verb tenses. Examples are provided for each verb tense.

Gerunds Vs Infinitives

Gerunds are nouns formed from verbs and end in “ing” while an infinitive is the verb in its purest form before any action is take. Infinitives are written as “to + (base) verb. E.g. To buy, to sing, to manage, to research.

Using a gerund suggests that you are referring to real activities or experiences.  The gerund is also used along with the verb to be to form the English continuous tense. E.g. I am going to classes.

Using an infinitive suggests that you are talking about potential or possible activities or experiences.

Transitive Vs Intransitive Verbs

Action verbs may be transitive or intransitive. Transitive verbs take an object. If you can answer who or what of the verb, then the verb is transitive. Intransitive verbs do not need an object.

Consider the following examples using lay (transitive) vs lie (intransitive).

Marcia laid (lay) the book on the table.
You go and lie down.

Time Cues for Verb Selection and Use

Time cues are signal phrases that give information about when the action or event occurs. Time cues and phrases help you to determine the verb tense to be used. There are many words that are time clues; some can be used to indicate a number of tenses. Note that this table is not a complete listing of all the time clues that can be used with all of the tenses.

Here is a list of some common time cues and how they may be used.

Tense	Signal Words
Simple Present	always, every day, every week, every month, never, often, sometimes, usually, regularly, normally, rarely
Present Continuous	now, at the moment, currently, right now, just, just now, presently
Simple Past	yesterday, last year, last month, last year ago, in 1990, previously, earlier, when, then
Past Continuous	while, as long as, at that moment, during, throughout, when, as
Present Perfect	already, ever, just, never, so far, yet, until now, up to now, recently, lately
Present Perfect Continuous	for, since, all day, throughout, the whole time, continuously, for ages
Past Perfect	already, just, never, until that day, by the time, before, after, once
Past Perfect Continuous	for, since, the whole day, until then, up to that point, for years, for months
Future Simple	tomorrow, next week, next year, in a year, soon, later, eventually, in the future, someday
Future Continuous	in a year, next week, at this time tomorrow, by then, in the near future, soon
Future Perfect	by Monday, in a week, by the time, before, by then, by the end of, within
Future Perfect Continuous	the last couple of hours, for years, for months, by then, until, up to that point

English as an Additional Language: Verbs Tenses

Verb Tenses

Regular and Irregular Verbs (past and participles)