I've been blogging recently on grammar to help those who are writing for the web, and my latest installment is a quick guide to verbs and associated  verb tenses. In simple terms, a verb alone can only depict two tenses. The present (as in “she walks”) and the past (“she walked”). There are up to thirty different tenses in the English language that are signified by helping verbs. By understanding the basic tenses you can express the different realities of time in writing.

The six basic tenses

Present simple: he walks Perfect present: he has walked Past simple: he walked Past perfect: he had walked Future: he will walk Future perfect: he will have walked Grammatical errors usually occur with the use of the perfect tenses, which all require the additional use of a helping verb, which is added to the past participle. The past participle is the third in the sequence of verbs. Sing, sang, sung Walk, walked, walked

Perfect present

The perfect present is formed with the past participle and the helping verb ‘have’ or ‘has’. It signifies an action that started in the past, but continues into the present. David taught for twenty years. The simple past sentence above implies that David has retired. David has taught for twenty years. The perfect present sentence above signifies that David is still teaching.

Past perfect

The past perfect tense signifies an action in the past like the past simple tense, but the action of a past perfect sentence has finished in the past before another action has started. Brian washed the push bike when Sarah arrived. The past simple tense in the sentence above indicates that Brian waited until Sarah arrived before washing the bike. Brian had washed the push bike when Sarah arrived. The past perfect sentence above indicates that Brain had already completed washing the bike when Sarah arrived.

Future perfect

The future perfect tense shows an action that will be finished by a designated time in the future. I will finish my homework tomorrow. The future tense in the sentence above indicates that I will complete an action in the future. By tomorrow afternoon, I will have finished my homework. The future perfect sentence above indicates that the action of completing my homework will be completed by a specific time in the future.

Verb conjugation

Verb conjugation is the way a verb can change the tense, number, mood or person of a sentence.

Change of person

The English language has six different persons a sentence can take. First person singular - I Second person singular - you Third person singular – he/she First person plural – we Second person plural – you Third person plural – they A verb must conjugate for each person. I ‘am’ You ‘are’ He/she ‘is’ We ‘are’ You ‘are’ They ‘are’

Change of tense

A verb can also conjugate changing tenses. I ‘was’, I ‘am’, I ‘will’ You ‘were’, you ‘are’, you ‘will’ be He ‘was’, he ‘is’, he ‘will’ be We ‘were’, we ‘are’, we ‘will’ be They ‘were’, they ‘are’, they ‘will’ be