VERBS WHAT IS A VERB It is a

VERBS

WHAT IS A VERB? It is a word that shows action or state of being (“to be” verbs = am, is, are, was, & were) Action – run, swim, jump, leap, fall, dream State of being (something or someone is being described, but no action is going on) – be, appear, seem, feel VERB TENSES: 6 different tenses Present tense: I eat pizza often. Past tense: I ate pizza last night. Future tense: I will eat pizza later today. Present Perfect tense: I have eaten pizza many times. Past Perfect tense: By the time you arrive, I had Verbs are a must – if not, you are probably writing fragments eaten the whole pizza. Future Perfect tense: I will have eaten pizza at least a million times by the year 2025.

PROGRESSIVE FORMS OF VERBS Progressive means that the action continues for a while. Present Progressive: I am eating pizza. Past Progressive: I was eating pizza when you called. Future Progressive: I will be eating pizza at 8: 30 tonight. Present Perfect Progressive: I have been eating pizza all day. Past Perfect Progressive: I had been eating pizza for three hours. Future Perfect Progressive: I will have been eating pizza for five hours nonstop when bedtime rolls around.

EMPHATIC FORMS OF VERBS There are 3 uses of the emphatic verb form – they include the words: do, does, and did with the verb. Emphasis: I do eat pizza! When I was a kid, wow, did I eat pizza. Questions: Do I eat pizza? Did I really eat 10 pizzas? Negatives: I do not eat green, leafy vegetables – only pizza; however, I did not eat all 10 pizzas by myself. When to use the present tense: Present action: I want to eat pizza right now! Action that happens over and over: I want to eat pizza almost every day. Scientific facts and other things that are always true: Eating 10 pizzas a day is not good for you. Headlines: “Local Kid Nearly Explodes from Pizza Overdose” In book reports (stories often occur “in the present” as a reader reads them): In the final scenes of Pizza Panic, the hero of the story is cured of his pizza addiction and lives happily every after, never craving mozzarella and pepperoni.