Chapter 10: The Four Main Forms

Verbs are one of the essential ingredients in the creation of sentences. Verbs tell the reader when something occurs through the use of tense. Tense is time. Verbs tell the reader whether the action is happening now, in the past, or in the future. Verbs have four main forms and it is these forms used alone or in combination with helping verbs that create the tenses.

The four main forms are the present form, the past form, the present participle, and the past participle.

In addition to having four forms, verbs also come in two types-regular and irregular. Regular verbs use the same pattern to create the main verb forms; irregular verbs do not use the same pattern. Three of the most common verbs in English are irregular verbs and need special consideration. Those verbs are be, have, and do. Good writing requires that the writer have mastery of verbs and the main forms of both regular and irregular verbs.