Except for be, all English verbs have five forms.
| BASE FORM | PAST TENSE | PAST PARTICIPLE | PRESENT PARTICIPLE | -S FORM |
| talk | talked | talked | talking | talks |
| adore | adored | adored | adoring | adores |
| BASE FORM | We often go to Legal Sea Foods. |
| PAST TENSE | Grandpa always ordered bluefish. |
| PAST PARTICIPLE | Grandma has tried the oyster stew. |
| PRESENT PARTICIPLE | Juanita is getting the shrimp platter. |
| -S FORM | The chowder needs salt and pepper. |
-s and -es endings
Except with be and have, the -s form consists of the base form plus -s or -es. In standard English, this form indicates action in the present for third-person singular subjects. All singular nouns; the personal pronouns he, she, and it; and many other pronouns (such as this, anyone, everything, and someone) are third-person singular.
| SINGULAR | PLURAL | |
| FIRST PERSON | I wish | we wish |
| SECOND PERSON | you wish | you wish |
| THIRD PERSON | he/she/it wishes | they wish |
| Joe wishes | children wish | |
| someone wishes | many wish |
Forms of be
Be has three forms in the present tense and two in the past tense.
| BASE FORM | be |
| PAST PARTICIPLE | been |
| PRESENT PARTICIPLE | being |
| PRESENT TENSE | I am, he/she/it is, we/you/they are |
| PAST TENSE | I/he/she/it was, we/you/they were |
TALKING ABOUT STYLE
Spoken varieties of English may follow rules for the use of be that differ from the rules in standard English. For instance, you may have heard speakers say sentences like “She ain’t here now” (instead of the standard English She isn’t here now) or “He be at work every Saturday” (instead of the standard English He is at work every Saturday). You may sometimes want to quote dialogue featuring such spoken usages of be when you write. In most academic and professional writing, however, you will want to follow the conventions of standard English. (For help on using varieties of English appropriately, see Chapter 22.)