32a Understand the five forms of verbs.

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

Everyday Use of Be

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.)