Auxiliary required: The baby is crying.
Auxiliary not required: The crying baby needs to eat. (Crying is acting as
an adjective, not a verb.)
Auxiliary not required: The baby crying the loudest needs to eat. (Crying is
part of a reduced relative clause.)
Regular Verbs
A regular verb follows standard rules. The past tense of a regular verb ends in -ed,
as does the past participle form. All verbs end in -ing in the present participle. The
following table shows examples of regular verbs.
Simple Present Tense Simple Past Tense Past Participle Present Participle
walk walked walked walking
study studied studied studying
type typed typed typing
Irregular Verbs
Irregular verbs are, obviously, less predictable than regular verbs. Various rules
apply to irregular verbs depending on the ending of the base verb. Studying lists
of irregular verbs is not as helpful as paying attention to their use as you read
English and listen to English conversations. The following table offers some ex-
amples of irregular verbs.
Simple Present Tense Simple Past Tense Past Participle Present Participle
begin began begun beginning
find found found finding
eat ate eaten eating
ride rode ridden riding
Simple Present Tense
The simple present tense is not used very frequently to indicate present time in
standard written English. Generally, the present progressive tense is used to indi-
cate that something is happening in the present time. Verbs in simple present tense
usually indicate that an action is habitual or repetitive.
Birds fly.
This means that birds fly in general, or regularly. It does not indicate that birds are

flying now.
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Harry swims every day.
This means that Harry regularly swims, not that he is swimming now.
However, some verbs are used in simple present tense to indicate that something
is happening in the present time. These verbs as known as stative verbs.
Common stative verbs include know, believe, hear, see, smell, wish, under-
stand, hate, love, want, appear, own, have, sound, need, taste, and like.
I believe you.
This means that I believe you now. In this case, the present progressive tense (“I
am believing you”) would sound strange.
This seems like an interesting movie.
This means that the movie seems interesting right now. Again, the present pro-
gressive tense (“This is seeming like an interesting movie”) doesn’t work with
this verb.
Present Progressive Tense
The present progressive form of a verb always consists of a present form of the
verb be and a verb+ing. The present progressive is generally used to indicate an
action occurring in the present time.
A typical sentence construction using the present progressive is as follows:
Subject + {am/is/are} + verb+ing
Lisa is reading a magazine.
Maria is writing a paper.
By adding a word or phrase that indicates the future, the same verb structure can
be used to describe a future action.
Lisa is cooking tonight.
Maria is writing her paper tomorrow.
In the above examples, tonight and tomorrow signal that the action will take place

in the future.
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Simple Past Tense
The simple past tense (formed by adding –ed with regular verbs) indicates that a
completed action happened in the past at a specific time.
The fireman pulled the hose across the street.
Gina bought a new coat.
Past Progressive Tense
The past progressive indicates that an action was occurring for some time in the
past until it was interrupted by another action.
A typical sentence structure using the past progressive tense is as follows:
Subject + {was/were} + verb+ing + remainder of sentence.
The professor was grading papers until the student arrived for a conference.
The boys were studying before the game.
Present Perfect Tense
The present perfect is used to indicate that an action happened at an indefinite
time in the past or began in the past and still is occurring in the present.
The normal sentence construction using the present perfect tense is as
follows: Subject + {has/have} + verb in past participle form + remainder of
sentence.
The students have completed the project.
When the students completed the project is not indicated. Compare this sentence
to “The students completed the project last night.”
Susan has written a letter of complaint to the car company.
Kristin has lived in Atlanta for three years.
Present Perfect Progressive Tense
The present perfect progressive construction is used to show that an action began
in the past and is still occurring in the present.

The typical sentence construction using the present perfect progressive tense
is as follows: Subject + {has/have} + been + verb+ing + remainder of sentence.
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She has been waiting all day for a call from the doctor.
The students have been working on the project.
Past Perfect Tense
The past perfect is usually used with before, after, or when. Generally, it cannot
appear as a single clause because the tense is used when one action happened
before or after another. Both actions have to be stated in the same sentence or in
adjacent sentences.
A typical sentence construction indicating past perfect tense is as follows:
Subject + had + verb in past participle + {before/when} + subject + verb in
simple past form + remainder of sentence.
The students had completed the project before they went to the movies.
Another past perfect tense sentence structure is: Subject + verb in past tense
+ after + subject + had + verb in past participle + remainder of sentence.
The students went to the movies after they had completed the project.
Past Perfect Progressive Tense
The past perfect progressive tense is similar to the past perfect tense except that
the action is progressive (or ongoing).
A typical sentence construction indicating past perfect progressive tense is as
follows: Subject + had been + verb+ing + {before/when} + subject + verb in
simple past form + remainder of sentence.
The students had been working on the project before they went to the movies.
Another option is to use a gerund in place of the second subject and verb.
The chef had been studying for five years before opening a restaurant.
Modals
The modal auxiliaries are generally used to indicate something that is potential or

uncertain. A modal is an auxiliary, so it is never used with another auxiliary verb.
An auxiliary is simply a helping word, which is used along with a main verb.
Other auxiliaries include forms of be, have, or do. A modal is an unusual type of
word in that it indicates a condition or an unknown situation.
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I am going to the movies.
I am not going to the movies.
Both of the above sentences are certain. They describe actions that we know will
or will not happen.
I may go to the movies.
I may not go to the movies.
The use of the modal may makes both of these sentences uncertain.
The modals are listed in the following table.
Present Tense Past Tense
will would
can could
may might
shall should
must
A modal is always directly followed by the simple form of the verb. After a
modal, there can never be a verb+ing, a verb ending in s, a past tense or past part-
iciple form of a verb, or an infinitive form of a verb (to + verb).
The typical sentence structure for a sentence that uses a modal is as follows:
Subject + modal + verb in simple form + remainder of sentence.
The woman must go to the doctor today.
To indicate the past time when using a modal, the word have in the simple form
appears after the modal, followed by a verb in the past participle.
The sentence structure for the past time with a modal is as follows: Subject +

modal + have + verb in past participle + remainder of sentence.
Julie could have hurt herself in the accident if she had not been wearing her
seat belt.
Subject/Verb Agreement
The subject and verb in a sentence must agree in person and number, as the fol-
lowing examples show.
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