Lesson 1 - Verb Tenses
Exercise 1: Directions: In each of the following sentences, a verb is underlined...
Lesson 2 - Irregular Verbs Conjugations...
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Exercise 1: Directions: In each of the following sentences, a verb is underlined...
Lesson 2 - Irregular Verbs Conjugations...
Perfect for students, teachers, and English learners!
Like, Subscribe, and Share with friends learning English!
#EnglishGrammar #Verbs #GrammarLessons #LearnEnglish #LanguageLearning #Education #ESL #EnglishTeacher
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LearningTranscript
00:00:12Hi. I'm Carl Weber. Welcome to Video Aided Instruction's English grammar series.
00:00:19The topic of this program is using verbs correctly.
00:00:23Now, as you may remember, the verb is the most important word in any sentence.
00:00:28It's the heart of the action, kind of like the engine in a car.
00:00:33A lot of the work done by the sentence is driven by the verb.
00:00:37So, understanding verbs and using them correctly is very important.
00:00:42In this program, we'll talk about three common trouble areas in using English verbs.
00:00:48Verb tenses, irregular verbs, and the subjunctive mood.
00:00:53If you're ready, let's get started.
00:01:01Verb tenses define the time when an action occurs.
00:01:06They're constructed mainly from two components.
00:01:09First, the principal parts of the verb and, in some cases, helping verbs.
00:01:15Now, there are four principal parts of any verb in English.
00:01:20These four principal parts are the infinitive, the present participle, the past, and the past participle.
00:01:29Let's take a moment to look at each of these a bit more closely.
00:01:33First, the infinitive.
00:01:34The infinitive is the basic form of the verb.
00:01:38Take a verb like to cook.
00:01:41The infinitive is cook, and the basic form of the verb is the same, cook.
00:01:47The present participle ends in the letters ing.
00:01:52As you'll see, the present participle of any verb is always used with a helping verb, which is a form
00:01:59of the verb to be.
00:02:00Take the verb to cook again.
00:02:03The present participle would be cooking, and it would always be used with a helping verb that's a form of
00:02:09the verb to be.
00:02:10For example, you might say, I was cooking breakfast when the telephone rang.
00:02:16Notice that the present participle cooking is used with the helping verb was, which is a form of the verb
00:02:23to be.
00:02:25Notice, by the way, that the present participle, which ends in ing, looks the same as the gerund.
00:02:32The gerund form of the word cook is cooking.
00:02:35The difference between the gerund and the present participle is the way they're used.
00:02:39As we've seen, the present participle is used as a verb with a helping verb, which is a form of
00:02:46the verb to be.
00:02:48By contrast, a gerund, which looks the same, is used in place of a noun.
00:02:54Therefore, when you see an ing word being used as a noun in a sentence, that's really a gerund, not
00:03:01a present participle.
00:03:03So, for example, I might say, cooking is my favorite hobby.
00:03:08Here we have the word cooking, which looks the same as the present participle.
00:03:12Both end in ing.
00:03:14But in this sentence, cooking is a gerund, because it's being used in the same way that a noun would
00:03:20be used.
00:03:21Cooking is my favorite hobby.
00:03:23In that sentence, cooking is the subject of the sentence.
00:03:26It's the subject of the verb is.
00:03:28And remember, the subject of a verb would always be a noun or a pronoun.
00:03:32Since cooking is being used as a noun in that sentence, it's a gerund, not a present participle.
00:03:39The third principal part of any verb is the past.
00:03:43With most verbs, the past ends in ed.
00:03:47And that's the case with the verb to cook.
00:03:49The past form of the verb to cook is cooked.
00:03:53You might say, I cooked breakfast for my sister yesterday morning.
00:03:58And there we're using the past form of the verb, ending in ed.
00:04:02And the fourth and final principal part is the past participle.
00:04:07Now, with most verbs, the past participle looks just the same as the past.
00:04:12It also ends in ed.
00:04:14What's the difference?
00:04:15Well, the difference, again, is the way it's used.
00:04:18The past participle is always used with a helping verb, which is a form of the verb to have.
00:04:25So, for example, the past participle of to cook is cooked.
00:04:30But it would be used with a helping verb, such as have cooked.
00:04:34I have cooked breakfast for my family many times.
00:04:38That's an example of how the past participle would be used, with a helping verb, which is a form of
00:04:44the verb to have.
00:04:45These, then, are the four principal parts of any verb.
00:04:49The infinitive, the present participle, the past, and the past participle.
00:04:54And these four principal parts are combined in various ways to create verb tenses.
00:05:00Now, there are many verb tenses in English, but the six most important are the ones we're going to present
00:05:07to you now.
00:05:07Let's begin with the present tense.
00:05:11The present tense is used to describe action that's happening now.
00:05:15It's formed using the basic form of the verb.
00:05:18Now, take the verb to cook.
00:05:20Remember we saw that the basic or infinitive form of the verb is cook.
00:05:25You would use this in creating the present tense of the verb.
00:05:29For example, I cook.
00:05:31I cook breakfast every morning.
00:05:33Describe something that's happening now.
00:05:35Notice that with certain subjects, you add an S to the end of the basic form.
00:05:40So you would say, he cooks.
00:05:42He cooks breakfast for his wife every morning.
00:05:45Both of these would be forms of the present tense.
00:05:48The second tense to know is the past tense.
00:05:52The past tense describes action happening in the past.
00:05:56Any time you're talking about something that happened before now, you would use the past tense.
00:06:01And the past tense is formed from the past form of the verb.
00:06:06Remember that with most verbs, the past form is created by adding ED to the basic form of the verb.
00:06:13And that's the way it is with the verb to cook.
00:06:16He cooked dinner last night.
00:06:18We're describing now something that happened in the past.
00:06:22Not now, but at a time sometime before now.
00:06:26Namely, last night.
00:06:27So we would use the past form of the verb ending in ED.
00:06:32The third tense is the future tense.
00:06:35The future tense describes action happening in the future.
00:06:38Now, the future tense is created by using the basic form of the verb and preceding it with the helping
00:06:46verb, will.
00:06:48Therefore, if we were describing something that's going to happen tomorrow, let's say,
00:06:52we would create the proper verb by using the helping verb, will,
00:06:57and adding that to the basic form of the verb, the infinitive.
00:07:02So, the future tense of cook would be, will cook.
00:07:07And we might say, he will cook dinner for us tomorrow.
00:07:11We're using the future tense because we're describing something that will happen in the future, namely, tomorrow.
00:07:17And we use the basic form of the verb, cook, and precede it with the helping verb, will.
00:07:23Now, the fourth tense is called the present perfect tense.
00:07:27And here's where the tenses begin to get a little more complicated.
00:07:31The present perfect tense is used to describe action happening in the past up to the present.
00:07:39If this sounds a little confusing, with a little experience and some practice in reading and using this verb,
00:07:46you'll begin to understand how it's used.
00:07:48Now, the present perfect tense is formed by taking the past participle
00:07:54and putting in front of it the present tense of the verb, to have.
00:07:59How does this work?
00:08:00Well, let's take the verb, to cook, again.
00:08:03What's the past participle of the verb, to cook?
00:08:06Well, remember, the past participle is usually formed by adding ed.
00:08:10So, the past participle is cooked.
00:08:13Now, the present tense of the verb, to have, would be, for example, he has.
00:08:19He has is the present tense of the verb, to have.
00:08:23When we put that in front of the past participle, we have the present perfect tense.
00:08:28So, the present perfect tense of the verb, to cook, would be, he has cooked.
00:08:33Now, remember, we said that the present perfect is used for actions in the past up to the present.
00:08:39So, how might you use he has cooked in a sentence?
00:08:43Well, how about this?
00:08:45He has cooked breakfast for his family every day for the last year.
00:08:49Think about what this sentence is saying.
00:08:52It's talking about someone who has cooked breakfast for his family every day for the past year up to and
00:08:58including today.
00:08:59It's describing action happening in the past right up to the present.
00:09:03Not action that was completed and finished sometime in the past, but rather action that's continuing right up to now.
00:09:11When we say he has cooked breakfast every day, we're saying that he continues to do so right up until
00:09:16today.
00:09:17And that's a perfect example of how the present perfect tense would be used.
00:09:22The fifth important tense is the past perfect tense.
00:09:26This is used to describe action happening in the past before some other past action, which would usually be described
00:09:35in the past tense.
00:09:37Remember that the past tense is used for action happening in the past.
00:09:41When you're describing action happening even earlier than a past tense action, you would use the past perfect tense.
00:09:48And we'll see an example in a moment.
00:09:51Now, the past perfect tense is formed by taking the past participle and putting in front of it a verb
00:09:57which is the past tense of the verb to have.
00:10:01Let's use the verb cook again.
00:10:04Remember that the past participle is cooked.
00:10:07Now, if we want to take the past tense of the verb to have, we might say something like he
00:10:13had.
00:10:14That's the past tense of the verb to have.
00:10:16And when we tack on the past participle afterwards, we have he had cooked.
00:10:23Now, remember the past perfect tense is used for past actions occurring prior to other past actions.
00:10:31So, for example, we could use the words he had cooked in a sentence like this one.
00:10:36He had cooked dinner when suddenly the doorbell rang.
00:10:40Now, notice what's happening in this sentence.
00:10:43We're told about two events that happened in the past.
00:10:46The ringing of the doorbell and the cooking of the dinner.
00:10:49Now, which came first?
00:10:51Well, we're told in this sentence that the cooking of the dinner came before the ringing of the doorbell.
00:10:56So, the ringing of the doorbell is described in the past tense, while the past perfect tense is used for
00:11:03the cooking of the dinner.
00:11:04Remember, the past perfect tense describes action happening in the past before some past tense action.
00:11:12So, the sentence correctly says he had cooked dinner when suddenly the doorbell rang.
00:11:18The correct sequence of events is clearly explained by the two different tenses that are used in that sentence.
00:11:25Now, the sixth and final basic tense in English is the future perfect tense.
00:11:31This is used to describe action happening in the future before some other action, which is usually described using the
00:11:40future tense.
00:11:42The future perfect tense is created by using the past participle preceded by the future tense form of the verb
00:11:51to have.
00:11:53Now, the future tense of the verb to have is formed with the words will have.
00:11:57So, when we take the words will have and follow them by the past participle, we end up with the
00:12:06future perfect tense.
00:12:07Now, once again, for the verb to cook, the past participle is cooked.
00:12:13So, the future perfect tense would be formed by using will have followed by cooked.
00:12:19For example, he will have cooked.
00:12:22How would we use this in a sentence?
00:12:24Well, remember, the future perfect tense is used to describe some future event happening before some other future event.
00:12:32Let's look at this example.
00:12:34He will cook dinner tomorrow night.
00:12:37And then, he will have cooked dinner every night for a week.
00:12:42Notice what's happening in this sentence.
00:12:44Tomorrow, we're told, he will cook dinner.
00:12:46And when he does that, he will have cooked dinner every night for a week.
00:12:50The action of cooking tomorrow's dinner is taking place in the future tense.
00:12:56He will have cooked dinner every night for a week describes action taken prior to the cooking of tomorrow's dinner.
00:13:03So, there's an example of how the future perfect tense is used.
00:13:07Of the six basic tenses in English, the future perfect tense is the one that's used least often.
00:13:16Now, how can you be sure that you're using these six different forms of English verbs correctly?
00:13:22Here's a tip on using verb tenses properly.
00:13:25The most important thing is to make sure that the tenses you choose match the time of the action and
00:13:32show how different actions are related to one another in time.
00:13:36This means that when two actions occur at the same time, they should normally be described using the same verb
00:13:42tense.
00:13:43When two actions occur at different times, the verb tenses should show which occurred first and which occurred later.
00:13:50Let's look at a couple of sample sentences that illustrate how this works.
00:13:55Before I cooked dinner, I had walked to the supermarket.
00:13:58In this sentence, two actions are described, cooking dinner and walking to the supermarket.
00:14:04What's the sequence of events?
00:14:06Which happened first, which happened later?
00:14:08Well, the first thing that I did was walking to the supermarket.
00:14:12The second thing was cooking dinner.
00:14:14Both are past events.
00:14:16So the proper way to show the time sequence here is to put one event in the past and the
00:14:23event that happened before that in the past perfect tense.
00:14:26And that's done correctly in this sentence.
00:14:29I cooked dinner is in the past tense.
00:14:31I had walked to the supermarket is in the past perfect tense.
00:14:36And that shows that that event happened before the cooking of the dinner.
00:14:42Here's another example.
00:14:43After Miguel sings a song, Annalisa will dance for us.
00:14:49Once again, there are two events described in this sentence, Miguel singing and Annalisa dancing.
00:14:54Which is going to happen first and which one will happen second?
00:14:58Well, Miguel singing will happen first.
00:15:00Annalisa, her dance will happen second.
00:15:04And once again, the tenses are being used correctly here.
00:15:08Miguel sings a song is in the present tense, which tells us that Miguel is singing right now,
00:15:12or perhaps is just about to begin singing.
00:15:16Annalisa's dancing is in the future tense.
00:15:18Annalisa will dance.
00:15:20And that tells us properly that that event is happening after the singing of the song by Miguel.
00:15:26One more example.
00:15:28You will complete your studies next spring.
00:15:31By then, you will have attended over 90 hours of classes.
00:15:35Once again, there are two events described in this sentence.
00:15:39The first event is, you're completing your studies.
00:15:42That's described in the future tense, because it's something that's going to happen in the future.
00:15:47Specifically, next spring.
00:15:49You will complete your studies.
00:15:51That's the future tense.
00:15:53Now, what about the attending of over 90 hours of classes?
00:15:57Well, that's something that's going to happen prior to your completing of your studies.
00:16:02After all, attending all those classes, all of that is part of the process of the studies.
00:16:07So, that's an event happening in the future prior to a future tense event.
00:16:13Therefore, it should be set up in the future perfect tense.
00:16:17And that's correctly done in this sentence.
00:16:19You will have attended over 90 hours of class.
00:16:23Will have attended is the future perfect tense.
00:16:25And that tells us that that event is going to happen prior to the completion of the studies.
00:16:31In all of these sample sentences, two events occur.
00:16:35And the proper verb tenses have been selected to make it clear which event comes first and which event comes
00:16:42later.
00:16:43Do you think you have a handle on how these six basic English verb tenses are used?
00:16:49Good. Turn to your study guide.
00:16:51You'll see we've created an exercise that will give you a chance to practice your understanding
00:16:55of how to use verb tenses to indicate the time when an action occurs.
00:17:00Try your hand at the exercise.
00:17:02And when you're finished, come back and we'll look at the questions together.
00:17:13Now, in this exercise, you're given several sentences.
00:17:16And in each one, a verb is underlined.
00:17:18Your job is to figure out the time when the action described by the verb is taking place.
00:17:23And to use cues in the sentence to help you figure out whether the proper tense has been used.
00:17:30If the wrong tense has been used, your job is to figure out what tense would express the time of
00:17:35the action accurately.
00:17:37Let's look at the first example.
00:17:39I am a student at the Henderson Academy.
00:17:41I study there for the past two years.
00:17:45Now, in this sentence, the verb study has been underlined.
00:17:49And study is a present tense verb.
00:17:52It would be used to describe actions taking place right now.
00:17:56Now, is that the correct tense given what's happening in this sentence?
00:18:00Well, there are two actions described in this sentence.
00:18:03One is, I am a student at the Henderson Academy.
00:18:07Now, that's a present tense verb, meaning that being a student at the Henderson Academy is something that's happening right
00:18:14now.
00:18:15What about the studying?
00:18:17Is that something that's happening right now?
00:18:19Well, yes and no.
00:18:20Because I'm a student at the Henderson Academy, I am studying there now.
00:18:25But I've also studied there over the past two years.
00:18:28The sentence makes it clear that this is an event which took place in the past and is continuing up
00:18:34to today.
00:18:35Now, remember, what English tense is used to describe that kind of action?
00:18:40The answer is the present perfect tense.
00:18:43The present perfect tense is used to describe activities that are happening in the past up to and including today.
00:18:50And since the studying is taking place in the past and up to today, we want to use the present
00:18:56perfect tense for that verb.
00:18:58And the present perfect tense, you'll recall, is formed by using the past participle and preceding it with the present
00:19:05tense of the verb to have.
00:19:07The correct form for this verb, then, would be have studied.
00:19:11That would be the present perfect tense.
00:19:13And the sentence would then read,
00:19:15I am a student at the Henderson Academy.
00:19:17I have studied there for the past two years.
00:19:20And now the proper sequence of events is perfectly clear.
00:19:25Let's take a look at the next example.
00:19:28By the time of our arrival in Houston next Sunday, we have traveled over 500 miles.
00:19:33Now, in this sentence, again, two actions are being described.
00:19:37One is the arrival in Houston and the other is the traveling over 500 miles.
00:19:42Now, when will these events take place?
00:19:44And what's the proper sequence?
00:19:46Which one will happen first?
00:19:48Which one will happen second?
00:19:50Well, we're told that the arrival in Houston is going to take place next Sunday.
00:19:54So that's a future event.
00:19:56Now, what about the traveling?
00:19:58Is the traveling going to take place before or after the arrival?
00:20:02Well, the traveling will take place before the arrival.
00:20:06Because after all, we have to travel before we can arrive.
00:20:09So the traveling 500 miles is a future event that is taking place prior to some other future event.
00:20:17And therefore, we want to use the future perfect tense.
00:20:20And remember, the future perfect tense is formed by using will have as the helping verbs.
00:20:26So the proper form for this underlined verb would be will have traveled.
00:20:31And the sentence would then read,
00:20:33By the time of our arrival in Houston next Sunday, we will have traveled over 500 miles.
00:20:39And that lays out the sequence of the two events in this sentence quite clearly.
00:20:44Next example.
00:20:45Before he sprained his ankle, Charles exercises in the weight room three times a week.
00:20:52Once again, there are two events in this sentence.
00:20:55Charles sprained his ankle.
00:20:57That's a past tense event.
00:20:59That means it happened in the past.
00:21:01Now, before that, something else happened.
00:21:04Namely, Charles exercising in the weight room three times a week.
00:21:07What's the best tense to use to describe a past event happening prior to some other past event?
00:21:14The past perfect would be the best tense to use in that circumstance.
00:21:19So the right way to phrase the verb exercises would be had exercised.
00:21:25That's the past perfect form of the verb.
00:21:27And the sentence would then read,
00:21:29Before he sprained his ankle, Charles had exercised in the weight room three times a week.
00:21:36Next.
00:21:36When she applied for her job at the airline, Diane stated that she had served in the U.S. Air
00:21:43Force.
00:21:44Now, we actually have three different events or activities in this sentence.
00:21:49She applied for her job at the airline.
00:21:51That's one event.
00:21:53And that's taking place in the past.
00:21:55Diane stated, so Diane stated or said something.
00:21:59That's another past event.
00:22:01And that took place at the same time as the application.
00:22:04And that makes sense.
00:22:06Part of the application for the job is explaining about her background.
00:22:10So, she applied.
00:22:11She stated.
00:22:12Those are two past tense events, both described using the same verb tense,
00:22:17and both describing events in the past happening more or less simultaneously at the same time.
00:22:23And then we have the third event, that she had served in the U.S. Air Force.
00:22:29Now, serving in the U.S. Air Force also happened in the past.
00:22:33Did it happen at the same time as the application and the statement?
00:22:37No, it happened before.
00:22:38She applied for the job at the airline, but before that, she had served in the U.S. Air Force.
00:22:45So, the proper tense to use there would be the past perfect tense.
00:22:50Because, remember, the past perfect tense is used to describe a past event happening before another past event.
00:22:57Now, is the past perfect tense used in this sentence?
00:23:00Yes, it is.
00:23:01Had served is the past perfect tense.
00:23:03So, this particular sentence is perfectly correct.
00:23:06All the verbs used here are properly used, and they lay out quite clearly what the sequence of events is
00:23:13in this sentence.
00:23:15Next example.
00:23:16Last month, Luis has captured his third consecutive championship in a college swim meet.
00:23:23Now, what's the timing of the event that's happening in this sentence?
00:23:27Well, we're told that it happened last month, so we can see that this is a past event being described.
00:23:33Now, what verb tense is being used here?
00:23:37What form of the verb is being used in the underlined verb?
00:23:40It says, has captured.
00:23:42Now, has captured is the present perfect tense.
00:23:47Remember, the present perfect tense is used, uses the past participle, captured, together with the present tense of the verb
00:23:56to have.
00:23:57So, here the present perfect tense is being used.
00:24:00Is that the correct tense to use in this sentence?
00:24:03Remember that the present perfect tense is used to describe past events extending up to today.
00:24:10Now, is the capturing of the championship by Luis, is that a past event continuing up to today?
00:24:17Not really.
00:24:18He captured the championship in the college swim meet last month.
00:24:23It happened then, and it was completed then.
00:24:26Therefore, this is simply a past action, not the kind of action that should be described in the present perfect
00:24:33tense.
00:24:34Instead of the present perfect tense, the simple past tense ought to be used.
00:24:38So, the sentence should read,
00:24:40Last month, Luis captured his third consecutive championship in a college swim meet.
00:24:46Because the event took place in the past, and was completed in the past, the simple past tense ought to
00:24:52be used.
00:24:53And that would be captured.
00:25:00So far in this program, we've talked about the six most important verb tenses in English.
00:25:05And we've seen that all six of those verb tenses are formed using the four principal parts of any verb.
00:25:13And remember, those four principal parts are the infinitive, the present participle, the past, and the past participle.
00:25:21Now, in this lesson, we're going to talk about one tricky element in English,
00:25:26which is the fact that not all verbs form their past and their past participle
00:25:40are called irregular verbs.
00:25:44Irregular verbs have past and past participle forms that are not made by adding ed.
00:25:51Well, how are the past and past participle forms of irregular verbs created?
00:25:57What's the rule?
00:25:59Unfortunately, there is no rule.
00:26:01There are many examples of the past participle forms that are made by adding ed.
00:26:02There are many different irregular verbs, and they form their past and past participle forms in a variety of ways.
00:26:08In some cases, the past and past participle forms are one and the same.
00:26:13In other cases, they're different.
00:26:15And there is no one rule that explains how they're formed.
00:26:19Unfortunately, you simply have to study and learn the irregular verbs by memorization and practice.
00:26:25It's one of the things in English that makes learning the language a little bit tricky for people who didn't
00:26:31grow up speaking English.
00:26:32But I'll let you in on a little secret.
00:26:35Even people who grew up speaking English do sometimes find irregular verbs tricky to form and use.
00:26:42So you're not alone if you find this to be a challenge in using English correctly.
00:26:48Now, the most important irregular verb is the verb to be.
00:26:51It's important because it's used so often.
00:26:55The principal parts of the verb to be are be, being, was, and been.
00:27:03Be is the infinitive.
00:27:05Being is the present participle.
00:27:08Was is the past.
00:27:09And been is the past participle.
00:27:12Now, all the forms of the verb to be are a little bit complicated, confusing, and rather unexpected.
00:27:18So in your study guide, we've provided all the basic forms of the verb to be in the six most
00:27:25common English tenses.
00:27:27When you take a verb and provide all the basic forms of it, that's called conjugating the verb.
00:27:32So turn to your study guide and you'll see we've provided a complete conjugation of the verb to be.
00:27:39In some cases, you might feel that this is very simple and basic and you understand exactly how to use
00:27:45the verb to be.
00:27:46On the other hand, you may find this tricky and you may need to study and practice this.
00:27:51Based on your own background, devote some time to studying the conjugation of the verb to be if you need
00:27:58to in order to use the verb correctly.
00:28:00Now, we've also provided in the study guide a list of many of the most commonly used irregular verbs.
00:28:07And I'd like you to look at that list as well.
00:28:10The chances are good that some of the irregular verbs on this list are familiar to you and you know
00:28:15well how to form the four principal parts.
00:28:18In other cases, however, you may find some of these irregular verbs unfamiliar to you or you may feel that
00:28:26you're not really sure which part to use and what type of sentence.
00:28:31Therefore, studying the list that we've provided in the study guide should be helpful to you.
00:28:36Make sure in particular that you distinguish between the past and the past participle forms of the irregular verbs because
00:28:43that's where many people trip up.
00:28:45The two most common mistakes that people make in using irregular verbs are the following.
00:28:52First, many people make a mistake by constructing the past or the past participle regularly.
00:28:59In other words, they treat the irregular verb as if it were a regular verb.
00:29:04Now, remember the past and the past participle forms of regular verbs are created by adding ed to the end
00:29:13of the infinitive or basic form of the verb.
00:29:16If you take an irregular verb and simply add ed in an attempt to turn that into the past or
00:29:22the past participle,
00:29:23you've treated the irregular verb as if it's regular and what you've created is not proper English.
00:29:29Take a look at this sentence.
00:29:31Henri bringed his girlfriend to the movies.
00:29:34Now, in this sentence, the verb to bring is being used and that's an irregular verb.
00:29:39However, the person who's created this sentence has made the mistake of creating the past form of the verb as
00:29:47if bring were a regular verb.
00:29:49He has simply added ed and turned bring into bringed.
00:29:53Unfortunately, that's not correct.
00:29:55Since bring is an irregular verb, we have to look at our study guide in order to determine how the
00:30:02past form of the verb would be created.
00:30:05And the past form of bring is brought.
00:30:08So the sentence ought to read, Henri brought his girlfriend to the movies.
00:30:14The incorrect form, bringed, is the kind of thing that's commonly used as a mistake in English.
00:30:22Here's one more example.
00:30:24Maria has drived a taxi for the past two months.
00:30:28Now, here the verb is has drived.
00:30:31This is the present perfect tense.
00:30:33And remember, the present perfect tense would be formed using the present tense of the verb to have,
00:30:39together with the past participle, in this case, of the verb to drive.
00:30:44Once again, drive is an irregular verb.
00:30:48And therefore, we can't create the past participle simply by adding ed and turning it into drived.
00:30:55That would be correct if drive were a regular verb.
00:30:58But since drive is an irregular verb, that's not correct.
00:31:02Instead, we have to figure out how the past participle of drive is actually formed.
00:31:07And as you can see in your study guide, the past participle of drive is driven.
00:31:12And that would be the form of the verb that you would use with the helping verb to have.
00:31:17The sentence correctly should read, Maria has driven a taxi for the past two months.
00:31:23So once again, remember that irregular verbs form their past and past participle forms,
00:31:29not simply by adding ed, but in different and somewhat unpredictable ways.
00:31:34You've got to memorize those special forms and use them correctly in sentences.
00:31:39The second type of error that people commonly make with irregular verbs
00:31:44is using the past where the past participle should be used, or vice versa.
00:31:49Remember that the past form of the verb is used by itself,
00:31:53whereas the past participle is always used with a helping verb,
00:31:58namely a form of the verb to have.
00:32:00You want to keep the past and the past participle separate in your mind
00:32:05and not use one where the other is called for.
00:32:08Take a look at this sentence.
00:32:10By tonight, I will have did all the research for my report.
00:32:15Now, in this sentence, the author is trying to use the future perfect tense,
00:32:19and that would be the correct tense to use to describe something that's going to happen in the future
00:32:25prior to some other specified time or event in the future.
00:32:30So the future perfect tense is fine.
00:32:32But remember, the future perfect tense needs to include the past participle of the verb.
00:32:39In this case, the verb to do is being used,
00:32:43and the wrong form of the verb has been inserted here.
00:32:48Instead of the past participle, the author of this sentence has used the past form of the verb to do,
00:32:54which is did.
00:32:56Instead, the past participle needs to be used, which is done.
00:33:00That would be the correct form of the verb to use with the helping verb.
00:33:04Done rather than did.
00:33:06And then the sentence would correctly read,
00:33:08By tonight, I will have done all the research for my report.
00:33:11The author of this sentence confused the past with the past participle,
00:33:16and therefore created a wrong sentence.
00:33:19One more example.
00:33:21Juanita had done her exercises before going to work.
00:33:25Once again, the verb to do is being used.
00:33:29Now, in this case, the past tense ought to be used because we're describing something that Juanita did in the
00:33:39past.
00:33:39Now, the past form of to do is did.
00:33:44The author of this sentence hasn't used the past.
00:33:47Instead, the author has mistakenly used the past participle done.
00:33:51So, again, the sentence is incorrect because of a confusion between the past and the past participle.
00:33:57The sentence ought to read,
00:33:58Juanita did her exercises before going to work.
00:34:03Finally, one other special complication that is worthy of your noting and studying.
00:34:10There are two irregular verbs that are often confused and therefore cause many mistakes in English.
00:34:17These two irregular verbs are lie and lay.
00:34:20Let's take a look at the difference.
00:34:23Lie is an irregular verb that is intransitive.
00:34:26Remember, an intransitive verb is a verb that takes no direct object.
00:34:32In other words, the action of the verb to lie isn't passed along to something that receives the action.
00:34:38Instead, you just lie, period.
00:34:41There's no object which receives the action of the lying.
00:34:47The principal parts of the verb lie are lie, lying, lay, and lain.
00:34:54Lie is the present tense, lying is the present participle,
00:35:00lay is the past, and lain is the past participle.
00:35:04So, lain is a form of the verb that would always be used with a helping verb.
00:35:11Therefore, for example, look at the following sentence.
00:35:14I will lie on the sofa.
00:35:16Here, we're using the verb to lie because it is used intransitively.
00:35:20There is no direct object.
00:35:23I am not lying something.
00:35:24It's, I am just lying.
00:35:26I will lie on the sofa.
00:35:28So, the verb lie is being used correctly here.
00:35:32By contrast, lay is an irregular verb that is transitive.
00:35:37In other words, it always takes a direct object.
00:35:40When you lay, you have to lay something.
00:35:43You lay something, and therefore, there is something in the sentence that will receive the action of the laying.
00:35:50It's a transitive verb.
00:35:51It has a different meaning, although it's clearly related to the verb lie.
00:35:56And therefore, the verb to be used in this type of sentence would be a different verb, which is formed
00:36:02differently.
00:36:03Now, the principal parts of the verb to lay are lay, laying, laid, and laid.
00:36:12Notice that in the case of the verb to lay, the past and past participle happen to be the same.
00:36:18Laid and laid do not appear as principal parts of the verb to lie.
00:36:24Instead, lay and lain are the past and the past participle respectively.
00:36:28So, all these words, which sound somewhat similar, have very distinct meanings and distinct uses
00:36:35and need to be distinguished carefully.
00:36:37Take a look at this sentence.
00:36:39I will lay my books on the table.
00:36:41Is this the verb to lie or to lay?
00:36:44It's the verb to lay, and it's being used correctly here because it is being used transitively.
00:36:50That is, there is a direct object which is receiving the action of the laying.
00:36:55Something is getting laid, namely the books.
00:36:59The books are being laid on the table.
00:37:02Whereas the verb to lie does not take an object, the verb to lay does.
00:37:07And therefore, to lay is being used correctly in this sentence.
00:37:11So, you need to always remember the difference between the verb to lie and the verb to lay,
00:37:16and then be sure that you use the correct principal part of each of these verbs
00:37:21whenever you're using one of them in a sentence.
00:37:31In each of these sentences, an irregular verb is used and underlined.
00:37:36Your job is to decide whether the irregular verb that appears in the sentence is correct,
00:37:40and if not, to figure out what form of irregular verb would make the sentence correct.
00:37:46Let's look at the first example.
00:37:48The mechanic examined the car and discovered that the accident had broken its rear axle.
00:37:54Now, in this sentence, there are three separate events.
00:37:57The examining of the car, the discovery, and the breaking of the rear axle.
00:38:02What is the sequence among these events?
00:38:05Well, the examining of the car and the discovery are both past events.
00:38:10They happened at some time in the past, and they happened at around the same time.
00:38:14In fact, it is while examining the car that the mechanic made the discovery.
00:38:20So, those two events are both past events, which should be described in the same tense.
00:38:26And that, in fact, is what the sentence does.
00:38:28The past tense is used for both of those events.
00:38:31Now, what about the braking of the axle?
00:38:33When did that occur?
00:38:34Well, that also occurred in the past, but it occurred prior to the examining and the discovery.
00:38:40In fact, it's because the axle was broken that the driver brought the car to the mechanic in the first
00:38:45place.
00:38:46So, the braking of the axle is a past event that occurred prior to a couple of past tense events.
00:38:54Therefore, the braking of the axle should be described using the past perfect tense.
00:38:59And that's what the author of this sentence is trying to do.
00:39:02It says the accident had broken its rear axle.
00:39:05Remember that the past perfect tense is formed by using the helping verb had and then the past participle of
00:39:12the verb.
00:39:13Now, here comes the crucial question.
00:39:16For the irregular verb break, is broken the past participle?
00:39:21In other words, is this irregular verb correct?
00:39:24The answer is yes, it is correct.
00:39:27If you look on your chart in the study guide, you can see that for the irregular verb break,
00:39:33the four principal parts are break, breaking, broke, and broken.
00:39:38So, broke would be the past form, which would be used by itself.
00:39:43Broken is the past participle, which is always used with a helping verb, as it is used here.
00:39:49And therefore, this sentence and this verb are both perfectly correct.
00:39:54Next example.
00:39:56Last January, 30 members of the polar bear club swum in the frigid waters of Long Island Sound.
00:40:03Maybe you've heard of the polar bear club.
00:40:05It's a group of men and women who like to swim in very cold temperatures.
00:40:09Now, here, the irregular verb, swum, has been underlined.
00:40:13And the question is, is this correct or not?
00:40:16First of all, what tense are we dealing with?
00:40:18Well, we're talking about something that happened last January, so this is a past event.
00:40:24And therefore, the past tense ought to be used.
00:40:27And the past tense is formed simply from the past principal part of the verb.
00:40:33Now, is swum the past form of the verb to swim?
00:40:38No.
00:40:39Perhaps it sounds wrong to you, but if it doesn't, look it up in your study guide
00:40:43and you'll see that the past form of the verb swim is swam.
00:40:48The four principal parts of swim are swim, swimming, swam, and swum.
00:40:54So, swum is, in fact, the past participle, and it would always be used with a helping verb, never by
00:41:01itself.
00:41:02In this sentence, there is no helping verb.
00:41:05The past form is needed, not the past participle, so the verb ought to be changed to swam.
00:41:12Next, by the time Gary arrived at the restaurant, Maria had went home.
00:41:19Here, again, we have two events happening in the sentence.
00:41:22The first event that's mentioned is Gary arriving at the restaurant, and that's described in the past tense.
00:41:28Before that was the time when Maria went home.
00:41:32Therefore, we want to describe this past event which occurred before a past tense event using the past perfect tense.
00:41:42And the past perfect tense would use the helping verb had followed by the past participle.
00:41:48The verb in this case is go.
00:41:50Is the past participle of go went?
00:41:55No, it isn't.
00:41:56Once again, perhaps you can hear that this is wrong.
00:41:59If not, look it up in your study guide and you'll see that the past participle of go is gone.
00:42:04And that's what ought to be used in this sentence.
00:42:06The past participle is the form that's always used with a helping verb.
00:42:11Instead, the author of this sentence has confused the past with the past participle
00:42:16and has used the past instead of the past participle.
00:42:20Remember, the past would always be used by itself.
00:42:22The past participle with a helping verb.
00:42:26The four principal parts of the verb to go are go, going, went, and gone.
00:42:33And in this case, the past participle gone ought to be used.
00:42:36And the sentence would then read,
00:42:37By the time Gary arrived at the restaurant, Maria had gone home.
00:42:42And that would be correct.
00:42:44Next example.
00:42:46With a triumphant grin, Sam lay in his cards face up on the table and declared,
00:42:52Three kings.
00:42:53So Sam has won this card game, but has the proper irregular verb been used?
00:42:59Well, let's begin by figuring out which of those two tricky irregular verbs would be proper in this sentence.
00:43:06Do we want the verb to lie or the verb to lay?
00:43:10Well, remember the verb to lie is an intransitive verb that doesn't take a direct object.
00:43:16The verb to lay is a transitive verb that does take a direct object.
00:43:20In this sentence, is there a direct object or not?
00:43:23Is something receiving the action of the laying?
00:43:26Yes, there is a direct object.
00:43:28It's the cards.
00:43:29Sam is laying the cards on the table.
00:43:32Therefore, there is a direct object and we want the transitive verb to lay.
00:43:37Now, what tense is being used here?
00:43:40In this case, the past tense is intended because the laying and the declaring are happening at the same time.
00:43:48Sam is doing both of these events in the past.
00:43:51They're happening simultaneously and therefore the past tense ought to be used for both.
00:43:57Now, the regular verb declare has been presented to us in the past tense, which is correct, declared.
00:44:03But we need the past form of the verb to lay, which is not lain, but rather laid.
00:44:12Remember, the four principal parts of the verb to lay are lay, laying, laid, and laid.
00:44:19Instead, the author of this sentence has confused the verb to lie and to lay.
00:44:24We warn you that this is a very common confusion.
00:44:27This sentence would be a typical example of how people use the wrong verb and thereby confuse both the meaning
00:44:35and the grammar.
00:44:36The sentence ought to read,
00:44:38With a triumphant grin, Sam laid his cards face up on the table and declared three kings.
00:44:45Next example.
00:44:47The famous Boys' Choir of Harlem has sung in concert halls throughout the United States.
00:44:53What's being described here is a past action taking place up to and including the present.
00:44:59The singing by the Boys' Choir of Harlem is something that has happened in the past and continues to happen
00:45:05today.
00:45:05So the present perfect tense is being used here, and that's formed by the verb has, a helping verb, together
00:45:15with the past participle.
00:45:16Now, is sung the past participle of the verb to sing?
00:45:20And the answer is yes, this is perfectly correct.
00:45:23The four principal parts of sing are sing, singing, sang, and sung.
00:45:29Sang is the past form and would be used without a helping verb.
00:45:33Sung is the past participle and would always be used, as it is here, with a helping verb.
00:45:39So this sentence is perfectly correct.
00:45:41Did you get all five of these sentences right?
00:45:44If you did, good for you.
00:45:52Here's another topic that many native speakers of English find difficult, namely the subjunctive mood.
00:45:59Now, the subjunctive mood is a particular way of using verbs that's rather rare.
00:46:04There are just two specific purposes for which the subjunctive mood is used, and in each case the form of
00:46:11the verb is slightly different.
00:46:13If you can master these two purposes of the subjunctive mood and understand how to form the verb correctly in
00:46:20each case, you'll be an expert.
00:46:22First, the subjunctive mood is used to express a formal request or recommendation in a clause beginning with the word
00:46:31that.
00:46:33In this circumstance, the subjunctive mood of the verb is formed just the same way as the infinitive or basic
00:46:41form of the verb.
00:46:42Here's an example that illustrates how this works.
00:46:47She asked that the workers complete their reports by the end of the day.
00:46:52Now, this sentence, you'll notice, is expressing a formal request or recommendation.
00:46:57She, whoever she is, perhaps she's the boss in this particular company.
00:47:02She is asking that the workers do something.
00:47:06So she is expressing a request or a recommendation.
00:47:09And notice that what she is asking them to do is described in a clause beginning with the word that.
00:47:15She asked that the workers do something, etc.
00:47:20Now, the verb that appears in the that clause needs to be in the subjunctive mood.
00:47:27And that verb is complete.
00:47:29Now, remember we said that when you are expressing a formal request or recommendation in a clause beginning with the
00:47:36word that,
00:47:37you would form the subjunctive mood by simply using the infinitive or basic form of the verb.
00:47:43Now, the verb in this case is complete.
00:47:46That is the basic or infinitive form.
00:47:48So the proper form of the verb in this case, this example of the subjunctive mood, is simply complete.
00:47:55So the sentence is correct as we just read it.
00:47:58She asked that the workers complete their reports by the end of the day.
00:48:03So this is the first illustration of how the subjunctive mood might be used in English,
00:48:08to express a formal request or recommendation in a clause beginning with that.
00:48:13And the verb in the that clause should simply be in the infinitive or basic form.
00:48:19Now, the second way in which the subjunctive mood is used is to describe an unreal or doubtful condition.
00:48:27In other words, to describe something that isn't true or is unlikely to be true.
00:48:33Very often, although not always, this is in a clause beginning with the word if.
00:48:39Now, there are two possible ways to form the subjunctive mood of the verb under these conditions,
00:48:46when we're describing an unreal or doubtful condition.
00:48:50Here are the two ways.
00:48:52First, if we're talking about something happening now, in other words, in the present,
00:48:56then the subjunctive mood verb looks the same as the past tense of the verb.
00:49:02Okay?
00:49:03So if we're describing something happening now in the present, the subjunctive verb looks the same as the past.
00:49:10On the other hand, if we're describing something happening in the past,
00:49:14then the subjunctive mood verb looks the same as the past perfect.
00:49:19Remember, the past perfect is formed with the helping verb had and the past participle.
00:49:26Are you a little confused?
00:49:28Don't be.
00:49:28Here are a couple of examples that will help make this clear.
00:49:31Remember, we're talking about describing an unreal or doubtful condition very often in a clause that begins with the word
00:49:40if.
00:49:40Here's an example.
00:49:42If I had a million dollars, I would travel around the world.
00:49:46Now, there are two clauses in this sentence.
00:49:49If I had a million dollars, and I would travel around the world.
00:49:54The second one is describing what I would do if the first clause were true.
00:49:58Now, the first clause is describing an unreal or doubtful condition.
00:50:04We can tell from reading this sentence that, unfortunately, it's not true.
00:50:08I don't have a million dollars, and that's why I'm speaking with you rather than traveling around the world.
00:50:15So that first clause is describing an unreal condition.
00:50:18It begins with if.
00:50:19This is a perfect circumstance in which to use the subjunctive mood.
00:50:24Now, remember we said, under these circumstances, the subjunctive mood could take one of two forms.
00:50:30If we're describing something happening now, it should look the same as the past tense.
00:50:35Is this happening now?
00:50:37Yes, it's talking about what I would do today if I had a million dollars today.
00:50:42So this is the present tense.
00:50:44So the clause describing the unreal condition should contain a verb that looks the same as the past tense verb.
00:50:52The verb we're talking about here is have, and the past tense of have is had.
00:50:58So the correct verb here is had.
00:51:01If I had a million dollars.
00:51:03It looks the same as the past tense of the verb to have, but in this case it's expressing the
00:51:08subjunctive mood
00:51:10because it's describing a condition which is unreal or doubtful.
00:51:15So this sentence is perfectly correct.
00:51:17If I had a million dollars, I would travel around the world.
00:51:21Here's another example.
00:51:22If he had left the starting block faster, he would have won the race.
00:51:28Once again, we have two clauses here.
00:51:31The second one describes what would have happened.
00:51:33He would have won the race if he had left the starting block faster.
00:51:38So the second clause describes what would have happened if the first clause had been true.
00:51:43Once again, the first clause is describing an unreal or doubtful condition, something that didn't happen.
00:51:49He didn't leave the starting block faster.
00:51:52This is describing something that's unreal.
00:51:55Once again, it happens to be in a clause beginning with if, which is often the case, although not always.
00:52:01So here we have an unreal condition being described.
00:52:03We want the subjunctive mood.
00:52:06Once again, to determine the correct form of the subjunctive mood,
00:52:09we have to think about whether we're describing something happening now or in the past.
00:52:14Well, in this sentence, we're describing something happening in the past.
00:52:17The race was in the past. He lost the race.
00:52:20He might have won if he had left the starting block faster.
00:52:25So we're talking about something happening in the past.
00:52:27And remember, we said a moment ago that to create the subjunctive mood in the past,
00:52:32we want to use a verb that looks the same as the past perfect.
00:52:36The past perfect is formed with the helping verb had and the past participle of the verb.
00:52:42Here we're talking about the verb to leave and the past perfect form of the verb to leave is had
00:52:50left.
00:52:51So had left is the subjunctive mood verb for this particular sentence,
00:52:56since we're describing an unreal condition and we're describing something from the past.
00:53:00So the sentence correctly reads, if he had left the starting block faster, he would have won the race.
00:53:07One confusion that people sometimes fall into is writing an if clause describing an unreal or doubtful condition.
00:53:16They throw in the helping verb would sometimes, and that's not right.
00:53:21When you're writing this if clause, you use the subjunctive mood verb and you don't use the helping verb would.
00:53:28So, for example, sometimes people might say, if he would have left the starting block faster.
00:53:34That's incorrect. That's not the right way to form the subjunctive mood.
00:53:38Notice that the verb would does appear in the other clause. He would have won the race.
00:53:43And that's the correct use of the helping verb would.
00:53:47But in the if clause, you use the subjunctive mood, which doesn't include the helping verb would.
00:53:53So avoid that little error that people sometimes fall into.
00:53:57So this is the subjunctive mood. Perhaps you can tell that it's not used that often in English
00:54:02because it's not terribly often that people either express a formal request or recommendation
00:54:08in a clause beginning with the word that, or that they describe an unreal or doubtful condition,
00:54:15often in a clause beginning with the word if.
00:54:18Those two things don't come up in the English language all that often.
00:54:22When they do, however, the subjunctive mood ought to be used, and now you know the right way to form
00:54:28it.
00:54:29So review this lesson from time to time and make certain that on the few occasions
00:54:34when you do need to use the subjunctive mood, you form it correctly.
00:54:38In your study guide, there's an exercise that will let you practice your understanding of these rules
00:54:44about using the subjunctive mood. Try the exercise, and when you're finished, let's look at the questions together.
00:54:58In this exercise, you're given several sentences which require a verb in the subjunctive mood.
00:55:04At the end of the sentence, we've suggested what verb ought to be included in the sentence,
00:55:11and your job is to decide how to form the subjunctive mood correctly given the nature of the sentence.
00:55:18Let's take a look at these examples and see the right way to use the subjunctive mood in each case.
00:55:24If the captain blank that the storm was coming, he would have insisted on returning to port.
00:55:30And the verb that we want to insert in the blank is the verb to know.
00:55:35Now here the subjunctive mood is needed because we have an unreal or doubtful condition being described in the first
00:55:43clause of the sentence.
00:55:44And it is a clause beginning with if, which is one of the most common ways of describing an unreal
00:55:50or doubtful condition.
00:55:52The captain did not know that the storm was coming, so we're describing something that was unreal.
00:55:58His knowledge of the storm didn't really happen.
00:56:00We want to describe this then using the subjunctive mood.
00:56:04And remember, in order to determine the proper form of the subjunctive mood in a sentence like this,
00:56:10we need to know whether we're talking about something happening now or in the past.
00:56:14Well, in this case, the sentence is describing something happening in the past.
00:56:18He would have insisted on returning to port.
00:56:21That tells us that this is something that happened yesterday or before that.
00:56:25It's not something happening now.
00:56:27So we want the past tense.
00:56:29And remember, the past tense of the subjunctive mood would look the same as the past perfect.
00:56:35We want to use, therefore, the helping verb had together with the past participle of the verb to know.
00:56:43So the proper subjunctive mood verb to insert in the blank here would be, had known.
00:56:49And the sentence would then read, if the captain had known that the storm was coming, he would have insisted
00:56:55on returning to port.
00:56:59Next example.
00:57:00Although Paul has a successful career as a lawyer, he still wishes he blank a rock musician.
00:57:07And the verb to insert in place of the blank is a form of the verb to be.
00:57:12Now, here an unreal condition is being described, although notice it's not an if clause.
00:57:19Occasionally, an unreal condition may be described in a clause that doesn't begin with if.
00:57:25But you can see that it is an unreal condition because it is obvious that Paul is not a rock
00:57:31musician.
00:57:31He's a lawyer.
00:57:32He wishes that being a rock musician was true, but that is not true.
00:57:37So, therefore, we're describing an unreal condition and we want the subjunctive mood.
00:57:43Once again, to decide the proper form of the subjunctive mood verb,
00:57:47we need to ask whether we're describing something happening now or in the past.
00:57:51In this case, the sentence is describing something that's the case now.
00:57:55Paul today is a lawyer, and Paul today wishes that being a rock musician was his career.
00:58:02So, therefore, we're describing something happening now,
00:58:04and, therefore, the subjunctive mood verb ought to look like a past tense verb.
00:58:10So, we would use the past form of the verb and insert that to make the subjunctive mood.
00:58:16The verb to be inserted here is be, and the past form of the verb be is were.
00:58:24So, the sentence would correctly read,
00:58:26although Paul has a successful career as a lawyer, he still wishes he were a rock musician.
00:58:32It looks the same as the past tense of the verb, but, in fact, it's the present subjunctive.
00:58:39Next example.
00:58:40The doctor recommended that Andrea blank a diet restricted to low-salt, low-fat foods.
00:58:47Here we have the different other use of the subjunctive,
00:58:52namely to express a formal request or recommendation in a clause beginning with the word that.
00:58:58And, in fact, the word recommended is used here, which gives you a very broad hint that a formal request
00:59:06or recommendation is being expressed here.
00:59:08And there is the word that introducing the clause.
00:59:11Now, in this type of subjunctive situation, we simply use the infinitive or basic form of the verb.
00:59:20It doesn't matter whether we're talking about past or present in this case.
00:59:25When the subjunctive mood is being used in this form, we simply insert the basic or infinitive form of the
00:59:32verb.
00:59:32So, in this case, the infinitive eat is exactly what we insert.
00:59:37And the sentence would now read,
00:59:39The doctor recommended that Andrea eat a diet restricted to low-salt, low-fat foods.
00:59:44And that's the correct form of the subjunctive mood for this sentence.
00:59:51Next,
00:59:52Wouldn't you be happy if you blank the next race?
00:59:56And the verb to be inserted is win.
00:59:59Now, once again, we have an unreal or doubtful condition being described.
01:00:05And an if clause is involved.
01:00:08The person who is speaking this sentence doesn't think it's necessarily going to happen
01:00:14that the person she or he is speaking to is going to win the race.
01:00:19The person may win the race or may not.
01:00:22It's a doubtful condition at best.
01:00:24So, we have an unreal or doubtful condition being described.
01:00:28And therefore, we want the subjunctive mood verb to be inserted.
01:00:33The subjunctive form of the verb win.
01:00:36Now, are we talking about a present or past event taking place here?
01:00:41Well, we're talking about now.
01:00:43We're saying you would be happy if you win the next race.
01:00:45We're talking about something happening now, not in the past.
01:00:49So, therefore, we want the present subjunctive, which, remember, looks the same as the past tense form of the verb.
01:00:57What's the past tense form of the verb win?
01:01:00Won.
01:01:01So, we simply insert the verb won and the sentence would correctly read,
01:01:05Wouldn't you be happy if you won the next race?
01:01:09Last example.
01:01:10The new law passed by the city council requires that the mayor blank a budget for approval no later than
01:01:17April 1st.
01:01:18And the verb to be inserted is submit.
01:01:21Now, here again, we need the subjunctive mood because the sentence is expressing a formal request or recommendation
01:01:28in a clause beginning with that.
01:01:30Notice the word that there.
01:01:32And in this case, it's being couched as a requirement, a requirement of the law.
01:01:37It is requiring that the mayor do something.
01:01:39So, the verb expressing what the mayor needs to do should be in the subjunctive mood.
01:01:45And, again, for this use of the subjunctive mood, the verb should look just the same as the infinitive or
01:01:51basic form of the verb.
01:01:52So, we simply insert the infinitive, submit, and the sentence would correctly read,
01:01:58The new law passed by the city council requires that the mayor submit a budget for approval no later than
01:02:05April 1st.
01:02:11Well, the topics we've covered in this program really cover a broad range.
01:02:15Some of them are rather basic, such as how to form the six basic verb tenses that are most commonly
01:02:22used in English.
01:02:23But others were quite advanced, such as how and when to use the subjunctive mood correctly in English sentences.
01:02:30If you master all the verb topics that we cover in this program, you can consider yourself quite an expert
01:02:36in the use of English verbs.
01:02:38And the chances are good that you'll be able to avoid mistakes in using verbs that many native speakers of
01:02:44English continue to make.
01:02:46I hope you enjoyed this program and got a lot of useful information out of it.
01:02:50And I look forward to speaking with you about other English topics on other programs in this series.
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