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Grammatical tense. In grammar, tense is a category that expresses time reference. [1][2] Tenses are usually manifested by the use of specific forms of verbs, particularly in their conjugation patterns. The main tenses found in many languages include the past, present, and future. Some languages have only two distinct tenses, such as past and ...
The simple past, past simple, or past indefinite, in English equivalent to the preterite, is the basic form of the past tense in Modern English. It is used principally to describe events in the past, although it also has some other uses. [1] Regular English verbs form the simple past in -ed; however, there are a few hundred irregular verbs with ...
Grammatical abbreviations are generally written in full or small caps to visually distinguish them from the translations of lexical words. For instance, capital or small-cap PAST (frequently abbreviated to PST) glosses a grammatical past-tense morpheme, while lower-case 'past' would be a literal translation of a word with that meaning.
Imperfect. The imperfect (abbreviated IMPERF) is a verb form that combines past tense (reference to a past time) and imperfective aspect (reference to a continuing or repeated event or state). It can have meanings similar to the English "was walking" or "used to walk". It contrasts with preterite forms, which refer to a single completed event ...
The past tense of regular verbs is made by adding -d or -ed to the base form of the verb, while those of irregular verbs are formed in various ways (such as see→saw, go→went, be→was/were). With regular and some irregular verbs, the past tense form also serves as a past participle. For full details of past tense formation, see English verbs.
A few verbs are regular in their spoken forms, but have irregular spelling. The irregular weak verbs (being in normal use) can consequently be grouped as follows: Verbs with vowel shortening: creep, flee, hear, keep, leap, shoe (when shod is used), sleep, sweep and weep. (Of these, creep, flee, leap, sleep and weep derive from verbs that were ...
In English conditional sentences, the antecedent (protasis) is a dependent clause, most commonly introduced by the complementizer if. Other complementizers may also be used, such as whenever, unless, provided (that), and as long as. Certain condition clauses can also be formulated using inversion without any conjunction; see § Inversion in ...
Now regularized in past tense and sometimes in past participle. must – (no other forms) Defective; originally a preterite. See English modal verbs: need (needs/need) – needed – needed: Weak, regular except in the use of need in place of needs in some contexts, by analogy with can, must, etc. [3] See English modal verbs: ought – (no ...