THE PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE
Form The Present continuous tense is made up of the present tense of the auxiliary verb to be and the present participle. (i.e. to be + the infinitive + ing): I am singing (am + sing +ing = am singing). You are reading. (are + read + ing = are reading). Functions The present continuous tense is used to express: I) an on-going activity (at the present/speaking time): Johnson is reading. Obi and Ada are playing. II) an event that must take place in future:Â The Okonkwos are parking out from Nkanu street next Saturday. III) a temporary situation: We are staying for ten days. She is…
GRAMMATICAL PROPERTIES OF VERBS
Verbs have five grammatical properties: Tense. Person. Mood. Number. Voice. These properties (otherwise known as features or characteristics of verbs) are sometimes called Verb Inflections because they show the changes in form or spelling exhibited by verbs to indicate specific meanings or grammatical relationships to some other words or groups of words in any given sentence(s). A set or table of these properties or inflected forms of a verb that indicates tense, person, mood, number, and voice is called conjugation. TENSE Tense refers to the change in the form of the verb to indicate the time of the action. There are eight major tenses: present, past, future, present…
THE INFINITIVE
(Verb-noun, verb-adjective, and verb-adverb) Form The infinitive, derived from the Latin word infinitus, means infinity, unlimited, without end. It is, therefore, the form of the verb which is not limited by number or person. Although the infinitive form is the general name for a verb in English grammar, the term infinitive is discriminatingly used to refer to one of the three verbals with a unique appearance and widest range of functions. Unlike both the gerund and the present participle with -ing ending, the infinitive remains the verb-stem, preceded by to, expressed or understood. When the infinitive is preceded by to, it is called a to -infinitive or “full infinitive”.…
