Page 88 - Just Enough English Grammar Illustrated Book

The four principal parts of verbs all represent
main verbs (not helping verbs).

At the end of this chapter, you will find a complete overview of
the four principal parts of a verb.

PART TWO: USES OF ENGLISH VERBS

4.10 The Four Principal Parts and Verb Tenses

Verbs express time. Tenses reflect the time
expressed by a verb.

The four principal parts are all about tenses, that is, the time
when the action takes place. In Part One, you learned about
the form of these four principal parts. Now, in Part Two, you
will learn how the four principal parts are used to express time.
The four principal parts correspond to the following five tenses.

Present Tense Past Present Present
Tense Continuous Perfect
Future Tense

There are three periods in time:
present (now), past (yesterday), and future (tomorrow).

Now is used with the present tense, yesterday with the past
tense (the simple past), and tomorrow with the future tense
(the simple future). These are basic tenses for any beginning
language learner.
These tenses build on what you have learned about the four
principal parts of a verb. Like the present tense, the future
tense uses Principal Part , the base form of a verb. You might
be surprised to find two present tenses and two past tenses.
We will contrast each pair with examples that illustrate how
verbs express time in many different ways.
The chart on the following page shows three people.
Each one expresses different ideas. As you read
them, try to find out how the verb forms indicate
when or at what time these actions take place.
Ask the following questions: Is it happening now,
did it happen yesterday, or has it yet to take place?

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