Page 124 - How to write effective business English your guide to excellent professional communication by Fiona Talbot

Punctuation and grammar tips 113

Verbs and tenses

You are likely to have been taught the finer points of English gram-
mar at school, in college or by self-study. Entire books are written
on this extensive subject and it’s beyond the scope of this hand-
book to go into any great detail. But here’s an outline as a refresher.
As you saw, a verb is a ‘doing’ word. It can consist of one or more
words. The infinitive of a verb is the base form, for example ‘to
work’, ‘to give’, ‘to do’.
The present participle is formed by adding ‘-ing’ to the infinitive.
The ‘to’ part is dropped. This construction is then used with the
verb ‘to be’ to form what are known as continuous tenses. For ex-
ample: ‘They are working.’
If the infinitive ends in ‘e’ (‘to give’, ‘to come’) the general rule is
to drop the ‘e’ when adding the ‘-ing’. For example: ‘He is giving’,
‘They are coming’.
The past participle is normally formed by adding ‘-ed’ to the
infinitive. Again, the ‘to’ part is dropped. This construction is used
with the verb ‘to have’ to form perfect (completed past) tenses. For
example: ‘The train has departed’, ‘The post has arrived’.
Irregular verbs form the perfect differently, so do refer to gram-
mar sources if you’re unsure. Examples are: ‘It has grown’ (not
grow-ed), ‘The time has flown by’ (not fly-ed).

Tenses

The simple tenses in English are the starting point for global busi-
ness writing today.
The present tense has the same form as the infinitive (except the
verb ‘to be’). When the subject is ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’ or a noun, English
adds ‘-s’ or ‘-es’.
To form the future tense, English adds ‘will’ (or ‘shall’ – though
this is less frequently used now).
To form the past tense,‘-ed’ is normally added to the infinitive.
(Once more though, a word of caution: there are many irregular
verbs where this doesn’t work!) A regular example is: