In grammar, tense is a category that locates a situation in time, to indicate
when the situation takes place. Tense is the grammaticalisation of time reference, often using three basic categories of before now, i.e. the past; now, i.e. the
present; and after now, i.e. the future. The unmarked reference for tense is the temporal distance from the time of utterance, the here and now, this being
absolute-tense. Relative-tense indicates temporal distance from a point of time established in the discourse that is not the present, i.e. reference to a point in the
past or future, such as the future-in-future, or the future of the future at some time in the future after the reference point, which is in the future and future-in-past or
future of the past at some time after a point in the past, with the reference point being a point in the past.
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The term tense is therefore at times used in language descriptions to represent any combination of tense proper, aspect, and mood, as many languages
include more than one such reference in portmanteau TAM tense –aspect–mood
affixes or verb forms. Conversely, languages that grammaticalise aspect can have tense as a secondary use of an aspect. Verbs can also be marked for both mood
and tense together, such as the present subjunctive So be it and the past subjunctive Were it so, or all three, such as the past perfect subjunctive Had it
been so. In talking about tense, it is not only focused on the time of the situation
that is being described but also tense is usually defined as relating to the time of the action, event, or state
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and some grammarians also use the term gerund more loosely to refer to any verb form when it is functioning as a noun.
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3. Kind of Verbal
A verbal is a noun or adjective formed from a verb. Writers sometimes
make mistakes by using a verbal in place of a verb, and in very formal writing, by confusing different types of verbals. This section covers three different verbals:
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http:en.wikipedia.orgwikiGrammatical_tense
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Lurie Baure, “English Word Formation”, Great Britain: Cambridge University Press,
1983, p. 157
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http:en.wikipedia.orgwikiGrammatical_tense
the participle which acts as an adjective, the gerund which acts as a noun, and the infinitive which also acts as a noun.
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The present participle is a participle that ends in ing. It can be used with the auxilliary verb to be to form the continuous tense
. It always takes the „ing‟ form of the verb, even irregular verbs ha
ve an „ing‟ form, in fact virtually all English words that end with „ing‟ are present participles.
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For example:
I am learning English. Learning is part of the continuous verb phrase
am learning
We were running through the woods. Running is part of the continuous
verb phrase were running . It can also be used as an adjective.
For example:
As an adjective: I am a working woman. Working is used here as an
adjective. The present participle can also be used as a noun denoting the action of a
verb, a gerund. But the present participle can be used as a verb or an adjective whilst the gerund is used as a noun. Gerunds are used after prepositions, but not
usually after to. The gerund looks identical to the present participle, which is used after the auxiliary verb to be, but are not the same as they do not function as
main verbs. Gerunds are used after certain words and expressions, as is the infinitive, so it is useful to try to learn which form an adjective, etc., takes.
There is three types of verbals
The verbals are gerund, infinitive, and participle. A gerund is a verbal that ends in-
“ing” and functions as a noun. Gerund may take objects, complements, or modifiers.
Here are some examples of gerunds:
a. Borrowing money is usually a mistake.
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http:www.writingcentre.uottawa.cahypergrammarverbals.html
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http:www.learnenglish.degrammarparticiplepresent.htm
In this sentence, borrowing is a gerund. It is the subject of the sentence. Money is the object of the gerund.
b. Seeing is believing.
In this example, there are two gerunds. The first, seeing, is the subject of the sentence. The second, believing, is the subject
complement. c.
I enjoy studying biology. In this example, the gerund is studying. The object of the gerund
is biology. The infinitive is usually composed of the word to plus the present form
of a verb. Infinitives are used as nouns, adjectives or adverbs. They can have subjects, objects, complements or modifiers.
Here are some examples of infinitives:
a. Hal wanted to open the present.
In this sentence, the infinitive is to open. The infinitive phrase is the object of the verb wanted and present is the object of the infinitive.
b. Language to suit the occasion is best.
In this example, the infinitive is to suit. It is used as an adjective modifying the noun language, the object of the infinitive is occasion.
c. I nodded to show respect.
In this example, the infinitive is to show which is used as an adverb modifying the verb nodded. The noun respect is the object of
the infinitive. The participle verbal is used as an adjective and can take an object, a
complement or modifiers.
Here are some examples of participle:
a. The prisoner carrying the heaviest load toppled forward.
In this example, the participle is carrying. It modifies the noun prisoner. Its object is load.
b. The bridge covered with ice was narrow.
