REVIEW OF TENSES

Tenses occurs only in verbs. Tense refers to the changes that takes place in the form of the verb to indicate time. Only two tenses, namely the present and the past, can be identified.

1. The Present Tense: The only change that takes place in the form of the verb to indicate the present tense occurs when the verb agrees with a third person singular subject.

Examples

Singular                     I sleep, wake and eat

You sleep, wake and eat

He sleeps, wake and eat

Plural             We sleep, wake and eat

You sleep, wake and eat

They sleep, wake and eat

1. The Past Tense: Regular verbs form their past by adding. ‘ed’ to the simple form of the verb, while irregular verbs from their past tense in different ways.

Examples:

Bassey worked in the farm yesterday. (regular)

Ngozi spoke to me on the telephone (irregular)