Principle Parts of a Verb - And How to Use Them Properly

[Anja]

Principle Parts of a Verb - And How to Use Them Properly

I been wanting to do a lesson on Verbs since I joined FW, but after I met my cowboy and after writing “The Wrote-Off Writer,” I wanted to do this lesson even more... so here it is.

I do understand that using the wrong verb tense is sometimes part of your particular “dialect,” and that is fine. For my cowboy, it's the vernacular; it's his language, and to me, it's rather endearing. It’s also okay to use for story dialogue. But for formal essays, and in general, for your fiction writing, it is NOT fine.

Verbs have three Principal Parts: Present, Past, and Past Participle.

I ask (Present)
I asked (Past)
I had asked (Past Participle)

I jump
I jumped
I had jumped

I love
I loved
I had loved

Get the idea?

Now, it’s all fine for regular verbs, which are the ones that you make into the past or past participle by adding “ed.” The trouble begins when you use irregular verbs... and knowing when to use the auxiliary verb “HAD.”

This is where my cowboy (real name = Dan) and the story “The Wrote-Off Writer” comes in. (And also a few of my other trapper / cowboy / farmer-type characters in a few of my stories.)

Because those people (and some of you) LEAVE OUT the auxiliary verb when using the PAST PARTICIPLE form of the verb

OR

ADD the auxiliary verb when using the SIMPLE PAST TENSE.

I had saw a bear. (Incorrect)
I seen a bear. (Incorrect)

(My eyes are bleeding just typing that out for you.)

The most common mistakes I hear - in public - from people who SEEM to be otherwise well-educated are:

She HAD WENT to town.
He HAD BROKE the cup.
The dog HAD TORE up the flower bed.
The cowboy HAD already RODE all over looking for the lost steer.

All the above are examples of ADDING an auxiliary with the PAST TENSE.

Here are some more:

The horse RUN around the field.
They BEGUN the concert at 7 p.m.
The choir SUNG four songs on Easter Sunday.

These examples show using the PAST PARTICIPLE WITHOUT an Auxiliary VERB

How do you know what to use?
YOU HAVE TO LEARN IRREGULAR VERBS. Yes, memorize them.

BOOKMARK this list as a reference.

Irregular Verbs

Anything in the third column (Past Participle) MUST USE an auxiliary verb.

I don’t even want to mention totally wrong forms of verbs, but I will because it is just as common.

frozed
shooked
drug (As in: The farmer DRUG the plough through the dirt.)
writed
swang
throwed
stang
choosed
drawed

Those words are FINE - IF you are writing AUTHENTIC dialogue, but even real cowboys or farmers wouldn’t use some of those words). And they are great if your four-year-old is learning to talk.

So... write me some sentences... incorrect AND correct... just let me know which are which.

[helen1975]

Hi Ann,

I'm not sure if you are still following this link (it's pretty old!) but I thought I'd throw some sentences down.

Most of this is straight forward in my mind, but there are a few tricky ones I wanted to check.

I see a bear.
I saw a bear.
I had seen a bear.


I will become angry if you keep that up. (present)
I became angry when you kept that up. (past)
I had become angry when you had kept that up. (past participle).


I will buy that jumper. - present
I bought that jumper. - past and past participle

The following one is bugging me!

Today I brought the pasta salad.
I brought the pasta salad.
I had brung the pasta salad. or I had brought the pasta salad.

**Dictionary.com tells us that 'brung' is "a past participle and simple past tense of bring." It just doesn't sound right, but then neither does the second option!

Any thoughts, corrections are always welcome!

Helen

[Anja]

It's a good thing I haven't had lunch yet, because I would have spewed on my laptop.

NO.

Do not use brung. Or brang. Or broughten.

It is slang. It is bad grammar. As always, it's perfectly fine for dialogue if your character is an uneducated redneck.

A short while ago, Jan mentioned the flagrant and incorrect use of drug as the past tense for drag. NO.

Same goes for tooken.

Dictionary.com may have had a note that "brung" is a common slang term. I hope it did not endorse it as accepted and correct grammar.

[helen1975]

I apogise for your near loss of lunch!

I returned to Dictionary.com and found the error was mine They have the listing as "Verb: dialect." This was yet another learning point for me, to read the information properly!

Blessings,

Helen