Tenses and Adverbs: A Comprehensive Guide Introduction: Tenses and adverbs are two fundamental aspects of language that play a crucial role in conveying the timing, duration, and frequency of actions and events. Tenses help us understand when something happened, while adverbs provide additional information about how, where, or to what extent an action took place. Together, they enhance the clarity and precision of communication in any language. In this comprehensive guide, we will delve into tenses and adverbs, exploring their functions, types, and the ways they interact within sentences. I. Tenses: Tenses are grammatical tools used to indicate the time of an action, event, or state. In English, there are three primary tenses: past, present, and future, each of which can be further divided into various forms. 1. Past Tense: The past tense is used to describe actions, events, or states that occurred in the past. It can be divided into four main forms: simple past, past continuous, past perfect, and past perfect continuous. - Simple Past: This tense is used for actions that occurred and were completed in the past. For example, "She traveled to Paris last summer." - Past Continuous: This tense is used to describe actions that were ongoing or in progress at a specific point in the past. For example, "They were studying all night." - Past Perfect: The past perfect tense is used to express an action that took place before another action in the past. For example, "He had already eaten when I arrived." - Past Perfect Continuous: This tense is used to emphasize the duration of an action that started in the past and continued up to a certain point. For example, "She had been working at the company for five years when she got promoted." 2. Present Tense: The present tense is used to describe actions, events, or states that are happening now or are generally true. Like the past tense, it has multiple forms: simple present, present continuous, present perfect, and present perfect continuous. - Simple Present: This tense is used to describe actions or situations that are timeless or habitual. For example, "I read books regularly." - Present Continuous: The present continuous tense is used to describe actions that are currently in progress. For example, "They are playing football in the park." - Present Perfect: This tense is used to express actions that occurred at an unspecified time in the past but are relevant to the present. For example, "I have visited Paris several times." - Present Perfect Continuous: This tense is used to emphasize the continuous nature of an action that began in the past and continues into the present. For example, "She has been working on her project for hours." 3. Future Tense: The future tense is used to describe actions, events, or states that will occur in the future. It can be expressed through various forms, such as simple future, future continuous, future perfect, and future perfect continuous. - Simple Futu

1. Subject-Verb Agreement
Slides by: Dr Enakshi Nandi
NLN 101
IIT Delhi.
March 2023.

2. Activity 1
• In the following sentences, identify the main verb, tense and aspect.
1. Rahul will be awake at 1pm.
2. Shikha has jogged for 3 miles.
3. I am buying a new phone today.
4. You were writing your thesis when I met you last year.
5. We will have reached Sikkim by next Saturday.
6. They had fought in three battles in their lifetime.
7. I am a musician.
8. Debbie will be smiling all day after meeting you.

3. Activity 2
• Write one sentence each in the following cases.
• Make sure you use the tense, aspect, and verb (in bold) mentioned in each case.
1. Present progressive. (think)
2. Simple past. (say)
3. Future perfect. (walk)
4. Past perfect. (pray)
5. Simple future. (meet)
6. Present perfect. (sell)

4. Phi features – person, number, gender
• We have seen that the subject of a sentence is usually a noun phrase, which
consists of either a noun, pronoun, or a demonstrative.
• Give us examples of different noun phrases from English.
• Every noun, pronoun, and demonstrative contains 3 inherent features.
• Each of these features has 2 or more values.
• Person (P) – 1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person
• Number (N) – singular, plural
• Gender (G) – masculine, feminine, neuter
• Collectively, they are known as PNG or phi-features.

5. Let’s analyse this
• Now, let’s have a look at these sentences:
1. Sita sings ghazals.
2. The children sing nursery rhymes.
3. My sister teaches astrophysics.
4. My professors teach physics.
5. One person knows about the murder.
6. All the neighbours know about the murder.
• What do you think is happening in these sentences? Do you see a pattern?

6. Number agreement
• This phenomenon is known as number agreement.
• Here, the number feature of the subject (singular or plural) is reflected on the verb.
• The verb takes the inflection –s for singular nouns and no inflection for plural nouns.
• The dog barks. The dogs bark.
• One man eats cake. Two men eat cake.
• The child hides the teddy bear behind the fridge.
• The children hide the teddy bear behind the fridge.

7. Person agreement
Singular Plural
1st person I drive a car We drive a car
2nd person You drive a car You drive a car
3rd person He/she drives a car They drive a car
• Person refers to the 1st person, 2nd person, and 3rd person pronouns.
• When the person feature on the noun or pronoun agrees with the verb, it is known as
person agreement.
• In most cases, the verb takes the inflection –s (or singular agreement) for the 3rd person
singular pronoun and no inflection (or plural agreement) for the others.

8. Person agreement with be-verbs
Singular Plural
1st person I am eating We are eating
2nd person You are eating You are eating
3rd person He/she is eating They are eating
• The be-verb is unique because it can take many different forms: am, are, is, be etc.
• Can you figure out what forms the be-verb will take in the past tense and future tense
for all the examples listed above?
• Try this exercise for as many verbs as you can think of.

9. Gender agreement
• There is no gender agreement in English, but let’s discuss what is happening in
your languages!
• How many genders do you have in your language?
• Do you see the verb changing form based on the gender of the subject?
• If yes, congratulations! You have decoded gender agreement in your language!
• If not, congratulations! You have discovered that your language has no gender agreement!
• In a sentence in your language, do you see any change in the adjective based on
the gender of the noun? Investigate!
• Eg. Wo chhota-sa gora baccha. Wo chhoti-si gori bacchi.

10. Subject-verb agreement
• Person, number, and gender agreement together constitutes subject-verb
agreement.
• Definition: When the subject of a sentence agrees with the verb, it is known as
subject-verb agreement.
• Agreement is a process common to all languages, but which of the subject’s phi-
features participate in agreement is different in different languages.
• In order to understand agreement in English better, try to compare it to the
agreement process in the other language(s) you speak.

11. Trivia about Hindi
• Any noun that refers to a person usually has something called natural gender. This
natural gender is the same as the biological or social gender of that person.
• Hindi has something called grammatical gender. That is, all the nouns in Hindi have
been classified on the basis of gender, including inanimate, abstract, and collective nouns.
• Therefore in Hindi and other languages with grammatical gender, the subject will have a
gender feature even if it refers to an inanimate object. Therefore, it will participate in
gender agreement.
• Eg. Bus ja rahi hai
Truck ja raha hai

12. Activity 3
• Fill in the blanks with the right form of the verb:
1. I _____ how to design an app. (know)
2. The birds _____ every morning. (chirp)
3. Ritu _____ her hair every morning. (comb)
4. Harsh ______ to cook. (like)
5. You _____ unwell yesterday. (be)
6. My brother ______ maths difficult. (find)
7. Mina’s brother ______. (paint)
8. Mina’s brother ______ that painting. (make)

13. Thank you 