The verbal group: tenses

evaluated
the outcomes.
Objectives of Unit 2B

After you have completed this unit you should be able to:

•
recognise where tense is indicated in the verbal group
•
recognise the tenses which generally occur in written academic texts
•
identify an incorrect tense in context
•
correct a tense problem in context.
Exercises
These are marked with the icon
✪
and you should try to complete them before
checking your work in the
Answer Key
, marked
✪✪
.
Answer Key to all Exercises
This can be found at the end of the Unit.

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Basic English Grammar Module: Unit 2B. Independent Learning Resources
© Learning Centre University of Sydney. This Unit may be copied for individual student use.
4
1.0 Introduction
If you are not using tense accurately and appropriately in your writing, there are
three
possible sources of your problem:
1.
the forms of the verbs
2.
the structure of the verbal group
3.
the context in which the verbal group occurs.
In this unit we will look at each of these areas in turn.
1.1 The Forms of the Verbs
One of the problems you may be having is that you are not familiar enough with the
forms of the verbs you are using. As you may have seen in Unit 2A, verbs have several
forms which can be used on their own or combined with other verb forms called
auxiliaries. When you combine a verb with an auxiliary it is called a verbal group. These
verbal groups can be finite or non-­‐finite. If a verbal group is finite, it shows tense or
judgement/modality.
Regular/ irregular verbs have the following forms:
Base Form
's' Form