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A number of multi-word constructions exist to express the combinations of present tense with the basic form of the present tense is called the simple present; there are also constructions known as the present progressive (or present continuous) (e.g. am writing), the present perfect (e.g. have written), and the present perfect progressive (e.g ...
The basic grammatical rules for the formation of relative clauses in English are given here. [2] More details can be found in the article on who.. The basic relative pronouns are considered to be who, which and that, but an alternative analysis of that as a relativizer is presented in a succeeding section.
For each verb listed, the citation form (the bare infinitive) is given first, with a link to the relevant Wiktionary entry. This is followed by the simple past tense , and then the past participle. If there are irregular present tense forms (see below), these are given in parentheses after
The simple present is the most commonly used verb form in English, accounting for more than half of verbs in spoken English. [1] It is called "simple" because its basic form consists of a single word (like write or writes), in contrast with other present tense forms such as the present progressive (is writing) and present perfect (has written).
In the case of the verb be, such forms included art (present tense), wast (past), wert (past subjunctive) and beest (present subjunctive; pronounced as two syllables). In all other verbs, the past tense is formed by the base past tense form of the word (e.g. had , did , listened ) plus -'st , not pronounced as a full syllable, e.g. thou had'st ...
The third person singular present tense is formed regularly, except in the case of the modal verbs (can, shall, etc.) which do not add -s, the verb be (which has three present indicative forms: am, is and are), and the three verbs have, do and say, which produce the forms has, does (pronounced with a short vowel, /dʌz/), and says (pronounced ...
The verb wit is the only non-modal verb that is also a preterite-present verb and it does not take -s in the third person. It also has a vowel shift in the present tense as in "I wot". For shortened forms of certain verbs and of their negations (' s, ' re, won't, etc.), see English auxiliaries and contractions.
[4] Today, relative whose can still refer to non-persons (e.g., the car whose door won't open). The spelling 'who' does not correspond to the word's pronunciation /huː/ ; it is the spelling that represents the expected outcome of hwā , while the pronunciation represents a divergent outcome – for details see Pronunciation of English wh .