Verbs, Helping Verbs, Modals and Tenses
Verbs and their forms, helping verbs, subject–verb agreement, modals, the nine tenses, changing tenses, and the textbook's grammar exercises.
Key Terms & Definitions
14 Every term you need to know
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Verb | A word that tells us about an action (run, write) or a state (is, have, like). |
| Main verb | The verb that carries the main meaning in a sentence — e.g. serving in "The mahout was serving food." |
| Helping (auxiliary) verb | A verb that helps the main verb show tense, questions or negatives — forms of be, do, have. |
| V1 / V2 / V3 | Base form / past form / past participle — e.g. write, wrote, written. |
| Regular verb | A verb whose V2 and V3 end in -d or -ed (look → looked → looked). |
| Irregular verb | A verb with special V2/V3 forms (give → gave → given). |
| Subject–verb agreement | A singular subject takes a singular verb (She is), a plural subject a plural verb (They are). |
| Modal verb | A special helping verb that shows ability, permission, advice, necessity, possibility etc. — can, may, must, should… |
| Tense | The form of the verb that shows the time of an action — present, past or future. |
| Simple tense | Shows a fact, habit or completed action (She writes / wrote / will write). |
| Continuous (progressive) tense | Shows an action going on: be + V-ing (She is / was / will be writing). |
| Perfect tense | Shows a completed action: have/has/had/will have + V3 (She has / had / will have written). |
| Conjunction | A joining word — and, but, or, because, so, although, unless. |
| Neither…nor / Either…or | Neither…nor joins two negatives; either…or offers a choice between two things. |
Core Concepts
1 Verbs and their three forms
Verbs tell us what someone does or is. Every verb has three main forms:
| V1 (base) | V2 (past) | V3 (past participle) | V1 (base) | V2 | V3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| look | looked | looked | give | gave | given |
| serve | served | served | go | went | gone |
| notice | noticed | noticed | tell | told | told |
| discover | discovered | discovered | become | became | become |
| plant | planted | planted | find | found | found |
| visit | visited | visited | make | made | made |
| complete | completed | completed | write | wrote | written |
| try | tried | tried | eat | ate | eaten |
| stop | stopped | stopped | fly | flew | flown |
| play | played | played | see | saw | seen |
| help | helped | helped | take | took | taken |
| explain | explained | explained | throw | threw | thrown |
| — | drive | drove | driven | ||
| — | feel | felt | felt | ||
| — | bring / buy / think | brought / bought / thought | brought / bought / thought | ||
| — | put / cut / read | put / cut / read | put / cut / read |
2 Helping (auxiliary) verbs — be, do, have
| Helping verb | Forms | Used for | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| be | am, is, are, was, were, be, been, being | Continuous tenses | The birds are flying. |
| have | has, have, had | Perfect tenses | Buntee had followed the farmer. |
| do | do, does, did | Questions, negatives, emphasis | Did Gajaraj eat? He did not eat. |
Main or helping? In "The mahout was serving food", serving is the main verb and was is helping. But in "The mahout was kind", was is the main verb (there is no other verb). The same is true for have: "I have a pen" (main) vs "I have finished" (helping).
3 Subject–verb agreement
| Subject | be (present) | be (past) | have | Simple present |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | am | was | have | I play |
| He / She / It / a singular noun | is | was | has | She plays (add -s/-es) |
| We / You / They / a plural noun | are | were | have | They play |
- "My best friend is always helpful." (singular) · "My friends are helpful." (plural)
- With neither…nor / either…or, the verb agrees with the nearer subject: "Neither Shikha nor Anuj likes to tell stories."
- -es after s, sh, ch, x, o: watch → watches, go → goes; consonant + y → -ies: fly → flies.
4 Modals — what each one does
Modals are special helping verbs. Rules: a modal is followed by the base form (V1); it never takes -s, -ing or -ed ("She can swim", not "can swims"). Need to, used to and ought to take "to".
| Modal | Function | Example |
|---|---|---|
| can | ability; informal permission | It can help control cough and cold. · Can I go out? |
| could | past ability; polite request | I could swim at six. · Could you help me? |
| may | formal permission; possibility; suggestion | You may share them with your friends. |
| might | weak possibility | It might rain later. |
| must | compulsion; strong necessity | You must consult an elder before you use them. |
| should | advice; duty | You should try to remember these cures. · We should respect our elders. |
| ought to | moral duty | We ought to help the needy. |
| need to | necessity | I need to soak the methi seeds overnight. |
| used to | past habit | I used to put heeng water on your tummy. |
| will / shall | future; promise (shall with I/we, formal) | I will try my best. · Shall we go? |
| would | polite request; past habit | Would you like some tea? |
The first six example sentences are from Daadi's letter in Spices that Heal Us (p.96–97).
5 The nine tenses — formulas
| Simple | Continuous | Perfect | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Present | V1 / V1+s She writes. | am/is/are + V-ing She is writing. | has/have + V3 She has written. |
| Past | V2 She wrote. | was/were + V-ing She was writing. | had + V3 She had written. |
| Future | will/shall + V1 She will write. | will be + V-ing She will be writing. | will have + V3 She will have written. |
6 When to use each tense — time words
| Tense | Use | Signal words |
|---|---|---|
| Simple present | habits, facts, routines | always, usually, often, every day/Sunday, never |
| Present continuous | happening right now | now, at present, at the moment, Look!, Listen! |
| Present perfect | just finished; result matters now | already, just, yet, ever, never, since, for |
| Simple past | finished at a past time | yesterday, last week, ago, in 2020 |
| Past continuous | going on at a past time | while, when, at 5 pm yesterday, all evening |
| Past perfect | finished before another past action | before, after, by the time, already (in past) |
| Simple future | will happen later | tomorrow, next week, soon, in future |
| Future continuous | will be going on later | at this time tomorrow |
| Future perfect | will be finished by a future time | by tomorrow, by next year |
7 Changing a sentence from one tense to another
- Find the subject and decide if it is singular or plural.
- Find the main verb and write its V1, V2, V3 and V-ing.
- Use the formula for the new tense (be + V-ing, have/has/had + V3, will + V1…).
- Make the helping verb agree with the subject. Keep the rest of the sentence the same (drop/change time words if needed).
| Sentence | Change to | Answer |
|---|---|---|
| Amber sits under the neem tree. | Simple past | Amber sat under the neem tree. |
| The dog eats the food. | Present continuous | The dog is eating the food. |
| Daadi writes a letter. | Simple future | Daadi will write a letter. |
| The children were singing. | Simple present | The children sing. |
| Mario tries the chair. | Past continuous | Mario was trying the chair. |
| We plant saplings. | Present perfect | We have planted saplings. |
| She finishes her homework. | Present perfect | She has finished her homework. |
| The bird flew beyond the tree. | Past perfect | The bird had flown beyond the tree. |
8 Neither…nor, either…or (from The Unlikely Best Friends)
"…neither the farmer nor the mahout noticed that the two friends were in tears." — neither…nor joins two negative choices: neither of them noticed.
Either…or gives a choice between two things: "Rohit wants to play either cricket or kho-kho."
- Neither Shikha nor Anuj likes to tell stories.
- Either Bhavesh or Abha made this painting.
9 Also on the worksheet — conjunctions and much/many
| Conjunction | Job | Example |
|---|---|---|
| and | adds | Gajaraj and Buntee played together. |
| but | contrast | The mahout was kind, but he was not a friend. |
| or | choice | Would you like tea or milk? |
| because | reason | I planted a sapling because I wanted to help the environment. |
| so | result | It rained, so we stayed in. |
| although | unexpected contrast | Although he was weak, Buntee ran to the stable. |
| unless | "if not" | You will not pass unless you practise. |
Many / few — with things you can count (many flowers, few friends). Much / little / less — with things you cannot count (much water, little time).
Important Rules & Facts
- Modal + V1 (can go, must eat). With do/does/did, use V1 (did not go).
- Continuous = be + V-ing; perfect = have/has/had + V3; future = will + V1.
- He/She/It + is / was / has / V1+s; We/You/They + are / were / have / V1; I + am / was / have.
- Past perfect shows the earlier of two past actions.
- Never use present perfect with a finished past time word (yesterday, ago, last…).
- many/few + countable; much/little + uncountable.
Solved Examples
1 Choosing the right past tense (Poorvi p.49)
"The farmer came back and ___ (noticed / was noticing / had noticed) that Buntee was sad. He ___ (tied / was tying / had tied) Buntee with a rope the day before. He ___ (asked / was asking / had asked) Buntee why he was sad. The farmer ___ (felt / was feeling / had felt) that Buntee ___ (missed / was missing / had missed) Gajaraj and set him free."
Solution: noticed (simple past, one finished action) · had tied (happened before another past action — "the day before") · asked · felt · was missing (a feeling going on at that time).
2 Modals in a dialogue (Poorvi p.97)
Ajay: Anand had fever last week. He (i) ___ take good rest. · Suman: Yes, he (ii) ___ or he will fall ill again. · Ajay: He (iii) ___ take grandmother's natural cures. · Suman: Yes, we (iv) ___ remember how effective they are.
Solution (one good set): (i) should (advice) · (ii) must (compulsion — or he will fall ill) · (iii) can / may (ability / suggestion) · (iv) need to (necessity). Each modal used once.
3 Tense change — worked
"The teacher explains the lesson." → past continuous.
- Subject: the teacher (singular).
- Verb: explain → explained → explained → explaining.
- Past continuous = was/were + V-ing.
- Singular → was: "The teacher was explaining the lesson."
Activities in the chapter
P48 Poorvi p.48 — sort the verbs into three past tenses
Simple past: looked, gave, hated, noticed, went, served, told, asked, felt, touched, joined, arrived, threw. Past progressive: was looking, was missing, was munching. Past perfect: had ordered, had followed, had remained, had tied.
P82 Poorvi p.82 — match present and past forms
become → became · find → found · make → made · discover → discovered · tell → told · give → gave. Example sentence: "I want to become a teacher when I grow up."
P97 Poorvi p.97 — match modals with functions
may → suggestion · should → advice · can → ability · must → compulsion · need to → necessity · used to → past habit.
Figures & Diagrams
1 Tense chart
A 3 × 3 grid: rows present / past / future; columns simple / continuous / perfect, each with its formula and an example (see Core Concept "The nine tenses").
2 Modal–function table (Poorvi p.97)
Column A helping verbs (may, should, can, must, need to, used to) matched to Column B functions (suggestion, advice, ability, compulsion, necessity, past habit).
Exercise Questions
5 In-text questions & "Let us think and write" prompts
- Poorvi p.48: Put the verbs from the story into simple past, past progressive and past perfect columns.
- Poorvi p.49: Select the correct form of the verb to complete the passage about the farmer and Buntee.
- Poorvi p.49: Discuss sentences with neither…nor and either…or.
- Poorvi p.82: Match present-tense verbs with their past forms and make a sentence.
- Poorvi p.97: Match modals with their functions; complete the dialogue with four modals.
Quick Summary
- Verbs have three forms: V1, V2, V3. Learn the irregular ones.
- Helping verbs be, do, have help the main verb form tenses, questions and negatives.
- The verb must agree with its subject (is/are, was/were, has/have).
- Modals show ability, permission, advice, compulsion, necessity, possibility or past habit, and are followed by V1.
- Nine tenses: simple, continuous and perfect in present, past and future.
- Time words signal the tense; change tense by changing only the verb group.
- Neither…nor joins two negatives; either…or gives a choice.
- Many/few for countable nouns; much/little for uncountable nouns.