Tenses, Modals and Subject-Verb Agreement

Most students learn tenses as a list of twelve names and then get lost the moment a passage asks them to pick one. There is a much easier way to hold the system in your head. Every English verb form carries two pieces of information at the same time: the time of the action — present, past or future — and the aspect, which is the way the speaker chooses to look at that action.

There are four aspects. The simple aspect states the action as a plain fact and says nothing about how long it took: She writes poems. The continuous aspect shows the action in progress, unfinished, running around a point of time: She is writing a poem. The perfect aspect looks back from one point of time at something already completed before it: She has written three poems. The perfect continuous aspect looks back at something that started earlier and is still going on: She has been writing since morning.

Three times multiplied by four aspects gives you the twelve forms printed in your grammar book. You do not need twelve separate rules. You need three time markers and four shapes, and the shapes are built from only three helping verbs — be, have and will — together with three parts of the main verb: the base form (write), the past participle (written) and the -ing form (writing).

Simple             : writes / wrote / will write
Continuous         : is writing / was writing / will be writing
Perfect            : has written / had written / will have written
Perfect continuous : has been writing / had been writing / will have been writing

Two mechanical points cause a lot of avoidable mistakes. First, the past participle of an irregular verb is not the same as its simple past: go, went, gone; write, wrote, written; speak, spoke, spoken; break, broke, broken; take, took, taken. A sentence such as He has went home is wrong; it must be He has gone home. Second, once a helping verb is present, the main verb never changes for person or number. We write He does not play, not He does not plays, because does has already taken the -s. The same logic explains Did she come? rather than Did she came?

One more idea saves you from a very common mistake. A group of verbs called stative verbs describe states rather than activities — know, believe, understand, mean, belong, own, contain, seem, prefer, love, hate. These are normally not used in the continuous form. I am knowing the answer and She is having two brothers are both wrong; write I know the answer and She has two brothers. The verb have may take the continuous form only when it stands for an activity rather than possession, as in We are having lunch or They are having a meeting.

The simple present is not really about this moment. It is the tense of things that are generally true: habits and routines (My father leaves for office at nine), permanent facts (Water boils at one hundred degrees Celsius), fixed timetables and programmes (The train reaches the station at 6:15 tomorrow morning), and running commentary (The captain plays the ball towards mid-wicket). Its only real difficulty is the third-person singular -s: he goes, she watches, it costs, but they go, we watch. Words such as always, usually, often, sometimes, rarely, never, every day, on Sundays and twice a week almost always point to this tense.

The present continuous pictures an action in progress. It covers what is happening at this moment (She is revising for the test right now), temporary situations that are true these days but not permanently (He is staying with his uncle till the exams end), situations that are changing (The number of readers is falling), and fixed personal arrangements in the near future (We are visiting our grandparents on Sunday). Its signal words are now, at present, at the moment, these days, currently, still, and the openers Look! and Listen! It is also used with always to show mild irritation: He is always losing his pen.

The present perfect is easy to confuse with the simple past, because the two sit very close together. Its job is to join a past action to the present. Use it when the time is not stated (I have read that novel), when the action has only just finished (She has just left), when the result is still visible (He has broken his arm, so the plaster is still on), and with since, for, just, already, yet, ever, never, so far, recently and this week. The one thing it cannot do is stand beside a finished past time expression. I have met him yesterday is wrong; write I met him yesterday. In the same way, She has joined the school in 2019 must become She joined the school in 2019.

A pair worth learning by heart is has gone to and has been to. My sister has gone to the library means she is not here — she is still away. My sister has been to the library means she went there at some point and has already come back.

The present perfect continuous stresses how long an unfinished action has been running: We have been waiting for the bus for forty minutes. Use since with a point of time (since 2015, since Monday, since morning, since I was a child) and for with a length of time (for three years, for two hours, for a long time). Where the present perfect looks at the result, the present perfect continuous looks at the duration: She has written six pages counts the work finished, while She has been writing since ten o'clock measures the time spent on it.

The simple past is used for an action finished at a definite time in the past, whether that time is written in the sentence or simply understood: He joined the school in 2019. She wrote to me last month. With yesterday, last night, ago, in 1947, then and once, the simple past is the only safe choice.

The past continuous sets a scene. It shows a longer action that was going on when a shorter one cut across it, and the shorter action goes into the simple past: While I was cooking dinner, the power went off. It also shows two actions running side by side (My mother was cooking while my father was watering the plants) and gives background description at the start of a story (It was raining steadily and the streets were emptying).

The past perfect exists for one job. When two things happened in the past, it marks the earlier one: The film had started before we reached the hall. Reaching the hall is the later event, so it stays in the simple past; the film starting is earlier, so it takes had + past participle. You need this form only when the order of events could otherwise be misread — if before, after or a clear date already fixes the order, the simple past is often enough. The past perfect continuous adds duration to the same idea: She had been teaching in that school for twelve years before she moved.

For past habits English gives you two extra tools. Used to describes a habit or a state that no longer exists: We used to walk to school every day. There used to be a well behind the temple. Would can replace it for repeated past actions but not for past states, so He would sit under the neem tree every afternoon is fine, while He would have a scooter is not.

English has no single future tense; it has several ways of pointing forward, and the choice depends on what the speaker means. Will + base form covers a plain prediction, an instant decision or a promise: It will rain tonight. Fine, I will help you with the diagram. Be going to covers a plan already made or a prediction based on evidence you can see: I am going to join a coaching class. Look at those clouds — it is going to pour. The present continuous covers a fixed arrangement with somebody else (I am meeting the principal at four), and the simple present covers timetables (The bus leaves at six). The future perfect says an action will be over by a stated future time: By next April I will have finished the course. The future continuous says it will be in progress at that time: This time tomorrow we will be writing the science paper.

One rule from this area is worth learning with special care. In a time or condition clause beginning with when, after, before, until, as soon as, by the time, if or unless, English does not use will, even though the meaning is clearly future. Write I will call you as soon as I reach home, not as soon as I will reach home. Write If it rains, the match will be cancelled, not If it will rain. The main clause keeps will; the time or condition clause takes a present form. Note the limit of the rule: it applies to time and condition clauses only. Where the same words introduce an indirect question instead, will is perfectly correct, as in I do not know when he will come and I wonder if she will agree.

Modals are the small helping verbs that add an attitude to the main verb: can, could, may, might, will, would, shall, should, must, ought to, along with the semi-modals need, dare, used to and have to. They do not behave like ordinary verbs, and three form rules cover almost everything. A modal is followed by the base form of the verb with no to (She can swim, not She can to swim). A modal never adds -s in the third person (He must go, not He musts go). And two modals cannot stand together, so He will can do it is wrong; you say He will be able to do it. The exception in form is ought, which keeps its to: You ought to apologise.

Ability is expressed by can in the present and could in the past: She can solve quadratic equations. He could read Sanskrit at the age of ten. For one particular success in the past, was able to or managed to is preferred: The firemen were able to rescue everyone.

Permission moves from casual to formal along the line can, could, may. Can I borrow your pen? is friendly; May I come in, sir? is the polite classroom form. For requests, Could you please repeat that? and Would you mind closing the window? are the safest polite choices, while Shall I carry that for you? is an offer rather than a request.

Obligation is the area that needs the most care. Must shows a strong duty that the speaker feels personally or that the law imposes: You must wear a helmet while riding a two-wheeler. Have to shows an obligation that comes from outside — a rule, a timetable, somebody else's decision: I have to submit the project by Friday. Should and ought to give advice or state a moral duty, and both are much weaker than must: You should revise the diagrams once more. We ought to help those who are in trouble. Shall turns up in rules and formal notices with the sense of a binding instruction: Every member shall pay the annual fee in April.

The negatives are not mirror images of one another, and careless reading of them is an easy way to lose a mark. Must not is a prohibition, meaning do not do it at all. Need not and do not have to mean only that there is no necessity — you may still do it if you wish. You must not touch the wires forbids the action, while You need not come tomorrow simply releases you from it.

Possibility comes in several shades rather than in one neat line. Might suggests a slight chance and may a stronger one, so She may come sounds more likely than She might come. Could points to a chance that is theoretically open rather than expected, and can states a general possibility, as in Delays can happen during the monsoon. At the other end sit the modals of deduction. When the evidence points firmly to one conclusion, use must be; when it rules a conclusion out, use cannot be: The lights are off, so they must be asleep. He cannot be the thief; he was with me all evening.

To carry any of these meanings into the past, put have + past participle after the modal. You should have told me earlier is a regret or a criticism about something that was not done. She must have missed the bus is a confident guess about the past. He might have forgotten is an uncertain guess. We could have won the match means the chance existed but was not used. You needn't have brought sweets means you did bring them and it was not necessary.

The basic rule is short: a singular subject takes a singular verb and a plural subject takes a plural verb. The difficulty is never the rule itself; it is spotting the real subject. English allows you to push words, phrases and even whole clauses between the subject and the verb, and the verb has to ignore every one of them.

Look at The box of chocolates is on the table. The subject is box, not chocolates; of chocolates is only a description. In the same way, The list of candidates has been displayed on the notice board and The quality of the mangoes was poor both take singular verbs. Whenever a phrase beginning with of, with, in, from or a relative clause sits between the subject and the verb, cover it with your finger and read the sentence again. What is left is what the verb must agree with.

Two subjects joined by and normally take a plural verb: Ravi and Meera are cousins. But if the two nouns name a single person or a single thing, the verb stays singular: Bread and butter is my usual breakfast. The Principal and Manager of the school has signed the notice — one person holding both posts. If two different people are meant, the article is repeated and the verb becomes plural: The Principal and the Manager have signed the notice.

Words that only look like and do not change the number of the subject at all. Along with, as well as, together with, besides, in addition to, accompanied by and including introduce extra information, not a second subject. So write The captain, along with his players, was felicitated and The teacher, as well as the students, has been invited to the function. Reverse the nouns and the verb changes with the real subject: The students, along with their teacher, were invited.

When two subjects are joined by or, nor, either...or or neither...nor, the verb agrees with the subject nearer to it. Neither the principal nor the teachers were present takes a plural verb because teachers stands nearest. Turn the order around and the verb turns with it: Neither the teachers nor the principal was present. The same proximity rule applies to person: Either you or I am to blame.

Each, every, either and neither used as subjects are singular, however plural the words around them may look. Each of the students has been given a separate answer sheet. Every boy and girl in the class was tested. Neither of the answers is correct. The indefinite pronouns everyone, everybody, someone, somebody, anyone, nobody, no one and nothing are singular too: Everybody was happy with the result. Nobody has claimed the lost watch.

Finally, one of the is followed by a plural noun but takes a singular verb, because the grammatical subject is one: One of my friends lives abroad. One of the windows was broken. And in sentences beginning with There or Here, the verb agrees with whatever comes after it, since the real subject has been moved to the end: There is a book on the shelf, but There are two books on the shelf.

A collective noun names a group with a single word: team, family, jury, class, committee, crowd, army, government, audience, staff, herd, flock. The verb depends on how you are thinking about that group. If the group is acting as one unit, the verb is singular: The committee has taken a decision. The crowd was so large that it blocked the road. Our team has won the tournament. If the members are being seen as separate individuals, often pulling in different directions, the verb becomes plural and a plural pronoun usually appears alongside it: The jury were divided in their opinions. The family have gone to their different rooms. A quick test is to look at the pronoun in the sentence — its pulls the verb towards the singular, their pulls it towards the plural.

A few nouns are plural in meaning although they carry no -s at all. Police, cattle, people, poultry, gentry, vermin and clergy take a plural verb: The police have arrested two men. Cattle are grazing in the field. People were standing in a long queue. If you must speak of one member, you say a police officer or a head of cattle.

The opposite group catches students out very easily. These nouns end in -s and look plural, but they are singular in meaning and take a singular verb. They include the names of subjects and sciences (mathematics, physics, economics, civics, statistics, linguistics, ethics), the names of diseases (measles, mumps, rickets, diabetes), the names of some games (billiards, draughts, athletics, gymnastics) and the everyday word news. So we write: Mathematics is my favourite subject. The news was disturbing. Measles has spread through the hostel. Gymnastics requires years of practice. Titles of books, plays and organisations behave the same way, because a title names one thing: Great Expectations is a long novel. The United Nations has issued a statement.

Then there are the nouns that exist only in the plural, usually because the object they name has two matching parts: scissors, spectacles, trousers, jeans, shorts, pliers, tongs, binoculars. They take a plural verb — Your spectacles are on the table — but the moment you put a pair of in front, the grammatical subject becomes pair and the verb turns singular: A pair of scissors is kept in the drawer. A few other nouns are also used only in the plural: belongings, surroundings, premises, riches, thanks, alms, proceeds and congratulations.

Amounts form the last group. When money, distance, weight or time is thought of as one quantity rather than as separate units, the verb is singular even though the number in front is plural: Five thousand rupees is a large sum for a school trip. Ten kilometres is a long walk in this heat. Three hours is enough for this paper.

Two phrases must be kept firmly apart, because only the article separates them. A number of means many and takes a plural verb: A number of students were absent today. The number of names a figure and takes a singular verb: The number of students was forty. The same logic covers a variety of and the variety of.

Grammar in the Class 10 paper comes to you as short applied tasks rather than as definitions, so your method matters as much as your knowledge. Three formats are the ones you will meet most often: gap filling, where a verb is given in brackets and you supply the right form; error correction, where you copy an incorrect word and write the correct one beside it; and editing or omission, where one word is either missing or extra in each line.

For gap filling, work in a fixed order. First, read the whole passage once without writing anything and decide the time frame — is the writer describing a routine, narrating a past event, or reporting somebody's words? Second, look for signal words near the blank: since, for, already, yet, just point to a perfect form; yesterday, last year, in 2016, ago point to the simple past; every day, usually, generally point to the simple present; while, when, at that time often call for a continuous form. Third, find the subject of the blank and check its number, because a perfectly chosen tense still loses the mark if you write has where have is needed. Fourth, write the complete verb phrase and not a fragment — if the answer is has been waiting, all three words must appear on the answer sheet.

Here is a short worked passage. Every morning my grandmother (a) ______ (get) up before sunrise. By the time I wake up, she (b) ______ (finish) her walk. Yesterday she (c) ______ (tell) me that she (d) ______ (learn) yoga for thirty years. The answers are (a) gets, because this is a daily routine with a singular subject; (b) has finished, because the walk is over but its result matters at the moment I wake up; (c) told, because yesterday fixes the time firmly in the past; and (d) had been learning, because her own words, I have been learning yoga for thirty years, move one step back when they are reported after a past reporting verb.

For error correction, remember that the errors are planted rather than random, and they are drawn from a small list. Scan every line for these six things in order: the tense of the verb; the agreement between subject and verb; the modal, which must be the right one and must be followed by a base form; the article; the preposition; and the form of the word, such as advice against advise or success against succeed. Study these corrected pairs, all of which come from the rules in the earlier sections:

• Each of the boys were given a prize. → was given, because each is a singular subject.
• The news are very disturbing. → is, because news is singular in meaning.
• Neither the principal nor the teachers was present. → were, by the nearer-subject rule.
• He is having two brothers. → has, because have in the sense of possession is stative.
• I am knowing him since 2018. → have known, because since needs a perfect form and know is stative.
• You must to obey the rules. → must obey, because a modal is followed by the base form.
• He said that he will come the next day. → would come, because the reporting verb is in the past.

Two habits will protect your marks. Write the answer in exactly the format asked for: if the question wants an incorrect word and a correct word in two columns, do not rewrite the whole sentence, and if it wants one word per blank, do not write two. And when you have finished, read each answer back inside its own sentence rather than on its own. A form that looks perfectly right in isolation very often clashes with the words around it, and that final read is where you catch it.