Friday, November 5, 2010

Verbs - Person and Number

A verb changes according to the number and the person of its subject.

Singular and plural are the two numbers. Singular means one, while plural means more than one.

The persons in English language are classified as first person, second person and third person. The first person refers to the person or persons speaking. The second person refers to theperson or persons being spoken to. The third person refers to the person or persons being spoken of.

The following table lists the singular and plural forms of the persons:

First Person

Second Person

Third Person

Singular

I

You

He, She, Noun, It

Plural

We

You

They

Using the verb ‘do’, let us see how a verb changes its form according to the number and person of it subject.

Present

Past

Future

First Person Singular (I)

do

am doing

have done

have been doing

did

was doing

had done

had been doing

will do

will be doing

will have done

will have been doing

First Person Plural (We)

do

are doing

have done

have been doing

did

were doing

had done

had been doing

will do

will be doing

will have done

will have been doing

Second Person Singular (You)

do

are doing

have done

have been doing

did

were doing

had done

had been doing

will do

will be doing

will have done

will have been doing

Second Person Plural (You)

do

are doing

have done

have been doing

did

were doing

had done

had been doing

will do

will be doing

will have done

will have been doing

Third Person Singular (He/She/Noun/It)

does

is doing

has done

has been doing

did

was doing

had done

had been doing

will do

will be doing

will have done

will have been doing

Third Person Plural (They)

do

are doing

have done

have been doing

did

were doing

had done

had been doing

will do

will be doing

will have done

will have been doing

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