Verbs—Tense, Mood, Voice
Verbs are arguably the most important words in sentences because they indicate exactly what happens. They also indicate time—when the action takes place. When speaking of verbs and time, we use the word tense. The three basic tenses are past, present, and future. Not all actions fit neatly into those three categories, however. Sometimes actions start in the past and continue into the present, and they may go on into the future. To properly state action, we must sometimes use the helping verbs has and have. Probably no one will ask you to tell whether a verb is in the present tense, past perfect tense, or future progressive tense. You will simply need to use verbs correctly in your writing. The key is consistency; if you start in one tense, you should stay in it and not jump back and forth between tenses.
Another little piece of verb knowledge regards the mood of verbs. Mood expresses the attitude of the writer. Verbs have several moods:
· Indicative—used for statements of fact and for asking questions
· Subjunctive—makes a statement contrary to fact
o This is the only mood that may sound strange, so you need to be aware of it.
o Example: If I were you, I would stay in school.
§ I can never be someone else, so this is contrary to fact.
· Imperative—expresses a command
· Conditional—used for statements that depend on each other; one statement is true only if another statement is true
We have one other item to cover regarding verbs: voice. Voice tells us whether the subject of a sentence is the actor or is acted upon. Most of the time in formal writing we want to use active voice because it is more immediate and places the reader closer to the action. Rarely will we use passive voice because it distances the reader from the action. Wouldn’t you rather attend a good party than have someone tell you about it? It is more exciting, more fun to be in the center of the action. Active voice is more exciting, more fun. Passive voice allows us only to hear about the excitement and fun.
· Active voice example: John ate the whole pie!
· Passive voice example: The whole pie was eaten by John.