21st Century Grammar Handbook (34 page)

Tell, told, told.
An
irregular verb
in its main,
past tense,
and past
participle
forms.

Tense.
Verbs
vary in form to indicate time of action or condition. The changed forms and time relationships they suggest are called “tenses.”

There are twelve tenses, listed below with examples. It is useful to recognize the variety of tenses available and how they are used to convey nuances of time and other aspects of the actions or conditions that verbs can present.

Present tense
is the normal, everyday tense that indicates things happening more or less now: “The dog snores, the owner complains, and the kids wake up.” This
verb
form can also be used for continuing or persistent actions or conditions: “Life is long.” In some circumstances, when other words are used to clarify an expected action in the future, the simple present performs a future function: “Tomorrow the traveler comes home.”

Verbs that depict events or situations in the future are usually in the
future tense:
“The day’s snoring will irritate the owner and will wake up the kids.” Note in
present tense
(above) that enough qualifying words in a
sentence
that specify an action in the future can allow the use of the present tense for future actions or conditions.

Actions or conditions cast directly in and limited to the past use the
past tense:
“The dog snored, the owner complained, and the kids woke up.”

Formed with the
auxiliary
verb
“have”
(or “has”) and the past tense form of a
verb,
the present perfect merges the two tenses to depict actions or conditions begun in the past but
extending into the present or not completed at a specific time: “The dog has snored for years, and the kids have usually gotten up every night as a result.”

By joining the
past tense
form of
verbs
with “will have,” the future perfect depicts things that will end at a definite moment in the future: “The dog will have snored for ten years by August, but the kids will have been bothered only for the last two years in the new house where the dog sleeps in the hall.”

Combining “had” with the
past tense
form of a
verb,
the past perfect conveys a sense of action or condition ended at a specific moment in the past, often before some other event in the past: “The dog had snored that night, but the kids did not wake up.”

This tense combines the present
participle
(“ing” form) with the present tense of
“be”
(“is” or “are”) to indicate continuing actions or conditions: “The dog is snoring again tonight, and the kids are complaining to the owner.” Unlike the present tense, the present progressive depicts an action that is actually occurring at the moment, while the present refers to repeated or habitual current activities or situations: “The dog is snoring right now, but the owner complains
every night.” Like the
present tense,
the present progressive can perform a future function if a
sentence
contains enough qualifying words to make clear the future setting of the event: “The dog is going to snore tomorrow night, the owner is sure.”

Actions or conditions that continue in the future use the future progressive tense, which combines “will be” with the present participle (“ing” form): “The dog will be snoring for years to come, and the kids will be getting used to it.”

By linking the past forms of
“be”
(“was” or “were”) with the present
participle
“ing” form), the past progressive conveys things that continued to happen in the past but have ended: “The dog was snoring in the summer, but stopped in the fall.”

To depict things that continue from the past into the present ör beyond, the present perfect progressive is used. It combines the
auxiliaries
“has” or “have” and “been” (the past
participle
of
“be”)
with the present participle (“ing” form): “the dog has been snoring for far too long.”

Combining “will have been” with the present
participle
(“ing” form), the future perfect progressive suggests actions or conditions that will end at or by a definite moment in the future: “The dog will have been snoring for ten years in August.”

The past perfect progressive tense joins “had been” with the present
participle
(“ing” form) to portray things that continue in the past and that start before some other specific time, event, or situation: “The dog had been snoring for ten years before it was cured of it.”

Than, then.
“Than” is a
conjunction
that links words or
phrases
being compared: “Smith is taller than Brown is.” See
comparison.
Do not confuse “than” with “then,” an
adverb
that modifies
verbs
and suggests actions or conditions following one after the other: “The nurse weighed the patient, then measured her height.” See
modifier.

That, which.
“That” normally is the
relative pronoun
introducing a
restrictive
(or independent)
clause,
while “which” does the same for
nonrestrictive
(dependent)
clauses.
Restrictive
clauses
add considerable information to a sentence that is essential for its meaning and are not set off by
commas.
Nonrestrictive clauses add ancillary or less than essential ideas to a
sentence
and show this supplementary status by being surrounded by commas.

Their, there, they’re.
These three
homonyms
(words that sound alike but are spelled differently) are frequently confused and misused. They are quite different
parts of speech,
with very different meanings and functions.

THEIR
. A
possessive
pronoun, “their” modifies
nouns
and indicates ownership of something: “The parrots take their time eating the fruit.” See
modifier
and
pronoun.

THERE
. “There” is an
adverb
suggesting some degree of remoteness: “The boat is anchored over there.” With
linking verbs (“be”)
“there” forms the
expletive:
“There were nine boats anchored at the shore.”

THEY’RE
. This
contraction
joins “they” and “are”: “They’re going to crash into the pier!”

Theirselves.
An incorrect or
colloquial
form of “themselves,” the proper third-person
plural
of the
reflexive pronoun.
Never use “theirselves” outside fiction or reports on
dialect.

Them.
“Them” is the correct
objective case
form of “they”: “The guard saw them.” But it is not, and should never be used as, a
demonstrative
pronoun. WRONG: “I saw them things.” RIGHT: “I saw those things.” See
pronoun.

There.
See
their.

Therefore.
See
coordinating conjunction
and
interjection.

They, them, their.
“They” is the
third-person plural pronoun
and has an
objective case
form of “them” and a
possessive
case form of “their.”

They’re.
See
their.

Think, thought, thought.
An
irregular verb
in its main,
past tense,
and past
participle
forms.

Thirdly.
There is no reason to add “ly” to this or other
ordinal numbers,
especially when they are used to
list
things.

Though.
See
subordinating conjunction
and
although
(as it is usually spelled).

Thought.
See
think.

Threw.
See
throw.

Through.
Preposition
governing the
objective case:
“The current jolted through him.”

Throw, threw, thrown.
An
irregular verb
in its main,
past tense,
and past
participle
forms.

Thrown.
See
throw.

Thus.
See
subordinating conjunction.

Title.
A title is a name given to a person as a sign of distinction. Creative works can also bear titles.

Designations of jobs, status, marital condition, inheritance or nobility, academic achievement, and so on constitute a whole range of personal titles: “Dr., senator, Mrs., count, Ph.D., officer.” Depending on how they are used in
sentences
and with
names,
titles have different
punctuation
or
capitalization.

Titles immediately associated with a name are usually capitalized and frequently abbreviated: “Rev. Jones sat next to Senator Bradley and across the table from Mrs. Schneider, Ph.D.” When most of these titles appear without a specific name, they are usually not capitalized and never abbreviated: “The reverend sat next to the senator and across the table from my wife, who holds a doctorate.” “Ph.D.” is an exception to this rule, appearing sometimes by itself and capitalized: “Smith has a Ph.D.” In some very formal styles this usage is considered unacceptable. Titles with last names only are usually spelled out in full, while those with more than a last name can be abbreviated: “We refer to Prof. Judith Ginsberg and Prof. Paul LeClaire.” See
abbreviation.

Titles that follow a name are set off from it and following words by
commas:
“let me introduce Chris Schneider, Ph.D.”

Creative works made by people have names that are treated differently depending on the length, longevity, seriousness, and type of work. All these criteria are somewhat subjective, but the
rules
that are outlined here can be applied consistently.

BOOKS
. Titles of books are underlined (or in
italics),
and words in the titles are capitalized except for
conjunctions
and
prepositions
that don’t begin the title:
War and Peace, A Tale of Two Cities, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
See
capitalization.

BROADCAST PROGRAMS, DANCES, MOVIES, MUSICAL WORKS, PLAYS, POEMS, PAINTINGS, AND SCULPTURE
. Longer dance, musical, and poetic works, along with these other artistic or entertainment categories, are treated like book titles:
The Simpsons, The Nutcracker Suite, Dances with Wolves, The Goldberg Variations, The Crucible,
the
Aeneid, View over Delft, Laocoon.

JOURNALS, MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS, AND PAMPHLETS.
All these things are treated like book titles:
Studies in Obscurity, Prevention,
the
New York Times.

VEHICLES
. Specific names of individual books, planes, trains, buses, cars, spacecraft, and so on can be treated like book titles, but not model names:
Enola Gay, Palmetto,
Silver Bullet, Red Baron, Apollo IV, Titanic.
But note: “The singer drove an Accord.”

Shorter written works—songs, short poems, stories, articles, chapters, and the like—are capitalized in the same way book titles are, but they are set off in
quotation marks
rather than being underlined or italicized: “Every Move You Make,” “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” “The End of History,” “The Middle Years.”

Titles set off in quotes have
commas
and
periods
within the quotes if that punctuation ends a
clause
or the
sentence:
“I was singing, ‘Every Move You Make.’ ” If the title itself ends with a puncutation mark
(exclamation point
or
question mark),
then no punctuation follows the quotes that end the title, even at the end of a sentence: “The actor recited ‘A Call to Arms!’ ” If the sentence ends with a question mark or exclamation point that is not part of the title, that punctuation goes outside the quotes: “Were you singing ‘Every Move You Make’?”
Colons, semicolons,
and
parentheses
that are not parts of titles go outside quotes surrounding titles: “The actor recited ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ that was followed by ‘Memory’ (a major Russian work); finally came ‘The Raven’: Did you hear all that?”

To, too, two.
Don’t confuse these words that sound alike but are spelled differently
(homonyms)
and have different meanings.