Understanding English verb forms
If you have accidentally found this page, this section of the website is designed to support a book by the same name which has just been published. The book is designed to help learners of English better understand and use English verbs. Here you will find many real life examples of verb forms in use. What you see here now is just a start.
Simple present
I don't
always like you Even little
children who are just learning talk know how to use the simple present.
Allergic to
shrimp
It seems natural to tell this story in the present.Simple past
What
happened? Here
is an example of a short video clip that you could easily make
yourself. It illustrates the use of the simple past in response to the
question "What happened?". 
Ouch! Children
know what is past, even if it happened only a second ago. 
What
did they forget? Here is another situation
where the past is clearly necessary
Carmen
Electra Carmen Electra is a famous American
model, actress, television personality, dancer and entertainer. Here
you will see a short performance that did not go as planned.
No
escape
Here is an exciting story that we can tell using the past.
Clever bird
Watch the
video and describe what this clever bird did using both regular and
irregular verbs.Progressive
Slowing
"slap" down Progressive verb forms
indicate an action or situation takes time. That is why we normally
don't use them with actions that happen very quickly, like "hit" or
"slap". It is possible to use such verbs in the progressive, however.
Here is an example.
An
elephant teaches the progressive Here
is another excellent of how progressive verb forms talk about actions
with duration, i.e., taking time. Great for little kids and adults.
Not
a nice way to wake up Here is a good
chance to use the past progressive together with the simple past.Perfect
This
corn has been growing... Here is a good example of the
use of the present perfect progressive for a situation that began in
the past and continues to the present. How long has the corn in this
field been growing?.
A
video tour of Northfield, Minnesota Let's visit five different
places in my hometown of Northfield, Minnesota. It will give us very
good practice in using both present and past forms, including the
present perfect and the past perfect. Find out how easy they are to
understand and use.
Skating
in Holland
Let's go with a group of ice skaters for a trip on Holland's canals
during the winter. Since we are seeing the video for the first time, we
can use the present perfect to describe what we have seen.
For the
first time
Three babies had just done something for the first time. What
was it?Future
Sleepy Which way is this
sleepy baby going to fall?
Will it blend? What will happen if
you put an iPhone into a blender? This short video will show you.Modal auxilliaries
Should have/shouldn't have Here
are a series of very short videos. In each something when wrong. Your
job is to explain how each mistake could have been prevented. 
Bad mistake In this drama from Sri
Pathum University, a young man made a bad mistake. He only realised it
when it was too late.Passive Voice
What
happened to him? In this clip, it is not what
he did that is important. It is what someone or something else did to
him. 
Watch that
bench Using
the active or passive voice depends on what we are focusing on.
Watch
the tomato
Here is another example of how our focus determines whether we use
active or passive voice.Conditionals
What
would you do? Here, four students from Suan
Sunandha Rajabhat University answer an question about an imaginary
situation, one that is fun to thing about. 
What's
for sale?
Here is a very easy example of a simple "if" question. Find out what is
for sale in this video. Is it something that you might want to buy?.
Land
without agriculture Southern Minnesota in the
United States is largely agricultural land. But what would the land be
like if it were left in its natural condition. Watch the video and find
out.
Will
vs Would
This six-minute segment for a pilot for a TV program clearly
illustrates the difference between "will" and "would" when talking
about future events or possibilities. 
World
without people What would our
world be like without people?
What
would have happened...? Past unreal conditionals look
very complicated but the ideas they express are not. Here is an
exciting example.Direct and indirect speech
What did
she say?
Myley Cyrus wants to do three things. What are they?
Step
over here mam It is lucky the
woman in this story did what she was told.Mixing verb forms
A day at
the track
Kevin goes go-karting
I've
been....
In this video, I describe one of my activities on my last day at home
in the US. Notice, that I begin in the present perfect before moving to
the simple past.
Making
Swedish-style hamburger patties
Here is a long conversation I had with my mother as she made pannbiffar, a
Swedish form of hamburger patties. Since we were talking about how to
cook them, we used mainly present forms of the verbs.
Before,
during, after
Here is an eight-minute pilot of a TV show that illustrates how verb
forms change as the situation changes. The subject is cooking noodles.
Amazing
survivor
Here is a television news report about a man who is very very lucky to
be alive. The video is so exciting, the news anchors have to use a lot
of the simple present.