In some linguistic theories the term verb phrase is more or less synonymous with the traditional term predicate--i.e. referring to everything in the sentence which is not the subject. Quirk et al. (1972). on the other hand, define the verb phrase as only one component (though the central one) of the predicate, the others being complements (cf. 3) and adverbials (cf. 8), which can be illustrated thus:
This definition is the more traditional one and is compatible with a number of specialized treatments of the English verb, e.g. Edmondson et al. 1977, Leech 1971, Nehls 1978, Palmer 1974.
Most English verbs have four or five forms: the base or infinitive;(e.g. grow, work), the -s or third person singular form grows, works), the -ing participle (growing, working), the past (grew, worked), and the -ed or past participle (grown, worked). The past and -ed participle are often identical, in which case there are only four different forms. Exceptionally, a verb may have as few as one and as many as eight forms (e.g. must and be).
The verb phrase can be finite or non-finite and, like the noun phrase (cf. 1), simple or complex. The simple finite verb phrase consists of one verb--either the imperative, the simple present or the past tense:
Come here! (imperative)
He comes every day (present tense)
He came yesterday (past tense)
Complex verb phrases consist of more than one word, i.e. one or more auxiliary verbs (cf. 2.6) plus a main (lexical) verb, and form the following four basic construction types:
modal or other auxiliary verb + infinitive
You must call me.
You were supposed to call me.
have + -ed participle (perfective)
You have succeeded.
be + -ing participle (progressive)
I am eating.
be + -ed participle (passive)
He is examined every day.
Finite verbs are inflected, i.e. agree with the subject in person and number. Non-finite verbs--the infinitive (with or without to), the -ing participle and the -ed participle--have only one form.
I/you/we/they smoke (finite verb, lst and 2nd person singular and plural, 3rd person plural)
He/she smokes (finite verb, 3rd person singular)
It's dangerous for me/you/us/them/him/her to smoke (infinitive)
He saw me/you/us/them/him/her smoking (-ing participle)
I/you/we/they/he/she laughed, delighted with the news (-ed participle)
What is traditionally called tense usage refers to the use of various simple and complex finite verb phrase constructions to express various meanings. In a stricter sense there are only two tenses in English--present and past. Time reference is a semantic concept which is often confused with tense. The sentence
The train arrives at 5:30 tomorrow morning
contains a verb in the present tense (arrives) but with future time reference, since the event referred to will happen sometime after the moment of speaking. Again, in a strict sense there is no future tense in English, but future time reference can be expressed by various verbal constructions.
Aspect, mood and voice are also much-used terms that are subject to confusion. What is traditionally called -the present perfect tense (e.g. He has worked), for example, is really a combination of present tense and perfective aspect. There are three aspects in English: simple, perfective and progressive (also called continuous). Simple aspect is expressed by a lexical verb with no auxiliary (e.g. He worked). Perfective aspect is expressed by the combination of have + -ed participle (He has worked), progressive aspect by be + -ing participle (He is working). The moods are indicative (e.g. He works, He has worked, etc.), imperative (e.g. Work!) and subjunctive (So be it!). Voice is either active or passive. Passive voice is expressed by be + -ed participle; other verb constructions are active. Infinitives, like finite verbs, also express aspect and voice, but not tense or mood, e.g.:
I expect
to win (simple aspect, active voice)
to have won (perfective aspect)
to be working all day (progressive aspect)
to be attacked (passive voice)
The errors described in the following sections are for the most part what one would call errors in "tense usage", in the loose sense of the term. In other words most of these errors involve a mistaken choice of one or another of the various finite verb constructions with regard to the expression of a particular meaning. In 2.1-2 the errors involve the choice among various constructions to express present, past or future time reference. 2.3 and 2.4 deal with errors involving the misuse or omission of progressive and perfective aspect. Conditional sentences, which have special rules regarding the choice of verb phrase, are discussed in 2.5. Errors involving modal and other auxiliary verbs are treated in 2.6-7, the subjunctive in 2.8, the formation of the simple past and past participle in 2.9-, and subject-verb agreement in 2.10.