The most important verb in the English language is probably 'to be', as it has to be used with
all the tenses in the passive voice and with the substitutes of the modals like 'to be able to'
or to be allowed to' and with all the tenses connected with the progressive forms of a verb.
That's why all the tense forms of 'to be' follow in the first column, whereas the second and third
columns contain the tenses of the verb 'to catch - caught - caught' in the simple and progressive
forms (active voice):
Present Tense
Past Tense
Present Perfect
Past Perfect
Future Tense
Future Perfect
Conditional I
Conditional II
|
he is
he was
he has been
he had been
he will be
he will have been
he would be
he would have been
|
he catches
he caught
he has caught
he had caught
he will catch
he will have caught
he would catch
he would have caught
|
he is catching
he was catching
he has been catching
he had been catching
he will be catching
he will have been catching
he would be catching
he would have been catching
|
All the tense forms of 'to catch' now follow in the passive voice:
Present Tense
Past Tense
Present Perfect
Past Perfect
Future Tense
Future Perfect
Conditional I
Conditional II
|
he is caught
he was caught
he has been caught
he had been caught
he will be caught
he will have been caught
he would be caught
he would have been caught
|
he is being caught
he was being caught
all other tenses
do not occur
|
|
Linguistic feature: expressing the future:
| Future forms |
Speech intentions |
| I'll spend my holidays on Scotland. |
Either neutral or a spontaneous decision |
| I'm spending my holidays in Scotland. |
A fixed personal plan |
| I'll bespending my holidays in Scotland. |
A fixed plan arranged by somebody else. |
| I'm going to spend my holidays in Scotland. |
Personal intention to do something. |
| I'm going to be spending my holidays in Scotland. |
Being absolutely sure that something will happen. |
|
