THE categories of person and number

There are few forms indicating person and number. The verb be has separate forms in the Present Indefinite to indicate person and number and forms to indicate number in the Past Indefinite.

PRESENT	PAST
person	singular	plural	singular	plural
1^st	am	are	was	were
2^nd	are	are	were	were
3^rd	is	are	was	were

The ending -s /-es is the marker of the third person singular in the Present Indefinite Indicative, while the other forms have no ending:

He likes music. We like music.

The category of person can be manifested in the Future tenses and in the Future-in-the past tenses, as the auxiliary shall/should can be used with the first person, while will/would can be used with all the persons:

Shall I go now? He will come later. We will help you.

I said I should come. He said he would come.

THE CATEGORIES OF TENSE AND ASPECT

The category of tense is expressed in the forms of the verbs. It is closely connected with the category of aspect. Each tense has four aspect forms - Indefinite, Continuous, Perfect, and Perfect Continuous. So, on the whole there are 16 tense-aspect forms:

TENSE	ASPECT
Present	Indefinite	Continuous	Perfect	Perfect Continuous
Past	Indefinite	Continuous	Perfect	Perfect Continuous
Future	Indefinite	Continuous	Perfect	Perfect Continuous
Future-in-the-past	Indefinite	Continuous	Perfect	Perfect Continuous

Present Indefinite - He works really hard.

Present Continuous - He is working now.

Present Perfect - He has already finished working for today.

Present Perfect Continuous - He has been working at the project for a couple of months.

THE CATEGORY OF VOICE

The category of Voice indicates the relationship of the predicate to the subject and the object of the action denoted by the predicate. The form of the active voice shows that the subject is the doer of the action. The passive voice shows that the subject of the sentence is influenced by the action:

Active voice - He usually writes letters on Saturday.

Passive voice - Letters are written every Saturday.

THE CATEGORY OF MOOD

Mood is a grammatical category, which indicates the attitude of the speaker towards the action or state expressed by the verb from the point of view of its reality.

There are three principal moods in Modern English:

The Indicative Mood shows that the action or state expressed by the verb is presented as a real fact.

You remember my brother, I am sure. They walked to the car slowly.

The forms of the Indicative Mood have tense and aspect distinctions and they can be used in the Active and Passive Voice.

The Imperative Mood is used to express a command or a request. It has only one form that coincides with the infinitive without the particle to.

Come in and close the door.

The negative form is built by means of the auxiliary verb do.

Don’t say it again. Don’t be late.

If the command or request concerns the 1^st or 3^rd person, the verb ‘let’ is used:

Let him help you. Let me help you. Let us walk a little.

Commands and requests can be also expressed by modal verbs. Remember that requests expressed by modal verbs sound more polite, while requests expressed by the Imperative Mood sound like polite commands/

The Subjunctive Mood presents the action or the state expressed by the verb as a non-fact, as something imaginary or desired:

If I were you, I would accept this proposal. I wish I could fly.

На вашем месте я бы принял это предложение. Жаль, что я не могу летать.

THE INDICATIVE MOOD

THE PRESENT INDEFINITE TENSE

(THE SIMPLE PRESENT)

FORMATION

The verb be distinguishes the category of person in the singular and the category of number.

PERSON	SINGULAR	PLURAL
I	am	are
II	are	are
III	is	are

Contracted forms of be with pronouns and with the negative particle not are very common in Spoken English:

I’m	he’s	she’s	it’s	we’re	you’re	they’re
isn’t	aren’t

The form of the Present Indefinite of other verbs coincides with the form of the Infinitive without the particle to. The third person singular form takes the ending -s, -es.

The pronunciation of the ending -s (es) varies:

1. It is pronounced [z] after vowels and voiced consonants other than sibilants and affricates:

go - goes, come - comes

2. It is pronounced [s] after voiceless consonants other than sibilants and affricates:

work - works, hope - hopes

3. It is pronounced [iz] after sibilants and affricates:

pass - passes, match – matches, wish – wishes, fix - fixes, buzz - buzzes

SPELLING RULES

The verbs ending in - s, -ss, -ch, -sh, -tch, -x, -z take - es (passes, pushes, fixes); the verbs ending in - о take -es (goes, does); the verbs ending in - у preceded by a consonant take -es and у is replaced by i (try - tries); the verb have changes into has. The other verbs take the ending -s. Interrogative and negative forms of the Present Indefinite of all the verbs except be and have (with the meaning to possess) are analytical. They are built by means of the present indefinite of the auxiliary do and the infinitive of the notional verb.

Affirmative	Interrogative
I read He, she, it reads We read You read They read	Do I read? Does he, she, it read? Do we read? Do you read? Do they read?
Negative	Negative – Interrogative
I do not (don’t) read He, she, it doesnot (doesn’t) read We do not (don’t) read You do not (don’t) read They do not (don’t) read	Do I not (Don’t I) read? Does he, she, it not (Doesn’t he, she, it) read? Do we not (Don’t we) read? Do you not (Don’t you) read? Do they not (Don’t they) read?