A practical english grammar - Vyssaja skola 1978
Chapter 3 - Present tense of ordinary verbs
Sound symbols
By “ordinary verb” we mean a verb other than be. As we saw in Chapter 2, be is exceptional in its grammar. Ordinary verbs do not follow the same rules as be.,
Forms of the present tense. In the affirmative statement, English verbs have two forms in the present tense.
You can easily observe the similarity between the formation of the s-form of verbs and the plural of nouns. The endings and the rules for their choice are the same. This form is unusually regular; only three verbs in English have irregular s-forms, and of those, one is irregular in sound only.
Agreement of subject and verb. Subjects and verbs can occur together only if they follow certain rules. In the present tense, the rules for the agreement of the subject and the verb (or the auxiliary) are these:
1) The s-form is used with the subjects he, she, or it, or any noun construction that one of these pronouns can replace. (Since most subjects of the s-form are singular, this form is often referred to as the “third person singular” of the English verb.)
2) The base form is used with all other subjects.
Negative. The negative particle n’t and the word not can not be used with ordinary verbs as they are with be. Until about 1700, it was possible in English to say “He works not,” but the modern rule is that n’t and not can be used only with be or the auxiliaries. (An auxiliary verb is a helping verb, added to make a verb phrase.) Therefore, in the negative construction in present-day English, the auxiliary do (s-form does) is added, with the negative particle n’t attached: don’t (/downt/) and doesn’t (/dəzənt/). Do has no meaning of its own; its function in this kind of construction is merely to supply something that n’t and not can be used with.
AFFIRMATIVE NEGATIVE
They sing. They don’t (do not) dance.
He works. He doesn’t (does not) play.
Question form. The question form of the sentence is made by reversing the order of subject and verb, as we saw in our discussion of be. But, again, things are not so simple with ordinary verbs. Such combinations as “Works John?” and “Sing they?” are not used in modern English, though they can be found in older English. Instead, the auxiliary do again comes into the picture, this time as something for the subject to follow in interrogative constructions.
They sing. . Do they sing?
He works. Does he work?
They don’t dance. Don’t they dance?
He doesn’t play. Doesn’t he play?
They do not dance. Do they not dance?
He does not play. Does he not play?
Notice that in the negative question the particle n’t is attached to do or does, while not comes just before the verb.
Special negative and question forms for HAVE. The verb have represents an exception to the statements just made about the negative and question forms. In British English and in some American English, have combines directly with n’t or not to form the negative, and have and its subject can be reversed to form questions, in both cases without the use of do. This is possible only when have means “possess,” it must be remembered.
I have some money.
Have you any money?
I haven’t any money.
Most American speakers would say “Do you have any money?” and “I don’t have any money” for the last two examples.
Meanings of the present tense. In some ways, the name “present” is a bad one for this tense, since most of its meanings do not relate something that is happening right now. Some modern grammarians prefer to call it “actual” or “non-past,” but we will continue to use the traditional term, since it is the most familiar. Following are some of the meanings that this tense has in modern English:
1) Characteristic, repeated, or habitual actions
My grandfather wears glasses when he reads.
The postman calls every day.
Helen plays the piano very well.
The sun rises in the east.
2) Demonstration, stage directions, summaries of plots
Observe that I add water to the solution, which then turns red. Mary walks toward the door, hesitates a moment, then goes out.
Robinson Crusoe meets Friday after he has been alone for many years.
3) Future actions, usually scheduled or confidently expected (except status verbs, see Chapter 5).
The President leaves for Europe tomorrow.
4) Declarations, announcements, proclamations, etc.
The committee announces that the winner is Miss Barton.
I declare tomorrow a holiday.
5) Contemporary reality with status verbs
(See Chapter 5 for a discussion of status verbs.)