1.1. Fields of Time: basic practice

There are no inborn grammar books or language styles, and learning always requires thinking, but it does not need difficulty or limitation. The simple exercises are to help flexible habits that can contribute to advanced language skill.

Exercise 1. Let us try the grammatical person with the verbs to be, to have, and to do, for the PRESENT, PAST, and FUTURE.

In simple words, let us put the verbs in the fields of time.

With the pronouns I, you, he, she, and it, we may speak about individual objects or persons. We name this the singular, in grammar. If we already know the forms well, we can take the exercise as a mild brain-teaser: we consciously practice the fields, that is, the grammatical time, first.

Example: PRESENT, (be), she;
Answer: is.

1. PRESENT, (do), I;
2. FUTURE, (do), you;
3. PAST, (have), I;
4. PRESENT, (be), he;
5. PAST, (be), you;
6. FUTURE, (have), she;
7. PAST, (have), it;
8. PRESENT, (be), you;
9. FUTURE, (do), he;
10. PAST, (have), you.

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Exercise 2. With the persons we, you, and they, we can speak about more than one object or person. In grammar, we name this the plural. We can use the pronoun “you” for the singular and the plural, please compare ■subchapter 3.2.

1. PAST, (do), they;
2. PRESENT, (do), I;
3. PRESENT, (have), he;
4. FUTURE, (be), it;
5. FUTURE, (be), we;
6. PRESENT, (have), you;
7. FUTURE, (have), we;
8. PRESENT, (be), she;
9. PAST, (do), they;
10. FUTURE, (have), you.

Exercise 3. We tell the grammatical person and time for the verbs below. We can note “all persons”, where the form stays the same for all of them. We continue focusing on time first: we hold on to the fields of time.

Example: do;
Answer: PRESENT, I, you, we, they.

1. are; 2. will do; 3. did; 4. will have; 5. has; 6. am; 7. does; 8. had; 9. were; 10. have; 11. will be; 12. was.

Grammar practice is also about a way to think. Feel welcome to some ■MIND PRACTICE.