Do you know what verb aspect is? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on verb tenses, including its definition, usage, example sentences, and more!
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According to Walden, there are many different aspects or tenses of verbs in the English language:
past perfect tense
past participle
Simple past tense
Conditional perfect tense
Simple future tense
verb tenses
present tense verbs
Future progressive tense
past progressive tense
Perfect passive tense
perfect tenses
Future perfect tense
simple tenses
past tense verbs
progressive verb tense
Past progressive/continuous tense
Present perfect tense
present progressive tense
future verb tenses
Present perfect progressive/continuous tense
present perfect progressive tense
Conditional perfect progressive tense
Imperative tense
Indicative tense
Future perfect progressive tense
Conditional progressive tense
perfect progressive tense
To-infinitive tense
Simple conditional tense
Past perfect progressive tense
past tenses
Subjunctive tense
future tense
present tense
Present participle tense
simple present tense
Imperfect tense
perfect verb tense
Gerund tense or gerund phrase
progressive tenses
Conditional tense
Past participle tense
Bare infinitive tense
These are all called aspects or tenses of a verb. According to Grammar Monster, aspects include the perfective aspect, progressive aspects, simple aspect, the indicative mood, the present progressive aspect, the continuous aspect, the completive aspect, perfective verbs, perfect progressive aspect, an imperfective verb, the infinitive form, subjunctive mood, perfect progressive tenses, the imperfective aspect, and more. These are all used for different things such as ongoing action, a complete action, general truths, things in present time, past actions, repetition, habitual action, things that happened in past time, et cetera. The present tense form of the verb discusses currently happening action, for example. The future tense verbs refer to future action that will be taken. There are many different verb tenses with regular verbs and irregular verbs are conjugated differently. These different tenses may seem confusing at first, but after a lesson they will be second nature.
See if you can determine which aspect the following sentences from Your Dictionary are in.Â
 You will meet Joe at the next party. (a prediction)
 Erin smokes.
 By next week, she will have been traveling for six months.
 My alarm rings at seven. (it will ring whether I am there to hear it or not)
 Jessica will take the elevator on Thursday. (a prediction based on observation)
 He quit drinking many years ago.
 I have been cooking for days.
 The party starts at eight. (a scheduled event)
 I walk to work every day.
 He had been traveling for 36 hours.
 He will have finished his science project by the time school starts.
 I will walk to work tomorrow. (a promise and prediction)
 You met Joe at Jim’s party.
  I have eaten dinner already.
 Jim doesn’t drink anymore.
 Erin will spend thousands of dollars on tobacco this year. (a prediction based on calculation)
 The elevator inspector comes on Tuesday. (an unchanging appointment)
 Jessica always takes the elevator.
 Erin smoked 20 cigarettes on Friday.
 By 8 P.M., the oven will be roasting.
 The candles are flickering.
 They had danced for over three hours before going home.
 The castle was shining in the moonlight.
 I walked to work yesterday.
 Jim’s AA meeting is next Wednesday. (a scheduled event)
 Jessica took the elevator this morning.
 Jim won’t drink any kind of alcohol. (a prediction based on observation)
 Do you know Joe?
What are other grammar terms?
There are many different literary and grammatical techniques and devices that you might see when you are reading prose or poetry. It is important to recognize these terms because they are always used for some purpose. Knowing these devices can help readers understand the author’s deeper meaning and why they are using such a device. Take a look at the below list of grammatical devices from OED and see how many you know! Then try researching ones that are unfamiliar to you.Â
   participle | past participle | present participle
   article
   preposition (prep.)
   impersonal (impers.)
   tense
   passive infinitive
   apposition
   possessive adjective
   prepositional passive
   number
   accusative
   modal verb | modal auxiliary verb | modal auxiliary
   locative
   nominal relative | nominal relative clause
   gerund
   case
   direct object
   sentence adverb |sentence adverbial
   head
   cognate object
   quasi-
   infinitive
   abstract
   feminine
   filler
   clause
   masculine
   noun phrase
   inflection | inflected | inflectional
   definite article
   appositive
   causative
   direct question
   first person
   relative
   plural
   collective noun
   subjunctive
   verb (v.)
   compound | compounding
   protasis
   gender
   present participle
   unmarked genitive
   past tense
   indirect question
   comparative
   interrogative
   adverb (adv.)
   object | direct object | indirect object
   special use
   vocative
   determiner
   parasynthetic
   anticipatory
   declarative
   indirect speech
   ellipsis | elliptical
   person
   pro-form
   construction
   agree | agreement
   combination
   agent noun
   indicative
   indefinite
   possessive
   noun (n.)
   positive
   perfect
   phrase (phr.)
   morpheme
   subjective
   neuter
   adverbial | adverbially
   transitive
   copular verb | copula
   attributive
   pronoun (pron.)
   reflexive
   genitive
   progressive
   subject
Overall, there are many different verb tenses and aspects in the English language. Verbs are a grammatical category. Try seeing if you can spot different verb aspects used in sentences today.
Kevin Miller is a growth marketer with an extensive background in Search Engine Optimization, paid acquisition and email marketing. He is also an online editor and writer based out of Los Angeles, CA. He studied at Georgetown University, worked at Google and became infatuated with English Grammar and for years has been diving into the language, demystifying the do's and don'ts for all who share the same passion! He can be found online here.