| Present Tense | Past Tense | Future Tense |
|---|---|---|
| He lives here. | He lived here. | He will live here. |
| The sun shines. | The sun shone. | The sun will shine. |
| I know him. | I knew him. | I shall know him. |
FORMS OF THE PRESENT AND THE PAST
218. The present and the past tense have special forms of inflection.
For the moment we will consider the form which the verb has when its subject is the first personal pronoun I.
In the present tense the verb has its simplest form, without any inflectional ending.
- I like it.
- I hope for the best.
- I dwell in the wilderness.
- I find him amusing.
219. The past tense is formed in two ways, and a verb is classed as weak or strong in accordance with the way in which it forms this tense.
1. Weak verbs form the past tense by adding ed, d, or t to the present.
Examples:
- mend, mended;
- select, selected;
- fill, filled;
- glow, glowed;
- talk, talked;
- revere, revered;
- dwell, dwelt.