Get Your Grammar Fix(ed): Participles

Last week, I talked about verbs which masquerade as other parts of speech. For the sake of being thorough and keeping things together for our new readers, I'm bringing Perry Participle back for another round. If you read this last year, you're free to decide whether the refresher will benefit you or no. 

Perfect Progressive Verbs

I hear Mike Myers--er, Linda Richman--in my head, hosting Coffee Talk, with the thick NY accent. "Perfect Progressive verb forms are neither perfect nor progressive. Discuss."

We'll hit this one fast and hard, because honestly? There are only a few legitimate reasons to use the perfect progressive verb form. And there's probably a better, simpler way to say the same thing. But for the sake of follow-through, here you go.

Just like the perfect form, you'll use a form of "have," to indicate that an action has ALREADY been completed before the time in question.

Perfect: I have laughed.

I had laughed. I will have laughed.  

And just like your progressive forms, you'll use "-ing" to show CONTINUOUS action in that time frame.

Progressive: We are discussing.

We were discussing. We will be discussing.

Only with perfect progressive, you combine them, clunkifying your sentence in an abhorrent fashion. 

Present perfect progressive: 

"has" or "have" + "been" + (verb)-ing

I have been telling my boys to go to bed for the last thirty minutes, so I am justifiably aggravated.

In fiction, I'd much rather read, "I already told them to go to bed. I'm done. It's on now." Of course, that is clearly fiction, because my children are perfect, and I am a mother who always does the right thing. (Oh, wait. I'm confused. One is fiction, one is non-fiction. You decide.)

Past perfect progressive: "had" + "been" + (verb)-ing

The unpredictable weather in those mountains endangered everyone without partiality. Rafe had been kayaking the day before the blizzard. He wasn't prepared, and the blinding snow kept him from the safety of the cabin.

There are times when this is necessary. If a writer chooses to tell the story in simple past tense and needs to indicate that something happened earlier--a memory, a flashback--this might be a good option. But don't overuse them. You can segue into the memory sequence or flashback and--once it's well-established--revert back to simple past. Just be sure it's clear when you come back to the main story timeline itself.

Now future perfect progressive: 

"will have" + "been" + (verb)-ing

Unless you have an absolutely legitimate reason to indicate that, up until the time in question, someone will have either a) continuously, b) frequently been performing some act, RESIST.

By the time you get to this example, you will have been reading for a solid minute, so it's time for me to sign off.


Thanks to the Roosevelts and Julie Edgely for the images.

Get Your Grammar Fix(ed): Perfect Verb Forms

We're talking about perfect verb forms today. 

We've covered the satellite view of all the forms and tenses. We've talked about simple forms. We've seen progressive verb forms in action. And now, without further ado:

Perfect.

There were three of them in the paragraph above. Did you catch them?

Truly short and sweet. These verb forms indicate that an action has already been completed when it's mentioned. When in doubt whether you need the perfect form, try inserting "already" to see.

Perfect present: "has" or "have" + the past participle
(often referred to simply as "perfect")

I have stumbled over my own pride.

The criminal has repented of his actions.

We have already eaten five pies. What's one more?

Past perfect: "had" + the past participle
(in other languages "pluperfect")

Garfield had devoured so much lasagna, he couldn't roll over.

I had told you I wouldn't sing tonight, Lorne.

Future perfect: "will have" + the past participle

By the time you get here, we will have danced holes in our socks.

I will have written too many unrelated sentences.

And for Boyfriend-Who-Is-My-Husband, who likes to help because he loves me: 

"The watch-watcher will have watched so many watch-watchers that he will be in the Guinness Book for the Most Watch-Watchers Watched."

That's it. Perfect verb forms aren't hard. And they are NECESSARY when you're writing a story in the past tense but telling about an event that's already happened. Just don't overuse PAST PERFECT. It had gotten old FAST, in a few of books I read this year. (That last sentence is a joke, people. In order to make it work, as an editor, I know it needs the simple past, "It got old fast.")

But you have gotten the picture, yes?

More jokes.

For a chance to win a $10 Starbucks gift card, comment below if you know where BWIMH's watch-watcher reference came from.

Thanks for swinging by,

Thanks to Exterscope and El Hermiguero for the images.

Get Your Grammar Fix(ed): Progressive Verbs

We've done the bird's-eye view of verb tenses and forms.

We've homed in on the simple forms of past, present, and future. And we've talked about why those are usually best for writing.

Today, we zoom in to inspect the progressive forms. These bebes are easy to spot, because they all end in -ING. 

I will be eating this cobbler again as soon as humanly possible.

I shouldn't have captioned the pic above, "I will be eating..." because that's not the truth.

I'll eat it. Plain and simple. Done. Where you can stick with the simple form, do it.

One caveat about recognizing these, though: I'm not talking about present participles. If the -ING word functions as an adjective, positioning itself after a comma, wooing you with its descriptive prowess, informing you of some hard-to-convey-otherwise nuance, it's a present participle. That's another post.

So, what exactly is the progressive form of a verb? It's a verb which indicates continuous action. Are there times when this form is necessary? Sure. 

But don't write, "The newlyweds were dancing." Write, "They danced."

Sometimes--especially in fiction--you'll need to communicate that characters did something habitually. It was their thing. But you don't always have to use the progressive form.

But why say, "They were wrestling all the time"? Say, "They used to wrestle." 

Or, "The couple would wander the antique stores and specialty shops each morning on their vacation."

It's easy to be cavalier with the progressive "-ING" form, but it often results in lazy, wordy writing. Whatever you do, never do a whole scene or story that way.

Past tense: "was" or "were" + the progressive form

     Katie and Rhonda were listening to Allison's sweet, smooth soprano at Kelly's party. The speaker was amplifying it and the decibel level rivaled the Level 2 Dance Club's. 

     Robert was hunching his shoulders and hiding in the shadows, waiting for something dramatic to occur.

Present tense: "am" or "is" + the progressive form

     Eren, never far from the hors d'oeuvres, muttered, "If Kelly thinks she is challenging me for the last chocolaty-chockeroo cupcake, she loses. I am totally springing for it." And she did. Right then. 

     Just as Allison's song ended, Eren dove for the table. Fudgy frosting all over her hands, she darted behind a potted plant to take her time with the delectable dessert.

Future tense: "will be" + the progressive form

     Robert, always the instigator, observed Eren's shenanigans and grabbed the mic. "Here it comes, you guys. When Kelly sees this, there'll be defenestrating in the house! (Or should I say 'out of the house'?)" His wheezy laugh sounded odd in the speakers. "Too bad we're not a few stories higher." 

     Kelly pointed a finger at the lemon tree in the corner. "I see you, Eren, and I will be knocking that cupcake out of your hands in two seconds."

     Mrs. Kaufman, the janitor, harrumphed in the doorway. "I can tell you punk kids one thing: I won't be cleaning up this mess. Not tonight. Not ever. I'll be turning in my keys." 

    Eren and Kelly rolled past her, a cocoa-covered undignified mess. It turned out that, while Katie and Rhonda enjoyed Allison's new tunes, the music wasn't the highlight of the evening after all.

Whew! That little gem of a story was brought to you by a Facebook verb-brainstorming session. And those folks did not make it easy to use all their words. Thanks, characters.

Anyhoo, as you can see, the progressive form indicates continuous action in whatever tense it's used. The story could absolutely benefit from cutting the progressive tenses and using the simple form. But I shall not bore you with it. 

Go and write well. Write simply. 

Variety, people. It makes your words sing.

Thanks to MrTinDC, Christopher Michel, Allison Singleton, and Sarah Robinson for the images.

Verbs: Keeping It Simple

Happy National Grammar Day, peoples. Let's get our Grammar Fix(ed)!

If you missed the bird's-eye view of verbs, check it out here. Today, we're going to home in on the simple forms of a verb.

The simple form indicates that an action occurs and usually implies that it wasn't repeated.

I choked on frozen Reese's pieces once. 

Erynn stared in numb disbelief. 

Now, we remember.

We joke. 

But she will perform the Heimlich next time. Or else.

Or else what? Maybe the story will end badly. #SadTimes

Let's move on.

Every verb has five principle parts. I'll give a shout out to Kristen Brandsema Lowery and use "sprinkle" and "fall" as examples.

Infinitive: to sprinkle, to fall

Present: sprinkle(s), fall(s)

Past: sprinkled, fell

Present participle: sprinkling, falling

Past participle: sprinkled, fallen

These five parts are used as building blocks for verbs in the English language. In many other languages, if a verb changes from singular to plural, or from first person to third, or from present to future perfect, prefixes and suffixes are added. The verbs themselves get longer. 

In English, we like to make the WHOLE sentence longer. So how does this affect our writing? (C'mon. I'm an editor. You know I have an ulterior motive).

Listen, it takes effort to keep sentences tight. Tossing in a helping verb here and there is as easy as breathing. We're often careless. It's cutting back that challenges us.

Here's an important rule: As much as your story will allow, stick to the simple forms. They're uncomplicated, concise. 

So quickly, the basics:

For all simple forms, you use either the present or the past principle part.

SIMPLE PAST: past 

Kristen sprinkled cinnamon on her hot cocoa.

I fell on the ice. #NotReally 

SIMPLE PRESENT: present (See how easy these are?)

Freezing rain sprinkles the window sill and glazes everything I can see.

It seems like I fall once every year. #SoFarSoGood #MiraclesHappen

SIMPLE FUTURE: "will" + present  

Boyfriend-Who-Is-My-Husband will sprinkle salt on the sidewalk, but I'm pretty sure I'll fall anyway. #Seriously

GIFSoup

In fiction, most stories are told in the past tense, whether they're in first person or third person. But there's still one thing I see too often.

Simple past plus the infinitive. I didn't start to choke. I choked.

That grizzly doesn't begin to slip. He busts it. #FullRecovery

Though they exist, times when it's necessary to show something starting to happen are rare. Always look for ways to tighten the verbiage when you see those wind-ups. 

Now...tell me some one-sentence stories in the comments. Use simple forms only.

One last CRUCIAL thing: Do NOT miss next week's Spelunking Speculative Fiction post from Susan Kaye Quinn, rocket scientist and indie author phenom just in time for her new release (on sale even now for $0.99). She'll give us the lowdown on worldbuilding in The Legacy Human (Singularity #1).

Thanks to Stuart Miles and allesmist for the images.

Verb Tenses: A Bird's-Eye View

Get your grammar fix(ed) in a minute or less. For the next four Grammar posts (tucked in between our Spelunking Speculative Fiction posts), we're gonna get down and dirty with verb tenses.

Why? Because it's important to writing. Writing comes across as weak if your characters are only BEING instead of doing. Or if they're THINKING about their next plan of action. Honestly, even if they're STARTING to get to it. 

They need to do it. Act. 

Nobody wants to read about the windup. They want to watch the pitch. They want to trace the arc of the bat on the swing and the follow-through. See the ball rocket through the blue, clear the fence.

Is the windup important? Of course. But that doesn't mean it needs to own the page.

It gets a mention. It's the setup.

So let's figure out how to master the verb tenses. When we talk about verb tenses, we're actually discussing two different things: 

tense and form

I'll give you the bird's-eye view today, and then over the next four Get Your Grammar Fix(ed) posts, we'll land on theforms one at a time and take a look around. 

We'll see how it applies to writing.

So hop on the back of this Middle Earth eagle with me, and let's get up there. See what's what.

(Yeah, that's a cool pic. I'll let you pause for a second.)

Okay. There are three verb tenses, and I think they require zero explanation. I'm sure you'll agree. 

present

past

future

For each one of those tenses, there are four options to express the action. Each form implies something different.

simple

perfect

progressive

perfect-progressive

SIMPLE. The action happens (or doesn't, if you toss in "not"). Once. That's it.

 Beat, Quinn sank into the chair.

PERFECT. The action already happened, before the time referenced in the rest of the sentence or paragraph. 

Sandy didn't give a rip how tired he was. She had waited hours for news.

PROGRESSIVE. This is used when you need to indicate that the action continues during the given time frame.

"So," she said. "Spit it out. I'm listening."

PERFECT-PROGRESSIVE. Not as common, this form combines the perfect and the progressive forms. The action was happening continuously (or used to happen) before the time frame in the rest of the scene. If you write fiction, you better have a good reason to utilize this baby. It's cumbersome.

     Quinn rolled his eyes.

     "Don't. Don't do that. While you've been out there in the thick of this, I've had to sit here and wonder. My mind has been creating the worst possible scenarios. You need to fill me in."

Got it? These verb tenses and forms all get combined, and you use the combos to communicate exactly what you intend. In the weeks ahead, we'll discuss which work the best in fiction, and we'll talk about when the others could be argued as necessary.

But in general, it's best to keep it simple.

Here are all 12 tense/form combos in all their glory:

simple present

simple past

simple future

present perfect

past perfect

future perfect

present progressive

past progressive

future progressive

present perfect progressive

past perfect progressive

future perfect progressive

See? Even in a list, some of them look tiresome. You won't use all of these in your writing, but it happens. 

It has happened. 

It will be happening.

Occasionally.

Comment below with a sentence of your own imagination and tell me what tense and form the verb of the main clause is (if you dare). 

Fist bumps and my respect if you get it right.

Lest you think I forgot, guess who won her choice of Seek and Hide or Found and Lost by Amanda G. Stevens?

Mary Beth Dahl.

That's who. Mary Beth, Amanda will be in touch.

Thanks for swinging by.

Thanks to Mutant Surfing, Brandon Dierker, and Chrisjtse for the images.