Easy Way to Learn English Verb Tenses / HE SINGS (PRESENT SIMPLE)
You cannot neglect verb if you want to learn English well. Also you cannot ignore time if you want to know verb well / improve your knowledge of verb. To truly understand when native English speakers use different tenses, the context is important. Therefore, listening and reading more will definitely help before you can use those tenses appropriately in reality.
WHAT IS THE ACTION
Let's think of one verb that describes what the man is doing?
VERB FORMS
HOW TO CREATE THE ENDING 'S'
V5 form is the focus of this lesson so we need to learn how to turn V1 into V5 so V5 forms of all verbs have the ending 's'.
The first rule of V5 form is to add 's' to a verb, like 'sings'. One exception is 'have'. You need to delete 've' and then add 's' so the V5 form of 'have' is 'has'.
Before learning the second rule, you should know vowel letters are a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes y. If they are not a, e, i, o, u, then they are consonant letters.
This rule is to add 'es' to a verb and there are two situations in which you should do this. First, when the end of a verb has the endings 'ch', 'sh', 's', 'z', and 'x'. For example, 'es' is added to the verb 'teach' so V5 of 'teach' is 'teaches'. Second, when you see a consonant letter followed by the letter 'o' at the end of a verb, add 'es' to the verb, eg. 'do' is turned into 'does'.
If at the end of a verb is a consonant letter followed by the letter 'y', leave out 'y' and add 'ies' to the verb, eg. 'fly' and 'flies'. However, in the verb 'play', you can see a vowel letter 'a' followed by 'y' instead of a consonant letter with 'y' so you only need to add 's' to the verb 'play'.
PRONOUNCIATION 1:
After we have learned the rules of V5 endings, we should also know how to pronounce them. The first one we should learn is the sounds /ɪz/. When the end of the verb is pronounced like /ʃ/, /tʃ/, /ʒ/, /dʒ/, /s/, or /z/, 'the sounds of added 'es' are /ɪz/. For example, 'washes' is pronounced like /'wɑːʃɪz/ and 'fixes' sounds like /'fɪksɪz/.
PRONOUNCIATION 2:
If the end of the verb does not sound like in rule number one but a voiceless sound, then added 's' is pronounced like /s/, eg. works /wɜːks/. When you pronounce a voiceless sound, you cannot feel vibration at your throat.
PRONOUNCIATION 3:
Make sure the ending of the verb does not sound like any in rule one first. If it is one of the other voiced sounds, you should pronounce the added 's' as /z/, eg. learns /lɜːnz/. When a voiced sound is pronounced, you can feel vibration at your throat.
WHEN TO USE V5 FORM
Now it's time to know when V5 form, like 'sings', is used.
Among I, you, he, she, it, we, you and they, only 'he', 'she', 'it' can come with 'sings'.
If the subject, someone (sb) or something (sth), is he, she or it, then the second step is to check if the action or state matches any of the following situations. If the two conditions exist in a sentence, the verb should take the V5 form.
[Repeated Action]
If it is a repeated action following the subjects 'he', 'she' or 'it', V5 form can be used.
Context: Tom walks differently when he is a bit tired after school. (Based on the context, we will understand what happens in the example better.)
Example: He often scuffs his feet. (V5: scuffs)
-who (sb, meaning 'someone'): he
-what is the repeated action: often scuffs his feet
When we talk about a fact and it is still true now, we use the V5 form.
Context: The chemistry teacher is talking about water.
Example: It boils at 100ºC. (V5: boils)
-what (sth, meaning 'something'): it (meaning 'the water')
-what is the fact: boils at 100ºC
[Fact Now + Repeated Action]
Sometimes a sentence includes two of the situations in which V5 can be used. Look at the example below.
Context: My brother likes singing when he takes a shower.
Example: He sings in the shower every day. (V5: sings)
-who: he (meaning 'my brother')
-what is the fact: sings in the shower
-what is the repeated action: sings every day
When sport commentators report on live sporting events (so called 'running commentary'), they use V5 verbs if the subject is he, she or it.
Context: This is from a TV commentator on the Wimbledon Championships now.
Example: He slips but manages to regroup himself. (V5: slips, manages)
-who: he (one tennis player)
-what is the action mentioned in the running commentary: slips but manages to regroup himself
[Timetable / Schedule]
When we describe what the timetable or schedule tells us, V5 verbs are used.
Context: Now it's 10:30. We are looking at the train timetable and discussing which one to take.
Example: The next train leaves at 11:20. (V5: leaves)
-what: the next train (or 'it')
-what is the schedule: leaves at 11:20
When you tell a story, use V5 verbs.
Context: My brother is telling me the story in a movie he just watched.
Example: The guy sneaks out of the house then. (V5: sneaks)
-who: the guy (or 'he')
-what is the action in the story: sneaks out of the house then
In the news headlines, we often see V5 verbs are used.
Context: I found this news headline on TVNZ website on November 16.
Example: 'South Australia Covid-19 cluster explodes to 17 cases' (V5: explodes)
-what: South Australia Covid-19 cluster (or 'it')
-what is the schedule: explodes to 17 cases
Watch the video over and over again so you can learn by listening and speaking, which is the key to English learning.
[Reminder] Watch the video before starting reading the text and you can see all the pictures together if you click on one of them! You can also use the 'Translate' tool on the blog to help you understand the text. What's better, all the key vocabulary in my examples ranges from elementary to advanced levels (CEFR: A1~C2 / IELTS: 1~9) so you will learn a lot of English words if you keep studying each lesson. You will also benefit more if you use a dictionary to help you. Finally, don't forget to use English in daily life so all the grammar/vocabulary can be stored in your mind easier. While using this language, you are also learning from others and observing when is the appropriate context for different usages.
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