Editing English language (section)

==== Tense, aspect and mood ====

English has two primary tenses, past (preterite) and non-past. The preterite is inflected by using the preterite form of the verb, which for the regular verbs includes the suffix ''-ed'', and for the strong verbs either the suffix ''-t'' or a change in the stem vowel. The non-past form is unmarked except in the third person singular, which takes the suffix ''-s''.{{sfn|Huddleston|Pullum|2002|page=51}}

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|+
|-
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" | Present
! scope="col" | Preterite
|-
! scope="row" | First person
| ''I run'' || ''I ran''
|-
! scope="row" | Second person
| ''You run'' || ''You ran''
|-
! scope="row" | Third person
| ''John runs'' || ''John ran''
|}

English does not have future verb forms.{{sfn|Huddleston|Pullum|2002|pages=208–210}} The future tense is expressed periphrastically with one of the auxiliary verbs ''will'' or ''shall''.{{sfn|Huddleston|Pullum|2002|page=51–52}} Many varieties also use a [[near future tense|near future]] constructed with the [[phrasal verb]] ''be going to'' ("[[going-to future]]").{{sfn|Huddleston|Pullum|2002|pages=210–11}}

{| class="wikitable"
|-
|+
|-
! scope="col" |
! scope="col" |Future
|-
! scope="row" | First person
| ''I will run''
|-
! scope="row" | Second person
| ''You will run''
|-
! scope="row" | Third person
| ''John will run''
|}

Further aspectual distinctions are shown by auxiliary verbs, primarily ''have'' and ''be'', which show the contrast between a perfect and non-perfect past tense (''I have run'' vs. ''I was running''), and compound tenses such as preterite perfect (''I had been running'') and present perfect (''I have been running'').{{sfn|Huddleston|Pullum|2002|page=50–51}}

For the expression of mood, English uses a number of modal auxiliaries, such as ''can'', ''may'', ''will'', ''shall'' and the past tense forms ''could'', ''might'', ''would'', ''should''. There are also subjunctive and [[imperative mood]]s, both based on the plain form of the verb (i.e. without the third person singular ''-s''), for use in subordinate clauses (e.g. subjunctive: ''It is important that he run every day''; imperative ''Run!'').{{sfn|Huddleston|Pullum|2002|page=51–52}}

An infinitive form, that uses the plain form of the verb and the preposition ''to'', is used for verbal clauses that are syntactically subordinate to a finite verbal clause. Finite verbal clauses are those that are formed around a verb in the present or preterite form. In clauses with auxiliary verbs, they are the finite verbs and the main verb is treated as a subordinate clause.<ref name="meg">{{cite web |title=Finite and Nonfinite Clauses |url=https://myenglishgrammar.com/lesson-17-clauses/6-finite-and-nonfinite-clauses.html |website=MyEnglishGrammar.com |access-date=7 December 2019 |archive-date=7 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191207091436/http://myenglishgrammar.com/lesson-17-clauses/6-finite-and-nonfinite-clauses.html |url-status=live }}</ref> For example, ''he has to go'' where only the auxiliary verb ''have'' is inflected for time and the main verb ''to go'' is in the infinitive, or in a complement clause such as ''I saw him leave'', where the main verb is ''to see'', which is in a preterite form, and ''leave'' is in the infinitive.