In the rich tapestry of grammar, verbs are the mischievous sprites that breathe life into our sentences, darting about with their actions, states, and occurrences. They shift their shapes with a bewildering array of grammatical guises

tense – aspect – mood – voice

Each category tweaks the verb’s form just so, ensuring that every sentence paints the perfect picture.

Tense is our first port of call, dealing with the when of our verb’s antics:

• the present tense, showing actions in the now—like me, writing this sentence
• the past tense, for those actions that have toddled off into history—I wrote
• the future, for the promise of action yet to come—I will write.

Aspect, a close ally of tense, tells us more about the timeline:

• the simple aspect keeps it, well, simple (I write)
• the progressive has a nifty -ing ending to show ongoing action (I am writing)
• the perfect tosses in a ‘have’ to show actions completed at a time that still affects the now (I have written).

Mood, which is all about attitude:

• the indicative mood is your everyday, factual, nothing-to-see-here mode (I write because I must)
• the imperative mood, meanwhile, is rather bossy (Write!)
• the subjunctive mood loves a good daydream (If I were to write…).

Voice rounds off our quartet, pointing out who is doing what to whom. Active voice places the subject front and centre (I write the script), while the passive voice lets the subject take a backseat (The script is written by me).

To see these cheeky verb forms in action, consider these examples:

• “She sings beautifully” (present simple) versus “She is singing beautifully” (present progressive)
• “He completed the task” (past perfect) compared to “The task was completed by him” (passive).

Each twist of the verb’s form gives us a fresh shade of meaning, a new angle on the tale. So, whether you’re commanding, questioning, or dreaming in your sentences, remember: it’s all about the verb.