English Verb Help (and How to Improve)
If anyone struggles with tenses in English, here's what to do:
- Go to Google and type in English conjugation Reverso
- Click on Reverso's website
- In the search box, type any verb or a form of a verb
- Press search
- Look up the tense you need
- If you're not sure what the names of the tenses mean in English, then look them up in your native language first (tenses have the same functions, regardless of which language)
POST 1-- TO BE CONTINUED
Visual help for the instructions I have given above:
Now below, you can see that Reverso already gives you some popular verbs:
Type in a verb in the search bar, and then click the yellow 'Conjugate' button:
Remember that if you don't understand what words like present, or preterite mean, you need to check what these words mean in your native language first.
Ditto for other tenses like those below:
Now, here's what you need to do if you don't know the names or meanings of tenses.
Say, for example, your first language is French. You need to find a French resource that teaches English to French people. Then you need to find any section dealing with verbs.
I have gone through this Where In The World Do You Live? thread to provide resources for different languages:
INDONESIAN: English Verbs
POLISH: English Verbs
SWEDISH: Learn English
ROMANIAN: English Verbs
GERMAN: English Verbs
ITALIAN: English Verbs
SPANISH: English Verbs
ARABIC: English Verbs (only Arabic speakers can tell what this says; my Arabic isn't that anywhere near that good!)
CZECH: English Verbs
DUTCH: English Verbs
Some more important techniques for ensuring that your stories use verb tenses correctly:
You should have copies of the Harry Potter books with you while writing, and especially while editing. I prefer to use physical copies, but you can use ebooks if you prefer.
Because English is not your native language, you should preferably have both the English language edition and the edition in your native language. If you're fluent in English, this advice doesn't apply. If, for any reason, you don't have access to one or the other, then you'll need a bilingual dictionary to help you with unknown words.
With an English version, you can highlight or underline verbs and verb forms, and make a list, so that you always have something to say in your fanfiction story.
If you don't know how to spot the verbs and verb forms, then you'll need a copy of the Harry Potter books in your original language, and then to look up the verbs in a bilingual dictionary (for example, if you are Polish, you would use a Polish to English dictionary).
You can keep practicing this technique until you know the kinds of verbs you'll need to use for your fanfiction story.
