Akin to Modern German and Dutch, many verbs in Old English consisted of verbs with separable preposition or p-word prefixes (Fischer et al. 2000: 182; Williams 1970: 286; Strang 1974: 275). For example, the Modern German aufwachen meaning “to wake up” and the Modern Dutch uitlachen meaning “to laugh at” both consist of the separable preposition or p-word prefixes auf and uit and the verbs wachen and lachen (Fischer et al 2000: 182). When verbs with separable preposition or p-word prefixes are conjugated, however, the preposition or p-word prefix “separates” from the beginning of the verb to the end of the predicate phrase as in ich wache morgens auf meaning “I wake up in the morning.” Phrasal verbs, single semantic units formed by a verb phrase followed by a marooned preposition or p-word such as wake up, only developed in the English language during the Middle English Period (Smith 2005: 104). According to Barbara M. H. Strang in A History of English (1974: 275), the separable nature of certain intransitive verbs with preposition or p-word prefixes produced many patterns in which the separated preposition or p-word prefix immediately followed the verb as in the Modern German du kommst auf meaning “you arise” or “you get up” and wir kommen an meaning “we arrive.” Such syntax in which the preposition or p-word followed instead of preceded the verb became the preferred word order in English, which consequently developed into the modern phrasal verb (Strang 1974: 275). The English phrasal verb is therefore a rather Germanic verb construction.

Similar to nonperiphrastic verbs such as cough in The baby coughed and sneeze in My puppy sneezed on my hand, phrasal verbs may be intransitive. Intransitive verbs including intransitive phrasal verbs differ from transitive verbs in that intransitive verbs cannot or do not take objects (Jacobs 1995: 248). For example, the verb cough is always intransitive as in The baby coughed or The baby coughed during the night because cough cannot take an object as in *The baby coughed mucus or *The baby coughed the formula. Many phrasal verbs are also intransitive (Jacobs 1995: 248). In the sentences He finally showed up by the end of the party and My puppy woke up early, the phrasal verbs show up meaning “to arrive” and wake up meaning “to awake” are both intransitive because neither take objects in the example sentences. Other intransitive phrasal verbs include get up as in She got up from bed, break down as in The car broke down on the highway, die down as in The commotion finally died down, and run away as in The delinquent ran away from home (Courtney 1983: 47, 132, 231, 521). The preposition or p-word functioning as a particle almost always directly follows the verb in intransitive phrasal verb constructions as in She threw up on the floor but not *She threw on the floor up.

Phrasal verbs, like other nonperiphrastic verbs such as eat as in The cat eats her pâté and nibble as in The puppy nibbled the leaf, may also be transitive. Unlike intransitive verbs that cannot or do not have objects, transitive verbs require direct objects and may also take indirect objects (O’Dwyer 2000: 60). Most phrasal verbs, however, only take direct objects. For example, the verbs deck out and soak up as in We decked out the house for the holidays and He soaked up the information both have direct objects in the form of the noun phrases the house and the information making both phrasal verbs transitive (Courtney 1983: 125, 590). Within the transitive category, phrasal verbs may be either nonseparable or separable. Phrasal verbs in which the preposition or p-word functioning as a particle cannot move or be separated from the position directly following the verb are nonseparable (Jacobs 1993: 249). Nonseparable phrasal verbs include run into as in She ran into an old friend, stand by as in He will always stand by his wife, go for as in The cat went for the rabbit in the garden, and come across as in Lyndsey came across a rare book in the stacks (Jacobs 1993: 249). The prepositions or p-words in all the examples of the nonseparable phrasal verbs can only appear immediately after the verb. Therefore, the syntax of the phrasal verb ran into in the sentence She ran into an old friend is grammatically possible in English but *She ran an old friend into is not.

The phrasal verbs look up and chew out differ from nonseparable phrasal verbs in that the preposition or p-word functioning as a particle may appear directly after the verb or immediately following the direct object without changing the function of the preposition or p-word (Jacobs 1993: 248; Justice and Ezell 2002: 147). For example, both My mom chewed out my baby brother for being late and My mom chewed my baby brother out for being late are grammatically possible in English. According to Joseph M. Williams in Origins of the English Language: A Social and Linguistic History (1975), the separable phrasal verb construction developed as a result of the relative flexibility in the syntax of prepositions or p-words to direct objects (286-287). As abovementioned, many verbs in Old English consisted of verbs preceded by separable preposition or p-word prefixes, which moved to the end of the predicate phrase during conjugation (Williams 1970: 286). Up until the fourteenth century during the evolution of such verbs into modern phrasal verbs, the preposition or p-word in the new verb form consisting of a verb directly followed by a preposition or p-word could appear either before or after the direct object in the form of a noun phrase (Williams 1970: 286). As such prepositions or p-words stopped functioning as heads of prepositional phrases and began functioning as particles in phrasal verb constructions, the position of the preposition or p-word remained flexible (Williams 1970: 286). Therefore, while the Old English syntax of the phrasal verb look up would more closely resemble the Modern English He looked the word up and the Modern English construction should only be He looked up the word, both syntaxes remained grammatically possible for separable phrasal verbs in Modern English (Williams 1970: 287). That certain transitive phrasal verbs are separable further supports the idea that the English phrasal verb is highly Germanic in form.

Many separable phrasal verbs, however, are only optionally separable when the direct object is a noun phrase in any form other than a pronoun. Two word orders, verb-preposition/p-word-noun phrase and verb-noun phrase-preposition/p-word, are possible when the direct object is a prototypical noun phrase consisting of a noun and any number of modifiers (Fischer et al. 2000: 180). However, when the direct object is in the form of a pronoun, the preposition or p-word functioning as a particle must be separated from the verb (Jacobs 1995: 249). For example, the phrasal verb check out is optionally separable as in Many patrons check out this book and Many patrons check this book out because the direct object of the verb phrase is the noun phrase this book consisting of the determinative this and the noun book without any pronouns. If, conversely, the direct object this book is replaced by the pronoun it, then the phrasal verb check out is obligatorily separable. Therefore, the construction Many patrons check it out is grammatically possible in English but *Many patrons check out it is not because phrasal verbs with pronoun direct objects must be separable. Many prescriptive grammarians argue against the placement of the preposition or p-word after the noun phrase, stating that ending sentences with prepositions is ungrammatical according to proscriptive grammar rules. Prescriptive grammarians also claim that phrasal verbs are colloquial in register and should be avoided in formal writing because more formal nonperiphrastic synonyms also exist i.e. get up ~ arise, wake up ~ awake, look up ~ consult (Smith 2005: 104). But, the obligatorily separable construction of phrasal verbs with pronouns functioning as direct objects only strengthens the Germanic nature and therefore legitimateness of phrasal verbs in the English language.

Within the four different types — intransitive, nonseparable transitive, optionally separable transitive, and obligatorily separable transitive — phrasal verbs remain periphrastic forms whose meaning is derivable only from the combination of the verb and preposition or p-word as a single semantic unit (DeCarrico 2000: 132-133; Tyler and Evans 2003: 62). In the example He looks up the word, the meaning of the phrasal verb look up cannot be determined by the meanings of the individual verb look meaning “to visually turn attention to” and the individual preposition or p-word up meaning “at a higher point” (Fischer et al. 2000: 180). When he looks up the word, he is not visually turning his attention to a word at some higher point; he is instead searching for or consulting the word probably in a dictionary or some other reference material. That the meaning of phrasal verbs cannot be inferred by simply combining the meanings of the verb and preposition or p-word further indicates that phrasal verbs are single semantic units (Fischer et al. 2000: 180). The preposition or p-word, which in addition to the verb comprises the phrasal verb, no longer functions like a prototypical preposition or p-word but rather functions as a particle, which is part of the verb (Justice and Ezell 2002: 146). The preposition or p-word functioning as a particle in the phrasal verb look up in the example He looks up the word is therefore more grammaticized than the preposition or p-word functioning as a complement in the prepositional verbs look at or look out in the examples He looks at the sky and He looks out the window (Tyler and Evans 2003: 62). Thus, phrasal verbs are periphrastic verb constructions because the grammatical relationship is expressed not through inflection but through two or more words.

References

Courtney, Rosemary. 1983. Longman Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs. Essex, England: Longman Group Limited.
DeCarrico, Jeanette S. 2000. The Structure of English: Studies in form and function for language teaching. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Fischer, Olga, Ans Van Kemenade, Willem Koopman, and Wim van der Wurff. 2000. The syntax of early English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hopper, Paul J. 1999. A short course in grammar. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Jacobs, Roderick A. 1995. English syntax: A grammar for English language professionals. New York: Oxford University Press.
Justice, Laura M. and Helen K. Ezell. 2002. The syntax handbook: Everything you learned about syntax…but forgot. Eau Claire, Wisconsin: Thinking Publications.
O’Dwyer, Bernard. 2000. Modern English structures: Form, function, and position. Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press.
Oxford English Dictionary. 2008. Periphrasis, n. http://dictionary.oed.com.proxy2.library.uiuc.edu/cgi/entry/50175668?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=periphrasis&first=1&max_to_show=10 (12 Oct. 2008.)
Smith, Jeremy J. 2005. Essentials of early English: An introduction to old, middle and early modern English. London: Routledge.
Strang, Barbara M. H. 1974. A history of English. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd.
Tyler, Andrea and Vyvyan Evans. 2003. The semantics of English prepositions: Spatial scenes, embodied meaning and cognition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Williams, Joseph M. 1975. Origins of the English language: A social and linguistic history. New York: The Free Press.

Verb phrases in English grammar are phrases in which a verb functions as the head of the phrase. Verb phrases perform verbal, nominal, adjectival, and adverbial grammatical functions.

Verb phrase is a grammatical form.

The eleven grammatical functions performed by verb phrases are predicate, noun phrase modifier, adjective phrase complement, verb phrase complement, adverbial, subject, subject complement, direct object, object complement, indirect object, and prepositional complement.

The five grammatical forms that may appear in verb phrases are auxiliary verbs, prepositions, prepositional phrases, adverb phrases, and determiners.

References

Brinton, Laurel J. & Donna M. Brinton. 2010. The linguistic structure of Modern English, 2nd edn. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Hopper, Paul J. 1999. A short course in grammar. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Huddleston, Rodney. 1984. Introduction to the grammar of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Verb phrase complements in English grammar are words and phrases that complete the meaning of the verb phrase.

Verb phrase complement is a grammatical function.

The grammatical forms that can function as the verb phrase complement in English grammar are the prepositional phrase and the verb phrase.

The preposition of a prepositional verb functions as a verb phrase complement. The infinitive following catenative verbs functions as a verb phrase complement.

References

Brinton, Laurel J. & Donna M. Brinton. 2010. The linguistic structure of Modern English, 2nd edn. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Hopper, Paul J. 1999. A short course in grammar. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Huddleston, Rodney. 1984. Introduction to the grammar of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

To split the infinitive or to not split the infinitive, that is the question. Prescriptive grammars forbid the splitting of infinitives. Most English speaking students have been told by the grade school or high school grammar teacher to never split an infinitive. Even in college, I have had professors chastise me for splitting my infinitives. But, what exactly does it mean to split an infinitive? And, why is doing so such a grammatical sin?

The infinitive in English is a nonfinite verb form formed by the preposition or p-word to followed by the base form of the verb. The to functions as an infinitive marker. For example, to write, to eat, and to sleep are all English verbs in the infinitive form. To split an infinitive means to insert an intervening element between the preposition or p-word to and the base form of the infinitive. The most quoted example of a split infinitive in modern English is from the title sequence of the original Star Trek series: to boldly go where no man has gone before. So, why the disdain for something which sounds perfectly grammatical to the native ear and that native English speakers do all the time?

More Latin Grammar Models

The answer again is that pesky Latin grammar model. When the early grammarians were writing the “rules” for English grammar, they decided that, since infinitives in Latin could not be split by intervening elements, then infinitives in English also could not be split. Since Latin was the language to which other languages aspired, making such a rule seemed all well and good. However, those first grammarians failed to consider a rather important point: in Latin, the infinitive is a single word (similar to modern German or Spanish) and, therefore, cannot possibly be split. So, even though the form of the infinitive in English is not parallel to the form of the infinitive in Latin, a Latin grammar model is still (although falsely) applied to English.

The Position of Adverbs

The best argument for the splitting of infinitives is probably the position of adverbs in finite verb phrases. In English, a verb phrase modifier in the form of an adverb is most frequently inserted after the first auxiliary verb of a verb phrase. For example, the adverb not is placed after the modal verb (the first auxiliary) in the verb phrase could have been singing to form could not have been singing. The preposition or p-word to, which functions as an infinitive marker, can also be thought of as an auxiliary word in nonfinite verb phrases. Therefore, if the rule of inserting adverbs after the first auxiliary is to be followed, then the split infinitive is grammatically acceptable in English.

The rule against splitting infinitives in English is a false application of Latin grammar on the English language. Split infinitives are not only grammatically possible but, more importantly, frequently used by native English speakers. So, I will continue to defiantly split my infinitives and so should you.

References

DeCarrico, Jeanette S. 2000. The structure of English: Studies in form and function for language teaching. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.
Jacobs, Roderick A. 1995. English syntax: A grammar for English language professionals. New York: Oxford University Press.
Justice, Laura M. & Helen K.Ezell. 2002. The syntax handbook: Everything you learned about syntax…but forgot. Eau Claire, WI: Thinking Publications.
O’Dwyer, Bernard T. 2000. Modern English structures: Form, function, and position. Peterborough, Ontario: Broadview Press.

Infinitive markers in English grammar are function words that distinguish the base forms from the infinitive forms of English verbs. Function words perform definite grammatical functions but lack definite lexical meaning.

Infinitive marker is a grammatical function.

The grammatical form that can function as the infinitive marker in English grammar is the preposition or p-word, specifically the preposition or p-word to.

Infinitive markers are constituents of the verb phrase.

References

Brinton, Laurel J. & Donna M. Brinton. 2010. The linguistic structure of Modern English, 2nd edn. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Hopper, Paul J. 1999. A short course in grammar. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Huddleston, Rodney. 1984. Introduction to the grammar of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Modality is the grammaticalized expression of the subjective attitudes and opinions of the speaker including possibility, probability, necessity, obligation, permissibility, ability, desire, and contingency.

As a semantic-grammatical category concerned with the status of the proposition that describes the event expressed by an utterance, modality might also be construed as the relativization of the validity of sentence meanings to a set of possible worlds or ways in which people could conceive the world to be different. In other words, modality allows language users to express what is, what would be, what may be, and what should be.

All languages express modality through either grammatical mood or modal systems (or both).

The English language expresses modality through grammatical mood and modal verbs.

References

Bybee, Joan, Revere Perkins & William Pagliuca. 1994. Mood and modality. In The evolution of grammar: Tense, aspect, and modality in the languages of the world, 176-242. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Palmer, F. R. 1979. Modality and the English modals (Longman Linguistics Library). London: Longman.
Palmer, F. R. 1990. Modality and the English modals (Longman Linguistics Library), 2nd edn. London: Longman.
Palmer, F. R. 1986. Mood and modality (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Palmer, F. R. 2001. Mood and modality (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics), 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Palmer, Frank. 2003. Modality in English: Theoretical, descriptive, and typological issues. In Roberta Facchinetti, Manfred G. Krug & Frank Robert Palmer (eds.), Modality in contemporary English (Topics in English Linguistics), 1-17. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.

Copular verbs in English grammar are equating verbs that link the subject complement in the predicate to the grammatical subject. Copular verbs are also called linking verbs, state-of-being verbs, and copula.

Copular verb is a grammatical form. Copular verbs belong to a subcategory of the grammatical form verb.

The most common copular verb in English is be. Other common copular verbs in English are appear, become, feel, get, grow, look, prove, remain, resemble, seem, smell, sound, stay, taste, and turn.

References

Brinton, Laurel J. & Donna M. Brinton. 2010. The linguistic structure of Modern English, 2nd edn. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Hopper, Paul J. 1999. A short course in grammar. New York: W. W. Norton & Company.
Huddleston, Rodney. 1984. Introduction to the grammar of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

The article Verb Aspect: Simple, Perfect, Progressive, Perfect-Progressive describes the three grammatical aspects of the English language.

The articles The English Verb System for ESL Students and All about English Verb Conjugation at Bright Hub present an overview of the English verb system, which includes grammatical aspect.

Simple Aspect

The articles Forming the Simple Present Tense of English Verbs: Spelling Changes and Pronunciation and The Simple Present of English Verbs describe the simple present tense in English, which expresses habits and routines, to state general facts and truths, and to express thoughts and feelings.

The article Third Person Singular Simple Present Verbs: Suffixation of Present Tense Verbs in the English Language explains how to form and pronounce the third person singular form of English nouns in the simple present tense.

The articles Forming the Simple Past Tense of English Verbs: Spelling Changes and Pronunciation and How to Pronounce and Write -ed Suffixes in the English Language describe the simple past tense in English, which expresses completed actions, to describe past habits and routines, to state past facts and truths, and to express past thoughts and feelings.

The article The Simple Past of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the simple past conjugation of English verbs.

The article Simple Past Tense of Regular English Verbs explains the conjugations of regular verbs into the simple past.

The article Simple Past Tense of Irregular English Verbs explains the conjugations of irregular verbs into the simple past.

The articles Simple Present Passive of English Verbs and Simple Past Passive of English Verbs explain the formation and use of the simple passive conjugations of English verbs.

Progressive Aspect

The article The Formation and Use of the Progressive Aspect in English describes the progressive aspect of verb phrases, which expresses ongoing actions or states.

The article Present Progressive Aspect of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the present progressive conjugation of English verbs.

The article Past Progressive Aspect of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the past progressive conjugation of English verbs.

The articles Present Progressive Passive of English Verbs and Past Progressive Passive of English Verbs explain the formation and use of the progressive passive conjugations of English verbs.

Perfect Aspect

The article The Formation and Use of the Perfect Aspect in English describes the perfect aspect of verb phrases, which expresses and emphasizes the consequences resulting from past actions or states.

The article The Present Perfect Aspect of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the present perfect conjugation of English verbs.

The article The Past Perfect Aspect of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the past perfect conjugation of English verbs.

The articles Present Perfect Passive of English Verbs and Past Perfect Passive of English Verbs explain the formation and use of the perfect passive conjugations of English verbs.

Perfect-Progressive Aspect

The article The Formation and Use of the Perfect-Progressive Aspect in English describes the perfect-progressive aspect of verb phrases, which expresses ongoing actions or states that began in the past and continue to a specific time.

The article Present Perfect-Progressive of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the present perfect-progressive conjugation of English verbs.

The article Past Perfect-Progressive of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the past perfect-progressive conjugation of English verbs.

The articles Present Perfect-Progressive Passive of English Verbs and Past Perfect-Progressive Passive of English Verbs explain the formation and use of the perfect-progressive passive conjugations of English verbs.

The article Verb Tense: Present Tense and Past Tense in English describes the two grammatical tenses of the English language.

The articles The English Verb System for ESL Students and All about English Verb Conjugation at Bright Hub present an overview of the English verb system, which includes grammatical tense.

Present Tense

The articles Forming the Simple Present Tense of English Verbs: Spelling Changes and Pronunciation and The Simple Present of English Verbs describe the simple present tense in English, which expresses habits and routines, to state general facts and truths, and to express thoughts and feelings.

The article Third Person Singular Simple Present Verbs: Suffixation of Present Tense Verbs in the English Language explains how to form and pronounce the third person singular form of English nouns in the simple present tense.

The article Present Progressive Aspect of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the present progressive conjugation of English verbs.

The article The Present Perfect Aspect of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the present perfect conjugation of English verbs.

The article Present Perfect-Progressive of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the present perfect-progressive conjugation of English verbs.

The article Simple Present Passive of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the simple present passive conjugations of English verbs.

The article Present Progressive Passive of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the present progressive passive conjugations of English verbs.

The articles Present Perfect Passive of English Verbs and Past Perfect Passive of English Verbs explain the formation and use of the present perfect passive conjugations of English verbs.

The article Present Perfect-Progressive Passive of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the present perfect-progressive passive conjugations of English verbs.

Past Tense

The articles Forming the Simple Past Tense of English Verbs: Spelling Changes and Pronunciation and How to Pronounce and Write -ed Suffixes in the English Language describe the simple past tense in English, which expresses completed actions, to describe past habits and routines, to state past facts and truths, and to express past thoughts and feelings.

The article The Simple Past of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the simple past conjugation of English verbs.

The article Simple Past Tense of Regular English Verbs explains the conjugations of regular verbs into the simple past.

The article Simple Past Tense of Irregular English Verbs explains the conjugations of irregular verbs into the simple past.

The article Past Progressive Aspect of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the past progressive conjugation of English verbs.

The article The Past Perfect Aspect of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the past perfect conjugation of English verbs.

The article Past Perfect-Progressive of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the past perfect-progressive conjugation of English verbs.

The article Simple Past Passive of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the simple past passive conjugations of English verbs.

The article Past Progressive Passive of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the past progressive passive conjugations of English verbs.

The article Past Perfect Passive of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the past perfect passive conjugations of English verbs.

The article Past Perfect-Progressive Passive of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the past perfect-progressive passive conjugations of English verbs.

The article Verb Voice: Active Voice and Passive Voice in English describes the two grammatical voices of the English language.

The articles The English Verb System for ESL Students and All about English Verb Conjugation at Bright Hub present an overview of the English verb system, which includes grammatical voice.

Active Voice

As described in the articles Forming the Simple Present Tense of English Verbs: Spelling Changes and Pronunciation and The Simple Present of English Verbs, the active simple present tense in English expresses habits and routines, to state general facts and truths, and to express thoughts and feelings.

The article Third Person Singular Simple Present Verbs: Suffixation of Present Tense Verbs in the English Language explains how to form and pronounce the third person singular form of English nouns in the active simple present tense.

As described in the articles Forming the Simple Past Tense of English Verbs: Spelling Changes and Pronunciation and How to Pronounce and Write -ed Suffixes in the English Language, the active simple past tense in English expresses completed actions, to describe past habits and routines, to state past facts and truths, and to express past thoughts and feelings.

The article The Simple Past of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the simple past active conjugation of English verbs.

The article Simple Past Tense of Regular English Verbs explains the conjugations of regular verbs into the active simple past.

The article Simple Past Tense of Irregular English Verbs explains the conjugations of irregular verbs into the active simple past.

As described in the article The Formation and Use of the Progressive Aspect in English, the active progressive aspect of verb phrases expresses ongoing actions or states.

The article Present Progressive Aspect of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the active present progressive conjugation of English verbs.

The article Past Progressive Aspect of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the active past progressive conjugation of English verbs.

As described in the article The Formation and Use of the Perfect Aspect in English, the active perfect aspect of verb phrases expresses and emphasizes the consequences resulting from past actions or states.

The article The Present Perfect Aspect of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the active present perfect conjugation of English verbs.

The article The Past Perfect Aspect of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the active past perfect conjugation of English verbs.

As described in the article The Formation and Use of the Perfect-Progressive Aspect in English, the active perfect-progressive aspect of verb phrases expresses ongoing actions or states that began in the past and continue to a specific time.

The article Present Perfect-Progressive of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the active present perfect-progressive conjugation of English verbs.

The article Past Perfect-Progressive of English Verbs explains the formation and use of the active past perfect-progressive conjugation of English verbs.

Passive Voice

As described in the article The Formation and Use of the Passive Voice in English, the passive voice of verb phrases moves the direct object of the verb into the grammatical subject position.

The articles Simple Present Passive of English Verbs and Simple Past Passive of English Verbs explain the formation and use of the simple passive conjugations of English verbs.

The articles Present Progressive Passive of English Verbs and Past Progressive Passive of English Verbs explain the formation and use of the progressive passive conjugations of English verbs.

The articles Present Perfect Passive of English Verbs and Past Perfect Passive of English Verbs explain the formation and use of the perfect passive conjugations of English verbs.

The articles Present Perfect-Progressive Passive of English Verbs and Past Perfect-Progressive Passive of English Verbs explain the formation and use of the perfect-progressive passive conjugations of English verbs.