Use of was/were with second form of verb

Question

I've read a rule that when we use second form of verb then we shouldn't use was/were.But some of my friends use to say"he was worried."Is this sentence gramatically correct?

Sbolton · Accepted Answer

Yes, it is correct. The reason is that in this case, "worried" is used as an adjective which modifies the subject, as opposed to a verb.

I hope this helps.

-S

Dimsumexpress · Answer

AnonymousI've read a rule that when we use second form of verb then we shouldn't use was/were.But some of my friends use to say"he was worried."Is this sentence gramatically correct?

Anon,

First of all, the right terminology help us communicate and learn, and the wrong ones get us confused. So far, with nearly all learners who've come to the forum with questions asking about 1st, 2nd and 3rd form of verbs, they were confused. So I suggest it's time to learn to use the "present tense", "past tense" and the "present participle".

In your sentence, "worried" is not the 2nd form as you would call it.

Worry -like many transitive verbs, is used with a helping verb, "be", to form sentences with the past participle (3rd form) like, "worried". This construction (be + past participle) is passive in nature but many call this form of past participles " past participle adjectives". For example: She is worried about her job after learning about the layoff.. That meaning is equal to " she is anxiopus to find out if her name is on the list". However, it is the company's layoff news "worried" her, or look at it the other way: she was made worried by the news; therefore "worried" is an adjective which is passive in nature.

There are many such past past participles: Tired, interested, exhausted, sadden, exhilarated and etc....

Cool Breeze · Answer

AnonymousI've read a rule that when we use second form of verb then we shouldn't use was/were.

I think that by the "second form" of a verb you mean the past tense. You are right. The past tense is never used with any form of to be in standard English. All of these are wrong:

He was went.

This is wrote.

They were saw.

It being did.

They been stole.

However, the past tense (the second form) and the past participle (the third form) of all regular verbs are identical. It is possible - and very common - to combine a past participle with am, are, is, was and were:

He was gone.

This was written.

They were seen.

We were worried.

We are worried.

CB

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousBut some of my friends use to say"he was worried."Is this sentence gramatically correct?

It's correct. worried is the third form of the verb here. worry, worried, worried.

The third form (the past participle) can be used as an adjective.

CJ

Cool Breeze · Answer

dimsumexpressFirst of all, the right terminology help us communicate and learn, and the wrong ones get us confused. So far, with nearly all learners who've come to the forum with questions asking about 1st, 2nd and 3rd form of verbs, they were confused. So I suggest it's time to learn to use the "present tense", "past tense" and the "present participle".
In your sentence, "worried" is not the 2nd form as you would call it.

Many of those who ask questions are not in the least familiar with grammar and would not be able to use the terms present tense, past tense and present participle any more clearly than they use the "terms" first, second and third form. In grammar books outside the Anglo-Saxon world, from which most of these posters come from, both the present tense and the first form are commonly used owing to the simple morphology of English. The term "the first form" may understandably be unfamiliar to some native speakers - and it is also inexact as it may include such forms as write, writes and to write - but it is what many of our posters see in their grammar books together with the more accurate terms. There is a temptation to number the verb forms as there are only a handful of them.

Of course putting a label such as "the first form" on a word doesn't represent a very scholarly approach to grammar, but in my opinion it's unfair to blame it on the students if that is what they see in their books and that is what their teachers use.

CB

Anonymous · Answer

We use ing form of verb after was and were and then why we second form of verb in some places

Anonymous · Answer

How about was burn and he was able to live a happy life

Anonymous · Answer

"He has worried" is the correct when we use was or were we use progressive form V4 means Worrying is right

Use of was/were with second form of verb

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