verb following verb

Question

What happens when a verb follows a verb? Like say, I know the following sentence is grammatically incorrect:
- I did knew I was wrong.
Rather it should be:
- I did know I was wrong.

whereas the following is acceptable,
- If I had known that I was wrong. (Pardon the fragmentation, just for an example.)

Each case includes a past tense verb 'did' and 'had' followed by, again, a past tense verb 'knew' and 'known' accordingly. Why is such a difference? Someone enlighten me.

Also, if there are other similar anomalies, I'd be happy to learn.

I know I'm segregating the tenses rather superficially as I've little knowledge on them, even so, If it is the case of compatibility with the past perfect and the past participles and such, then is the following sentence possible? If not, why?

- I did known I was wrong,

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

You need to study the simple tenses before worrying about the more complicated Perfect tenses.

Let's focus on the Simple Past tense.
Here is an example.

Singular
I cooked dinner
You cooked dinner
He/she/it cooked dinner

Plural
We cooked dinner
You cooked dinner
They cooked dinner

Have you already studied this? If so, can you try to make the above examples negative, using the words 'did' and 'not'?
Then we can later proceed to the Perfect tenses.

Clive

Anonymous · Answer

Study as in, I studied those in schools. Now I forgot everything and I get confused more often these days when there's a confrontation with grammars.
Anyways, I'll try doing what you've asked.

Singular
I did not cook dinner.
You did not cook dinner.
He/she/it did not cook dinner.

Plural
We did not cook dinner.
You did not cook dinner.
They did not cook dinner.

See, they look quite simple at a glance but when confronted they're equally confusing.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

OK, good.
The point is that 'did' is called the auxiliary verb, and it is followed by the base, infinitival form of the verb, ie know, not known.

The auxiliary is commonly used in negatives, as you just showed me, and in questions.
eg Did you cook dinner? Did he cook diner?
It is also commonly used in emphatic statements. eg
Mary: You didn't cook dinner.
Tom: Yes, I did. I did cook dinner.
and in tag questions.
eg He didn't cook dinner, did he?

Are you OK with all of this? If so, we can discuss the Perfect tenses.

Clive

Anonymous · Answer

With such an easy explanation, it's really hard to miss the point.

It's just the matter of remembering what you've said in real life applications.
Problem is, when I write a statement or paragraph, more often, I get feedbacks which are negative - "Did you proofread what you've said? It's horribly wrong."
While they find it grammatically flawed, I cannot figure out where the problem is.

And yeah, I think we can proceed to the Perfect tenses now.

The underlined part: Should I have followed a period (fullstop) after the double inverted commas? I think I should but rarely I have seen period followed by inverted comma which again immediately has been followed by a period.
eg, He said, "I have a car.".

BTW, this just in, many thanks for the guidance Clive.

Clive · Answer

Hi,

Let's just deal with the Perfect right now, without digressing, if you don't mind.
Consider this example of Present Perfect.

Singular
I have cooked dinner.
You have cooked dinner.
He/she/it has cooked dinner

Plural
We have cooked dinner
You have cooked dinner
They have cooked dinner.

As you can see, the basic structure here is auxiliary verb + Past Participle of the main verb.
The auxiliary verb is the appropriate present tense version of the verb 'have'.

Any questions, before we go on to Past Perfect?
Are you OK with the difference between Simple Past and Present Perfect?

Clive

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