§ 1.2 Verb-forms and shape sharing 35

Similarly, we can see that the walked of [8] is a past participle, since in these con­

structions (the perfect in [i] and the passive in [ii]) the formjiown is required. The

[b] examples would be ungrammatical withjiew: *She hasjiew a lot, *We werejiew

to New Yo rk.

(b) Shape sharing between plain present and plain form

Almost all verbs have a present tense form that is identical in shape with the plain
form. The only verb with a plain form distinct from all its present tense forms is be:
it has three present tense forms (am, is, and are), all different in shape from its plain
form, be. We can therefore use a substitution test involving be to distinguish plain
present forms and plain forms of other verbs. Consider, for example, the following
forms of the verb write:

[9]

a.

11 a.

1Il a.

IV a.

v a.

EXAMPLES WITH write

They write to her.

Write to her.

It 's vital that he write to her.

It's better to write to her.

He must write to her.

be SUBSTITUTED FOR write

b. They are kind to her. [present tense]

b. Be kind to her.

}

b. It 's vital that he be kind

to her. [plain form]

b. It 's better to be kind to her.

b. He must be kind to her.

The underlined verbs in [i] are present tense forms, while those in [ii-v] are plain
forms. It is this contrast between are in rib] and be in the other [b] examples that
provides the main justification for saying that there are two inflectional forms with
the shape write, not just one.
Note, however, that even with be, we have the same form in all of [9ii-v] (that is,
in the imperative, the subjunctive, the to-infinitival, and the bare infinitival). The dif­
ference between these constructions is purely syntactic: they are different kinds of
clause, but they all require the same inflectional form of the verb.
The present tense forms in [9i] contrast in the tense system with preterite forms,
and show agreement with the subject, as we see in [10]:

[10] a. They wrote to her. b. They were kind to her.

b. He 1£ kind to her.

[preterite]

ii a. He writes to her. [3rd sing present]

No such contrasts apply to the plain form verbs in [9ii-v]. For example, the con­
struction in [9iv] doesn't allow either the preterite or the 3rd singular present:

[Il] a. *It's better to wrote to her.

ii a. *It's better to writes to her.

b. *It 's better to was kind to her.

b. *It 's better to 1£ kind to her.

The plain present tense and the plain form thus enter into quite different sets uf
contrast within the verb paradigm. And this is the basis for the different names we
have given to the forms: the write of [9ia] is a present tense form, but that of
[9iia-va] is not.