English Verbs.pdf | 501

The screen flickered green, and a robotic voice crackled from her laptop speakers: “You have neglected 501 verbs. Now they will neglect you.”

“Wait!” she screamed. “I drink. I drank. I have drunk . I had been drinking . I will have been drinking for three hours by noon!”

She opened the PDF. Page one: “To be: am, is, are, was, were, being, been.” Simple. She yawned. By page 30 ( “To catch: caught, catching” ), her eyes glazed. By page 112 ( “To spring: sprang, sprung” ), she was dreaming of irregular past participles dancing the cha-cha. 501 English Verbs.pdf

Mariana laughed nervously. “That’s the first one in the book.” She took a breath. “I am, you are, he/she/it is, we are, they are. Past: I was, we were. Future: I will be. Present perfect: I have been. Past perfect: I had been. Future perfect: I will have been. Present progressive: I am being. Past progressive: I was being. Present perfect progressive: I have been being…”

Sweating, Mariana recited: “Fly, flew, flown, am flying, was flying, have flown, had flown, will fly, will have flown, will have been flying…” The screen flickered green, and a robotic voice

At 2 a.m., the PDF glitched.

Verbius paused. “Acceptable. Next: .” I drank

Verbius snapped his stick-figure fingers. A giant screen appeared with the word .

“Welcome to the Conjugation Coliseum,” said the V. “I am Verbius. To return home, you must correctly conjugate any three of the 501 verbs in all their forms—past, present, future, perfect, progressive, and perfect progressive.”