Verb Forms, Punctuation, and Narrative Text Types
The Verb
The verb is a kind of word that expresses action, condition, or situation. It has a root that contains all the verb forms and an ending that varies by person, tense, number, mood, and aspect.
- Person: The verb can be 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person.
- Number: The number of the verb indicates whether the action is carried out by one or more persons (singular and plural).
- Tense: The tense of the verb indicates whether it is spoken in the past, present, or future.
- Mood: Indicates the speaker’s attitude to the verbal action.
- Indicative: The speaker represents the action as real.
- Subjunctive: The action is presented as doubtful, possible, or desired.
- Imperative: The action is presented as an order, advice, or request.
- Aspect: Indicates whether the action is finished or not. If it is complete, it is perfect (e.g., “rained”). If it is not completed, it is imperfect (e.g., “was raining”).
- Voice:
- Active: The subject performs the action.
- Passive: The subject receives the action. The passive voice is formed with the verb “to be” + the past participle of the verb being conjugated.
The non-personal infinitive forms of the verb are the gerund and the participle. These forms lack person, number, tense, and mood. Verb conjugation is formed by the ordered set of all its forms.
- First conjugation: The infinitive ends in -ar.
- Second conjugation: The infinitive ends in -er.
- Third conjugation: The infinitive ends in -ir.
Simple tenses consist of a single word (e.g., “catch”). Compound tenses are formed by the verb “have” and the participle of the conjugated verb. Regular verbs keep the same root as the infinitive in all its forms. Irregular verbs do not maintain the root of the infinitive.
Punctuation
Comma (,)
- Separates the elements of an enumeration.
- Isolates the name of someone you are addressing (vocative).
- Differentiates a clarification.
- Indicates the omission of a verb.
Semicolon (;)
- Separates items in a list that already contains commas.
- Used when the sentence is long, before words like “but,” “however,” “nevertheless,” etc.
- Separates two related sentences.
Colon (:)
- Used after the salutation in a letter.
- Used before enumerating the elements of a series.
The period (.) is generally used to indicate a long pause that marks the end of a sentence.
Question marks (?) and Exclamation points (!)
Quotation marks (” “) are used for:
- Words from other languages that are not used in Spanish.
- Vulgar or inappropriate expressions.
- Ironic expressions.
- Literal quotations.
- Titles of paintings or songs.
Narrative Text Types
A narrative is a kind of text that tells a story or event. In every narrative, there are:
- A narrator who tells what happens.
- One or more characters.
- A time and space.
- A structure with an introduction, middle, and end.
Anecdote
An anecdote is a brief story of something funny or amusing.
Folktale
A folktale is an oral and anonymous story. It is created every time someone tells it in front of an audience. It has the same structure as a story: introduction, middle, and end.
Legend
Legends are stories of extraordinary events that tradition has imagined after a real event. They are transmitted orally and then written.
Myth
A myth is a narrative in which imaginary facts tell about gods or heroes of a culture.
Author’s Story
An author’s story is conveyed through writing and is always by someone in particular.