tense

[chum]

1.i'm narrating somethin' which happened in the past...here it goes "he was there and I couldn't help but look at him"...should "look" be in the present or past tense? thanks!

2. there are adjectives that don't have a "d" in the spelling...like "tense" , does "secure" behave the same way? can u give other examples.thanks!

[MikeNewYork]

1.i'm narrating somethin' which happened in the past...here it goes "he was there and I couldn't help but look at him"...should "look" be in the present or past tense? thanks!

2. there are adjectives that don't have a "d" in the spelling...like "tense" , does "secure" behave the same way? can u give other examples.thanks!

1. It is correct, but it is in neither tense. It is part of a compound verb with "could". That construction takes the base form of the verb. The "could" puts the entire verb in the past tense.

2. Most adjectives don't end in -ed. Those that do are usually past participles of verbs that are used as adjectives.

If I understand your question, you are asking about words that have both forms, as secure and secured and tense and tensed. In those cases, there are two situations:

1. The -ed form is not used as an adjective.
2. Both can be used as an adjective.

When 2 is true, the -ed form adds a passive (as in passive voice) feeling to the adjective. That means that some force has produced that characterisitc.

A. a secure area (it is safe)
B. a secured area (someone/thing has made the area safe

C. a tense muscle (it is tight)
D. a tensed muscle (someone is making it tense)