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Old Saturday, October 04, 2008
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Tenses in english


SIMPLE TENSES


PRESENT

The PRESENT TENSE uses the verb's base form (write, work), or, for third-person singular subjects, the base form plus an -s ending (he writes, she works).
The PRESENT TENSE indicates that an action is present, now, relative to the speaker or writer. Generally, it is used to describe actions that are factual or habitual -- things that occur in the present but that are not necessarily happening right now: "It rains a lot in Portland" is a kind of timeless statement. Compare that to the present progressive -- "It is raining in Portland" -- which means that something is, in fact, going on right now. "I use my bike to get around town." is in the present, but I'm not actually on my bike right now. An instantaneous sense of the present can be conveyed with either the simple present or the progressive: "Watch him now: he holds [is holding] down the control key at the same time that he presses [is pressing] the letter d."

The present tense is used to describe events that are scheduled (by nature or by people): "High tide is at 3:15 p.m. The Super Bowl starts at 6:15 p.m."

The present tense can be used to suggest the past with what is sometimes called the fictional (or historic) present: "We were watching the back door when, all of a sudden, in walks Dierdre." With verbs of communicating, the present tense can also suggest a past action: "Dierdre tells me that she took her brother to the dentist." Most oddly, the present tense can convey a sense of the future, especially with verbs such as arrive, come, and leave that suggest a kind of plan or schedule: "The train from Boston arrives this afternoon at two o'clock."

Authority for this section: A University Grammar of English by Randolph Quirk and Sidney Greenbaum. Longman Group: Essex, England. 1993. Used with permission.

Present tense habitual activities are frequently signaled by time expressions such as the following:
all the time
always
every class
every day
every holiday
every hour
every month
every semester
every week
every year
most of the time
never
often
rarely
sometimes
usually


I walk to work every day.
The Chicago Bulls sometimes practice in this gymnasium.
Dr. Espinoza operates according to her own schedule.
Coach Calhoun recruits from countries outside the U.S.A.
Tashonda tells me she has committed to UConn.
We work really hard to make this a success, and then look what happens.
Every time that kid finishes a sandcastle, the waves come in and wash it away.
The shipment arrives tomorrow at 2 p.m.



PAST

The PAST TENSE indicates that an action is in the past relative to the speaker or writer.
when the time period has finished: "We went to Chicago last Christmas."
when the time period is definite: "We visited Mom last week."
with for, when the action is finished: "I worked with the FBI for two months."
Regular verbs use the verb's base form (scream, work) plus the -ed ending (screamed, worked). Irregular verbs alter their form in some other way (slept, drank, drove).
Students for whom English is a second language sometimes (quite understandably) have trouble distinguishing between the Simple Past and the Present Perfect tenses. There is more information about the difference between these two tenses available under the Present Perfect description.



When I was a girl, I walked five miles to school every day.
Carmelita slept through the entire class.
We worked really hard to make this a success, but then Chuck ruined it with his carelessness.
Every time I finished a sandcastle, the waves came in and washed it away.
Tarzan dove into the swamp and swam toward the alligator.



FUTURE

The FUTURE TENSE indicates that an action is in the future relative to the speaker or writer. There are no inflected forms for the future in English (nothing like those -ed or -s endings in the other tenses). Instead, the future tense employs the helping verbs will or shall with the base form of the verb:
She will leave soon.
We shall overcome.
The future is also formed with the use of a form of "go" plus the infinitive of the verb:
He is going to faint.



We will be victorious!
We shall overcome.
We are going to win this race.
The bus arrives at three this afternoon.
The boss is announcing his retirement at today's meeting.
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