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Topic 2 Tenses
Topic 2 Tenses
TOPIC 2 TENSES
This module intends to help course participants to revise and analyse the three main
tenses and forms in English.
Learning Outcomes
Content
Tenses
Present eat/s am/is/are eating have/has eaten
Past Ate was/were eating had eaten
Future will/shall eat will be eating will have eaten
1.PRESENT TENSE
Present tense expresses a general truth, habitual action and talks about something
existing at the time of speaking.
Example Meaning
The Earth is round A fact. The truth
Every morning, I brush my teeth. Recurring action / Habitual action
I hear the train coming. Happens at that particular time frame.
2. PAST TENSE
Past tense expresses an action or situation that begins and completes at a particular
time in the past. Most past tense verbs end in –ed. The irregular verbs have special
past tense forms which must be memorized.
Example Form
The students arrived in class before the Regular –ed past form
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teacher
Shiela went to the hospital yesterday Irregular form
morning.
3. FUTURE TENSE
-Future tense expresses an action or situation that will occur in the future. This tense is
formed by adding will/shall with the basic form of the verb.
e.g The Prime Minister of Malaysia will speak at the opening ceremony tomorrow.
A : Complete the sentences with DO,DOES, IS or ARE. Put a (-) in the blank
wherever not needed .
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B: Identify and underline the present tense forms in the following text. Use the
following to indicate: SP(simple Present), PProg(Present Progressive) and PP
(Present Perfect ).
TEXT 1
Many packaged drinks are quite expensive. The cheapest drink out there is water. The
main reason that people don’t drink water is that it is tasteless and not very ‘fun’ to
drink. On the other hand, water is definitely healthier than soda, so now there is an
entire category of packaged drinks that is basically bottled water with added colouring,
vitamins, and flavour. Instead of buying these, there are many things you can add to
water at home to make it more exciting to drink.
1. Add herbs such as mint, lemongrass and parsley to the water. If you want to release
the flavour, you can crush the plants a little before putting them into your water.
2. Adding vinegar to water is similar to adding citrus. You will get wour water that has
vitamin C. When I was a kid. I like adding apple cider vinegar to the water before
drinking it..
3. I’m sure you’ve heard of the term “electrolytes” in the marketing for energy drinks.
Electrolytes are little more than just ions that can be found in common table salt.
Adding a little bit of salt to water helps your body absorb the liquid more quickly. As
long as you don’t go overboard with the salt, the water should be very quenching. It is
great for workouts, since the body loses salt through water.
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B: Identify and underline the present tense forms in the following text. Use the
following to indicate: SP(simple Past), PProg(Past Progressive) and PP (Past
Perfect ).
TEXT 2
They had eaten the barbecued lamb, the grilled steaks and the green lettuce.
Through crispy, aromatic smoke which spread thinly across the flood-lit lawn, they had
picked at the satay with their teeth and sipped glasses of wine and beer. Loud laughter
frequently burst forth from a few tables followed by moments of unnatural quiet. The talk
at one table was about a bomb explosion outside the house of Wan Nurudin, Secretary-
General to Housing Minister a few days previously. His gate was blasted open and a
security guard killed. That’s why the dinner was being held at Panglima’s house and
Wan Nurudin, though present, was in the background. The lady who provided the
details, Esther fu, had plucked eyebrows which had been painted over in two semi-
circular black lines. That’s what she had heard. She explained that there had been a
top level meeting; a new policy towards the disorder in the town had been drafted.
“You’ll see, “ she said. “We’ll soon be able to walk safely in the streets.”
Do visit the following websites for further exercises to try out or as references .
http://www.bbc.co.uk
http://www.englishexercise.com
http://www.nonstopenglish.com
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References
Betty Schrampfer Azar, Donald A,Azar (1999), Fundamentals of English grammar. 2nd ed : Longman.
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