—_ SIMPLE PRESENT This tense is not used to talk about ongoing actions ‘occurring in the present time; other present ‘tense forms are used for that. Instead, the form is us '* To express facts, general statements of truth, and common-sense ideas that everybody knows. ‘+ To state habits, customs, and events that happen periodically. + To describe future plans and events. * To tell jokes, stories, and relate sporting events in real-time. ple The tense can be combined with several expressions to indicate the time when an action occurs periodically, such as “every Tuesday", “always”, “usually”, “twice a month”, etc... Additionally, this form can be made negative or can be used in the interrogative form as well. There is a lot of flexibility to this so-called simple tense to express complex Ideas. PRESENT PERFECT ‘The present perfect tense is used to describe an action that: « Started in the past and ended in the past + Started in the past and continues into the present time (but the future is indeterminate). Itis formed with a variant of the verb to have + the present participle (verb form ending in -ed). The part that may confuse some readers is whether to use this present perfect verb tense (e.g. have walked) or to use the simple past (e.g. walked). PRESENT PROGRESSIVE This tense is used to describe an action that is ‘ongoing at the current time. Itis formed with a variant of the verb to be + the present participle (verb form ending in -ing). This verb form can also be used with time adverbs to talk about an activity that is continuing into some future time. Additionally, present progressive verb forms are most commonly going to be found in the wild using dynamic verbs that describe: * anactivity (e.g. learn, listen, read) + aprocess (e.g. change, grow, shrink) + abodily sensation (e.g. ache, feel, hurt) + a transitional event (e.g. arrive, leave) + amomentary occurrence (e.g. hit, jump, kick) The other type of verb, which is not generally seen with present progressive verb forms, is known as stative, and the reason it is not used here is that stative verbs describe actions that are done and over with and do not continue into the future at all. PRESENT PERFECT PROGRESSIVE ‘The present perfect progressive tense is used to describe an action that: + Started in the past and ended in the past BUT continues to have some relevant effect in the present. + Started in the past and continues to happen now ‘and into the future. Itis formed with a passive variant of the verb to have + the present participle (verb form ending in - ing). ‘Similarly to the present perfect tense, this verb form primarily oceurs with dynamic verbs that describe an activity (e.g. learn, listen, read), a process (e.g. change, grow, shrink), a bodily sensation (e.g. ache, feel, hurt), a transitional event (e.g. arrive, leave), or ‘a momentary occurrence (e.g. hit, jump, kick). Stative verbs are not relevant to this tensPAST TENSES PAST PROGRESSIVE ‘The simple past tense is formed by adding -ed’ to the| The past progressive, sometimes known as the Past infinitive form of the verb. There are two reasons to use the simple past verb tense. It describes: 1. Situations or activities that began in the past and finished in the past. 2. Describes someone's emotional state in the past (Le. how they felt). This verb tense CAN take on some adverb time modifiers to describe how far in the past action, situation, (or emotion) occurred. + I described my favorite plants and trees in science class. ‘+ The sun set at 5:30 PM last night. PAST PERFECT This is one of those verb forms mentioned above that takes another verb to modify our primary action. The reasons for employing this past form are two- fol 1L.It is used to talk about a situation that occurred in the past and completed in the past.-AND it ‘must be followed by another action th completed before the present time. 2.1t can be used to describe two actions that occurred in the past that are directly related to ‘each other but are separated in time. For exampl + Mom had brought dinner home with her because she had been working so late tonight. + Thad kept a turtle for a pet when I was ten years. old but gave him to my friend when mom brought home a puppy for Christm: Continuous verb tense, is formed by adding the past variant of to be’ with the infinitive and ending with - ing’. The past progressive is used to write or talk about an action that started sometime before the present time, and the action may or may not be completed. Generally, if the action is ongoing though, the present perfect progressive would be used instead. ‘One way to remove some of the vagueness of the past progressive timeframe is to use the past perfect progressive with a time-based adverb to clarify the situation. ‘+ | was dancing with daddy at the father-daughter dance while trying to concentrate on where my feet were going. + You were playing on your phone while the teacher was talking about all sorts of triangles. PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE The past perfect progressive often referred to as the past perfect continuous verb tense, is formed by adding the past passive form of to have' + the infinitive + a -ing’ verb ending. The past perfect progressive is used in situations to: 1. Describe causation for another activity 2.A time-based description of an activity that happened in the past For example: + My class had been counting on going to the zoo this Wednesday, but the trip had to be postponed due to bad weather. ‘+ Thad been reading all about dinosaurs when my mom called me down to dinner.FUTURE TENSES SIMPLE FUTURE There is another way to form the simple future tense that is a bit less obvious. In addition to the will” construction above is the form to be’ + going to' + infinitive’. Contrary to some of the other verb tenses, the simple future tense is really only used to write about actions, situations, or events that will happen at some time from now. + Iwill go to the store and pick up the groceries. ‘+ We are going to walk the dog around the block a few times. ute Ye 2g FUTURE PERFECT Future perfect talks about an action that will have been completed at some point in the future (i.e. itis known when the action will be finished and there is ‘no reason to think itis an ongoing activity). This ver formed with will’ + to have’ + infinitive’ + -ed’ such as He will have spent all his bonus money by Christmas’. As shown in th bove, time adverbs are essential to really know when the action will have been finished up in the future time. + Iwill have read two more chapters in my textbook by dinner. + You will have made $20 in sales when you finish selling the rest of your cookies today. FUTURE PROGRESSIVE The future progressive, sometimes called the future continuous, verb tense describes a continuous action that is happening sometime in the future. This form is created using helper verb will’ + to be’ + infinitive’ + -ing’. This looks confusing but it is pretty simple when there is an example, such as | will be going to the movies with my friends for my birthday next week’. Feel free to sprinkle some time adverb modifiers here a well to indicate just how far into the future ‘the action will take place. *+ I will be talking to your teacher tomorrow. + We will be taking you and your friends to the movies on Saturday for your birthday. FUTURE PERFECT PROGRESSIVE And here's where the verb tenses become confusing so let's try to break this down a bit. The future perfect tense, shown above, contains an action that is happening in the future and will have been completed by a specific time period The future perfect CONTINUOUS tense, on the other hand, uses ‘an ongoing action that you will be enacting for a duration of time but will be completed in the future. The form of the verb is will’ + pat infinitive’ + -ing.’ 10 have’ + Time adverbs indicate both the duration of action time as well as when the action will be completed so the future progressive and future perfect progressive can be very easily misidentified and used incorrectly. + By next week, | will have been taking piano lessons for three years. + We will have been riding in the car for eight hours when we reach my grandma's house.