Tenses

 Tense is a term used in grammar to indicate the time of

the action or event. The word tense comes from the
Latin tempus, time. It refers to the form a verb takes
depending on the time at which an action occurred.
Tenses may be defined as that form of a verb that shows
the time and state of an action or event. Tenses may
indicate whether, an action, activity, or state took place
in the present, past or future. The purpose of changing
the tense in a sentence is to indicate a change in time.
 Tenses

• Each of the tenses (present, past and future) is divided

into sub-divisions, so that with the help of the various
forms we can refer to the exact time an event has taken
place.
• Tenses may also indicate whether an action, activity, or
state is, was, or will be complete, or whether it is, was, or
will be in progress over a period of time. This is called
aspect. There are two simple tenses in English. The
Present Tense and the Past tense. There are also two
main aspects in English; the Progressive (or continuous)
Aspect and the Perfect Aspect. The two tenses (present
& past) can combine with the two aspects to form
several combinations
 Present Tense

• It is used to describe events taking place in the present

or situation that exists in the present. A distinction can be
made between the ‘habitual present’, which makes
habitual or repeated actions or recurring events such as
‘He works long hours’ and ‘She walks to work’, and the
‘stative present’, which indicates something that is true at
all times such as ‘The world is round’ and ‘Man is
mortal’.
 Present Tense (non-action):
• This indicates state of being that usually describes a
general fact. It depicts information related to
occupation/profession, presence/absence, physical
appearance, personality traits, availability/non-
availability, existence (physical or otherwise), nationality,
location, relationship, time, age, personal information,
description (qualitative/numeral), weather, state of mind,
value (in terms of price/worth), etc.
 Present Tense (non-action):

• We use the verb ‘be’ to indicate the state of being. The

verb be always agrees with the subject of the sentence.
The subject I uses the be form ‘am’/’am not’. The subject
We/You/They use the be form ‘are’/’are not’. The subject
He/She/it uses the be form ‘is’/’is not’. The negative
sentences are formed by placing ‘am not’, ‘is not’ and
‘are not’ after the subject (noun or pronoun). The
interrogative sentences (yes/no questions) are formed by
putting a form of be (is/am/are) before the subject (noun
or pronoun).
Present Simple Tense (action based statements)

• In general, the simple present expresses events or

situations that exist always, usually, habitually; they exist
now, have existed in the past, and probably will exist in
the future. It expresses repeated actions (includes the
past, present and future). For example: (i) It snows in
Alaska. (ii) I watch television everyday.
 Present Tense (formation rules)

• Some verbs add –es in the third person singular. E.g. I

go to work, - She goes to work. – I do my homework –
She Does her homework. To form the negative, we use
do or does + not and the base form of the verb. To form
the interrogative, we use do or does + noun or pronoun
and the base form of the verb. We use I/You/We/They +
base form of verb in the positive sentences. We use
He/She/It + base form + s/es/ies in the positive
sentences. The following spelling changes are required
for third person singular:
• When the verb ends in ss, sh, ch, or x, add –es. When
the verb ends in a vowel +y, add –s. When the verb ends
in a consonant + y, change the y to I and add –es.
 Application of Present simple Tense

• (a) permanent situations (b) actions that happen

on regular basis (c) facts
• (d) general truth (e) to state existence (f) to state
feeling (g) static verbs
• (h) universal truth (i) tradition/custom (j) daily
routine (k) future actions indicating time table or
schedule
 Practical examples
• I. It is used for general statements of fact. E.g. (i) Water consist
of Hydrogen and Oxygen. (ii) Most animals kill only for food.
• We use the simple present to talk about things in general. We
are not thinking only about the present. We use it to say that
something happens all the time or repeatedly, or that
something is present. We use it to say that something happens
all the time or repeatedly, or that something is true in general. It
is not important whether the action is happening at the time of
speaking. e.g. Nurses take care of patients in hospitals.
• II. We must use simple present for a permanent situation. E.g.
(i) The Prime Minister governs the country. (ii) My parents live
in Islamabad.
• III. The main use of the simple present is to express habitual
actions. e.g. (i) He smokes. (ii) Cats drink milk. (iii) We see
friends at the weekend.
 Practical examples

• IV. It expresses everyday activity or daily routine. E.g. (i)

I study for two hours at night. (ii) My classes begin at
nine.
• V. It is often used with adverbs or adverb phrases such
as always, never, usually, twice a week, to describe the
frequency of actions. e.g. (i) How often do you wash your
hair? (ii) He often helps mother. (iii) He usually goes for
a walk in the morning.
• VI. It is used to talk about customs. E.g. (i) In Spain,
people have dinner at ten or eleven. (ii) Japanese bow
their heads to greet each other. (iii) Muslims embrace
each other after Eid prayers.
 Practical examples

• VII. It is used to express non-action (of a state or

condition) or indefinite occurrences. e.g. (i) She seems
ill. (ii) He loves his pets. (iii) I remember him.
• VIII. It is use to indicate a future event that is a part of a
fixed program or timetable. E.g. (i) He retires next month.
• IX. It expresses future action (especially with verbs of
arriving 7 departing) based on facts or certain events.
E.g. (i) They leave tomorrow. (ii) The ship sails on
Thursday. (iii) The play begins at 7 pm on Sunday.
• X. It can also be used for a planned future action or
series of actions, particularly when they refer to a
journey. Travel agents use it a great deal. E.g. (i) We
leave London at 10:00 next Tuesday and arrive in Paris
at 13:00.
 Practical examples

• XI. The following verbs, on account of their

meaning, are normally used in the simple
present as non-progressive verbs:
• Verbs of perception, e.g. see, hear, smell,
notice, recognize
• Verbs of appearing, e.g. appear, look, seem
• Verbs of emotion, e.g. want, wish, desire, feel,
like, love, hat, hope, refuse, refer
• Verbs of thinking, e.g. think, suppose, believe,
angry, consider, trust, remember, forget, know,
understand, imagine, mean, mind
 Practical examples

• The present simple can also be used in the

following ways:
• What do you do? = What is your job?
• Why don’t we go for a walk? = a suggestion
• How do you do? = formal
greeting
• How are you? = informal greeting
 Some verbs are non-progressive

• they aren’t used in any of the progressive tenses. These

verbs describe states (i.e., conditions that exist); they do
not describe activities that are in progress. E.g. (i) Ali
knows grammar (mental state that exists)
• Common non-progressive verbs
• Mental state: mean, know, believe, imagine, want,
realize, feel doubt, need, understand, suppose,
remember, prefer, recognize, think, forget
• Emotional state: love, hate, fear, mind, like, dislike, envy,
care, appreciate
• Possession: possess/have/own/belong
• Sense perceptions: taste, hear, see, smell, feel
• Other existing states: seem, cost, be, look, owe, exist,
appear, weigh, consist of, contain, include
 Confirmative/Informative Questions

• We use is/am/are/do/does/will/would/shall/should/can/could/may/might
in the beginning of a sentence to ask confirmative or yes/no questions.
• We use Wh-words to make informative questions. The Wh-words used
in English language along with their related concepts are as follows:
• What – to make general questions
• Where – to ask about place/location
• When – to ask about time
• Why – to ask about the reason/purpose
• Which – to ask about something specific/choice
• Who – to ask about a person as the subject
• Whom – to ask about a person as the object
• Whose – to ask about possession/belonging/ownership
• How – to ask about method/manner/means/distance/size/area/
duration/frequency/age/formal
greeting/health/length/width/price/quantity/height/weight
 Present Continuous Tense:

• The present continuous tense is formed with the present

tense of the auxiliary verb be + the present participle.
• Application: (a) for an action happening now or at the
time of speaking
• (b) for an action happening about this time but not
necessarily at the moment of speaking. E.g. He is
teaching French and learning Greek.
• (c) for a definite arrangement in the near future.
• (d) with a point in time to indicate an action which begins
before this point and probably continues after it. Ex: At
six I am playing in the ground.
 Present Perfect Tense:

• It describes an action that has been completed but still

has some effect at the present time. It also describes an
action that began in the past and continues up to a point
in present. We use the present tense of ‘to have’ plus the
past participle of the verb to form sentences in this
tense.
 Present Perfect Continuous Tense:

• It is used to describe a recent action that has been

continuing up to the present time. It can also be used to
describe a recently completed action that has implication
in present. We use present tense of ‘to have’ plus been
plus the present participle of the verb.
 Past Tense

• It tells us about the action that took place at some time in

the past. The past tense of every verb except the verb ‘to
be’ has only one form, which ends in ‘ed’. The verb ‘to
be’ has two forms, ‘was’ and ‘were’. To get the past
tense of all other verbs, we obey the following rules:
 Past Tense

• Add the letter ‘d’ to all verbs ending in ‘e’, E.g. ‘assemble’
becomes ‘assembled’ and ‘dabble’ becomes ‘dabbled’.
• Add the letters ‘ed’ to all verbs that do not end in ‘e’, E.g.
‘play’ becomes ‘played’ and ’kick’ becomes ‘kicked’.
• If the verb ends with a vowel followed by a consonant, the
consonant is doubled. Thus ‘stop’ becomes ‘stopped’ and
‘rap’ becomes ‘rapped’. If the verb is of two syllables, and
the second syllable is stressed, we double the last letter.
Thus ‘occur’ becomes ‘occurred’, but ‘offer’ (where the
stress is on the first syllable) becomes ‘offered’.
• If the verb ends in the letter ‘y’ the ‘y’ becomes ‘i’ before
the ‘ed’ is added. Thus ‘try’ becomes ‘tried’ and ‘occupy’
becomes ‘occupied.
 Past Simple Tense

• It is used to show that something happened at some

time in the past, and is no longer happening at the
present time. It is also used to describe repeated actions
in the past.
 Past Continuous tense

• It is used to show that something happened in the past,

and was in progress for some time. We use past tense of
the verb ‘to be’ plus the present participle to form
sentences in this tense.
 Past Perfect Tense

• It is used when discussing a past action and referring to

an even earlier event. This earlier event was past even
in the past or distant past. We use the past tense of ‘to
have’ plus the past participle of the verb.
 Past Perfect Continuous

• It is used when referring to two past events, one earlier

than the other, but continuing until the time the second
event took place. We use past tense of ‘to have’ plus
been plus the present participle of the verb.
 Future Tense

• It tells about the action that will take –place at some time
in the future. We use the auxiliaries ‘shall’ or ‘will plus the
root word of the verb.
 Future Simple Tense

• It is used for actions that will take place in the future

 Future Continuous Tense

• It is used to show that something will happen in the

future, and will continue for some time. We use shall or
will plus be plus the present participle.
 Future Perfect Tense

• : It is used to refer to an action that will be completed at

some time in the future. We use the future tense ‘to
have’ plus the past participle of the verb.
 Future Perfect Continuous:

• It is used when an action will have been completed at

some future time, after continuing for a considerable
period. We use future tense of ‘to have’ plus been plus
the present participle of the verb.