TENSES

INTRODUCTION : VERB & TENSES

Verbs express an action or state and verb
tense timelines help us understand how to
use verbs correctly to indicate when the
action took place.
In English, verbs are made up of 2 parts:
tense + aspect
Tense
Tells the time period that the action
happens in:
– happening now (present)
– happened already (past)
– will happen later (future)
Aspect
Tells how the action of the verb
unfolds in time, for example:
– some actions happen only
once, some actions are
repeated
– some actions last a short
period of time, some actions
extend for longer periods 
English has 3 main tenses
– present
– past
– future*
and each of these takes 4 aspects:
– simple 
– continuous (or progressive)
– perfect
– perfect continuous
so there are 12 major tenses
Note:
You may see more than one name
for the same tense, for example:
Simple Present and Present Simple
are the same
Progressive and Continuous are the
same – Past Progressive, Past
Continuous, Continuous Past are
the same
* some consider that the future is
not strictly a tense in English 
 TENSE
Tense decides if the reference
is to an action in the present or
past or future. 
Lucy is eating her sandwich.
(present)
Lucy was eating her sandwich.
(past)
Lucy will be eating her
sandwich. (future)
 ASPECT
Aspect gives more detail on how the action
takes place in relation to time.
Simple
single action 
habit or repeated actions
Continuous (Progressive)
ongoing or incomplete actions
one moment in time
to be + main verb ending +ing 
Perfect
completed actions
connects two points in time – something happened before
something else happened
to have + main verb ending +ed or irregular
Perfect Continuous (Perfect Progressive)
connects two points in time (like Perfect)
expresses that an action is incomplete (like
Progressive/Continuous)
to have + been + main verb ending +ing
 TRANSITIVE VERBS
A transitive verb needs a noun to receive the
action of the verb, known as a direct object,
in order to express a complete thought.
She is bringing – this is incomplete 
She is bringing a cake.
If a direct object is not present, the meaning
does not make sense, and the reader or
listener will be left with questions like, what
or who the information refers to.
Sam gave – this is incomplete – what did Sam
give?
Sam gave a book to Sally.
He will sell – this is incomplete – what will he
sell?
There are many transitive verbs. Some
common transitive verbs include:
get
give
make
sell
take

INTRANSITIVE VERBS
An intransitive verb does not need
a direct object to make sense.
He ran.
She sat.
Each tense indicates the
connection between two or more
time periods or the exact time an
activity occurred, which
underlines the importance of
English grammar tenses. They
can be used to create different
meanings from the same verbs
and help to anchor the listener
understand the meaning behind
your story.
ERROR CORRECTION
THANK
YOU
Presented By:
M.K.Tiwari
PGT – English
K.V.1 STC, Jabalpur
(M.P.)