Tenses (Present, Past and Future Tense)

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Tense means the indication of a point of time which refers to the action happened, happens or will happen.

There are three types of tenses in English.
i. Present tense
ii. Past tense
iii. Future tense

Present Tense

Each of the types of tenses has four different forms.

  • Present Indefinite Tense
  • Present Progressive (Continuous) Tense
  • Present Perfect Tense
  • Present Perfect Progressive (Continuous)

Present Indefinite Tense

The present indefinite tense, also known as simple present tense, states a stative or habitual or true action.

Generally simple present tense is used to indicate an action which happens – always, regularly, every day, daily, normally, generally, usually, occasionally, sometimes, often, rarely, frequently, nowadays, naturally, seldom, constantly, never, every a week, every year, once a year, on a week, at times, at present, now and then, or all the time.

Sentence structure:

Subject (3rd person singular) + main verb+s/es (5th form).
Subject (except 3rd person singular) + base form of verb.

Example: Priya goes to school daily.
A teacher teaches in school.
He/She writes an essay easily.
They catch fish for living.
I watch television everyday.

Note: Auxiliaries work as main verb. They are as follows.

I am a teacher.

She is a doctor.

Ravi is an honest man.

Some stative verbs like see, smell, taste, want, wish, understand, know, believe, hate, need, love, like etc.. are used in simple tense.

Present Progressive (Continuous) Tense

The present progressive is used to show an ongoing action (now). However, the stative verbs do not   progrechange present to progressive, even though they refer to the present time.

Now, continually, perpetually, at this moment, at the moment, right now, This season, this year, forever, etc. are usually the signs of a verb to take present progressive tense.But, these signs are not necessary all the time for a verb to present progressive tense.

Structure:

Sub + is/am/are + verb+ing....

Example: I am going to college now.

She is writing a story at this moment.

They are attending a doctor these days.

Also, this tense is used to show a plan for the future time.

  • James is leaving for England tomorrow.
  • I am going to complete my task tomorrow.
  • Our train is departing at 6.00 PM.
  • The PM is flying to Australia next month

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