English Grammar Tenses | Exercises | Notes

TENSE

Tense shows the time of an action, its degree of completeness.
Consider the following sentences :
1. I write this letter to please you.
2.I wrote the letter in his very presence.
3.I shall write another letter tomorrow.
In sentence 1, the verb writes refers to present time.
In sentence 2, the verb wrote refers to past time.
In sentence 3, the verb shall write refers to future time.

Thus a verb may refer
(i) to present time
(ii) to past time
(iii) to future time

TYPES OF TENSES

 Present Tense

A verb that refers to present time is said to be in the present tense.
e.g. I write.
I love.
                                            Singular Number             Plural Number
1st person                                   I love                                 We love
2nd person                               Thou lovest                       You love
3rd person                                    He loves                          They love

Forms of present tense
1. I love {simple present)
2. I am loving {present continuous)
3. I have loved {present perfect)
4. I have been loving (present perfect continuous)
The verbs in all of these sentences refer to the present time and are therefore said to be in the present tense.
In sentence 1, the verb shows that the action is mentioned simply, without anything being said about the completeness or incompleteness of the action.
In sentence 2, the verb shows that the action is mentioned as incomplete or continuous, that is still going on.
In sentence 3, the verb shows that the action is mentioned as finished, complete, or perfect, at the time of speaking.

The tense of the verb in the sentence 4 is said to be present perfect continuous, because the verb shows that the action is going on continuously and not completed at this present moment.
Thus we see that the tense of a verb shows not only the time of an action or event, but also the state-of an action referred to.

 Past Tense

A verb that refers to past time is said to be in the past tense.
e.g. I wrote.
                           Singular Number           Plural Number
1st person            I loved                          We loved
2nd person      Thou lovedst                   You loved
3rd person            He loved                       They loved
FORMS OF PAST TENSE
Just as the present tense has four forms, the past tense also has the following four forms :
1. I loved {simple past)
2. I was loving {past continuous)
3. I has loved {past perfect)
4. I had been loving {past perfect continuous)

 Future Tense

A verb that refers to future time is said to be in the future tense.
e.g. I shall write.
I shall love.

                                     Singular Number            Plural Number
1st person                        I shall love                       We shall love
2nd person.                      Thou will love                You will love
3rd person.                        He will love                   They will love
* These forms are now used only in poetry.

Forms of Future Tense
1. I shall love {simple future)
2. I shall be loving {future continuous)
3. I shall have loved (future perfect)
4. I shall have been loving {future perfect continuous)

USES OF THE TENSES

 Simple Present Tense

Structure:sub+v1+o/c

The simple present tense is used :
(i) To express a habitual action.
e.g. He takes milk every morning.
I get up every day at five o’ clock.

(ii) To express general truth.
e.g. The sun rises in the east.
Honey is sweet.

(iii) In exclamatory sentences beginning with here and there to express what is actually taking place in the present:
e.g. Here comes the bus
There she goes !

(iv) In vivid narrative, a substitute for the simple past.
e.g. Soharb now rushes forward and deals a heavy blow to Rustum.

(v) To indicate a future event that is part of a plan or arrangement.
e.g. We go to Mumbai next week.
When does the college reopen.

 Present Continuous Tense

Structure:sub+is/am/are+v1+o/c
The present continuous is used :
(i) For an action going on at the time of speaking.
e.g. She is singing.
The boys are playing cricket.

(ii) For a temporary action which may not be actually happening at the time of speaking.
e.g. I am reading ‘The Firm ’ (but I am not reading at this moment)

(iii) For an action that is planned or arranged to take place in the near future.
e.g. I am going to the cinema tonight. – My uncle is arriving tomorrow.

 Present Perfect Tense

Structure:sub+has/have+v3+o/c
The present perfect is used
(i) To indicate completed activities in the immediate past.
e.g. He has just gone out.
It has just struck eleven.

(ii) To express past actions whose time is not given and not definite.
e.g. Have you read ‘Gulliver’s Travels’.
I have never known him to be angry.

(iii) To describe past events when we think more of their effect in the present than of the action itself.
e.g. Himanshu has eaten all the biscuits.
I have cut my finger.

(iv) To denote an action beginning at some time in the past and continuing upto the present moment.
e.g. I have known him for a long time.
He has been ill since last week.

(v) The following adverbs can be used with the present perfect:
just, often, never, ever, so far, till now, yet, already, since-phrases, for-phrases, today, this week, this month etc.

 Present Perfect Continuous

Structure:sub+has/have+been+v1+ing+o/c

(i) The present perfect continuous is used for an action which began at some time in the past and is still continuing.
e.g. He has been sleeping for five hours. They have been building the bridge for several months.

(ii) This tense is sometimes used for an action already finished. In such case the continuity of the activity is emphasized as an explanation of something.
e.g. Why are your clothes so wet ?

 Simple Past Tense

Structure:sub+v2+o/c

(i) The simple past tense is used to indicate an action completed in the past. It often occurs with adverbs or adverb phrases of past time.

e.g. The steamer sailed yesterday.
I received his letter a week ago.

(ii) Sometimes this tense is used with an adverb of times. In such cases the time may be either implied or indicated by the context.
e.g. I learnt Hindi inAraria.
I didn’t sleep well.

(iii) The simple past is also used for past habits.
e.g. He studied many hours every day.
She always carried an umbrella.

 Past Continuous Tense

Structure:sub+was/were+v1+o/c

(i) The past continuous is used to denote an action going on at some time in the past. The time of the action may or may not be indicated.
e.g. We were listening to the radio all evening.
It was getting darker.
The light went out while I was reading.

(ii) This tense is also used, with always, continually etc., for persistent habits in the past.
e.g: He was always grumbling.

Past Perfect Tense

Structure:sub+had+v3+o/c

(i) The past perfect describes an action completed before a certain moment in the past.
e.g. I met him in New Delhi in 1992.

(ii) If two actions happened in the past, it may be neccessary to show which action happened earlier than the other. The past perfect is mainly used in such situations. The simple past is used in one clause and the past perfect in the other.
e.g. I had done my exercise when Rahul came to see me.
I had written the letter before he arrived.

 Past Perfect Continuous

Structure:sub+had+been+v1+ing+o/c

The past perfect continuous is used for an action that began before a certain point in the past and continued up to that time.
e.g At that time he had been writing a novel for two months.

Simple Future Tense

Structure:sub+will+v1+o/c

The simple future tense is used for an action that has still to take place.
e.g. I shall seen him tomorrow.
Tomorrow will be Sunday.
Note : The simple future tense generally expresses pure or colourless future. When the future is coloured with intention, the going to +ve infinitive construction is perferred.
e.g. He is going to build a new house.

Future Continuous Tense.

Structure:sub+will+v1+ing+o/c

(i) The future continuous represents an action as going on at some time in future time.

e.g. I shall be reading the paper then.
When I get home, my children will be playing.

(ii) This tense is also used for future events that are planned.
e.g. I will be staying here till Sunday.
He will be meeting us next week.

 Future Perfect Tense.

Structure:sub+will+have+v3+o/c

The future perfect tense is used to indicate the completion of an action by a certain future time.
e.g. I shall have written my exercise by that time.
Before you go to see him, he will have left the place.

 Future Perfect Continuous Tense.

Structure:sub+will+have+been+v1+ing+o/c

The future perfect continuous indicates an action represented as being in progress over a period of time that will end in the future.
e.g. By next july we shall have been living here for four years.