Understanding Basic English : Tenses

Let’s follow the dialogue below. Radha - Hey, Aman, what are you doing? Aman - I was played cricket. [ihc-hide-content ihc_mb_type="show" ihc_mb_who="4" ihc_mb_template="3"] Radha - It is a wrong statement. You should say - I was playing cricket. Aman - Yes, I said that. Radha - Yes, you meant to say that, but the sentence is in the wrong tense. Aman - What is tense? Radha - let’s go. I will tell you what tenses are. Tenses show the time when an action happens or takes place. It can be happening right now, happened before, or will be happening after some time. Some sentences with tenses are: She is sleeping. She hates them. She will go to the market. She walks to school every day. She ate the apple. She completed her homework. Types of Tenses: Past Tense: Past Tense indicates the action that has already taken place. Here are some examples for better understanding: She went to school. The train left. Here, the action that is in bold shows past tense as they have already taken place FOUR FORMS OF PAST TENSES Simple Past Tense Past Perfect Tense Past Continuous Tense Past Perfect Continuous Tense Simple Past Tense shows an action that took place before the present time and has no relation with the present time. For example: She went to Delhi. Rama lived in Agra for five years. Here the action already took place in the past and has no connection with the present. Past Perfect Tense shows an action that has already taken place before another action in the past. Let’s see some examples. Radhika had washed the vegetables before she cooked the dinner. The boy had cried before her mother came. Here we see two actions taking place, but one is happening before the other. Past Continuous Tense refers to an action that was going on at some point in the past that continued for a short time. Here are some examples: I was watching television. She was playing on the ground. Here ‘was’ is used to show the past tense of the sentence. Past Perfect Continuous tense shows an action in the past that took place before another action in the past and continued for a short time during the second time point in the past. It sounds a little confusing so let’s see some examples for better understanding. Shyam had been watching television all morning. Raman had been reading different kinds of books since evening. ‘Had been’ is used here to show that the action is continued during the second point of time also. That’s an end to the past tense. Present Tense: PRESENT TENSE is used to show an action that is taking place at the moment. Some examples are: She is eating. She goes to school. Here the words in bold show actions in the present tense as they are taking place. FOUR FORMS OF PRESENT TENSE Simple Present Tense Present Perfect Tense Present Continuous Tense Present Perfect Continuous Tense Simple Present Tense refers to actions that take place regularly and are true. Consider these sentences: He eats mango. The Sun rises in the East. In both sentences, we see that the actions are regular and true. Present Perfect Tense indicates an action that has been completed just before the present moment, with the result that affects the present situation. He has eaten a mango. Suresh has been to Kolkata. ‘Has’ and ‘has been’ in the examples show the state of action in the present perfect tense. Present Continuous Tense refers to the actions that are taking place right now as we are speaking and will continue for some time. For example: She is eating mango. She is dancing with her sister. Here ‘is’ is used to show the present tense of action. Present Perfect Continuous tense shows an action that began in the past and is happening at the present time. Here are a few sentences: Govind has been sleeping for an hour. We have been working all day. We should notice here that both the actions are happening right now also. With this, we come to the end of the present tense. Future Tense: FUTURE TENSE shows an action that is going to take place in the coming time. It can be depicted by using will or shall. Some examples are: She will go to school. I shall play the piano. Here the words in bold show actions in the future tense as they will take place in the coming time. FOUR FORMS OF FUTURE TENSE Simple Future Tense Future Perfect Tense Future Continuous Tense Future Perfect Continuous Tense Simple Future Tense indicates an action that will take place after the present action and that has no relation with the undergoing action. Here are a few examples He will go to school. They will come here. These sentences indicate that the action will happen at some point in the coming time. The Future Perfect Tense indicates actions in the future that will have been completed before another time in the future. Let’s see these sentences. I will have gone to school. You will have started a job. We have used ‘ will have ’ to show the future action in the sentence. Future Continuous Tense indicates an action in the future that takes a longer time than another action in the future. For example I will be going to school. She will be waiting for you. Here ‘will’ show that the action will take a longer time. Future Perfect Continuous tense indicates an action in the future that will have been happening until another time or event in the future. Let’s see these sentences. I will have been going when she sleeps. You will have been waiting for over one hour when he finally arrives. In both sentences, one of the actions will continue to happen till the other happens. And here we come to the end of our topic. Here’s a quick recap of what we learned today. This chart may really help in remembering the rules of tenses. Hope this helped you brush up and also build a foundation on the tenses of English grammar. As with any language learning, practice makes you perfect. So, don’t forget to use this knowledge when you speak in English. And remember, even if you speak small sentences, it is still practicing English the right way as long as you use proper tenses. Citations : [citationic styles="apa,mla,chicago,harvard,vancouver,ieee"] Power Words : Indicates Confusing Affects Depicted Critical thinking challenge question : 1. Describe any three events in your life using the tenses in past, present and future 2. Give your own examples to show the use of different types of tenses. Watch this video for further learning : [presto_player id=18786] [presto_player id=18787] [quiz-cat id="18785"] Are you ready to solve the puzzle? 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