TENSES
As mentioned in our earlier posts the key to developing confidence is having a command over one’s language. In this post we will blog about tenses and their use in the English Language.
Tenses are the set of forms taken by a verb to denote time. Only verbs can have tenses.
The three basic tenses are
1. Present tense:
2. Past tense:
3. Future tense:
These three tenses can be further divided into simple, simple continuous (or known as continuous), perfect, perfect continuous.
PRESENT TENSE:
It denotes what is being done now.
1. SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE:
Here the action is simply mentioned and the termination is not.
Ex:
Raju eats.
In the above example, the action is mentioned and nothing is said about the termination of the action.
2. PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE:
This tense denotes the action that is still continuing or going on.
The syntax for present continuous is ‘be (am, are, is) + verb+ing’.
Ex:
Raju is eating.
In the above example, the action performed by ‘Raju’ is still going on. It hasn’t terminated yet.
Here the auxiliary verb ‘is’ is in the present tense and the main verb ‘eat’ is in its ing form.
3. PRESENT PERFECT TENSE:
In this tense, the verb denotes that the action has been completed. Also the verb takes up its*past participle (ppt.) form.
Ex:
Raju has eaten.
Notice that the main verb ‘eaten’ is in the past participle form but the auxiliary verb ‘has’ is still in the present tense.
4. PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE:
This is basically a combination of simple present continuous and present perfect.
Here the main verb takes up its ing form and is preceded by an auxiliary verb ‘be’ in its ppt. form preceded by another auxiliary verb (has/have).
Ex:
Raju has been eating.
The main verb ‘eat’ takes up its ing form and becomes ‘eating’ and is preceded by the verb ‘be’ which takes up its ppt. form and hence becomes ‘been’ and is again preceded by ‘has’.
PAST TENSE
It denotes what has been done before.
1. SIMPLE PAST TENSE:
Again is simple past, the action is simple mentioned and is taken for granted that it took place in the past.
Ex:
Raju ate.
Here the verb ‘eat’ takes its past form ‘ate’. Nothing is mentioned about the termination of the action.
2. PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE:
In past continuous tense, the action was going on for a certain period of time.
The syntax for past continuous tense is ‘be (was, were) + verb+ing’.
Ex:
Raju was eating.
Here the action was going on in the past. Also notice that the main verb ‘eat’ is in its ing form and is preceded by the auxiliary verb ‘was’.
3. PAST PERFECT TENSE:
This tense is used to denote actions that were conducted before another action in the past.
Here the auxiliary verb takes its past tense and the main verb is in its ppt. form.
Ex:
Raju had eaten.
Notice that the auxiliary verb is in its past tense and the main verb ‘eat’ is in its ppt. form.
4. PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE:
This tense is used to denote something that happened in the past, continued happening and terminated in the past itself.
Here the main verb takes up its ing form and is preceded by an auxiliary verb ‘be’ in its ppt. form preceded by another auxiliary verb (had).
Ex:
Raju had been eating.
FUTURE TENSE
It denotes what is going to be done next.
1. SIMPLE FUTURE TENSE:
This simply denotes what we’re planning to do in the future. Again the time constraint is not mentioned.
The syntax is ‘will/shall + root form of the verb’.
Ex:
Raju will eat.
In the above example, the verb ‘eat’ is in its root form which is preceded by an auxiliary verb ‘will’.
2. FUTURE CONTINUOUS TENSE:
The future continuous tense expresses action that will be happening at a particular moment in the future. The action will start before that moment but it will not have finished at that moment.
The syntax is ‘will/shall be + verb+ing’.
Ex:
Raju will be eating at 9 p.m.
3. FUTURE PERFECT TENSE:
This tense denotes the action that is going to be held in the future before another action. This is similar to the past perfect tense but instead of the event occurring in the past, it will take place in the future.
The syntax is ‘will/shall have + ppt. form of the verb’.
Ex:
Raju will have eaten before 10 p.m.
4. FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE:
It is used to express a continued or ongoing action that will start in future and is thought to be continued till sometime in future.
This again is a combination of future continuous and future perfect continuous.
Here the main verb takes up its ing form and is preceded by an auxiliary verb ‘be’ in its ppt. form preceded by two more auxiliary verbs (will/shall & have).
Ex:
Raju will have been eating.
The main verb ‘eat’ takes up its ing form and becomes ‘eating’ and is preceded by the verb ‘be’ which takes up its ppt. form and hence becomes ‘been’ and is again preceded by ‘will have’.
PAST PARTICIPLE
Past participle is the third form of the verb and is used in perfect and perfect continuous tenses.
ROOT PAST PAST
Be was been
Eat ate eaten
Awake awoke awoken
Hit hit hit
