Difference between revisions of "Language/English/Grammar/Present-Tense"

From Polyglot Club WIKI
Jump to navigation Jump to search
(This article is about tenses. Learn tenses in this article. Hope you like it!)
Line 1: Line 1:
[[File:English-Language-PolyglotClub.jpg|thumb]]
[[File:English-Language-PolyglotClub.jpg|thumb]]
<div style="font-size:300%;"> Simple Present Tense in English </div>
<div style="font-size:300%;"> Tenses In English </div>
==How do we make the Simple Present Tense?==
==Types of Tenses:==
<code>subject + auxiliary verb + main verb</code>
<code>Simple Present Tense, Simple Past Tense, Simple Continuous Tense, Past Continuous Tense, Past Participle etc...</code>  


==There are three important exceptions:==
==Simple Present Tense:==


1. For positive sentences, '''we do not normally use the auxiliary'''.
1. For singular, add -s to the end of the verb.


2. For the 3rd person singular (he, she, it), we add '''s''' to the main verb or '''es''' to the auxiliary.
2. For plural, no -s at the end of the verb.


3. For the verb '''to be''', we do not use an auxiliary, even for questions and negatives.
3. For the verb '''to be''', we do not use an auxiliary, even for questions and negatives.


*'''Look at these examples with the main verb like:'''
*'''Look at these examples of simple present tense:'''
{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|
|
|'''subject'''
|'''Subject'''
!'''auxiliary verb'''  
!'''Verb'''  
|
!'''main verb'''
!
|-
|-
| rowspan="2" | +
| rowspan="2" | +
|I, you, we, they
|I, you, we, they
!
!no -s
|
!like
!coffee.
|-
|-
|He, she, it
|He, she, it
!
!-s
|
!likes
!coffee.
|-
|-
| rowspan="2" | -
| rowspan="2" | -
|I, you, we, they
|I, you, we, they
!do
!do
|not
!like
!coffee.
|-
|-
|He, she, it
|He, she, it
|do'''es'''
|do'''es'''
|not
!like
|coffee.
|-
| rowspan="2" |?
!Do
|I, you, we, they
|
!like
|coffee?
|-
!Do'''es'''
|he, she, it
|
!like
|coffee?
|}
|}


*'''Look at these examples with the main verb be. Notice that there is no auxiliary:'''
== When we use Present Tense? ==
* The keywords are always, often, sometimes and usually
 
* For example:
* I always play badminton. ( Although there is the keyword "always", the verb after subject "I" cannot add s. )
* He sometimes goes to library. ( Keyword "sometimes" and the subject "he", so can add s. )
 
==Simple Past Tense:==
1) add -ed
 
2) change the verb to the past tense form.
 
3) Here are the list of past tenses:
{| class="wikitable"
{| class="wikitable"
|
!Verb
|'''subject'''
!Past Tense
!'''main verb'''
!Verb
|
!Past tense
|
|-
|-
| rowspan="3" | +
|is/am
|I
|was
!am
|buy
|
|bought
|French.
|-
|-
|You, we, they
|are
!are
|were
|
|bring
|
|brought
|-
|-
|He, she, it
|think
!is
|thought
|
|win
|
|won
|-
|-
| rowspan="3" | -
|leave
|I
|left
!am
|sweep
|not
|swept
|old
|-
|-
|You, we, they
|rise
!are
|rose
|not
|read
|old
|read ( read as red )
|-
|-
|He, she, it 
|swim
!is
|swam
|not
|blow
|old
|blew
|-
|-
| rowspan="3" |?
|tuck
!Am
|tucked
!I
|roll
|
|rolled
|late?
|-
|-
!Are
|began
|you, we, they
|begun
|
|go
|late?
|went
|-
|-
!Is
|hang ( hang someone )
|he, she, it
|hanged
|
|hang ( hang a picture )
|late?
|hung
|}
 
==How do we use the Simple Present Tense?==
 
We use the simple present tense when:
*the action is general
*the action happens all the time, or habitually, in the past, present and future
*the action is not only happening now
*the statement is always true, i.e. a fact
*the emphasis is on the completion of the action rather than the continuous nature of it.
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="3" |John drives a taxi.
|-
|-
|'''past'''
|sit
|'''present'''
|sat
|'''future'''
|eat
|ate
|-
|-
| colspan="3" | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
|tie
|tied
|lie
|lied
|-
|-
| colspan="3" |'''Every day, John + taxi = John's work. Past, present and future. The fact: "John = taxi driver".'''
|sink
 
|sank
'''The activity of driving, e.g. starting the taxi, picking up passengers and going from place to place in the city, is secondary. For this case, the present simple continuous: "John is driving a taxi".'''
|sleep
|}
|slept
 
'''Look at these examples:'''
*I live in New York.
*The Moon goes round the Earth.
*John drives a taxi.
*He does not drive a bus.
*We do not work at night.
*Do you play football?
 
 
Note that with the verb '''to be''', we can also use the simple present tense for situations that are not general.
 
We can use the simple present tense to talk about '''now'''. Look at these examples of the verb "to be" in the simple present tense—some of them are '''general''', some of them are '''now''':
 
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="3" |Am I right?
 
Tara is not at home.
 
You are happy.
|-
|'''past'''
|   '''present''' 
|'''future''' 
|-
|-
!
|make
!-----------
|made
!
|take
|took
|-
|-
| colspan="3" |The present situation as a fact.
|shake
|shook
|add
|added
|}
|}
{| class="wikitable"
! colspan="3" |I am not fat.<br>
Why are you so beautiful?<br>
Ram is tall.
|-
|'''past'''
|'''present'''
|'''future'''
|-
| colspan="3" | --------------------------------------------------------------
|-
| colspan="3" |The general situation. Past, present and future. A fact or habitual.
|}
When you are telling your teacher that you are reading the book they assigned, you can say:
"I am reading this book".
This can mean that:
# You are reading that book as you are talking.
# You have been reading that book and you are not finished.


Only say "this", as in "this book", if you are showing the book or you are close to the book.
== When we use Past Tense? ==
* We use past tense after keyword ago, yesterday, this morning, On year/month/day.
* Example:
* I did the homework yesterday. ( Keyword yesterday and past tense of do is did. )
* I was born on 2012. ( Keyword on and past tense of was is "is" )


Say "that", as in "that book", if you are far away from the book or just talking about the book.
== Bombs of Tenses: ==
Never use any tenses after these keywords to, can/could, will/would, shall/should, must, may, do/does/did.

Revision as of 02:44, 3 December 2021

English-Language-PolyglotClub.jpg
Tenses In English

Types of Tenses:

Simple Present Tense, Simple Past Tense, Simple Continuous Tense, Past Continuous Tense, Past Participle etc...

Simple Present Tense:

1. For singular, add -s to the end of the verb.

2. For plural, no -s at the end of the verb.

3. For the verb to be, we do not use an auxiliary, even for questions and negatives.

  • Look at these examples of simple present tense:
Subject Verb
+ I, you, we, they no -s
He, she, it -s
- I, you, we, they do
He, she, it does

When we use Present Tense?

  • The keywords are always, often, sometimes and usually
  • For example:
  • I always play badminton. ( Although there is the keyword "always", the verb after subject "I" cannot add s. )
  • He sometimes goes to library. ( Keyword "sometimes" and the subject "he", so can add s. )

Simple Past Tense:

1) add -ed

2) change the verb to the past tense form.

3) Here are the list of past tenses:

Verb Past Tense Verb Past tense
is/am was buy bought
are were bring brought
think thought win won
leave left sweep swept
rise rose read read ( read as red )
swim swam blow blew
tuck tucked roll rolled
began begun go went
hang ( hang someone ) hanged hang ( hang a picture ) hung
sit sat eat ate
tie tied lie lied
sink sank sleep slept
make made take took
shake shook add added

When we use Past Tense?

  • We use past tense after keyword ago, yesterday, this morning, On year/month/day.
  • Example:
  • I did the homework yesterday. ( Keyword yesterday and past tense of do is did. )
  • I was born on 2012. ( Keyword on and past tense of was is "is" )

Bombs of Tenses:

Never use any tenses after these keywords to, can/could, will/would, shall/should, must, may, do/does/did.

Retrieved from "https://polyglotclub.com/wiki/index.php?title=Language/English/Grammar/Present-Tense&oldid=117674"