TENSES Dr B N Waghmare Department of English

TENSES Dr. B. N. Waghmare Department of English Balaghat Shikshan Sanstha’s Yeshwantrao Chavan College, Tuljapur District Osmanabad

TYPES OF TENSES §Tenses indicate the exact time of the speech. § Tenses play a vital role in meaningful communication. § There are basically three tenses. These are as follows: 1) The present Tense 2) The past Tense 3) The Future Tense

THE PRESENT TENSE: 1) SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE – ( S+V) / (S+VS) Present tense is used to indicate the present moment, routine or habit and general certainty etc. Ex. • I write an essay. We write him a letter. • They write him a letter. He writes a letter. • She writes a poem. It writes a letter. • The boys shout. The earth is a planet. • . He works hard. She sings well.

PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE – (S+ TOBE + VING. ) • I am writing a novel. We are playing cricket. • You are working in your farm. They are working in office. • He is typing a letter. She is playing guitar. • It is writing. Who is writing the letter?

3) PRESENT PERFECT TENSE: • I have written. We have written. • You have written. They have written. • He has written. She has written. • It has written.

4) PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE: • I have been writing. We have been writing. • You have been writing. They have been writing. • He has been writing. • It has been writing. She has been writing.

THE PAST TENSE Ø Past Tense refers to a event that is prior to it’s utterance time. 1) Simple past tense: (S+Vpast) I wrote a letter. We wrote a letter. They worked for a long time. You wrote him a letter. He wrote. She wrote. It wrote.

2) IMPERFECT PAST TENSE OR PAST PROGRESSIVE TENSE: (S+TOBEPAST+ VING. ) • I was writing. We were watching match. • You were writing. They were watching match • He was writing. She was writing. • It was writing.

THE PAST PERFECT TENSE: • I had written. We had written. • You had written. They had written. • He had written. She had written. • It had written.

PERFECT CONTINUOUS OR PAST PERFECT PROGRESSIVE TENSE: • I had been writing. We had been writing. • You had been writing. They had been writing. • He had been writing. She had been writing. • It had been writing.

FUTURE TENSE: • English has no verbal inflection to mark a future tense. • English makes use of a number of forms to refer to future events.

PRESENT Present simple Present continuous

SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE Functions: To talk about things in general: Nurses look after patients in hospitals To say how often we do things: I get up at 7 o’clock every morning In summer John plays tennis once a week.

PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE: FUNCTIONS Action happening at the time of speaking: Let’s go now. He is waiting for us for a long time. Action happening in a period around the time of speaking: Is Susan working this time? Is your health getting better?

PAST TENSE Past simple Past continuous

SIMPLE PAST TENSE: FUNCTIONS Action completed in the past: Mohan wrote more than 600 poems.

PRESENT PERFECT TENSE: FUNCTION Action in the past has a result now: I’ve lost my key. Action started in the past and continued until now: I have lived here for 15 years.

PAST PERFECT TENSE: FUNCTION Action which happened before another action in the past When Sarah arrived, Paul wasn’t there. He had gone home.

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