TENSE PART_1 :: Present Tense

Easy Elite English
Grammar : TENSE_1
Present Tense
Tense need not make you tense!

In grammar, TENSE is regarded by many as the most
challenging topic for a teacher to teach and the most
difficult lesson for a student to learn.
We have tried to explain tense using
visual graphics to make the chapter on tense
easier to explain and comprehend.
Part_1 deals with Present Indefinite, Progressive, Perfe
and Perfect Continuous Tense forms.

Past Present Future
Timeline
The above rectangular bar represents the timeline with the various color
shades representing the past, the present and the future.
We have chosen a gradient rather than three distinct solid colors because
the terms past, present, etc. are relative and context-dependent. In some
contexts, today’s happenings are to be expressed in the present tense; in
some other contexts, what happened this morning or even what
happened a few minutes ago may be reported in the past tense. Similarly,
what is going to happen in the future is always uncertain.

Simple Present Tense
or
Present Indefinite Tense
Past Present Future
Timeline
In the simp l e pr esent tense , we will show the actions as stretching both backward
and forward from the present along the timeline. The exact length to which we ought to
extend the timeline either way is undefined. In I study in XYZ School, the past and the
future will cover only a few years (from year of joining to (expected) year of leaving). In I
drink milk every morning, the timeline extends backward at most to the year of your
birth and forward to the end of your life. Cows eat grass (the so-called universal truth)
cannot extend backward beyond the time when cows evolved on the earth. The earth
goes round the sun is true from the time the planet earth was born!

or
Past Present Future
Timeli
ne
Visited / Will visit
Did not / Will not visit
I visit my aunt regularly.

or
Past Present Future
Timeli
ne
I often visit my aunt.

or
Past Present Future
Timeli
ne
I sometimes visit my aunt.

or
Past Present Future
Timeli
ne
I rarely / seldom visit my aunt.

or
Past Present Future
Timeli
ne
I never visit my aunt.

or
Sentences in simple present tense may also assert a fact about the state of
some object or situation. This is graphically visualized thus:
Past Present Future
Timeline
Grass is green in color.

or
Sentences in simple present tense may also assert a fact about the state of some object
or situation. … another example:
Past Present Future
Timeline
from birth… … till he grows into a ma
He is a boy.

or
Conclusion: Simple Present Tense is that which extends both backward and forward
from the present along the timeline . How far they extend into the past or into the
future is indefinite and may vary according to the context.
Past Present Future
Timeline
General truths………

Present Continuous Tense
or
Present Progressive Tense
Past Present Future
Timeline
Incomplete actions may be non-stop (uninterrupted) or scattered (intermittent).
We will explain the concept along with the symbols we will use to represent them.

Present Continuous Tense or Present Progressive Tense
Examples for continuous / non-stop / uninterrupted actions:
(i) You write your exams continuously (uninterruptedly) for, say,
two hours.
(ii)Rain may fall continuously (non-stop) for half-an-hour.
We will use this arrow:
Past Present Future
Timeline

Examples for discontinuous / intermittent actions:
i. Suppose you take a week to read a book. You do not actually read for 24 x
7 hours. You may read a few pages, take an hour’s rest, again read a few
pages, go for your bath or lunch, etc. Then you probably go to school /
office and decide that you will resume reading the next day. It could even
be that you did not open the book on a particular day. So the action of
reading was scattered over a week, the actual duration of reading being
only a fraction of 24 x 7 hours.
ii. When cricket test matches are played, the actual game lasts for some hours
until the stumps are drawn for the day. The play resumes the next day.
Sometimes there is disruption due to rain, and not even a single ball is
bowled on a particular day. But the game stretches over a period of five
days.
We will use this arrow:

The dog is running across the road.
I am preparing for my examination.

This tense form is also used to express scheduled future (as opposed
to intended future).
The subtle distinction between the following (simple future, future
continuous and present continuous)is roughly thus:
= Intention; = Certainty
We will go to London next year.
[Strong intention; variable degree of certainty]
We will be going to London next year.
[Strength of intention & degree of certainty moderate]
We are going to London next year.
[Strong intention; very high degree of certainty]

Present Perfect Tense
Perfect tense represent completed action. An action which is perfect or complete
at the present time must be either in the past or in the junction of the past
and the present.
Present Perfect Tense is used for:
i. action recently or just completed / perfected
or
ii. action that was completed /perfected at some time in the past but its
effect or relevance extends to the present.

Example 1:
A boy passed an important examination. The results were published a week ago.
Now, after a week, he decides to throw a party to celebrate his success.
Notwithstanding the elapse of one full week, passing the exam is relevant for the
boy on the day of the party. So, at the party, he might say: ‘I have passed in the
first division.’
In the pictorial representation below, we use a vertical arrow to represent his result one
week before, and a series of dots up to the present time to indicate its effect / relevance.

Example 2:
I did my post graduation thirty years ago. However, when I appear for an
interview for a part-time job after my retirement, I am asked by the interviewer
about my qualification, and I say: ‘I have completed my masters in English.’
In the pictorial representation below, we use a vertical arrow to represent my passing the
M. A. (English) thirty years ago, and a series of dots up to the present time to indicate its
validity / relevance.

Now, I am asked by the interviewer: In which year did you do your post-
graduation? The answer pertains to the vertical arrow (a point of time 30 years
ago), and its connection with the present is immaterial. While we are not
doubting that the certificate is valid even now, the question does not require it.
So, I say: I did it 30 years ago / I did it in 1980.
In the pictorial representation below, we use a vertical arrow to represent the year I
passed my M. A., and omit the series of dots up to the present time. We use the simple
past tense.

Thus, a statement that refers to an incident that happened at any specific point of
time in the past requires simple past tense. Present perfect tense does not permit
specifying a point of time, such as, in 1930, on Friday, five months ago, etc.
Simple Past Present Perfect
I did my training five years ago. I have done my training.
Your friend arrived here at six am. Your friend has arrived.
I finished my work last night. I have finished my work.
Mother cooked chicken this morning. Mother has made chicken curry.

Present Perfect Continuous Tense
The terminology seems to be self – contradictory.
How can an action that is completed / perfected be still continuing?
Either it is finished (and hence ceased) or it is incomplete (still in progress). Being
both perfect and continuous is a concept hard to understand.
The term is derived from its form rather than its sense. A continuous tense will require
a be-verb (am, is, was, are, were, etc.) + an –ing ending verb (is going, am coming…)
whereas a perfect tense will require has / have + a participle form verb (has done,
have slept, …..)
A tense form requiring a be verb + has / have + an –ing ending verb is regarded as
present perfect continuous.

An action had started in the past, and is still continuing, is
what this term means.
When we speak of a train route or a bus route, we often
say:
From P to Q via X.
Using a similar analogy, we should say of present perfect
continuous tense:
From sometime in the past to sometime in the future via the
present. My way of remembering this tense is: from then till
now, and still on!
Past Present Future
Timeli
ne

It has been raining since six in the morning.
We have represented it thus:
Time rain started: 6.00 am
Now the time is: 8.30 am
Rain will stop (suppose): 10.30 am
Line joining the start of the rain to the present:
Line joining the present to an undefined future (end of rain):

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TENSE PART_1 :: Present Tense

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TENSE PART_1 :: Present Tense