this slide teaches about the tenses to the primary school kids.

1. TENSES

2. WHAT IS TENSE?
⮚ Tense means ‘time’
⮚ We don’t talk about the time of a verb
⮚ We call it tense.
⮚ There are three times at which an action
can take place.
⮚ They are: present
past
future
● Some scholars state that the three
times are present, progressive and past.

3. Types of tense
⮚ The Present Tense
a. To show an action happening now
- See how she walks.
- Look, my friend, it comes.
b. For a habitual or repeated action:
- He comes every day.
- I sleep every night.

4. Types of tense
⮚ The Present Tense
c.To state a fact or general truth
- The world is round.
- The earth goes round the sun.
d. The future action that has been
planned.
- My sister leaves for Ipoh on
Tuesday.

5. Types of tense
⮚ The Present Tense
e. To refer to something which is true
at the stated time.
- Sue teaches in a school.
- Wong lives in Penang.
f.For exclamations; to express what is
taking place at the present.
- Here comes the bus.

6. Types of tense
⮚ The Present Tense
g.Introduces quotations or proverbs.
- There is a proverb which states
that too many cooks spoil the soup.
h.With when, as soon as, until, if, as
though – to show possible actions in
the future.
- When he returns, he will be really
happy.

7. a) To show an action happening now
b) For a habitual or repeated action
c) To state a fact or general truth
d) The future action that has been planned.
e) To refer to something which is true at the stated time.
f) For exclamations; to express what is taking place at the
present
g) Introduces quotations or proverbs.
h) With when, as soon as, until, if, as though – to show possible
actions in the future.

8. ● The simple present is used for events or
situations that exist
● Always
● Usually
● Habitually in the past, present and future.
● Or referring to a present state of condition
● The verb form maintains its basic form
● When using the singular nouns/pronouns,
-s is added to the verb

9. Types of tense
⮚ The PastTense
a.To show something that happened in
the past.
- He broke his leg yesterday.
b. To express an action wholly
completed in the past:
- They sang and danced all night
c. To speak politely:
- Could you please do this for me?

10. SIMPLE PAST
● The simple past is used to talk about
activities or situations that began and
ended at a particular time in the past
● The simple past is usually used with time
expressions (e.g yesterday, last night, two
days ago)
● The form of the simple past does not
change with the number of the subjects

11. ● Regular past form
● The simple past is mostly formed by verb + -
ed
● Walk - walked
● Talk - talked
● Cook - cooked
● Spelling rules of verb + ed
● For verbs ending in –e, add –d
e.g like – liked
● For one syllable verbs ending in one vowel + one
consonant, double consonant, add –ed
e.g stop – stopped
plan – planned
ban - banned

12. ● The consonant is not doubled if the verb ends
in y or w.
e.g play - played
show - showed
● For two syllable verbs, ending in a consonant,
double the consonant, add –ed if the stress is
on the second syllable
e.g re`fer - re`ferred
● For verbs ending in a consonant + y, change
–y to –ied
e.g bury - buried
carry - carried

13. Types of tense
⮚ The Future Tense
a.Future simple or Indefinite
- I shall do it tomorrow.
- She will leave next year.

14. SIMPLE FUTURE
● It is used to refer to an event that are
going to happen in the future
● e.g Mary will complain to the headmaster
tomorrow
● Refer to an event in the future which is
connected to the circumstances in the
present
● e.g Mary is dissatisfied and she is going to
complain to the headmaster tomorrow.

15. ● English future form
● There is no change in the verb. It is through
the use of modals (will, might, may) that we
can indicate the future
● We can refer to the future by using will +
basic verb form
● e.g I will see you soon.
They will come back as soon as the show is
over.
● We can also use be verbs + going to +
basic verb form to express the future.
● e.g I am going to read this book.
She is going to bake a cake later.

16. Types of tense
⮚ The Present Progressive/Continuous
Tense
a.To state that an action is still going
on at the time of speaking and is not
yet complete.
- He is writing a letter.
- It is raining still.
b. Instead of the future tense.
- He is coming home tomorrow.

17. Types of tense
⮚ The Present Progressive/Continuous
Tense
c.Refer to a longer period of time
where the action is general and non-
specific.
- He is trying to find more sponsors
for his project this year.
d.The use of the phrase ‘is going’
- He is going to die.

18. PROGRESSIVE TENSE
● Present Progressive
● It is used to refer to future time. It can be used
when the future action or event is definite or
already planned.
● e.g Ali has a dinner reservation this evening. He
is meeting his girlfriend.
(The meeting is already prearranged. The present
progressive tense is used to indicate the future.)

19. ● The Difference between the Simple
Present and Present Progressive
e.g Ali is reading a book (1)
Ali reads books (2)
In (1), Ali is now doing something which is
reading a book.
(1) is in the progressive form.
In (2), not tell us if Ali is actually reading a book
now. We can infer that perhaps reading is one
of Ali’s hobbies.

20. ● Forming the present progressive verbs
● The form has two parts:
● Be verbs (am / is / are)
● Verb + -ing
● e.g They are listening to the radio
She is digging for gold
I am writing an essay tonight

21. THANK YOU
Adapted from:
M.N.Martin, M.A
Essential English Grammar