Tenses of English Language, Summaries of English

Download Tenses of English Language and more Summaries English in PDF only on Docsity! Times and Tense Tense is a grammatical term. It serves as a marker/indicator of the form of a verb . English verbs have two tenses: - i) Present ii) Past Compound Tenses Present tense has four forms: i) Simple Present ii) Present Progressive iii) Present Perfect iv) Present Perfect Progressive Past tense too has four forms: i) Simple Past ii) Past Progressive iii) Past Perfect iv) Past Perfect Progressive All the progressive and perfective forms are compound tenses because they are formed by combining be and/or have with the main verb: a) be + present participle (progressive tense) | am doing my homework. b) have + past participle (perfect tense) | have finished my breakfast. Future Tense There are noting like a separate future tense corresponding to present tense and Past Tense because it does have a unique marker that can be isolated. Shall and will are modal auxiliaries, not markers of future tense. So instead of Future Tense we may talk about forms expressing future time-there are a number of such forms: i) Simple present ii) Present progressive iii) Be going to iv) Be about to v) Modal auxiliaries Shall/will + bare infinitive It is obvious that shall and will are not the only forms for expressing future time. Although there is no separate Future Tense, the term is frequently used because the shall/will form is still the commonest way of expressing future time. Time Time, unlike tense, is not a grammatical term because it has nothing to do with the form of a verb. On a linear scale time can be divided into three: i) present time ii) past time iii) future time *Tense normally indicates the time of an action/state-Present Tense usually refers to present time and Past Tense to past time. But very often there is no correspondence between tense and time, i.e. between the form of a verb and the time of an action: i) Simple Present-indicating no particular time ¢ The sun rises in the east. ¢ The earth moves round the sun. ii) Simple Present - indicating future time ¢ Vishnu leaves for Patna next week. ¢ | will go out when mother gets back. iii) Present Progressive - indicating future time. ¢ Vishnu is leaving for Patna tonight. ¢ The cabinet is going to take a decision on this. v) Present Perfect-indicating future time ¢ — Iwill go home after | have finished my work. vi) Simple Present - indicating past time © He goes into hiding for five years and then robs the bank. © ~=World War" ends in 1945, and the UN comes into existence. vii) Simple Past - indicating present time | wish | knew her. (I don't know her.) If only he would listen to reason. (He doesn't.) It's time we started. (It is time to start.) Might I see you tonight? Could | use your phone please? viii) Simple Past - indicating future time It might rain tomorrow. If a lion appeared all would flee. ix) Present Perfect - indicating past time (past possibility) You may have heard the news. He cannot have forgotten the appointment. x) Simple Future - indicating present time (present possibility) These will be the toys for your baby. (probably are) She will be about twenty. (probably is) xi) Future Simple-indicating present time Will you have a cold drink? Won't she have a little more? xii) Simple Future - indicating no particular time (general truths/characteristics) Wood will float in water. Spring will come after winter. xiii) Future Perfect - indicating past time (past possibility) You will have heard the news. of can is has been/have been + able to 1) When have +noun means 'to experience/to receive/to take’ its present perfect form is has/have + had + noun. Thave had a lot of calls today. (have received) He has had a lot of opposition. (has experienced) Thave had rice and fish for lunch. (have taken) ii) The Present Perfect form of verb be + noun/adjective is: has/have + been + noun/adjective. Raji has been a teacher for ten years. They have always been kind to me. Uses i) Present Perfect expresses the completion of an action by the time of speaking or writing: The hol idays are over, Schools have reopened. Have you ever seen a rainbow? Have you been to this restaurant? iii) The Present Perfect in English does not (generally) take an adverb of past time, viz. last week, yesterday, last month. We don't say: loyati has finished her work last week. They have got back from Nepal yesterday. Note: Simple Past is chosen when an adverb of past time is mentioned: Isaw Kulkarni yesterday. (not, have seen) ‘We found a treasure last week. (not, have found) iv) However, Present Perfect is used with adverbs/prepositional phrases of time like these: so far, up till no~ for, since, just, yet already. | haven't received any reply so far. (not, | didn't receive) Present perfect progressive Form; The Present Perfect Progressive form of a verb is: has been/have been + present participle Uses i) The Present Perfect Progressive indicates that an action began in the past and is still going on, i-e. continuing upto the ti"me of speaking or writing: The baby has been crying. What have you been doing? ii) It can be used with time phrases like these: for, since, long, how long, all the time, all day, all week Lata has been talking all the time. We have been playing chess all evening. People have been waiting for a long time. Note: In questions in Present Perfect Progressive since when is used instead of when: Since when has the child been missing? Since when have you noticed the symptoms of this disease? We don't say: When have you been writing this novel?