Tenses

Tenses help us to determine the time period used in a sentence. Without understanding the time period or tenses, used in a sentence, it will not be possible to communicate properly. Hence, Tenses are categorised according to time periods and their state of action. English verbs are divided into three main tenses, which relate to time: present, past and future. Each main tense is subdivided into other categories: simple tense, progressive tense, perfect tense, perfect progressive tense. These subcategories differentiate when a particular action has been done (or is being done or will be done).i

Confusion:
Students are sometimes confused with the terms used for the tenses, especially when they reach to higher classes or read international grammar books. For example, in the reference quoted above, a student cannot find indefinite tense, continuous tense or perfect continuous tense. Before progressing, the students should be clear that progressive tense is another term of continuous tense. Similarly, there is no difference between perfect progressive and perfect continuous. As for indefinite tense, it is not present in modern grammar. Sometimes it is confused with simple tense, but it is not exactly like that.

Simple Present Past Future

Progressive
is/am/are + present participle was/were + present participle will be + present participle

Perfect
have/has + past participle had + past participle will have + past participle

Perfect Progressive
have/has + been + present participle had been + present participle will have been + present participle

Infinitive

Simple Past will/shall + infinitive

Examples
The table above can help us to understand and learn the tenses easily. Examples of all the tenses are as below: Present Simple: Present Progressive: Present Perfect: Present Perfect Continuous: I hide from the Mafia. I am hiding from the Mafia. I have hidden from the Mafia for more than five years. For past five years, I have been hiding from the Mafia.

Past Simple: Past Progressive: Past Perfect: Past Perfect Continuous:

I hid from the Mafia. I was hiding from the Mafia yesterday. I had hidden from the Mafia for more than five years before I entered the Witness Protection Program. Before I entered the Witness Protection Program, I had been hiding from the Mafia for more than five years.

Future Simple: Future Progressive: Future Perfect: Future Perfect Continuous:

I will hide from the Mafia. I will be hiding from the Mafia tomorrow. I will have hidden from the Mafia for more than five years before entering the Witness Protection Program. Next month I will have been hiding from the Mafia for more than five years.

Definitions
Some people know these things well while other doesnt, and, among them, as pointed under Confusion, some know one term while others know different term. So, those terms should be understood, and for that reason, are defined below

Present Tense
The form of a verb that expresses an action that is happening now or at the time of speaking.ii The form of the verb which is used to show what happens or exists now.iii

Past Tense
The form of the verb which is used to show what happened in the past. iv

Future Tense
The form of the verb which is used to talk about something that will happen. v

Infinitive
The basic form of a verb such as be or run. In English, an infinitive is used by itself, for example swim in She can swim (this use by times called the bare infinitive), or with to (the to-infinitive) as in She likes to swim. Eat or to eat are both the infinitive form. Eat is called bare infinitive and to eat is called to-infinitive.vi

Present Participle
The form of the verb that in English ends in -ing and is used with the verb to be to form progressive tenses such as I was running or sometimes as an adjective as in running water.vii

Past Participle
The form of a verb that in English ends in -ed, -en, etc. and is used with the verb have to form perfect tenses such as I have eaten, with the verb be to form passive sentence such as It was destroyed, or sometimes as an adjective as in an upset stomach.viii The form of a verb that usually ends with -ed and can be used in the perfect tense, the passive tense, or as an adjective. For example baked is the past participle of bake. ix

The Principal Parts of Verbs

The phrase the principal parts of verbs refers to basic forms that verbs can take. In English there are four principal parts: the present infinitive (which you see as the main entry in a dictionary), the past tense, the past participle, and the present participle.x

The Simple Tense

Simple Present Tense It tells an action that is usual or repeated. It is used to express habitual actions and general truths. It is also used, in exclamatory sentences beginning with here and there, to express what is actually taking place in the present, and, in vivid narrative, as a substitute for the Simple Past. It also tells about a future even that is a part of a fixed timetable or a fixed programme. In clause of time and condition, it is used instead of the simple future tense. Form of verb: Helping Verbs: Examples: Active Passive Negative Interrogative Negative Interrogative I eat apple. Apple is eaten by me. Apples are eaten by me. I do not eat apple. Do I eat apple? Do I not eat apple? Infinitive (in traditional grammar, known as 1st form of verb) Do/Does (only in interrogative and negative sentences) Is/Are (Passive Voices)

Simple Past Tense The simple past tense tells an action that both began and ended in the past. It is used to express past habits. Often, it occurs with adverbs or adverb phrases of past time. Sometimes this tense is used without an adverb of time. In such cases, the time may be either implied or indicated by the context. Form of verb: Helping Verbs: Examples: Active Passive Negative Interrogative Negative Interrogative He ate apple. Apple was eaten by him. He did not eat apple. Did he eat apple? Did he not eat apple? Simple Past (in traditional grammar, known as 2nd form of verb) but in negative and interrogative sentences, infinitive form is used Did (only in interrogative and negative sentences) Was/Were (Passive Voice)

Simple Future Tense The simple future tense tells an upcoming action that will occur. It is used to talk about things which we cannot control i.e. it expresses future as a fact. Form of verb: Helping Verbs: Examples: Active Passive Negative Interrogative Negative Interrogative She will eat apple. Apple will be eaten by her. She will not eat apple Will she eat apple? Will she not eat apple? Infinitive Past Participle (Passive Voice) Will/Shall Will be/Shall be (Passive Voice)

The Progressive Tense

The progressive tense (or the continuous tense) indicates an action that is in progress at the time the statement is written. According to traditional grammar, this tense cannot be converted into passive voice but in modern grammar, it is converted by addition of being. Form of verb: Present Participle (1st form + ing) Past Participle (3rd form will be used in Passive Voice)

Present Progressive It is used to show an action that is still going on. It is also used for an action that has already been arranged to take place in the near future. Helping Verbs: Is/Am/Are Is being/Are being (Passive Voice)

Examples: I am eating apple. S/he is eating apple We/They are eating apple. Apple is being eaten by me/us/him/her/them. Apples are being eaten by me/us/him/her/them. I am not eating apple. S/he is not eating apple. We/They are not eating apple. Am I eating apple? Is s/he eating apple? Are we/they eating apple? Am I not eating apple? Is s/he not eating apple? Are we/they not eating apple?

Active

Passive

Negative

Interrogative

Negative Interrogative

Past Progressive It is used to show an action that was going on at some particular time in the past. It is also used with always, continually etc. for persistent habits in the past. Helping Verbs: Examples: I was eating apple. We were eating apple. Apple was being eaten by me. Apples were being eaten by me. I was not eating apple. We were not eating apple. Was I eating apple? Were we eating apple? Am I not eating apple? Is s/he not eating apple? Were we not eating apple? Was/Were Was being/Were being (Passive Voice)

Active

Passive

Negative

Interrogative

Negative Interrogative

Future Progressive It is used to show an action thats continuous and that will occur in the future. It is also used to talk about actions in the future which are already planned or which are expected to happen in the normal course of things. Helping Verbs: Examples: Active Passive Negative Interrogative Negative Interrogative They will be eating apple. Apple will be being eaten by them. They will not be eating apple. Will they be eating apple? Will they not be eating apple? Will be/Shall be Will be being/ Shall be being (Passive Voice)

The Perfect Tense

Form of verb: Past Participle (3rd form of verb)

Present Perfect Tense The present perfect tense conveys action that happened sometime in the past or that started in the past but is on-going in the present. Helping Verbs: Examples: S/he has eaten apple. I/We/They have eaten apple. Apple has been eaten by me/us/them/him/her. Apples have been eaten by me/us/them/him/her. S/he has not eaten apple. I/We/They have not eaten apple. Has s/he eaten apple? Have I/we/they eaten apple? Has s/he not eaten apple? Have I/we/they not eaten apple? Has/Have Has/Have + been (Passive Voice)

Active

Passive

Negative

Interrogative

Negative Interrogative

Past Perfect Tense It indicates past action that occurred (completed) prior to another past action. Helping Verb: Examples: Active Passive Negative Interrogative Negative Interrogative I had eaten apple. Apple had been eaten by me. I had not eaten apple. Had I eaten apple? Had I not eaten apple? Had Had been (Passive Voice)

Future Perfect Tense It is used to illustrate future action that will occur (completed) before some other action. Helping Verb: Examples: Active Passive Negative Interrogative Negative Interrogative We will have eaten apple. Apple will have been eaten by us. We will not have eaten apple. Will we have eaten apple? Will we have not eaten apple? Will have Will have been (Passive Voice)

The Perfect Progressive Tense (or The Perfect Continuous Tense)

Similar to the progressive tense, the perfect progressive tense cannot be converted into passive voice, according to traditional grammar. However, according to modern grammar, it is possible by adding being in the sentence. Form of verb: Present Participle (1st form +ing) Past Participle (Passive Voice)

Present Perfect Progressive Tense It illustrates an action repeated over a period of time in the past, continuing in the present, and possibly carrying on in the future. It is also sometimes used for an action already finished. In such cases the continuity of the activity is emphasized as an explanation of something. Helping Verbs: Examples: Active Passive Negative Interrogative Negative Interrogative S/he has been eating apple. I/We/They have been eating apple. Apple has been being eaten by me/us/them/him/her. Apples have been being eaten by me/us/them/him/her. S/he has not been eating apple. I/We/They have not been eating apple. Has s/he been eating apple? Have I/we/they been eating apple? Has s/he been not eating apple? Have I/we/they not been eating apple? Has/Have + been Has/Have + been + being (Passive Voice)

Past Perfect Progressive Tense It illustrates a past continuous action that was completed before some other past action. Helping Verbs: Examples: Active Passive Negative Interrogative Negative Interrogative He had been eating apple. Apple had been being eaten by him. He had not been eating apple. Had he been eating apple? Had he not been eating apple? Had been Had been being (Passive Voice)

Future Perfect Progressive Tense It illustrates a future continuous action that will be completed before some future time. This tense is not used commonly. Helping Verbs: Examples: Active Passive Negative Interrogative Negative Interrogative She will have been eating apple. Apple will have been being eaten by her. She will have not been eating apple. Will she have been eating apple? Will she have not been eating apple? Will have been Will have been being (Passive Voice)

References
The Only Grammar Book Youll Ever Need by Susan Thurman Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (8th Edition) iii Cambridge Learners Dictionary (2nd Edition) iv Ibid v Ibid vi Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary (8th Edition) vii Ibid viii Ibid ix Cambridge Learners Dictionary (2nd Edition) x The Only Grammar Book Youll Ever Need by Susan Thurman
i ii