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Universidade Católica de Moçambique

Instituto de Educação à Distância

Present simple tens, past tense and future tense

Cavaco Ernesto Chume 708225651

Curso: Licenciatura em Ensino de Informática

Disciplina: Inglês
Ano de frequência: 1º ano

Maputo, October de 2022

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Contents
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 4
Objetives............................................................................................................................................. 5
General ........................................................................................................................................... 5
Specific ............................................................................................................................................ 5
Structure the work ............................................................................................................................ 5
Verbs- concept ....................................................................................................................................... 6
Verb to be ........................................................................................................................................... 6
Present tense of verb to be .............................................................................................................. 6
How to form sentences ................................................................................................................... 7
Negative form (verb to be) .............................................................................................................. 7
How to make sentences .................................................................................................................. 7
Past tense (verb to be) ..................................................................................................................... 8
Past tense negative ......................................................................................................................... 8
How to make questions................................................................................................................... 9
Future tense (verb to be) ................................................................................................................ 9
Negative form ................................................................................................................................. 9
How to make questions................................................................................................................... 9
Verb to have ....................................................................................................................................... 9
Present tense ................................................................................................................................. 10
Negative form (of present tense) .................................................................................................. 10
How to make questions................................................................................................................. 10
Past tense (verb to have) ............................................................................................................... 11
Negative form ............................................................................................................................... 11
How to make questions................................................................................................................. 11
Future tense (verb to have) .......................................................................................................... 11
Negative form ............................................................................................................................... 12
How to make questions................................................................................................................. 12
Conclusion............................................................................................................................................ 13
Bibliographic reference....................................................................................................................... 14
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Classificação

Categorias Indicadores Padrões Pontuação Nota do

máxima tutor Subtotal

 Capa 0.5
 Índice 0.5
Aspetos
 Introdução 0.5
Estrutura organizacionais
 Discussão 0.5
 Conclusão 0.5
 Bibliografia 0.5
 Contextualização
(Indicação clara do 1.0
problema)
Introdução  Descrição dos objectivo 1.0

 Metodologia adequada ao 2.0

objeto do trabalho
Conteúdo  Articulação e domínio do
discurso académico 2.0
(expressão escrita cuidada,
Análise e discussão coerência / coesão textual)
 Revisão bibliográfica
nacional e internacionais 2.
relevantes na área de
estudo
 Exploração dos dados 2.0
Conclusão  Contributos teóricos 2.0
práticos
Aspetos gerais  Paginação, tipo e tamanho
Formatação de letra, paragrafo, 1.0
espaçamento entre linhas
Normas APA 6ª  Rigor e
Referências edição em coerência das 4.0
Bibliográficas citações e citações/referências
bibliografia bibliográficas

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Part I

Introduction
As in any language, the verbs perform the principal part of the sentences. The verbs hold the
main idea of a sentence or statement. In other hand, a bad use of them can distort the contents
or make them confuse to understand.

So we can adopt this motto: pause and think English.

Many leaners have problems to make a good conjugation of verbs because they are influenced
by they own languages or cultures, so it turns difficult to make a correct use of the verbs.

The verbs to be and to have are some of 40 most common verbs in English and are irregular-
which increase the challenge.

But is not necessary to be afraid because there are a lot of material to help us in this issue. The
writer of this assignment engaged them self to bring this matter in an easy way to understand.
In this assignment we will discuss about some simple rules to conjugate two of the most used
verbs in English. We will do it in three times, present simple tense, past simple tense and future
tense. You will notice also that each time has some subdivision, which are positive, negative
and how to make questions.

Are you read? Let’s go now!

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Objetives
General
 Discuss about present, past and future tense of the verbs to be and to have.

Specific
 Conjugate verbs in present, past and future simple tense.

 Give some examples of use of the verbs.

Structure the work

This field assignment is organized in three principal parts:

The first includes the introduction, objectives, and contents.

The second is the main groundwork of this assignment or development, were the discussion is
presented.

The third part, to finalize, includes the conclusion and the Bibliographic reference.
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Part II - Development

Verbs- concept
Verbs are words that describes an action or a phenomenon. Most verbs describe actions, so they
are called action verbs. Action verbs tell what people or things are doing. It’s important to refer
that, as told by Purland (2014), verbs in English has five forms, no matter are regular or
irregular. Let’s show them:

 Infinitive- the natural form of the verb;

 Simple form- conjugated in present simple tense;

 Past tense- conjugated in past simple tense;

 Past participle;

 gerund form

Verb to be
This verb belongs to the group of 40 most common verbs in English, and is irregular.

Before discussing about the verb to be, is important to refer that, to conjugated verbs, we have
to use 3 personal pronouns in singular and plural persons, as told by Beaumont (1993):

Singular persons: I, You, He/She/It.

Plural persons: We, You, They.

Notice that the second person (You) is common in singular and plural person, that’s why, the
conjugation is the same, as we will see soon.

Present tense of verb to be

According to Purland (2014), The present simple is used to make simple statements of fact, to
talk about things that happen repeatedly, and to describe things that are always true.

The personal pronouns are used before a verb.

Positive form
I am or I’m a teacher.

You are or you’re a teacher.

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He/ she/ it is or he´s/ she’s/ it’s- (we use it to talk about the time, days, weather, distances and
animals).

We are or we’re teachers.

They are or they’re teachers.

Notice that we didn’t repeat the pronoun you because it has only one form both singular and
plural.

How to form sentences

According to English Grammar Guide we construct a sentence using verb to following this
model: subject+ be+ the rest of sentence.

E.g.:

I am at home.

I am tired.

The verb to be is used to indicate both a status and a place.

Negative form (verb to be)

The negative adverb comes after the verb:

I am not / I’m not a teacher.

You are not/ you’re not a teacher.

He/she/ it is not or isn’t a student.

We are not or we aren’t students.

They are not they aren’t students.

To make a sentence using negative form we follow the same rule as the positive form. Some
example:

They aren’t at home at this moment.

How to make sentences

To make questions, we use this rule:

Do/ does+ personal pronoun+ the rest of the sentence.

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Do you want to eat apple?

Does she want to go to Beira?

Past tense (verb to be)

To start discussing in this issue, we want to remember about Hall & Barduhn (2016) in English
Grammar Guide. They wrote, “the past simple is used to talk about completed actions that
happened at a fixed time in the past. It is the most commonly used past tense in English”. (p.24)

As an irregular verb, the verb to be does not use «“-ed” to form the past simple. There are no
specific rules about how to form irregular verbs in the past simple». (English Grammar Guide,
p.26)

This verb is the only verb in the past simple which changes depending on the subject. It’s past
simple of “be” changes with the subject. Let’s see:

I was at school.

You were at school.

He /she/ it was at home.

We were at school.

They were at school.

Past tense negative

In contrast of past simple tense, the past simple negative is used to talk about things that did not
happen in the past. To form the past simple negative of “be,” the word “not” is added after
“was” or “were. Using the same examples in the past simple tense, now we have:

I was not at school.

You were not at school.

He/ she/ it was not at school.

We were not at school.

They were not at school.

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How to make questions

To form questions in the past simple of the verb “be”, just make a swapping the order of the
subject and “was” or “were.”

Was I at school?

Were they at school?

Future tense (verb to be)

The verb “be” in future simple has only a form “will”. So just add will after the personal
pronoun. Notice also that it works as an auxiliary verb in most situations.

I will/ I’ll go to school.

You will/ you’ll go to school.

He/ she/ it will go to school.

We will/ we’ll go to school.

They will/ they’ll go to school.

Negative form
The negative form of this verb, in future tense follow this pattern: subject+ will+ not+ the rest
of the sentence.

These are some examples:

I will not go to school.

They will not go back home today.

How to make questions

Also, in this situation, just swap the positions of the word “will” with the subject.

Will I go to school?

Will you go to the market?

Verb to have
This verb looks like as a regular when seen only in the present simple. But it is irregular one,
as we will see in all tenses related in this work.
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Present tense
The rules used to conjugate the verb “be” is also used to this verb, and the short forms are
applicable also.

I have/ I’ve a computer.

You have/ you’ve a computer.

He/ she/ it has or he’s/ she’s/ it’s a computer.

We have/ we’ve a computer.

They have/ they’ve a computer.

Negative form (of present tense)

To form negative form, just follow the same rule used in the verb “be”.

I have not a computer. Or I haven’t a computer.

You have not a computer. Or you do not have a computer.

He/ she/ it has not a computer. Or he/she/it does not have a computer.

We have not a computer. Or he/she/it does not have a computer.

They have not a computer. Or they do not have a computer.

How to make questions

To make questions in present simple tense of this verb, two ways are used:

a) Verb+ subject+ the rest of the sentence.

Examples:

Have I a computer?

Has he a computer?

b) Auxiliary verb (do)+ not+ subject+ verb (have)+ the rest of the verb.

Examples:

Do I not have a computer? Or Don’t I have a computer?

Does she not have a computer? Or Doesn’t she have a computer?

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Past tense (verb to have)

As irregular verb, the rules applicable in the verb “be” are equals.

Examples:

I had a book.

You had a car

He/she/it had a computer.

We had a house.

They had a teacher last lesson.

Negative form
To form negative form, just add the “not” after the verb.

Examples:

I had not a car. Or I didn’t have a car.

They had not a car. Or they didn’t have a car.

How to make questions

To make questions, just swap the order used past simple tense:

Had+ subject+ the rest of the sentence

Examples:

Had I a computer?

Had she a car?

Future tense (verb to have)

For this part, we think it’s better to take for mind this statement found in English Grammar
Guide: ““Will” is used to form some future tenses in English. It can be used in several different
ways.” (p. 50)

And this applicable to conjugate the verb “have” in future tense. This rule must be used:

Subject+ auxiliary verb (be)+ verb to have.

Examples:
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I will have a car. Or I’ll have a car.

You will have a house. Or you’ll have a house.

He/ she/ it will have a car.

We will have a house. Or we’ll have a house

They will have a bus. Or they’ll have a bus.

Negative form
To make a negative form, is only necessary to follow the same rule used in the verb “be”:

Subject+ auxiliary verb (be)+ not+ verb to have+ the rest of sentence.

Examples:

You will not have a house.

They will not have a bus.

How to make questions

To make questions, just change the position of the auxiliary verb and subject:

Auxiliary verb+ subject+ verb to have+ the rest of sentence.

Examples:

Will I have a car?

Will they have a car?

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Part III

Conclusion
As we saw, to conjugate and make a good application of them verbs require attention: pausing
and thinking in English.

We saw that some rules are applicable in both verbs to be and to have, because they are
irregular.

Summarizing, we have personal pronouns in singular and plural. But we saw the pronoun you,
is used to both situations, and the verbal form is the same in every times no matter is present,
past or future.

To make a positive form we have to start with subject, add the verb and the rest of sentence
comes after.

To make a negative form, we must add the word not after the main verb no matter is present,
past, and future simple tense.

To make questions, usually we make swap in positions between the subject and the main verb.
The verb must take the thirst place and the subject comes in second place.

We didn’t discuss about everything about present, past, and future simple tense because there
are so many matter about it, and everyone can engage itself to deepen in this and other matters.
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Bibliographic reference
Beaumont, D., 1993, Heinemann English language Teaching, A division of Heinemann
Publishers (Oxford) Ltd. Halley Court, Jordan Hill, OX2 8EJ.

Hall, D., Barduhn, S., 2016. ENGLISH FOR EVERYOBNE, ENGLISH GRAMMAR
GUIDE, First American Edition, 2016 Published in the United States by DK Publishing 345
Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014.

Purland, M., 2014, Big Grammar Book 2