VERB TENSES

TRADITIONAL CLASSIFICATION BY TIME

AND CATEGORY

SIMPLE PERFECT PROGRESSIVE

PRESENT I walk. I have walked. I am walking.
TIME She runs. She has run. She is running.
PAST I walked. I had walked. I was walking.
TIME She ran. She had run. She was running.
FUTURE I will walk. I will have walked. I will be walking.
TIME She will run. She will have run. She will be running.
 CLASSIFY THE TIME AND CATEGORY
1) We will have finished by now.
2) They have charged my credit card the full amount.
3) Will you tell them?
4) We have already made a reservation at the
restaurant.
5) We painted the deck this summer.
6) They will be worrying about us.
7) The company is trying to find a new supplier.
8) I will introduce you to the staff.
Present Tense
The two most common uses of the present tense are
1) for making timeless factual statements
2) for describing habitual actions

1) TIMELESS FACTUAL STATEMENTS

Timeless means it is not bound or limited by time. Therefore, the
statement is not tied to any moment of time. It is a universal
generalization that is valid forever. For example:
In the Fahrenheit scale, water boils at 212 degrees.
The moon and the earth rotate around a center of gravity.
Here is another example in which the timeless nature of factual
statement is not so obvious.

My grandmother lives in a nursing home.

The speaker’s grandmother has not always lived in a nursing

home, and at some point in the future, she will not be living in
the nursing home. The use of the present tense signals that for
the foreseeable immediate future, the speaker’s grandmother is
expected to stay in a nursing home.
Here are another examples of factual statements in the present
tense:
• Cucumbers make my skin itch.
• My brother lives in Sacramento.

The present tense is also used for making timeless

generalizations, assertions, and observations. For example:
• Airplanes get more crowded every day.
• Smoking causes cancer.
• Everyone hates Mondays.
• My kids watch too much TV.
2) HABITUAL OR REPEATED ACTIONS.

For example:

Alice checks her email first thing when she gets

into her office.

The use of the present tense signals that the sentence

is describing Alice’s habitual or normal activity.
It is not what she is doing at this present moment of
time. The sentences doesn’t mean that Alice is
checking her email now.
 …HABITUAL OR REPEATED ACTIONS

Typically we use adverbs of frequency in present tense

sentences used for habitual actions.
• I have oatmeal for breakfast every morning.
• He always returns his calls promptly.
• They usually stay at Marriott.
• We do not eat out very often.

IS THERE ANY QUESTION?

 TIMELESS OR HABITUAL ACTION? EXPLAIN!
1) I usually eat lunch in my office.
2) Obama’s speeches focus on health-care issues.
3) The Nile is one of the major rivers in the world.
4) We usually lock our doors when we go to bed.
5) Sometimes we go for long walks on the weekend.
6) In America, rental apartments come with all the major
kitchen appliances.
7) All too often, debates about global warming totally ignore
all the scientific evidence.
 TIMELESS OR HABITUAL ACTION? EXPLAIN!

8) They rarely watch TV.

9) Mexican food has too much fat and salt for me.
10) That song certainly sounds familiar.
11) Most Asian restaurants have take-out menus.
12) I sneeze whenever I step into bright sunshine.
13) Many Americans spend part of the winter in the
Southwest or Florida.
Past Tense
The past tense is used to refer to events that were completed in
the past. The key to using the past tense is to remember that the
use of the past tense emphasizes that the events are over and
done with before the present moment of time.
Often the use of the past tense implies that what was true then is
not true now. For example:
When I was a little boy, I hated girls.
The use of past tense tells us that the speaker’s childhood attitude
toward girls is confined to the past.
• The past tense can be used to refer to a single moment in past
time.
I graduated in 2004.

• It can also refer to events that occurred repeatedly in the past.

It rained every day during my vacation in Spain.
The implication is that the vacation was over with at some
time prior to present.

• It can also refer to a span of time in the past:

I worked for that company for 6 years.
It implies that the speaker no longer works for that company today.
 SIMPLE CATEGORY OF TENSES

Future Tense
In traditional grammar, the future tense consists of the helping verb
‘will’ followed by a verb in the base form.
• I will see them at the meeting this afternoon.
• It will rain all next week.
• The company will hire a new personnel director later this
year.
In the next chapter, we will discuss that the future tense is often
combined with a perfect or progressive.