Tense And Aspect - 1
Objective:To improve students’ ability to use and construct error free sentences in spoken and written
English.
The following information gives a bird eye view of all the tenses (i.e. present, past and future) and their use
in different time frames besides some signal words for each tense.
1 . Present Tense:
1 .1 Simple Present Tense:
Structure: Sub + Verb 1 + S or ES + Object
Helping Verbs Used: Do& Does (to form questions and negative statements)
(He, She & It-------------- Does & I, We, You and They-----------Do)
Two helping verbs Do and Does are used in this tense. Do is used for plural subjects like I (exceptional),
We, You & They. Does is used for singular subjects like He, She & It. If the subject is singular S or ES is added to the verb ending. This rule does not applicable to plural subjects.
1. She sings excellently.
2. They play very well.
There are some adverbs which are often used in this tense. They are always, every, never, normally, often, seldom, sometimes, usually.
Simple present tense is used in the following situations:
i. action in the present taking place
ii. facts
iii. actions taking place one after another
iv. action set by a timetable or schedule
v. habitual actions
1 . She reads an article. (Affirmative)
2. Does she read an article? (Interrogative)
3. She does not read an article. (Negative)
4. Doesn’t she read an article? (Negative Interrogative)
1 .2 The Present Continuous / Progressive Tense
Structure: Sub + Verb+ ing form (V4) + Object
Helping Verbs Used: Am, Is & Are (to form questions and negative statements)
(I--------------Am,
He, She &It-------------- Is &
We, You and They-----------------Are)
Usage in sentences:
1 . She is reading an article.
2. I am giving a presentation now.
3. Is she reading an article?
4. She is not reading an article.
5. Isn’t she reading an article?
The following categories of verbs are not used in the present continuous/progressive form.
a) Verbs denote likes and dislikes (like, love, hate, adore, hate, dislike, abhor and
detest).
b) Verbs of perception (see, hear, smell, taste and feel)
c) Verbs of cognition (know, understand, comprehend)
d) Verbs of possession (have, possess)
1 )* I am loving classical music (I love classical music)
2)* I am seeing it now (I see it now)
3)* She is understanding it well (She understands it well)
4)* He is having a problem (He has a problem)
1 .3 The Present Perfect Tense:
Structure: Sub + Verb (V3) + Object
Helping Verbs Used: Has & Have (to form questions and negative statements)
(He, She &It-------------- Has & I, We, You and They-------Have)
Usage in sentences:
1 . She has written an article.
2. I have given a presentation just now.
3. Has she written an article?
4. She has not written an article.
5. Hasn’t she reading an article?
Present perfect tense refers to completed actions. They also imply recently finished actions. There are
some adverbs which are often used in this tense. They are already, ever, just, never, not yet, so far, till now, up to now
1 .4 The Present Perfect Continuous Tense:
Structure: Sub + Verb ing form (V4) + Object
Helping Verbs Used: Has been & Have been (to form questions and negative statements)
(He, She &It-------------- Has been & I, We, You and They-------Have been)
Usage in sentences:
1 . She has been waiting for an hour.
2. I have been speaking since 2pm.
3. Has she been waiting for an hour?
4. She has not been waiting for an hour.
5. Hasn’t she been waiting for an hour?
Present perfect continuous tense refers to actions which started I the past and are continuing till the present and have chance to continue in the future. There are some adverbs which are often used in this tense.
They are - since and for.
Since refers to point of time (exact time) eg: 1997, January 5th, 2 o Clock, Wednesday.
For implies period of time like two weeks, three hours, fifteen minutes and two years.
