TENSES

Tenses do this give you TENSION? Are you TENSED hearing the word TENSE? The words are quite similar at least in alphabets. Even if u had been feeling these things I'm sure the time has come to say goodbye to TENSION. After today TENSES would attract you and u would be a Master of Tenses.

Let's begin our topic today which is nothing but Tenses.

We all are familiar with Verbs. Just a short brief of it; Verbs are nothing but the work which is done physically or mentally.eg talk, teach, think, laugh, walk etc. Let me use the VERB TEACH in few sentences.

1. I taught in the class yesterday. ( past)
2. I am teaching in the class now. (present)
2. I will teach in the class tomorrow. (future)
Now, the same verb but it has different form according to time. So that what Tenses are..Verb forms which change due to time are called Tenses.

This was just the basic intro of what are tenses.
Let's learn Tenses as one family and understand its members..Sending one pic refer to it.👇

So for students of lower grades, Tenses can be taught as a family of three princess who has 4 daughters each.

So now we know there are 3 main tenses -Past, Present and Future which in turn have 4 different forms. So in total, We have 12 tenses in English grammar. Now let's understand each family separately i.e.Past family, Present family, and Future family.

We start with past family. Past Tense refers to things or verbs done in the past which means the verb is already done earlier or say before. I will explain the usage of each past tense form in form of a table with the formula for the tenses and then explain it So please refer to the next image👇

PAST TENSE FORMULAS (How to use Past Tense in a sentence)

Next, I would be covering both Present and Future tense followed by a quick tip which would help u  to understand and memorize quickly.

For short forms please refer the table of Past tense.

The table for Present and Future tense👇

PRESENT TENSE FORMULAS (How to use Present Tense in a sentence)

          FUTURE TENSE FORMULAS (How to use Future Tense in a sentence)

Quick tip-

1. Continuous tense is also known as Progressive Tense

2 BE forms of the verb-

a) PastTense -was ,were

b) Present Tense- is,am,are

c)  Future Tense -  will, shall

3. DO FORM

1.PAST Tense- did

2.PRESENT Tense- does(singular) ,do(plural)

3.FUTURE Tense- will/ shall do

4.HAS FORM 

1.PAST Tense- had

2.PRESENT Tense- has, have

3.FUTURE Tense- will/ shall have

5.Continuous tense - We always use the Be form with V1 + ing form

 6. Perfect tense -  We always use V3 form of the verb  with the HAS form.

7.Perfect Continuous -We always use the HAS FORM + BEEN + V1+ ING form of the verb.

8. With Modals like can, will, could, must, should etc. ; we always use the root or base form of the verb. For eg. can go, shall eat, must stand etc.

I hope till now you have understood what are tenses, number of tenses as well as forms of tenses. Let's take a breath and quickly go through the table images once again👆

Done👍 Good now its time to understand which Tenses are to be used in different time zones.. we have already categorized Time into 3 Zones- past, present and future. Now we will understand the usage of different tense forms.In simple words which tense to use at which time in a sentence. For this again I will be posting a graphical image and my explanation will be followed so that it becomes easy for us to understand the picture.

As we all get confused as to use which tense in which context, the following notes will answer all your queries.

First of all, we will try to understand all the 3 Simple Tense

SIMPLE TENSES

1. Simple Present Tense- They are used to denote facts, habits( Things which we do every day), Eg. The sun rises in the east( fact)          2.I go to school every day( habit)

2. Simple past - It is used for actions done in the past irrespective of any other work . Its a thing which has already happened..Generally when u see words like yesterday, last year you should use simple past. Only one kind of verb is mentioned in a simple past tense. Eg. I went to school. He told me a story.

3.Simple Future- It denotes actions that haven't occurred yet and will happen sometime in future.Eg. I will go to school tomorrow. I will tell you a story.

Generally words like tomorrow, later etc are used in Simple Future tense.

   

CONTINUOUS TENSES

1.Present Continuous - It shows things that are occurring just now i.e at present..Eg. I am typing, you are reading etc.

2.Past  Continuous - It describes an action which was happening at a specific time in the past when another action happened in the middle of it.Eg.- I was eating lunch when my brother arrived. Here there are 2 actions one is eating other one is arrived. So when the brother arrived at that time one action was going on and that is eating which is an action which was taking place i.e it was continuing when the second action of arrived occurred.

3. Future Continuous- It is used for actions that will be happening for a length of time in the future. This tense denotes an action that will occur at a specific time which will be mentioned in the sentence.Eg. I will be finishing my work by next week( specific time- next week is mentioned)
2. I will be eating my breakfast from 9:00 to 9:30  ( again a specific time is mentioned)

Perfect and Perfect continuous

Now I would take Perfect and Perfect continuous together because that's where we all get confused.

So, to begin with, we will take Past perfect and Past perfect continuous

Past perfect- Past continuous was an action that was continuing when the second action took place in the past. In past perfect first action happened or got over before another action. Eg. I had finished my work when you called. ( First action - finished was already done before 2nd action called took place in the past.

Past perfect continuous-it is used to show an action that was happening to for a length of time in the past up to the moment when the other action took place.
 Eg. I had been finishing my work when u called up. ( which means I was still finishing-action1 my work when you called- 2nd action).

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PAST CONTINUOUS,PAST PERFECT AND PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS

So the difference between past continuous, past perfect and past perfect continuous is-----

Past perfect- one action is already over before the 2nd action.

Past perfect continuous- first action was continuing before the 2nd one.


Past continuous also shows the same thing as past perfect continuous but the difference is in Past perfect continuous an emphasis is laid on the duration of time.it denotes longer actions which continued for more time in the past.Eg.She had been writing for about 2years for television...which shows an action for longer time whereas If we write She was writing means in the near past and for a shorter time period.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PRESENT PERFECT AND PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS

Present perfect & Present perfect continuous-

Present perfect- it denotes an action that happened in the past just before the present moment. For eg., you write on the board and students copy it down and after finishing they say- We have finished writing. This is the action which finished just now.Present perfect continuous- it's an action that started in the past and was continuing for a length of time up to the present moment.For eg. we have been writing since long.

In perfect tense- the work is already done whereas in perfect continuous work/ action may be continuing. It doesn't denote a finished task like present perfect tense.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FUTURE PERFECT AND FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS

Coming up is the last topic to be covered in tenses now.
Future perfect- It denotes an action that will happen in the future before another action.Eg. I will have already eaten my breakfast by the time you come. (Here action 1 of eating will already be done before 2nd action of come)
Future perfect continuous- this is the least used tense as there is no surety of the action yo take place as it is in future.
Explanation- It is used for an action that will continue for a length of time up to the moment when another action will take place. Eg. I will have been eating my breakfast for 30 min by the time you come.

Difference between  Future perfect, Future Continuous and Future perfect continuous

In Future perfect work will be done and in  Future continuous work will be continuing.

Difference between Future Continuous and Future Perfect Continuous

In Future perfect Continuous the action will have begun in the past, present or in future and is expected to continue in future. It will specify a duration. Eg  I will have been studying English for 3 years this summer.
Future Continuous is an expected action that will continue for some time in the future. An action occurring at a specific time in the future. For eg, I will be meeting him tomorrow.

If you know the finish time in the future you will use Simple Future Eg  I will arrive at 5 o' clock.

Just an additional info.. hope that would be handy for you. The tense forms of negative and interrogative sentences.Sending an image for your help👇

Explanation of the Positive, Negative and Interrogative forms will be covered in the next one. Hope this information proves to be a help to many of you. Do send me your feedback by writing in the comment section. Your feedback will help me nourish myself to be a help to all the lovely people out there.

Tomorrow I would be posting on ACTIVITIES ON TENSES which the teachers can use to explain in the class.

Thank you and goodbye