TENSES

3 Basic Time Frames

Past: Describes events that occurred before the present.
Present: Refers to actions happening now or facts that are always true.
Future: Points to events that will occur after the present.

4 Main Types (Aspects)

Each time frame (Past, Present, Future) includes 4 different types. Here are the basic rules for their usage.

A. Simple Tenses (For facts, habits, or completed single actions)

Present Simple

Rule: Use the base verb and add -s or -es for he/she/it.
When to use: For daily routines, habits, and general truths.
Example: I eat lunch every day. She works hard.

Past Simple

Rule: Use the base verb + -ed for regular verbs or the second form of irregular verbs like went, ate, saw.
When to use: For actions completed in the past at a specific time.
Example: I ate lunch an hour ago. We watched a movie yesterday.

Future Simple

Rule: 'will' followed by the base verb.
When to use: For predictions, quick decisions, or future promises.
Example: I will eat lunch later.
I will call you tonight.

B. Continuous (Progressive) Tenses (For ongoing or in-progress actions)

Present Continuous

Rule: am/is/are + Verb-ing.
When to use: Things happening right now at the moment of speaking.
Example: I am eating lunch right now.
They are playing football.

Past Continuous

Rule: was/were + Verb-ing.
When to use: An action that was in progress at a specific moment in the past (often interrupted by another event).
Example: I was eating lunch when he called.

Future Continuous

Rule: will be + Verb-ing.
When to use: An action that will be happening at a specific time in the future.
Example: At 1:00 PM tomorrow, I will be eating lunch.

C. Perfect Tenses (Connecting two time frames or showing completion)

Present Perfect

Rule: have/has + Past Participle (3rd form, e.g., eaten, done, seen).
When to use: An action that happened in the past, but the time is not stated, or it connects to/affects the present.
Example: I have eaten lunch already (so I am not hungry now).

Past Perfect

Rule: had + Past Participle.
When to use: An action that happened before another action in the past.
Example: I had eaten lunch before the meeting started.

Future Perfect

Rule: will have + Past Participle.
When to use: An action that will be completed before a specific time in the future.
Example: By 2:00 PM tomorrow, I will have eaten lunch.

D. Perfect Continuous Tenses (Duration up to a point)

Present Perfect Continuous

Rule: have/has been + Verb-ing.
When to use: An action that started in the past and is still continuing right now.
Example: I have been studying for two hours.

Past Perfect Continuous

Rule: had been + Verb-ing.
When to use: An ongoing action in the past that continued up until another past moment.
Example: I had been studying for two hours before my friend arrived.

Future Perfect Continuous

Rule: will have been + Verb-ing.
When to use: An ongoing action that will continue up to a specific point in the future.
Example: By 5:00 PM, I will have been working for eight hours.

Reference Sheet

Tense	Form	Example Verb (eat)	Key Words
Present Simple	Verb / Verb-s	I eat / She eats	always, usually, every day
Present Continuous	am/is/are + verb-ing	I am eating	now, right now, currently
Present Perfect	have/has + 3rd form	I have eaten	already, yet, ever, never, since
Present Perf. Cont.	have/has been + verb-ing	I have been eating	for (time), since
Past Simple	Verb-ed / 2nd form	I ate	yesterday, last night, in 2010
Past Continuous	was/were + verb-ing	I was eating	while, when
Past Perfect	had + 3rd form	I had eaten	before, after, by the time
Past Perf. Cont.	had been + verb-ing	I had been eating	for (time) before...
Future Simple	will + verb	I will eat	tomorrow, next week, soon
Future Continuous	will be + verb-ing	I will be eating	at [specific future time]
Future Perfect	will have + 3rd form	I will have eaten	by, by the time
Future Perf. Cont.	will have been + verb-ing	I will have been eating	by next year, for [duration]

Comments

CONTENTS OF THE DEAD MAN’S POCKET

Contents of the Dead Man’s Pocket is a short story by Jack Finney , originally published by both Good Housekeeping and Collier’s in 1956 . The story is a suspenseful tale of a man who travels onto a hazardous window ledge (ridge) to retrieve the papers he believes will make his career. Finney was a prolific (creative) writer, recognized for his science fiction novels The Body Snatchers and Time and Again , as well as thrillers, such as 5 Against the House . The story begins with protagonist Tom Benecke at a desk in the living room of his eleventh-floor apartment in New York City. He is preparing to type up a handwritten memo to be distributed to his office. He finds small ways to distract himself from starting. First, he tries to open a window, but it isn’t easily opened. He has to use quite a bit of force on the frame. Once the window is open, he continues to ignore the typewriter, crossing the room to talk t...

BBS First Year English Question Paper with Possible Answers (TU 2021)

FORMULAS OF ALL THE 12 TENSES

S + V + O || Subject + Verb + Object Simple Past Tense S + Past Form of the Verb + O E.g. He wrote a letter. Past Continuous Tense S + was/were + V + ING + O E.g. I was writing a letter. Past Perfect Tense S + had + Past Participle (PP.) of the Verb + O E.g. She had written a letter. Past Perfect Continuous Tense S + had been + V + ING + O + since/for E.g. We had been writing a letter since morning. Simple Present Tense S + V + O E.g. You write a letter. Present Continuous Tense S + is/am/are + V + ING + O E.g. She is writing a letter. Present Perfect Tense S + has/have + Past Participle (PP.) of the Verb + O E.g. They have written a letter. Present Perfect Continuous Tense S + has been/have been + V + ING + O + since/for E.g. You have been writing a letter for three hours. Simple Future Tense S + will/shall + V + O E.g. We shall write a letter. Future Continuous Tense S +...

Summary and Analysis of Only Daughter by Sandra Cisneros

ONLY DAUGHTER -Sandra Cisneros Born into a working-class family in 1954, Sandra Cisneros was the daughter of a Mexican-American mother and a Mexican father. Only Daughter originally appeared in Glamour magazine in 1990. Cisneros through this essay describes the difficulties of growing up as the only daughter in a Mexican-American family of six sons. Historically, sons have been valued over daughters in most cultures, as reflected in the following proverbs: “A house full of daughters is like a cellar full of sour beer” (Dutch); “Daughters pay nae [no] debts” (Scottish); “A stupid son is better than a crafty daughter” (Chinese); and “A virtuous son is the sun of his family” (Sanskrit). Contemporary research suggests that while the preference for male children has diminished considerably in industrialised nations, a distinct preference for sons continues among many cultures in Asia and the Middle East, raising concerns among medical ethicists worldwide. And, even within ...

Summary and Analysis of My Mother Never Worked

MY MOTHER NEVER WORKED Bonnie Smith - Yackel SYNOPSIS In the essay “ My Mother Never Worked ,” Bonnie Smith-Yackel recollects the time when she called Social Security to claim her mother’s death benefits. Social Security places Smith-Yackel on hold so they can check their records on her mother, Martha Jerabek Smith . While waiting, she remembers the many things her mother did, and the compassion her mother felt towards her husband and children. When Social Security returns to the phone, they tell Smith-Yackel that she could not receive her mother’s death benefits because her mother never had a wage-earning job. A tremendous amount of irony is used in this essay. The title, in itself, is full of irony; it makes readers curious about the essay’s point and how the author feels about the situation. Smith-Yackel uses the essay to convey her opinion of work. Her thesis is not directly stated; however, she uses detail upon detail to prove her mother did work, just not in the eyes of ...

PROFESSIONS FOR WOMEN - Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)

Summary : Virginia Adeline Woolf (1882-1941) was an English novelist and essayist, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century. She was one of the leaders in the literary movement of modernism. The speech of Professions for Women was given in 1931 to the Women’s Service League by Virginia Woolf. It was also included in Death of a Moth and Other Essays in 1942. Throughout the speech, Virginia Woolf brings forward a problem that is still relevant today: gender inequality . Woolf’s main point in this essay was to bring awareness to the phantoms (illusions) and obstacles women face in their jobs. Woolf argues that women must overcome special obstacles to become successful in their careers. She describes two hazards she thinks all women who aspire to professional life must overcome: their tendency to sacrifice their own interests to those of others and their reluctance (hesitancy) to challenge c...

Summary and Analysis of THE HIDDEN LIFE OF GARBAGE by Heather Rogers

THE HIDDEN LIFE OF GARBAGE Heather Rogers Journalist Heather Rogers has written articles on the environmental effects of mass production and consumption for the New York Times Magazine, the Utne Reader, Architecture, and a variety of other publications. Her 2002 documentary film Gone Tomorrow: The Hidden Life of Garbage has been screened at festivals around the world and served as the basis for a book of the same title. Named an Editor’s Choice by the New York Times and the Guardian, the book, published in 2005, traces the history and politics of household garbage in the United States, drawing connections between modern industrial production, consumer culture, and our contemporary throwaway lifestyle. Americans produce the most waste of any people on Earth, says Rogers, but few of us ever think about where all that trash goes. Rogers endeavours to show the inner workings of the waste stream, from the garbage...

THIRD THOUGHTS - E.V. Lucas, England (1868-1938)

E.V. Lucas, England (1868-1938) The story ‘ Third Thoughts ’ by E.V. Lucas (1868-1938) is a great satire of the common human mentality. This story was told to Lucas by his friend who had a business especially buying at dearer (higher) prices and selling at cheap. However, he always used to bear the loss. He used to think that one day luck would favour him. As he thought, once he earned abnormal profit by selling Turner’s panting at 50 pounds which he had bought at only 10 shillings from a curio (Something unusual -- perhaps worthy of collecting) shop at Cathedral city . He was really happy and excited for the first time in his business so he wanted to share half of his profit with the dealer. But since he had no stamps to send the parcel, he went to the bed. When he woke up at 3.30 am, again he began to think that sharing half of the profit is not a good idea because no one had done this to him yet. Then he thought of giving ten pounds. Due to unexpectedly earning an abnormal ...

THE LADY WITH THE DOG (1899)

Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) Ø Tells the story of an affair o Wealthy Banker ( Dmitry Gurov ) o Young Wife ( Anna ) Ø Builds off of what is expected o Affair was thought to be a quick experience o These characters were surprised to find that not the case o Specially the Banker Ø After short affair they meet again o Rekindle their relationship o Develop a new chapter in their lives o Discover themselves Ø The writer presents the Theme and Ideas o Progression of Character: § Moving from stereotype to developed § Dmitri: Rich playboy with no depth becomes entwined with Anna. § Anna: Moves from The Lady with the Dog to someone with a name. · Relates to getting to know people as well as individual development. o Open Ending and the Ability t...

A PAINFUL CASE

James Joyce Dubliners is a collection of fifteen short stories by James Joyce, first published in 1914. The stories depict a naturalistic Irish middle class life in and around Dublin in the early years of the 20 th century. CHARACTERS: James Duffy Mrs Emily Sinico Captain Sinico (Ship Captain) Mary In A Painful Case by James Joyce we have the theme of loneliness, isolation, guilt, order and paralysis. Taken from his Dubliners collection the story is narrated in the third person by an unnamed narrator and very early on in the story the reader realises that Joyce, through the use of colour, is highlighting to the reader how lonely the main character, James Duffy ’s life is a middle-aged bachelor without family or friends, is a cashier in a private bank and lives a Spartan (simple) existence in a Dublin suburb. He dislikes physical and mental disorder, ignores beggars’ pleas for alms (charities), and does not attend church. Hi...

Subodh Bhattarai (English & Communication Notes)

Search This Blog