In English there are theree
basic tenses : Present, past and future. each has progresive form indicating on
goin action: an each has a perfect progresive form, indicating on going action
that will be complited at form definite
time. Tenses is use to show the
relation between the action and state thescribed by the verb and time, which is replected in
the form of the verb.
Tenses is
“form taken by verb to indicate the time (also the continuence or complitnees) of the action atc. (Present
tense in perfect tense).”[1]
Also “The tense of a verb indicate the time of its action”.[2]
Tenses is “(grammar) any of t he forms of a verb that may be used to indicate
the time of the action or state expressed by the verb: the present/past/future
tense.”[3]
Tenses very different languages, tenses many
indicate whether an action, actiity or state is past, present and future tense
may indicate whether and action, activity or state is, was, or will be complete
or whether it is, or will be in progress over periode of time.
“Tenses are:
1) (a peron) cervous or worried, and unable
to relax;
2) (a situation), an event, a period of time,
ect) in which people have strong feeling such as worry; anger;ect that often
cannot be expressed apenly;
3) (a muscle or othe part of the body tight
rather then relaxed;
4) (wire, etc) stretched tightly.”[4]
The other side, Prof
G.S., Muhambadithaya in
dublin says that:
“The verb in a sentence expresses an action, even or state with
relationship to time. It tell us whether an action event took place something a go (past). Whether
it take place now (present or whether we take place sometimes from now
(future). The verb shows time by change its form. This form are called tenses.”[5]
Allend says that
“English has theree times devittion past,
present and future, expressed by the simple tenses. They should this shown as
forming three mind blooks of tenses, each being sub devided so as express other
aspect whithin its general time[6]
Based
describe above, shortly about tenses have been drawn at tables of following:
 Simple
Present
The world is round
I study every day
|
|
Simple
Past
I studied Last
Night
|
|
Simple
Future
I will study
tomorrow
|
a.
Tenses Form
There are three
tenses form is often used to speak with the other people in dily activity such
as :
1)
Simple present tense
a)
Simple present, function.
Simple present tense say that something
was true in the past, is true in the
present, and will be true in the future. It is used for general statement of fact.[8]
Example :
(1) Water cosist of hidrogen and Oxigen.
(2) Most animals kill only for good.
(3) The
world is around.
The main use
of the simple present tense is to express the habitual action :
Example :
(1) He smoks
(2) Dogs bark
(3) Cats drink milk
This tense
does not tell us whether or not the action is being perormed at the moment of
speaking, and if we want to make this clear we must add a verb in the present
continuous tense :
Exmple :
(1) He’s working. He always at night.
(2) My dog barks a lot. But he isn’t barking
at the moment
b)
Spelling notes.
Verb ending
in ss, sh, ch, x, and es, insted of s a lone, to form of the verb
with third person singular :
Example :
(1) I kiss, he kisses.
(2) I rush, he rushes.
(3) I watch, he watches.
(4) I box, he boes.
(5) I do, she does
(6) I go, he goes.
When y
follows the consonant we change the y
into i and add ess.
Example :
(1) I carry, he carries.
(2) I coppy, he copies.
(3) I try, he tries.
But verb ending in y following a vowel obey the
usual rule.[9]
Example :
(1) I obey, he obeys.
(2) I say, he says
c)
Simple present, form.
Simple present form.
|
Statement
|
{I-you-We-They} work.{He-She-It} work.
|
|
Negative:
|
{I-You-We-They} do not work. {He-She-It} does
not work.
|
|
Question:
|
Do {I-We-You-They} work? Does {He-She-It} work?
|
Figure 2
Contractions
of pronouns with be: I’m, you’re, we’re, they’re, he’s, she’s, it’s.
Contraction
of verbs with not: don’t, doesn’t, aren’t, isn,t (Note: am and not are not
contracted).[10]
d)
The simple present tense use frequency
adverbs.
In the simple present tense there are
seven numbers of frequency adverbs, they are : always, usually, often,
sometimes, seldom, rarely, never.
The
frequency adverbs of simple present
|
Always usually often sometime seldom rarely never
100%
99%-90% 90%-75% 75%-25% 25%-10% 10%-1% 0%
|
|
|
Subject + frequency + Simple present V
|
Always, usually, often, sometime, seldom, rarely and never are called
“frequency adverbs”. They come between the subject and the simple present
verb.
always
usually
often
S +
sometimes +
V a
seldom
rarely
never
|
|
a)
Bob Always come too late
b)
Mary Usually come late
c)
We Often watch TV at night
d)
I sometime drink tea with dinner
e)
They seldom go to the movies
f)
Maryam rarely make a mistake
g)
They never eat paper
|
|
Figure 3
“Some
frequency adverb can also come at the beginning at the end of a sentence.”[11]
Example :
(1) Sometime I get up at seven.
(2) I sometimes get up at seven.
(3) I get up sometime at seven.
2)
Simple Past Tense
a)
Simple past, function.
The simple
past tense is used to talk about a completed action in a time before now. Duration is no important.
The time of the action can be in the recent past or the distant past.
Example :
(1) John Cabot Sailed to America in 1498.
(2) My father died last year.
We always
use the simple past when you say when something happened, so it is
associated with certain past time expression.
Example :
(1)
Frequency :
Often, sometime, always.
(2)
A definite point in time :
last week, when I was a child, yesterday, six weeks
ago.
(3)
An indifinitive point in time :
the other day, ages ago, a long time ago
etc.
Note : The word ago is a useful way of
expressing the distance into the past. It is placed after the period of time e.g. a week ago, three years ago, a minute
ago
Example :
(1) We saw a good film last night..
(2) I went to the theatre last night.
(3) She played the piano when she was a
child.
(4) He sent me a letter six months ago.
(5) Peter left five minutes ago
The simple
past tense is also used for a past habit.[12]
Example :
(1) He always carried an umbrella.
(2) They never drank wine.
b)
Simple past, form
This tenses
have two forms it is called irregular verb and regular verb.
(1)
Irregular verb, form
Simple past
be, have, do :
Irregular verb, form
|
Subject
|
Verb
|
||
|
Be
|
Have
|
Do
|
|
|
I
|
was
|
had
|
Did
|
|
You
|
were
|
had
|
Id
|
|
He, She, It
|
was
|
had
|
Did
|
|
We
|
were
|
had
|
Did
|
|
You
|
were
|
had
|
Did
|
|
They
|
were
|
had
|
Did
|
Figure 4
In the simple past tense is like as with
the other tenses that have three types sentence, it is called affirmative,
negative and interrogative sentence.
Affirmative.
1) I was in Japan last year.
2) She had a headche
yesterday.
3) We did our homework last
night.
Negative and Introgative.
Note: for
the negative and interrogative simple past form of “do” as an ordinary verb,
use the auxiliary “do”, e.g. We did not our homework last night. The negative
of “have” in the simple past is usualy formed using the auxiliary “do”, but
sometime by simply adding not or the contraction “n’t”. The interrogative form
of “have” in the simple past normally uses the auxiliary “do”
(2) Spelling notes of irregular verb.
- If the verb ends –e, just
add –d
Smile – smilled
Hope – hoped
- If the verb ends in two
consonants, just add -ed
Help – helped
Learn – learned
- If the verb ends in two
vowels + a consonant, just add –ed.
Rain – rained
Heat – heated
- If the
verb has one syllable and ends in one vowel + one consonant, double the consonant to make the
–ed form.
Stop – stopped
Plan – planned
- If the first syllable in two
sylllable verb is stressed, do not double the consonant.
Visit – visited
Offer – offered
- If the second syllable of a
two syllable verb is stressed,double the
consonant.
Prefer – preferred
Admit – admitted
- If the verb end in a vowel +
-y, keep the –y. Do not change it to –i.
Play – played
Enjoy – enjoyed
- If the verb ends in a
consonant + -y, cahange the –y to –i to make the –ed form.
Worry – worried Study – studied
- If the verb ends –ie just
add -ed
Die – died Tie – tied
- Expectation: do not double w or x.
Snow – snowed Fix – fixed.[13]
c)
Regular verb, form.
Example :
(1) They weren’t in Rio last summer.
(2) We hadn’t any money.
(3) We didn’t have time to visit the Eiffel
tower.
(4) Were they in Icleand last January ?
(5) Did you have a bicycle a when you were.
Regular
verb,form.
|
Affirmative
|
|
|
|
Subject
I
|
Verb + ed
|
|
|
Negative
|
|
|
|
Subject
They
|
Did not
Did not
|
Infinitive without to
Visit.....?
|
|
Interrogative
|
|
|
|
Did
Did
|
Subject
She
|
Infinitive without to
Arrive......?
|
|
Interrogative negative
|
|
|
|
Did not
Didn’t
|
Subject
You
|
Infinitive without to
Like.........?
|
Figure 5
Example: to walk, simple past.
Note : For the negative and interrogative form of all verbs in the simple
past, always use the auxiliary ‘did’.
Example : Simple past, irregular verbs
to go
(1) He went to a club last night.
(2) Did he go to the cinema last night ?
(3) He didn’t go to bed early last night.
To give
(1) We gave her a doll for her birthday.
(2) They didn’t give John their new passport.
(3) Did Barry give you my passport ?
to came
(1) My parents came to visit me last July
(2) We didn’t come because it was raining.
(3) Did he come to your party last week ?
3) Simple Future Tense
a) Simple future, function.
This simple future tense is used to
refer to actions that will take place after the act of speaking or writing.
Example :
(1) They will meet us at the newest cafe in
the market.
(2) Will you walk the dog tonight ?
To express the speaker’s opinions,
assumptions about the future. These may
be introducted by verbs such as assume,
be afraidi, be I fell sure, belive,
daresay, doubt, expect, hope, know suppose, think,wonder or accomponied by
adverbs such as perhaps, possibly, probably, surely, but can be
used without them.
Example :
(1) (I’m sure) he we’ll come back.
(2) (I suppose) they’ll sell the house.
(3) (perhaps) we’ll find him at the hotel.
(4) They’ll (probably) wait for us.
The future simple can be used with or
without a time expression. Be going to is sometimes possible here also. But it
makes the action appear more probable and (where there is not time expression)
more immediate. He’ll build a house merely means “this is my opinion” and gives
no idea when the building will start. But he is going to build a house implies
that he has already made this decision
and that he willl probably start quite soon.
The future simple is used similary for
future habitual actions which are assume will take place :
Example :
(1) Spring will come again.
(2) Birds will build nests.
(3) People will make plans.
The future
simple is used, chiefly in newspapers and in news broadcasts. For formal
announcements of future plans and for whether forecasts. In conversation such
as statement would normally be expressed by the present continuous
Example :
(1)
Newspapers
: The president will open the new
heliport
tomorrow.
The
fog will persist in all areas
(2) But the average reader / listener will say
:
The president is going to open
/ is opening.........
The fog is going to persist /
continue........[14]
b)
Simple future, form.
There are basically two forms of the
future tense in English. Both forms are used to express actions or states in
the future.
The first
form is made up by the verb “to be” plus “going to” plus the verb in base form.
Example :
(1) I’m going to write a letter for you
tomorrow.
(2) She is going to travel to England next
month.
To construct
an interrogetive sentence in this tense yopu simply place the verb to be in
front of the pronoun. Like this:
Example :
(1) Are you going to visit your grandmother
next summer ?
(2) Is she going to travel to England next
month ?
To form the
negative structure of this tense add the word no to the verb to be.
Example :
(1) I am not going to go to class on Monday.
(2) She is not going to travel to England next
month.
The other
tense use to express future in English is formed with the auxiliary “will”
followed by a verb in the infinitive form in the main verb. The difference
between these two tenses in understood in everyday communication. We used will
as the auxiliary for this tenses.
Forms with will.
|
Statement
|
{I-You-She-He-It-We-they} will come tomorrow
|
|
|
Negative
|
{I-You-She-He-It-We-they} will not (won’t) come tomorrow
|
|
|
Questions
|
Will {I-You-She-He-It-We-They} come tomorrow ?
|
|
|
Answer
|
Yes {I-You-She-He-It-We-They} will
No, won’t
|
|
|
Constructions:
|
I’ll, you’ll, she’ll, he’ll, it’ll
we’ll, they,ll.
|
Will is usually contructed with pronouns in both speech and informal
writing
|
|
|
Bob + will = “Bob’ll”
The teacher will = ‘the teacher’ll”.
|
Will is usually contructed with nouns in speech, but usually not in
writing.
|
Figure
6 [15]
c)
Uses of be going to, will and shall.
In below are
the explaination about the using of the be going to, will and shall.
(1)
Be going to.
We use
going to when we have already decided to do something.
Example :
Later, Helen’s mother speaks
to her husband.
Mother : Can you repair
Helen’s bycycle. It has a flat tire.
Father : Yes, I know. She told me.
I am going to repair it tomorrow.
Helen’s
father ghad already decided to repair the bicycle before his wife spoke to him.
We use
going to (not will) when there is something in the present situation that shows
what will happen in the future (especially the near future). “The speakers
feels sure about what will hapen because of the situation now.”[16]
Example :
1. Look at those black clouds. It’s going to
rain. (the clouds are these now)
2. I feel terrible. I think i’m going to be
sick. (I feel terrible now)
(2) Will and Shall.
“We use will
when we decided to do something at the time of speaking. The speaker has not
decided before.”[17]
Example :
Helen’s bicycle has a flat tire. She tells
her father.
Helen
: My bycycle has a flat tire.
Can you repair it for me ?
Father : Ok, but I can’t do it
now. I’ll repair it tomorrow.
Before Helen told her father,
he did not know about the flat tire.
We often use will
in these situations.
Offering to do something
Example :
That bag looks heavy. I’ll
help you with it. (not ‘I help’)
Ageering to do somethiong
Example :
A: you
know that book I lent you. Can I have it back if you’ve finished
with it ?
B: Of
course. I’ll give it to you this afternoon. (not ;I give’)
Promosing to do something.
Example :
(1)
Thanks for
lending me the money. I’ll pay back you on Friday. (not ‘I pay’)
(2) Asking somebody to do something (will
you.....?)
Example :
(1) Will you please be quite ? I am trying to
concentrate.
(2) Will you shut the door, please ? [18]
“The
auxiliary shall is used with the subject i or we, informal style, to indicate
future time. Notice, however, that in questions the meaning of shall and
will are different.” [19]
Example :
(1) Will we go to Boston ?
(Simple
future time, asking for a prediction)
(2) Shall we go to Boston ?
(A request
for you opinion os advace about giong to boston)
d)
Time expressions of future tense.
There are
six time Expressions use in simple future tense :
Tomorrow.
Next.......This weekend
Later Soon.
[2]
Webster, Pocket Grammar Dictionary, 2005. United State, Trident Press International 2005), p. 98
[3] A S. Hornby, Et.al. Oxford Advanced
Learner’s Dictionary. International New Students Edition: Oxford University
Press,1995), p. 1231
[4] A.S Hornby, The
Advances Learners Dictionary to Curent English Sixth edition, (Londong:
Oxford University perss.2000), p. 1393
[5] Prof G.S., Muhambadithaya, English Grammar and Compotition, (Dublin, Vikas Publishing House
PVT. LTD, 2005), p. 70
[7] Azar, Schramper Betty, Understanding and Using English Grammar, (United State, Printice
Hall Regents,1989), p. 6-7
[9] Thomson A.J. and Martinet, A.V, 1986. Practical English Grammar, London,
Oxford University Press 1986), p. 159
[11] I b i d, p. 47
[16] Murphy, Raymond, . English Grammar in Use, (New York, Cambridge University Press,
1985), p. 16.
[17] I
b i d, p. 16
