Understanding English Tenses: A Comprehensive Overview
Present Simple:
It has the same form as the infinitive for all persons, except for the third person singular, which usually adds an -s.
A: I eat a lot.
N: I don’t eat much.
I: Do you eat much?
Use:
• For routine actions.
• For statements of facts or general truths.
• To talk about permanent situations.
Present Continuous:
It is formed with the simple form of the verb ‘to be’ + main verb + -ing.
A: I am eating a hot dog.
N: I’m not eating a hot dog.
I: Am I eating a hot dog?
Use:
• To express actions occurring at the time of speaking.
• Actions taking place temporarily, not necessarily at the time of speaking.
• This continuous tense is typically used with the following verbs: belong, hate, know, like, love, mean, need, prefer, remember, understand, want.
Past Simple:
It is formed by adding -ed to the infinitive. The negation and interrogation are formed with the auxiliary ‘did’. Remember that ‘didn’t’ is the contraction of ‘did not’.
A: I played in the park.
N: I didn’t play in the park.
I: Did I play in the park?
Use:
• Talking about past actions that took place at a particular time.
• Sequenced narratives of past events.
Past Continuous:
It forms the simple past tense of the verb ‘to be’ + main verb + -ing.
A: I was sleeping in the park.
N: I wasn’t sleeping in the park.
I: Was I sleeping in the park?
Use:
• Describes an activity that occurred in a specific time in the past.
• Describes an activity interrupted by a shorter action.
• Describes two simultaneous actions. The Castilian equivalent tense is usually the past tense.
Past Perfect:
It is formed with the simple form of the verb ‘to have’ + the past participle of the main verb.
A: I’ve walked for two hours.
N: I haven’t walked for two hours.
I: Have I walked for two hours?
Use:
• Actions that occurred in the past without specifying when they happened.
• With the adverb ‘just’ to express actions that have just occurred.
• With the prepositions ‘for’ and ‘since’.
• With time expressions indicating an unexpired term: today, this week, this month, this year, this morning, etc.
Future Perfect Continuous:
It forms the perfect tense of the verb ‘to be’ + -ing with the main verb.
A: I’ve been running this morning.
N: I haven’t been running this morning.
I: Have I been running this morning?
Use:
• To speak of an activity that began in the past and continues into the present.
• To speak of an action that began in the past and may have recently finished.
• Talking about past actions that have just ended, where the result is obvious.
Future Simple:
It is formed with ‘will’ + infinitive for all persons.
A: I will return tonight.
N: I will not return tonight.
I: Will I return tonight?
Use:
• Expresses predictions about the future.
• Bargaining.
• Making an offer.
• In the first type of conditional sentences.
• Making a decision at the moment of speaking.
Future with ‘going to’:
It is formed with the present continuous of the verb ‘to go’ + infinitive of the main verb.
A: I’m going to stay at home.
N: I’m not going to stay at home.
I: Am I going to stay at home?
Use:
• Express intentions.
• Talking about future plans.
• Making predictions of future events based on evidence.
Question Tags:
Use:
There are two types of question tags:
a) Affirmative sentence + negative tag question.
b) Negative sentence + positive tag question.
In either of the two structures, the verb must always be auxiliary + pronoun or ‘there’ in sentences with ‘there is/are/were/will be’.
The tag that corresponds to questions like ‘I am’ is ‘aren’t you?’ or ‘am I not?’.
Conditional Sentence Type 1:
Form:
If + present simple
Principal Clause:
Future (will + infinitive) or modal + infinitive.
Use:
• Used to express situations that we think are possible.
• The conjunction ‘unless’ can be used as an alternative to ‘if…not’.
Conditional Sentence Type 2:
Form:
If + past simple
Consequence:
Conditional (would/could/might + infinitive).
Use:
• Used to express situations that are possible but unlikely.
• To express hypothetical or imaginary situations.
• Can be used with ‘were’ for the first and third person singular of the verb ‘to be’, although ‘was’ is more frequent.
• However, in the phrase ‘if I were you’, ‘were’ is not replaced by ‘was’.
Conditional Sentence Type 3:
Form:
If + pluperfect
Consequence:
Conditional (would have/could have/might have + participle).
Use:
• Used to express past situations that did not happen.
The Passive Voice:
It is formed with the verb ‘to be’ in the same tense as the active verb + past participle of the main verb.
Passive Active Tense:
Present Simple: opens/opened is/are opened.
Present Continuous: is/are opening is/are being opened.
Past Simple: opened was/were opened.
Past Continuous: was/were opening was/were being opened.
Perfect Tense: has/have opened has/have been opened.
Pluscuamperfecto: had opened had been opened.
Simple Future: will open will be opened.
Future Perfect: will have opened will have been opened.
Conditional Present: would open would be opened.
Conditional Perfect: would have opened would have been opened.
Infinitive Present: to open to be opened.
Perfect Infinitive: to have opened to have been opened.
Present Participle: opening being opened.
Gerund: Past Participle: having opened having been opened.
Use:
• Used when we talk about something, emphasizing the action and its object.
• The subject of the verb is the active agent introduced by ‘by’ in the passive voice.
Indirect Speech:
Used when we want to communicate to someone what another person said without using their own words.
• When the introducer of the indirect style verb is in present, past perfect, or future tenses, they do not change.
• However, when the verb is in the past introducer, the changes that occur are as follows:
• Modal verbs do not change.
• The verb introducer in direct and indirect styles often says: in the direct style when the verb is followed by a person object, we can use ‘to say’ or ‘to tell’.
• However, in indirect speech, ‘told’ can only be used.
• Pronouns and possessive adjectives change from first person to third person.
• The pronoun ‘you’ switches to ‘I’ or ‘we’.
Prepositional Verbs and Adverbs:
Verb + Preposition:
• In transitive prepositional verbs, the object usually follows the preposition.
• If we replace the noun with a pronoun, the object’s position remains the same.
Verb + Adverbial Particle:
• In adverbial transitive verbs, the direct object can go before or after the preposition.
• However, if we replace the noun with a pronoun, it can only be placed between the verb and the adverbial particle.
Relative Pronouns:
• For people: who, that.
• For people: whom, who, that.
• For things: which, that.
• Possessive: whose.
• Location: where.
Modals:
• Have the same verb form invariant for all persons, except ‘have (got)’ which has ‘you’ in the third person singular.
• They always precede the main verb in affirmative and negative sentences.
• With the exception of ‘ought to’, ‘have to’, ‘used to’, the main verb is always in the infinitive without ‘to’.
• In interrogatives, the order of subject and modal verb is reversed.
• In negative sentences, the particle ‘not’ is always placed after the verb.
Can:
• Express possibility or impossibility.
• Express ability.
• ‘Be able to’ can be used to complete the tenses of ‘can’.
• Express and ask for permission.
• In negative: express deduction.
Could:
• Express ability in the past.
• Order something politely.
• Express impossibility in the past.
• Make speculations.
• Make suggestions.
• Can express the idea of indirect style.
• Express criticism.
May:
• Order something.
• Express permission.
• Express possibility.
• Make speculations.
Might:
• Express the possibility of something happening.
• Make speculations.
Must:
• Express obligation.
• In negative form: express prohibition.
• Express affirmative reasoning.
Need:
• Express need.
• In negative form: express absence of obligation.
Have to:
• Express obligation.
• In negative form: express absence of obligation.
Should / Ought to:
• Give advice.
• Express moral obligation.
• Criticize past actions.
Will:
• Order something politely.
• Make an offer.
Shall:
• Make an offer.
• Order suggestions.
• Make decisions.
Personal Conclusion:
The text presents an interesting subject, and in time, perhaps many people would feel like a tapeworm that made this boy feel inferior to the speech of little monkeys. The custom of the same made them sleep in a hoist, VAT of branch in branch jumping, to plates passed the language to him, and so on. In aim for my last impression of the whole represents life, and now we can take advantage of many things.