Conversion of Tense

Conversion of tense

Usage

When we repeat the action of playing cricket daily we say:

I play cricket

But if we want to say that we are in the middle of the action of playing, we say;

I am playing cricket.

At the time of mentioning the action of eating in past we say:

I ate food.

When we want to say that the action of eating food is over but its effect is still here, we say:

I have eaten food.

While mentioning ‘starting point of eating food’ with saying that we are in the middle of action of

eating, we say:

I have been eating food since last minute.

And when we want to mention that happening of something was before something else, we say:

I had eaten food.

Similarly if we want to show state we say:

I am an eater.

And for the past we say:

I was an eater.

To show our possession we say:

I have food.

Rather for past possession we say:

I had food.

Hence, we came to know that usage of tense depends on the situation we are in.

Structures:

To learn conversion of tense we need to memorize these eighteen basic structures.

1. Present State:

Subject + am/are/ is + complement.

2. Past State:

Subject + was/were + complement.

3. Future State:

Subject +will + be + complement.

4. Present Possession:

Subject + have + complement.

5. Past Possession:

Subject + had + complement.

6. Future Possession:

Subject +will + have + complement.

7. Present Simple:

Subject + verb (1st

) + Adv / Obj

8. Past Simple:

Subject + verb (2nd

) + Adv / Obj

9. Future Simple:

Subject + will+ verb (1st

)+ Adv / Obj

10. Present Progressive

Subject + am/are/ is + verb –ing + Adv / Obj

11. Past Progressive

Subject + was /were + verb –ing + Adv / Obj

12. Future Progressive

Subject +will + be+ verb –ing + Adv / Obj

13. Present Perfect

Subject + have+ verb (3rd

)+ Adv / Obj

14. Past Perfect

Subject + had+ verb (3rd

)+ Adv / Obj

15. Future Perfect

Subject + will+ have+ verb (3rd)+ Adv / Obj

16. Present Perfect Progressive

Subject + have/ has+ been + verb –ing + Adv / Obj

17. Past Perfect Progressive

Subject + had+ been + verb –ing + Adv / Obj

18. Future Perfect Progressive

Subject +will + have+ been+ verb –ing + Adv / Obj

Note: To convert a sentence into another tense we make changes in the helping verb, If the sentence

has helping verb or else we make change in form of verb.

Conversion

Present to Past Conversion:

Part 1:

I am playing. [Change this into past]

The above sentence has ‘am’ which is helping verb and ‘playing’ which is verb.

When there’s already a helping verb available in a sentence we need to change this only.

We are directed to change the sentence into past.

The past form of ‘am’ is ‘was’.

Hence:

The helping verb ‘ am’ will become “was” in conversion.

I am playing.

I was playing.

Part 2:

I play. [Change this into past]

The above sentence has ‘play’ which is a verb.

We are directed to change the sentence into past.

The past form of ‘play’ is ‘played’.

Hence:

The verb ‘play’ will become “played” in conversion.

I play.

I played.

Part 3:

I have played cricket. [Change this into past perfect]

The above sentence has ‘have’ which is a helping verb and ‘played’ which is verb.


We are directed to change the sentence into past perfect.

The past form of ‘have’ is ‘had’.

Hence:

The verb ‘have’ will become “had” in conversion.

I have played.

I had played.

Part 4:

I have been playing cricket. [Change this into past perfect progressive]

The above sentence has ‘have’ which is a helping verb, ‘been’ which is called extension and ‘played’

which is verb.


We are directed to change the sentence into past perfect progressive.

The past form of ‘have’ is ‘had’.

Hence:

The verb ‘have’ will become “had” in conversion.

I have been playing cricket.

I had been playing cricket.

Present to Future Conversion.

Part 1:

I play. [Change into future simple]

We use ‘will’ for future tense.

According to structure of Future Simple ‘will’ comes before ‘verb’; hence

I play.

I will play.

Part 2:

I am playing. [Change into future progressive]


‘am’ changes into “will be”.

According to structure of Future Progressive ‘will+ be’ come before ‘verb -ing’; hence

I am playing.

I will be playing.

Part 3:

I have played. [Change into future perfect]


According to structure of Future Perfect ‘will+ have’ come before ‘verb (3rd

)’; hence

I have played.

I will have played.

Sundry Conversion 1:

I play cricket. [Change into Present Progressive]

Step 1: Recall the structure of the required branch of tense.

Subject + am/are/ is + verb –ing + Adv / Obj

Step 2: Change the form of verb of the given sentence as per required branch’s formula

Play + ing = playing

Step 3: Write subject, then the form of verb gained in ‘Step 2’ and then object (if given in the original

sentence)

I playing cricket.

Step 4: See if there is any part left to be used as per formula of the required branch of tense

I playing cricket. � Subject + am/are/ is + verb –ing + Adv / Obj � am/ are / is

‘Playing’ requires a helping verb

“am” goes with ‘I’ ; hence :

I am ….

Step 5: Construct complete sentence

I am playing cricket.

Sundry Conversion 2:

I play cricket. [Change into Present Perfect Progressive]

Step 1: Recall the structure of the required branch of tense.

Subject + have/ has + been+ verb –ing + Adv / Obj

Step 2: Change the form of verb of the given sentence as per required branch’s formula

Play + ing = playing

Step 3: Write subject, then the form of verb gained in ‘Step 2’ and then object (if given in the original

sentence)

I playing cricket.

Step 4: See if there is any part left to be used as per formula of the required branch of tense

I playing cricket. � Subject + have/ has + been+ verb –ing + Adv / Obj � have / has + been

‘Playing’ requires “have / has +been”

“have” goes with ‘I’ ; hence :

I have been ….

Step 5: Construct complete sentence

I have been playing cricket.

Documents

Conversion of Tense