English Grammar

Tense and Its Types

By – Shri. Khodave Dnyaneshwar

M.A. (English), M.Ed., SET

Shardabai Pawar College of Education for Women, Shardanagar.

Tense

• Three Types

• Present Tense

• Past Tense

• Future Tense

Present Tense

• Simple Present Tense– Present Continuous Tense

• Present Perfect Tense

• Present Perfect Continuous Tense

Simple Present Tense• Structure

• Subject + Main Verb + Object

• S (third person, Singular) + MV-s/es + O

• I play badminton. We play badminton.

• You play badminton.

• He plays badminton.

• She plays badminton.

• It plays badminton. They play badminton.

Simple Present Tense

• Used to express custom or habit

• To express what is actually happening

• To express general Truths

Present Continuous• Structure -

• Subject + am/is/are + V-ing + object

• I am writing a letter. We are writing a letter.

• You are writing a letter.

• He is writing a letter.

• She is writing a letter.

• It is writing a letter. They are writing a letter.

Present Perfect

• Structure –

• Subject + have/has + PPT of MV + Object

• I have sung in many countries.

• We have sung in many countries.

• You have sung in many countries.

• He/She/It has sung in many countries.

• They have sung in many countries.

Present Perfect

• Used to talk about completed action

• To refer to an action that began in the past and is still going on at the time of speaking

Present Perfect Continuous

• Structure

• S + have/has + been + V-ing + object

• I have been writing letters.

• We have been writing letters.

• Your have been writing letters.

• He/she/it has been writing letters.

• They have been writing letters.

Present Perfect

• This tense is used to indicated that the action has been going on continuously over a period of time starting in the past and continuing up to the present.

Simple Past Tense

• Structure-

• Subject + Past Tense of MV + Object

• I played Cricket.

• We played Cricket.

• You played Cricket.

• He/ She/ It played Cricket.

• They played Cricket.

Simple Past Tense

• Used to express actions which have been finished before the time of speaking.

• To express some past habit.

Past Continuous Tense

• Structure-

• Subject + was/ were + V-ing + object

• I was reading a book.

• We were reading a book.

• You were reading a book.

• He/ She/ It was reading a book.

• They were reading a book .

Past Continuous Tense

• Used to express an action in progress at some moment before the time of speaking.

• To refer to repeated actions in past with always or forever.

• e.g. Anuja and Sheela were forever fighting about their possessions.

Past Perfect Tense

• Structure

• Subject + Had + PPT of MV + Object

• I had finished my homework.

• We had finished our homework.

• You had finished your homework.

• He/ She/ It had finished his/ her/ its homework.

• They had finished their homework.

Past Perfect Tense

• The Past Perfect is used when we wish to say that some action had been completed before another was started.

• For example.

• We had eaten our dinner before the guests arrived.

Past Perfect Continuous

• Structure-

• Subject + had +been + V-ing + object

• I had been playing Cricket.

• We had been playing Cricket.

• You had been playing Cricket.

• He/ She/ It had been playing Cricket.

• They had been playing Cricket.

Past Perfect Continuous

• The Past Perfect Continuous Tense is used to refer to an action which had been going on continuously up to that time in the past that we are talking about.

• For example- My father had been managing the factory for thirty years before he retired.