Tenses

Present Indefinite present continuous

PRESENTED BY:Qurat ul ain

IMCG F-6/2ISLAMABAD.

What are tenses? The tense of a verb shows the time of an action or happening , whether it is in the present , past or future.

There are mainly three kinds of tenses:

• Present tense• Past tense• Future tense

▫Each of present, past and future tense is further divided into four kinds.

Present Indefinite Tense:

The tense of a verb that expresses action

or state in the present time.

Basic sentence structure of present Indefinite tense:

Subject + 1st form of verb + Object

RULES:1) First form of verb is used always.2) With the first and second persons(I,we)

and the third person plural(they) the verb is used without ‘s’ or ‘es’.

3) With the third person singular (he,she) the verb is used with ‘s’ or ‘es’.

4) In negative sentences:• ‘do not’ is used with first (I,we),

second(he,she) and third (they) person plural.

• ‘does not’ is used with the third person singular(he,she,it).

5) In questions:• ‘do’, ‘does’ , are used before subjects•Verd is used without ‘s’ or ‘es’.•Question words, ‘why’ , ‘how’ ,’where’ etc

are used before ‘do’ , ‘does’.

Uses of Present Indefinite Tense :

It is used to express an action in present time .

E.g.1) I eat mango.

2) I am happy.

It is also used to show a constant practice or a daily routine.

E.g.1) I watch TV every day.

2) Ali goes to school daily.

3) Sana reads the newspaper after getting up.

It is also used to tell universal truths or or for general facts, like this:

E.g :

1) The sun rises in the east.

2) Hardware is the physical system of a Computer. 3) Plants die without water.4) Birds fly in the sky.

We use the present simple for things which you like or dislike.

E.g:1) He likes short stories.

2) I like ice cream.

3) Raza dislike lizards.

We use the present simple for permanent situations.

E.g:• He lives in London.

We use the present simple for perceptions.E.g:• The food smells good.

We also use the present simple for schedules.

E.g:1) The airplane leaves at 6:00 am

tomorrow.

2) The school starts at 8:15 am.

We use the simple present tense to talk about what happens in books, plays, or films.

E.g: 1)The hero dies at the end of the film. 2) A young woman travels through Europe,

where she meets different people, and finally falls in love.

3) In this book, an army invades Britain. 4)The main character is very pretty and

works in a bookshop.

Strangely, we can use this tense to talk about the future. When you are discussing a timetable or a fixed plan, you can use this tense. Usually, the timetable is fixed by an organization, not by us:

E.g:1)School begins at nine tomorrow.2)Our train leaves at eleven.3)What time does the film start?4)The plane doesn't arrive at seven, it

arrives at seven thirty.5)When does the class finish?

It can also be used when quoting someone or something, even if the words were spoken in the past:

E.g:1) The label says "External use only.“2) Mary says she's ready.

More examples….

•Positive sentences: 1)She likes flower. 2)They do their work on time.•Negative sentences: 1)We do not read these books. 2)He does not play football.• Interrogative sentences: 1) In which class do you read? 2)Do I look healthy?

Choosing correct form of verb :1) It ______ not look like a flower. (do)2) My friend _____ his class these days.

(attended)3) Laborers ______ very hard, but a person

sitting in office ______ not. (work, do)4) He _______ up early in the morning. (get)5) We _______ to skardu every year.(went)6) Ali ________ fruit in the morning.(buy)7) Truth never ______ (fail).8) He _____not _____up early in the

morning.(d0,get)

9) A good student always ______ (perform) well in class.

10) She _______ (drink) coffee all the time.

11) He always________(take) a shower at 7:30 and_____(leave) home at

8:30am.

12) Every morning I _______ (get up) at 7 o’clock.

“Some key words, that help you recognize Present Indefinite Tense.”

1)  Always 2) Usually3) Every day 4) Often 5) Daily 6) Sometimes 7) Regularly 8) Seldom9) Never10) On Sundays e.t.c.11) Rarely 12) Feel13) Think

15) Want16) Need17) Love18) Like 19) Hate20) All the time 21) Every morning22) Normally

Present continuous tense:

It is used to express a continued or ongoing action at present time. It expresses an action which is in progress at the time of speaking.

Present Continuous tense is also called Present progressive tense.

Basic sentence structure of present continuous tense: subject+1st form of verb with

‘ing’+object

Rules:1) Subject + am/is/are + (1st form of verb

or base verb + ing) + object2) If the subject is “I” then helping verb

“am” is used after subject in sentence.3) If the subject is “He, She, It, singular or

proper name” then helping verb “is” is used after subject in sentence.

4) If subject is “You, They or plural” then helping verb “are” is used after subject in sentence.

5) The participle “ing” is added to the 1st form of verb i.e. going (go) writing (write).

6)In negative sentences , ’not’ is used between ‘is’ , ‘are’ , ‘am’ and the main verb.

7) In questions, ‘is’ , ‘are’ , ‘am’ are placed before the subject. Other question words like ‘when’ , ‘what’ are used before ‘is’ , ‘are’ , ‘am’ .

Uses of present continuous tense: It is used to show action that is continuing

at the present time.E.g: 1) He is running.

2) Ahmed is sleeping right now.

3) We are studying English at the moment.

It is used to describe an action that is taking place now, but not at the exact moment of speech.

E.g:•He is working in Dubai.

We can also use this tense for temporary situations, when we feel something won't continue for a long time.

E.g:1) She's staying with her friend for a week.2) I'm living in London for a few months.3) I'm reading a really great book.

We can use the present continuous for habits but they have to be temporary or new habits (for normal habits that continue for a long time, we use the present simple).

E.g:1)He's eating a lot these days.

2)She's swimming every morning (she didn't use to do this).

3)You're smoking too much.

4)They're working late every night.

Another present continuous use is for annoying habits, when we want to show that something happens too often and we don't like it.

• In this case we usually use an adverb like 'always', 'forever' or 'constantly'.

E.g:1)You're always losing your keys.

2)She's constantly missing the train.

3)He's always sleeping.

4)They're forever being late.

The next use is for definite future arrangements (with a future time word). In this case we have already made a plan and we are pretty sure that the event will happen in the future.

E.g:1)I'm meeting my father tomorrow.

2)We're going to the beach at the weekend.

3)I'm leaving at three.

4)They're coming to the party at the weekend.

We use this tense to talk about a situation which is slowly changing.

E.g:

1) I'm getting better at playing the piano.

2) The weather is improving.

More examples :

•Positive Sentences :

1) I am listening to the news 2) You are washing your clothes 3) She is riding on horse 4) They are playing football. 5) It is raining

•Negative Sentence:

1) I am not listening to the news. 2) You are not washing your clothes. 3) She is not riding on a horse. 4) They are not playing football. 5)It is not raining.

•Interrogative Sentences:

1) Am I listening to the news? 2) Are you washing your clothes? 3) Is she riding on a horse? 4) Are they playing football? 5) Is it raining?

“Some key words, that help you recognize Present Continuous Tense.”

1) Now2) Right now 3) This quarter4) At the moment5) This morning e.t.c.6) This time7) These days8) Now a days9) At this moment10) Today

Choose the correct form of verb:1) He is _______in Dubai. (work)2) She is _______ a banana. (ate)3) She is _______ with her friend for a week.

(stay)4) Do you know that Ahmed is _________

tomorrow? (come)5) What shirts are you ______ ? (select)6) Are you ______ your clothes? (wash)7) Is he ______ a car? (drive)8) They are not ______ football. (play)9) We normally _______ (hold) ous sales

conference in Spain, but this year we _______ (hold) it in Poland.

10) Although we ________ (use) our own sales representative at the moment, we generally _________ (use) agents in Japan.

11) We don’t often ______ (raise) our prices more than 5%, but this time we __________ (raise) them 10%.

Present Indefinite Vs. Present Continuous Tense.PRESENT INDEFINITE TENSE

PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE

1) First form of verb 1) First form of verb + ing.

2) Used to refer to an action or event that takes place habitually.

2) used to refer to something taking place at the present moment

3)Used to refer things which are always true.

4) Used for Permanent situations (or nearly permanent.E.g: Julie lives in London.

3) Used for temporary situationsE.g: Julie is living in Paris for a few months (usually she lives in London).

5) Used for future events which are part of a timetable E.g: My plane leaves at eight tonight.

4) Used for Definite future plans.E.g: I'm meeting John after class today.

6) Used to talk about what happens in books, plays and films.E.g: At the end of the book, the detective catches the killer.

6) Used to talk about people in pictures and photos.E.g: In this photo, my mother is walking beside a lake.

THE END