Tenses and their Uses
BY: S. Noor ul Huda Kazmi
The Simple Present Tense
To express habitual actions
He smokes. Cats drink milk
When you quote from a book
It says ,’cook very slowly’
For a newspaper headline
Peace talk fails
For a planned future action
We leave Karachi at 10 next Tuesday and arrive there at 13.00.
With the verbs which cannot be used in the continuous form
e.g. love, see, believe etc
I love you
The Simple Past Tense
For the past events
I met him for ten minutes.
For the past habit
He always carried an umbrella.
For an action whose time is not given but occupied a period of time now
terminated or in a period of time now terminated.
He worked in that office four years.
He worked there for a long time.
Present Progressive
For an action happening now:
It is raining.
For an action happening about this time but not necessarily at the time of
speaking:
I am reading a play by St. John G. Ervine.
For a definite arrangement in the near future:
I’m meeting my friend tonight.
An action which begins before this point and probably and probably continues after it:
At six I am watering the plants. (I start watering before six.)
With always:
He is always losing his keys. (frequently repeated action which annoys the
speaker)
List of verbs not normally used in the
continuous tenses.
Verbs of the senses
Feel, hear, see, smell, notice etc.
Verbs expressing feelings and emotions:
Admire, adore, appreciate, care for, desire, detest, dislike, fear, hate,
like, loathe, love, mind, respect, value, want, wish
Verbs of mental activity:
Agree, assume, believe, expect, sure, forget, know , mean, perceive,
realize, recognize, recollect etc.
Verbs of possession:
Belong, owe, own, possess
Past Continuous Tense
For the past actions used which continued for some time but whose exact
limits are not known and are not important.
--------_______________-------- they were working
To indicate gradual development:
It was getting darker.
Used with a point of time to show the continuity during that moment.
At eight he was having breakfast.
Along with the simple past
When I arrived Tom was talking on the phone.
The present perfect
For a recently completed action.
Has he finished his classwork?
When the time is not mentioned. (if time is given: simple past)
I read the instruction but I don’t understand them.
Often have result in the present:
Tom has had a car crash. (probably hospitalized)
Actions which occur further back in the past but the connection with the
present is still maintained:
I have seen wolves in that forest.
Past Perfect
A finished action before a second point in the past.
When we arrived, the film had started
To talk about unreal or imaginary things in the past.
If I had known you were ill, I would have visited you.
The Present Perfect Continuous
This tense is used for an action which began in the past and is still
continuing:
___________>>>_________
Or has only just finished
________________*
I’ve been waiting for an hour and he still hasn’t turned up.
I’m so sorry I’m late. Have you been waiting long?
The verb want and wish are often used in this tense:
Thank you so much for the binoculars. I’ve been wanting a pair for ages.
The Past Perfect Continuous
The past perfect continuous bears the same relation to the
past perfect as the present perfect continuous bears to the
present perfect.
*when the action began before the time of speaking in the
past, and continued up to that time, or stopped just before it:
It was now six and he was tired because he had been working since dawn.
*A repeated action in the past perfect can sometimes be
expressed as a continuous action by the past perfect
continuous
He had been trying to get her on the phone.
The Future
Uses
The simple present used for the future: (formal tone)
I leave tonight
Will + infinitive (used to express intention at the moment of decision)
Don’t bother. I will drive for you.
The present continuous as a future form
I am taking an exam in October.
Be going to- Modal Auxiliary
The be going to form
The present continuous tense of the verb to go + the full infinitive:
For intention
For prediction
He is going to be a dentist when he grows up.
Look at those clouds! It’s going to rain.
Other possible usages of Simple Future
* To express the speaker’s opinions, assumptions, speculations abput the
future.
He’ll come back (I’m sure)
They’ll sell house (I suppose)
*for future habitual action.
Birds will build nests
Other men will climb these stairs.
*For formal announcements of future plans and for weather forecasts
The Future Continuous Tense
Expresses an action which starts before that time and probably continues
after it.
They are listening to a tape. This time tomorrow they will be sitting in the
cinema.
* The future continuous used to express future without intention or normal
course of event
I’ll be seeing Tom tomorrow.
*With or without a definite time
I’ll be meeting him.
The future Perfect
*It is normally used with a time expression beginning with by:
By then, by that time, by the 24th :
By the end of this month he will have been here for ten year.
*It is used for an action which at a given future time will be in the past, or
just have finished.
we’d better wait till 14th December. David will have had his exam by then, so
he’ll be able to enjoy himself.
The Future Perfect Continuous
Normally used with a time expression beginning with by:
To show the Continuity
By the end of this year he’ll have been acting for thirty years.
Structural Formulas of Tenses
To do!
Make sentences of all the exemplary sentences given under each tense in the
slides on your own.
