Present tense

 

Introduction:-

           Tense is the basic concept of English grammar. Learning tenses is the first step to learn English language. Tenses is a way of using correct form of a verb in a sentence to express an action with regard to the correct time of its occurrence. We speak and hear many sentences in our daily life.  Each sentences express an action along with time of its occurrence. Each of those sentences belong to a specific tense. Tenses can be broadly classified into three categories,

1. Present tense
2. Past tense
3. Future tense

                 Here we will discuss the present tense,

★  Present tense:-

             There are many uses of tense. In English grammar, we use present tense to talk about something that is going on now (currently) or that is true now and anytime. In other words, we use present tense to describe an event in real time. The present tense is of four types. namely,

• Simple present tense 
• Present continuous tense 
• Present perfect tense 
• Present perfect continuous tense

 1. Simple present tense:-

             The simple present tense uses the verb form as the root form of the verb. We use the simple present tense in the following conditions;

→ To describe things that are always true or situation that exist now and as far as we know it will go on indefinitely. 

Ex.,.  

• It takes me five minutes to get to the school.
• Trees grow more quickly in summer than in winter.

→ To talk about habits of things that happen on a regular basis.

Ex.,.

• I leave work at 5:30 most days
• Each July we go to Turkey for holiday

→ We often use the present simple with verbs that perform the action they describe.

• Ex,. I refuse to believe that he didn't know the car was stolen. ( =A Refusal)

There is other performative verbs that perform the action. Like,

Accept, acknowledge, advise, apologize, assume, deny, guarantee, hope, inform, predict, promise, recommend, suggest, suppose, warn.. etc.

→We often prefer to use the present simple rather than the present continuous with verbs describing States. 

• Ex., I really enjoy travelling.

→ we use present simple to describe main event of the story or Joke.

                     When singular form of the subject or a singular pronoun is used, the verb is used the simple present tense by '-s' or '-es' to it.

Like.,

• He goes to library often. 
• I always wake up at 6 a.m. 
• She plays football everyday.

          

2. Present continuous tense:-

                         The present continuous tense is used to show an activity that is in progress or not complete at the time of speaking. Activity started in the past and will go into future. The present continuous tense of any verb is formatted with auxiliary verb to be (am, is, are) and the present participle of the main verb ( verb+ing). The auxiliary verb varies according to the person used with the present continuous tense.

Like,

• I'm eating pasta with sauce.
• She is reading a book on silence.
• Police are investigating a dead body that was burnt beyond recognition.

                 We use present continuous tense with the following conditions;

∆ to talk about particular actions or events that have begin but haven't  end that at the time of speaking.

Ex., 

• The car isn't starting again.
• I am trying to get through to Joan.

∆ We use time expressions such as at the moment, at present, currently, just and still to emphasis that the event or action is happening now.

Ex., 

• Have you done the shopping? I am just going.

∆ When we describe repeated actions or events that are happening at or around the time of speaking, we use the present continuous tense.

Ex.,

• I am hearing a lot of good reports about your work these days.

∆ To imply that situation is or may be temporary.

Ex.,

• She is teaching English in a school. (it may no permanent)

∆ We can use the present continuous with some state verbs when we want to emphasis that a situation is temporary for a period around the present.

Ex.,

• I am considering taking early retirement.

∆ Some words used to describe a temporary state (like ache, feel, hurt, look, seem), there is little difference in meaning when we use present simple or present continuous. Like.,

• He is looking awful.

∆ to talk about changes, development and trends. Like.,

• The growing number of visitors is demanding footpath.

We use present continuous when we tell a story or joke to describe the longer or background event. Present continuous also used to give compliments and to emphasis on something is done repeatedly.

3. Present perfect tense:-

                      Present perfect tense is used to express an action that has been completed or has occurred recently. This tense expresses the sense of completion of an action in recent time. In this tense we need to use the past participle of the verb and helping verb have or has according to its subject.

We use present perfect tense in the following conditions;

=⟩ When we talk about something that happened in the past, but we don't specify a precisely when it happened, we use the present perfect.

Ex, 

• I have complained about the traffic before.

=⟩ When we use the present perfect, it suggests some kind of connection between what happened in the past and the present time. We use this tense to say something that happened in the past affects the situation that exists now.

Ex, 

• I have washed my hands so that I can help you with the cooking.

=⟩ When we talk about how long an existing situation has lasted, even if we don't give a specific length of time, we use the present perfect. Ex,

• They have grown such a lot since we last saw them.

=⟩ We use the present perfect to say that an action or event has been repeated a number of times up to now. Ex,

• They have been to Chile three times.

4. Present perfect continuous tense:-

                  We use the present perfect continuous when the focus is on an action that has not yet been completed or has been completed. The present perfect continuous tense is made up of the helping verb(Have/Has), past participle of the infinitive and present participle( Verb + ing). 

We use present perfect continuous tense in following conditions;

♦ We use the present perfect continuous to talk about the situation or activity that started in the past and has been in process for a period until now. Sometimes we use distance with expressions that indicate the time period ( e.g, with since and for).

Ex,

• She has been living in New Zealand for over a year now.

♦ We use this tense to say how long something has been in progress. Ex,

• I have been trying to get permission to extend my house.

♦ We can use this tense when we talk about a situation or activity that started in the past and is still happening now or has just stopped. 

Ex,

• It has been raining heavily all night.

Conclusion:-

             

                  In short, the present tense is  significant facet of tenses and also of English grammar, which demonstrates the ways of our daily conversation sentences.