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ENGLISH TENSES
THEORY
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CONTENTS
The Present Indefinite Tense.4
The Present Continuous Tense..8
The Present Perfect Tense.. 30
The Present Perfect Continuous Tense.33
The Past Indefinite Tense15
The Past Continuous Tense.20
The Past Perfect Tense36
The Past Perfect Continuous Tense39
The Future Indefinite Tense.26
The Future Continuous Tense.29
The Future Perfect Tense 41
The Future Perfect Continuous Tense .43
The Future-In-The-Past Tense..45
THE PRESENT INDEFINITE (SIMPLE) TENSE
I. The formation of the Present Indefinite.
1. The Present Indefinite is formed from the infinitive without the particle to.
The third person singular adds s; -es to the Infinitive.
2. The interrogative and the negative forms are formed by means of the Present
Indefinite of the auxiliary verb to do and the infinitive of the notional verb
without the particle to.
Affirmative Interrogative Negative
I work Do I work? I do not work
He works Does he work? He does not work
She works Does she work? She does not work
We work Do we work? We do not work
You work Do you work? You do not work
They work Do they work? They do not work
3. The contracted negative forms are:
I dont work
He doesnt work
They dont work
4. The negative-interrogative forms are:
Do you not work?
Dont you work?
Does he not work?
Doesnt he work?
II. SPELLING NOTES
Verbs ending in -ss, -sh, -ch, -x and - add es, instead of s alone, to form the third person singular:
I kiss, he kisses I box, he boxes
I rush, he rushes I do, he does
I watch, he watches I go, he goes
When - follows a consonant we change the into i and add -es:
I carry, he carries
I copy, he copies
I try, he tries
but verbs ending in following a vowel obey the usual rule:
I obey, he obeys
I say, he says
III. The Present Indefinite is used in the following cases:
To denote habitual actions, to state facts in the present.
I live in St.-Petersburg.
Most dogs bark.
To state general rules or laws of nature, that is to show that something was true in the past, is true in the present, and will be true in the future.
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Snow melts at 0 C.
Two plus two makes four.
To denote recurrent actions or everyday activity. This use is often associated with such adverbial modifiers of frequency as often
Seldom
Sometimes
Occasionally
Always
Never
Ever
Every year (week, month, day)
Usually
Once (twice, thrice) a year
Daily
On Sundays and the like
He usually wakes up around six oclock and has his cup of coffee.
On Sundays we stay at home.
Do you often go to the dancing hall?
To denote actions and states continuing at the moment of speaking (with stative and relational verbs).
He wants to see you at the moment.
Who does the car belong to?
I do not understand you at all.
To express an instantaneous action which takes place at the moment of speaking but it is not viewed in its progress. The speaker just names the occurrence itself, the actions as such.
You leave me no choice.
I swear it to you.
I refuse to listen to you.You talk such nonsense.
To express declarations, announcements, etc. referring to the moment of speaking.
I declare the meeting open.
I agree to your proposal.
To express a succession of point actions taking place at the moment of speaking (in the outlines of novels, plays, stage directions, films, demonstrations, etc. It is often used by radio commentators at sports events).
Now I peel the apples, slice them and put them into the dish. (demonstration)
When the curtain rises, Juliet is writing at her desk. Suddenly the window opens and
a masked man enters. (the action of the play)
Now watch me closely: I take a match, light it, put it into the glass and oh,
nothing happens!
8. to denote future actions. Mostly with verbs of motion (to go, to come, to start, to leave, to return, to arrive, to sail, etc.) usually if the actions denote a settled plan and the future time is indicated:
I go to Moscow next. She leaves for England in two months
to denote future actions in adverbial clauses of time after conjunctions when
Till (until)
As soon as
As long as
Before
After
While
Once
She wont go to bed till you come.
As soon as he earns any money he spends it.