TENSES

Tense (noun) : a verb-based method used to indicate the time, and sometimes the 

continuation or completeness, of an action or state in relation to the time of speaking. 

ORIGIN Latin tempus “time”.

A tense is a form taken by a verb to show the time of an action. There are three main 

1. Present tense : things that are true when the words are spoken or written; or 

are generally true, or for some languages will be true in the future.

2. Past tense : things that were true before the words were spoken or written

3. Future tense : things that will or might be true after the words are spoken or 

The tense can be shown in the verb. For example, am, is, and are always present tense, 

and was and were are always past tense. Or the tense can be shown by adding words to 

the verb. In English, the words that we add to the verb are “helping verbs” or 

“auxiliaries”, like be, have, shall, will, and so on. So we get the continuous present with 

is taking, the future with will take, and so on.

The present tense is used for actions in a time which is happening now.

1) Simple Present Tense

The Present Simple tense is the most basic tense in English and uses the base 

form of the verb (except for the verb be). The only change from the base is 

the addition of s for third person singular.

There are two basic structures for the Simple Present Tense:

1. Positive sentences