English for Students

How to use Present Tense?

How to use Present Tense? The present, simple, present continues, present perfect etc.

We hope, we need not explain what tense is and what the present tense is.

Let us go straight to answer How to use Present Tense:

The Simple Present Tense is used:

1. To express general truths:

Examples:

• The Sun rises in the east.

• Honey is sweet.

• Fortune favors the brave.

• London is the Capital city of United Kingdom.

• Two thirds of this earth is full of water.


2. To express the habitual actions:

Examples:

• He drinks tea every morning.

• Mary comes to college by car.

• My watch keeps correct time.

• My son does not like tea. He prefers coffee.

• I get up at 4 o’clock every morning.


3. In the exclamatory sentences beginning with here and there to express what is actually taking place in the present.

Examples:

• Here comes the bus!

• There she goes!

• What a beautiful building that is!

• Oh! He is so smart!

• There the procession goes a long time!


4. In vivid narrative, as substitute for simple past tense:

Examples:

• Shoran now rushes forward and deals a heavy blow to Rosa.

• Immediately The Sultan hurries to the hospital.


5. To express a future event that is part of a fixed programme.

Examples:

• The next flight is at 7.00am tomorrow.

• The match starts at 9 o’clock in the morning.

• The train leaves at 5.35 pm.

• When does the hotel reopen?


6. To introduce Quotations:

Examples:

• Keats says, “A thing of beauty is joy for ever".

• Tagore says, “Beauty is the ultimate reality".

• Osho says, “Self-knowledge is the ultimate knowledge".


7. It is used, instead of the Simple Future tense, in clauses of time and of condition.

Examples:

• I shall wait till you finish your lunch.

• If it rains we shall get wet.


We hope, we need not explain what tense is and what the present tense is.

We have come staright to answer How to use Present Tense:

The Present Continuous Tense is used:

1. For an action going on at the time of speaking:

Example:

• She is singing now.

• The boys are playing hockey.

• The students are waiting for the teachers in the class room.


2. For a temporary action which may not be actually happening at the time of speaking:

• I am reading ‘David Copperfield’. (Actually I am not reading ‘David Copperfield’)

• He is constructing a house at the outskirts of the city. (Actually he is not constructing the house)


3. For an action that has already been arranged to take place in the near future:

• My uncle is arriving tomorrow.

• His daughter is going to London for higher studies.


4. The following verbs, on account of their meaning, are not used normally in the continuous tense:

Example:

• Verbs of perception: see, hear, smell, notice, recognize, etc.

• Verbs of appearing: appear, look, seem, etc.

• Verbs of emotion: want, wish, desire, feel, like, love, hate, hope, refuse, prefer, etc.

• Verbs of perception: think, suppose, believe, agree, consider, trust, remember, forget, know, understand, imagine, mean, mind, etc.

• Have (= possess): own, possess, belong to, contain, consist of, be, etc.

The following sentences are wrong one. And the correct ones follow subsequently.

• These grapes are tasting sour.

• I am thinking you are wrong.

• She is seeming sad.

The correct ones:

• These grapes taste sour.

• I think you are wrong.

• She seems sad.



We hope, we need not explain what tense is and what the present tense is.

We have come straight to answer How to use Present Tense:

The Present Perfect Tense is used:

1. To indicate completed activities in the immediate past:

Examples:

• He has just gone out.

• It has just struck ten.

• We have just taken our food.


2. To express past actions whose time is not given and not definite:

Examples:

• I have never known him to be angry.

• Mr. Hamish has gone to Japan.

• Have you read ‘David Copperfield’?


3. To describe past events when we think more of their effect in the present than of the action itself:

Examples:

• Mary has eaten all the biscuits. (There is no biscuit for you)

• I have cut my finger. (It is bleeding now)

• I have finished my work. (I am free now)


4. To denote an action beginning at some time in the past and continuing up to the present moment (often with since and/or for phrases).

Examples:

• I have known him for a long time.

• He has been ill since last week.

• We have lived here for ten years.

• We have not seen Puma for several months.



We hope, we need not explain what tense is and what the present tense is.

We have come straight to answer How to use Present Tense:

The Present Perfect Continuous Tense is used:

1. For an action which began at some time in the past and is still continuing:

Examples:

• He has been sleeping for five years. (He is still sleeping)

• They have been building the bridge for several months.

• They have been playing for several months.

We hope, we need not explain what tense is and what the present tense is.

We have come straight to answer How to use Present Tense. This page constains only the answer to How to use Present Tense.




COURTESY : The Hindu (The National News-Paper) - India

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