Don’t get Tense about Tenses !

Types of tenses.
• Past ,Present, and Future.
• Simple
• Continuous
• Perfect
• Perfect Continuous.
 COMMON ERRORS
• Look at these sentences:-
– I am having a car.
– I am seeing the bus.
– He is knowing it.
• What is wrong with these sentences?
 COMMON ERRORS
• They should be written as :-
– I have a car.
– I see a bus.
– He knows it.
• Some verbs are generally not used in the
continuous tense.
• They denote a state, perception or cognition.
 COMMON ERRORS
• They are also known as Stative Verbs.
• Some common stative verbs are :-
– appear, seem, hear, sound, taste, love, like,
hate, dislike, prefer, agree, believe,
imagine, know, cost, involve, satisfy,
weigh.
 COMMON ERRORS
• Some verbs , however , can have two forms:
a state and an action.
– I have a brother. (state)
– I am having my dinner.(action)
– I think you are right. (state)
– I am thinking about it. ( meaning—
pondering)
 INDICATING FUTURE
• The train leaves at 5 pm.(present tense)
– talks of a habitual action.
• The train will leave at 5 pm.( simple future)
– indicates a future event.
• The train is leaving at 5 pm(present
continuous)
– conveys a sense of urgency.
 SIMPLE PAST & PRESENT
PERFECT
• A specific time expression that denotes the
past is used with sentences in the simple
past.
• With the present perfect no specific past
time expression can be used.
– I saw her last evening.(correct)
– I have seen her last evening ( wrong)
– I have seen her. (correct)
 COMMON ERRORS
• Look at these sentences.
– It is true that I had met her last year.
– I had written a book in 1970.
• They should be written as
It is true that I met her last year.
I wrote a book in 1970.
The Past perfect can be used to denote the
earlier event only when two events occur in
the past. For a mere occurrence in the past ,
the simple past tense is used.
 PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE
- It was raining when I reached home.
- The bird was flying when he shot it.

• The past continuous tense is used to denote

an action in progress in the past, very often
with reference to another action.
 COMMON ERRORS
- He thought he will do some voluntary work.
- The principal was pleased that the students
do not violate college rules.
• The tense is not consistent in these sentences.
They should be written as :
- He thought he would do some voluntary
work.
- The principal was pleased that the students
did not violate college rules.
 TENSE CONSISTENCY
• Check the following sentences for the
confusing shift in the tense:
- While she puts on her contact lenses the
phone rang.
- By the time the negotiations began, many
people have expressed doubts about them.
- I was terribly disappointed with my marks
because I studied very hard.
- Everyone hopes that the plan would work.
 TENSE CONSISTENCY
• While she put on /was putting on her contact
lenses , the telephone rang.
• By the time the negotiations began , many
people had expressed doubts about them.
• I was terribly disappointed with my marks
because I had studied very hard.
• Everyone hoped that the plan would work.