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2. Tenses
There are two tenses in English—the simple present and the simple past.
Note. Remember that there is no future tense in English to express future time.
We use the modal auxiliaries shall and
will in the present simple tense, etc, to express future time.
3. Aspect
There are two aspects in English—the progressive (continuous) and the perfect.
The progressive aspect shows that an action
is still in progress, while the perfect aspect shows that the work is complete.
Thus we have seen that the simple present tense is formed by using the plain
infinitive. But -s or -es are added to the
bare infinitive (i.e. infinitive without ‘to’) for the third person singular
(He, She) and singular noun (Nitu).
We form the negative sentences by using doesn’t or don’t before the main verb.
The interrogative sentences are formed by using do or does before the subject.
The negative interrogative sentences are formed by using do or does before the
subject and not after the subject.
But the short forms don’t and doesn’t come before the subject.
-I go to temple daily.
-My father goes for a walk in the evening.
-He gets up at 4 a.m daily.
-She walk to the office every day
-Look out!
-Here comes the bus!
-There goes the train!
(vii) to indicate a planned future action or series of action when they refer
to a journey.
Note: We generally use the following adverbs or adverbial phrases in the present
tense:
always, often, daily, generally, usually, everyday, every week, frequently,
etc.will in the present simple tense, etc,
to express future time.
-She is singing.
-I am working.
-They are sleeping.
(iii) The interrogative is formed by placing the auxiliaries before the subject:
(iv) The negative interrogative is formed by placing the auxiliary verbs before
the subject and by placing not after the
subject:
Note: The negative interrogative form of ‘/ am’ is Am I not? But the contracted
form is: Ain’t I?
(ii) The present progressive tense is used for an action that is in progress and
will continue in future. It may not be
going on at the time of speaking:
(iii) It is used to describe an action that is planned to take place in the near
future:
Note: Verbs of perception and some other verbs are not generally used in the
present progressive tense, for example see,
smell, hear, taste, know, understand, hate, like, want, wish, etc.
(ii) The negative sentences have the form ‘‘have/has + not’ or haven’t, hasn’t
in contracted form.
(iv) negative interrogative sentences are formed by putting have/has before the
subject and not after it or haven’t,
hasn’t before the subject.
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-He has been to Agra.
-Has she cooked the lunch?
-I have met him before.
(iv) for an action which began in the past and is still continuing:
-They have lived in this city for a long time. He has been ill since Tuesday.
-I have always helped him.
(ii) The negative sentences are formed by placing ‘not ’ after ‘have/has ’ and
before ‘been’:
(iii) The interrogative sentences are formed by putting have/has before the
subject.
(iv) The negative interrogative sentences have the form : ‘have/has + subject +
not’ or ‘haven ’t/hasn ’t+subject’:
-He has been watering the plants (but is not doing so now).
-She has been working all the day.
-I have been working in the field.
-She sang.
-The children played.
-I wrote a letter.
(ii) The negative sentences have the form ‘did not/didn’t + the main verb ’:
(iii) The interrogative sentences are formed by placing ‘did’ before the subject
and the base form of the verb after
the subject:
(iv) The negative interrogative sentences are formed by placing ‘did’ before the
subject and not’ before the verb:
(ii) The negative sentences are formed by placing not between was/were and the
present participle:
(iii) The interrogative sentences are formed by placing was/were before the
subject:
(iv) The negative interrogative sentences are formed by putting was/were before
the subject and not before the present
participle. In contracted forms, we write wasn’t/weren’t.
(iii) to express an action in progress at some point of time in the past when
another event took place:
(ii) The negative sentences are formed by placing ‘not’ after ‘had’. The
contracted form is ‘hadn’t:
(iii) The interrogative sentences are formed by using had before the subject:
(iv) The negative interrogative sentences are formed by placing ‘hacT before the
subject and ‘not’ before the past
participle:
(ii) to describe an action taking place before a particular time in the past:
(iii) to describe an action in the past which became the cause of another
action:
-The child was crying because the father had beaten him.
-Sonu was weeping because he had lost his bag.
(iv) to describe an action in the past using the time adverbials such as
already, since, before, etc:
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-They had been waiting here since morning.
-She had been dancing for half an hour.
(ii) The negative sentences are formed by using ‘not’ between ‘had’ and ‘been’
(had not been):
(iii) The interrogative sentences are formed by using ‘had’ before the subject:
(iv) The negative interrogative sentences are formed by placing ‘had’ before the
subject and ‘not ’before ‘been ’:
-She had been dancing for half an hour when we reached there.
-The match had been going on for several hours.
(iii) to describe an action which began before the time of speaking in the past.
The action either stopped before that
time or continued upto it:
(i) The simple present tense can be used to express a series of planned actions
in the future, specially a journey.
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-The meeting starts at 10 a.m.
-He goes to Delhi tomorrow.
(ii) The present progressive tense is used when the planned action for the
future is definite.
(iii) To be/be to: ‘To be/be to’ is used to express a necessity or duty or
something planned for the future:
(v) Be going to: ‘Be going to’ is used to refer to express events or actions
that happen in the future as a result of
present intention or situation:
Note: We generally use the modals ‘shall’ and ‘will’ to express future time.
Form:
(i) The future time is expressed by using ‘shall’ or ‘will’ with the base form
of the verb:
(ii) The negative sentences are formed by placing ‘not’ after ‘shall’ or
‘will’’.
(iii) The interrogative sentences are formed by putting ‘shall’ or ‘will’ before
the subject:
-Shall I go there?
-Will he come here?
(iv) The negative interrogative sentences have the form: ‘shall/will + subject +
not ’:
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(ii) Shall is used with the first person to express an offer or suggestion:
(iii) Will is used with the first person to express willingness, determination,
etc:
-I will do it myself.
-I will help you.
-We will never commit such a mistake again.
(iv) The simple future is used to express the speaker’s opinion, for something
to be done in the future. We use such
verbs believe, know, suppose, think, We also use such adverbs as perhaps,
possibly, surely, etc:
(vi) The simple future is used for an action that is yet to take place:
(ii) The negative sentences are formed by placing not after shall/will:
(iii) The interrogative sentences are formed by placing shall/will before the
subject:
(ii) The negative sentences are formed by putting ‘not’ between ‘shall/will’ and
‘have’:
(iii) The interrogative sentences are formed by placing ‘shall/will’ before the
‘subject’:
(ii) The future perfect is used to express the speaker’s belief that something
has taken place:
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17. Future Perfect Progressive
Form:
(i) The future perfect progressive has the form: shall/will + have + been +
present participle:
(ii) The negative sentences are formed by putting ‘not ’ between ‘shall/will’
and ‘have ’:
(iii) The interrogative sentences are formed by placing ‘shall/will’ before the
‘subject’:
Exercise (Solved)
Fill in the blanks with the correct form of the verbs given in the brackets.
1 caught
2 cooking
3 has been raining
4 would have helped
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5 twinkle
6 were doing
7 will come
8 had died
9 were chasing
10 won’t help
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