Tenses: Assignment On
Tenses: Assignment On
Tenses: Assignment On
TENSES
SUBJECT:
English (Language)
DEPARTMENT:
Computer Science ( 1st Semester)
SUBMITTED TO:
Respected, Sir Abdullah Joyo
SUBMITTED BY:
Alina Basharat
TENSES
pg. 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TENSES
• Present Tense
➢ Present Indefinite Tense
➢ Present Continuous Tense
➢ Present Perfect Tense
➢ Present Perfect Continuous Tense
• Past Tense
➢ Past Indefinite Tense
➢ Past Continuous Tense
➢ Past Perfect Tense
➢ Past Perfect Continuous Tense
• Future Tense
➢ Future Indefinite Tense
➢ Future Continuous Tense
➢ Future Perfect Tense
➢ Future Perfect Continuous Tense
pg. 2
TENSE: A grammatical category of verbs used to express distinctions of time.
PRESENT TENSE: The verb tense expressing action in the present time.
PRESENT INDEFINITE TENSE: It is used to express an action in present time, habitual or
usual actions or daily event or universal fact. It is used to express an action in present time which
is usually done on a regular basis. For example a student says, “I go to school”. It is a daily
activity of a student to go to school, so such actions are expressed by present simple tense.
Another example is, “I work in a factory”. It tells about a usual action of a person that he works in
a factory on regular basis.
Rules: 1st form of verb or base verb is used as main verb in sentence
pg. 3
PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE: It is used to express a continued or ongoing action at
present time. It expresses an action which is in progress at the time of speaking. For example, a
person says, “I am writing a letter”. It means that he is in the process of writing a letter right now.
Such actions which are happening at time of speaking are expressed by present continuous tense.
Present Continuous tense is also called Present progressive tense.
Rules: Auxiliary verb “am or is or are” is used in sentence. 1st form of verb or base verb + ing
(present participle) is used as main verb in sentence.
STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES IN PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE
Affirmative Sentence:
Subject + am/is/are + (1st form of verb or base verb + ing) + object
Note: If the subject is “I” then auxiliary verb “am” is used after subject in sentence.
If the subject is “He, She, It, singular or proper name” then auxiliary verb “is” is used after
subject in sentence. If subject is “You, They or plural” then auxiliary verb “are” is used
after subject in sentence. The participle “ing” is added to the 1st form of verb.
Negative Sentences:
Subject + am/is/are + not + (1st form of verb + ing) + object
Note: Rules for using auxiliary verbs (am or is or are) after subject in negative sentences
are same as mentioned above.
Interrogative Sentence:
Am/is/are + Subject + (1st form of verb or base verb + ing) + object?
Note: For making interrogative sentences, the sentence is started with auxiliary verb
rather than putting auxiliary verb inside the sentence. If the subject is “I” the sentence
starts with auxiliary verb “am”. If the subject is “He, She, It, singular or proper name” the
sentence starts with auxiliary verb “is”. If subject is “You, They or plural” the sentence
starts with auxiliary verb “are”.
Interrogative-Negative Sentence:
Am/is/are + Subject + not+ (1st form of verb or base verb + ing) + object?
Note: This type is same in rules with interrogative but “not” is added after subject.
pg. 4
PRESENT PERFECT TENSE: It is used to express an action which happened or completed in
past but usually the action which happened or completed at a short time before now (near past)
not a very long time before now. Specific time such as two years ago, last week or that day is
usually not used in the sentences of in this tense. It means that this tense expresses the action
whose time when it happened, is not exactly specified but it sounds to refer to some action that
happened or completed in near past.
Rules: Auxiliary verb “has or have” is used in sentence. 3rd form of verb (past participle) is used
as main verb in sentence.
pg. 5
PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE: It is used to express a continued or ongoing
action that started in past and is continued until now.
Note: If there is not time reference or sense of time reference then it is not Present perfect
continuous tense because there is no hint about the time of action when it started in past and it
seems just an ongoing action at present time which resembles “present Continuous tense. So the
reference of time differentiates between Present perfect continuous tense and Present continuous
tense.
Rules: An auxiliary verb “has been or have been” is used in sentence. 1st form of verb (base
verb) +ing (present participle) is used as main verb in sentence.
pg. 6
PAST INDEFINITE TENSE: It is used to express an action that happened or completed in past,
usually a very little time before speaking, or action which is just completed. Time of action is not
specified in terms of long time ago or short ago but it make a sense that the action has done a
little time ago. For example, a person says, “I watched a movie”, it means the speaker of this
sentence watched a movie a little time ago or little time ago in the same day.
Rules: 2nd form of verb (past simple) is used as main verb in the positive sentences and base
form is used in negative and interrogative sentences.
pg. 7
PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE: It is used to express a continued or ongoing action in past, an
ongoing action which occurred in past and completed at some point in past. It expresses an
ongoing nature of an action in past. For example, “he was laughing.” This sentence shows ongoing
action (laughing) of a person which occurred in past. Past continuous tense is also called past
progressive.
Rules: Auxiliary verb “was or were” is used in sentence. 1st form of verb or base verb + ing
(present participle) is used as main verb in sentence .
STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES IN PAST CONTINUOUS TENSE
Affirmative Sentence:
Subject + was/were + (1st form of verb or base verb +ing) +object
Note: If the subject is “he, she, It, I, singular or proper noun” then auxiliary verb “was” is
used. If subject is “you, we, they or plural” then auxiliary verb “were” is used.
Negative Sentences:
Subject + was/were + NOT + (1st form of verb or base verb +ing) +object
Note: Rules for using auxiliary verb after subject are same as mentioned above
Interrogative Sentence:
Was/were + Subject + (1st form of verb or base verb +ing) +object ?
Note: The interrogative sentence starts with the auxiliary verb. If the subject is “he, she,
It, I, singular or proper noun” then the sentence starts with auxiliary verb “was”. If subject
is “you, we, they or plural” then the sentence starts with auxiliary verb “were”.
Interrogative-Negative Sentence:
Was/were + Subject +not + (1st form of verb or base verb +ing) +object?
Note: This type is same in rules with interrogative but “not” is added after subject.
pg. 8
PAST PERFECT TENSE: It is used to express an action which has occurred in past (usually, a
long time ago) and action which has occurred in past before another action in past.
The students had gone before the teacher came. (The first part of sentence “The student has
gone” is sentence of past perfect tense, it says about an action which occurred before another
action in past which is “the teacher came”. The second part “the teacher came” is sentence of past
simple tense. So such a sentence which express an action in past before another action in past
comprises two parts where the first part of sentence is past perfect tense)
Rules: Auxiliary verb “had” is used in sentence. 3rd form of verb (past participle) is used as main
verb in sentence
pg. 9
PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE: It is used to express a continued or ongoing action
that started in past and continued until sometime in past. (Remember, an ongoing action in past
which continued till some time in past).
Note: If there is not time reference or sense of time reference, then it is not Past perfect
continuous tense because there is no hint about the time of action when it started in past or
continued for some time period, so it seems just an ongoing action in past which resembles “past
Continuous tense”. So the reference of time differentiates between Past perfect continuous
tense and past continuous tense.
Rules: An auxiliary verb “had been” is used in sentence. 1st form of verb (base verb) +ing
(present participle) is used as main verb in sentence.
pg. 10
FUTURE INDEFINITE TENSE: It is used to express an action which has not occurred yet and
will occur after saying or in future. For example, “I shall go to zoo tomorrow”, in this sentence the
person intend for tomorrow’s visit to zoo. In short, these sentences express actions which will be
done in future.
Rules: Auxiliary verbs “will/shall” are used in sentence. 1st form of verb or base form is used as
main verb in sentence.
pg. 11
FUTURE CONTINUOUS TENSE: It is used to express a continued or an ongoing action in
future. For example, “I will be waiting for you tomorrow”, it conveys ongoing nature of an action
(waiting) which will occur in future.
Rules: Auxiliary verbs “will be/shall be” are used in sentence. 1st form of verb + ing (present
participle) is used as main verb in sentence.
pg. 12
FUTURE PERFECT TENSE
FUTURE PERFECT TENSE: It is used to express an action which will occur in future and is
thought to be completed in future. It expresses a sense of completion of an action which will occur
in future. For example, “John will have gone tomorrow”. It shows a sense of completion of an
action (go) which will occur in future (tomorrow).
Rules: Auxiliary verb “will/shall have” is used in sentence. 3rd form of verb or past participle form
of verb is used as main verb in sentence.
Negative Sentences:
Subject + will/shall not have + 3rd form of verb or past participle + object
Interrogative Sentence:
Will/shall + Subject +have + 3rd form of verb or past participle + object?
Interrogative-Negative Sentence:
Will/shall + Subject +have+ not + 3rd form of verb or past participle + object?
pg. 13
FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE: It is used to express a continued or ongoing action
that will start in future and is thought to be continued till sometime in future. (Remember, an
ongoing action in future which will continue till some time in future).
Note: If there is not time reference or sense of time reference then it is not future perfect
continuous tense because there is no hint about the time of action when it will start in future and it
seems just an ongoing action in future which resembles “future Continuous tense. So the reference
of time differentiates between Future perfect continuous tense between future continuous tense.
Rules: An auxiliary verb “will/Shall have been” is used in sentence. 1st form of verb (base verb)
+ing (present participle) is used as main verb in sentence.
STRUCTURE OF SENTENCES IN FUTURE PERFECT CONTINUOUS TENSE
Affirmative Sentence:
Subject + will/shall have been + (1st form of verb or base verb + ing) + object
Negative Sentences:
Subject + will/shall not have been + (1st form of verb or base verb + ing) + object
Note: To make negative sentence, the word “not” is added inside auxiliary verb, so it
becomes “will not have been”.
Interrogative Sentence:
Will/Shall + Subject + have been + (1st form of verb or base verb+ing) + object + time
reference?
Note: Will + Subject + have been + (1st form of verb or base verb+ing) + object
Interrogative-Negative Sentence:
Will/Shall + Subject + have not been + (1st form of verb or base verb+ing) + object?
pg. 14
pg. 15