What Is Tense?
Tense (verb tense) refers to the time of action or when something happens.
Tense denotes the time of a verb’s action, an event, or the timing of any activity.
Examples:
- Jimmi eats rice – Jimmi eats rice. (Present tense)
- Jimmi ate rice – Jimmiate rice. (Past tense)
- Jimmi will eat rice – Jimmi will eat rice. (Future tense)
Grammar Explanation:
In the above examples, the verbs are:
- eats = eats
- ate = ate
- will eat = will eat
Here, the verb “eat” takes an “s” (becomes “eats”) because Jimmi is a third-person singular subject.
Types of Tense
Tense is mainly divided into three types:
- Present Tense – e.g., Jimmi eats rice.
- Past Tense – e.g., Jimmi ate rice.
- Future Tense – e.g., Jimmi will eat rice.
Each tense is further divided into four forms:
Present Tense
- Simple Present (Indefinite)
- Present Continuous (Progressive)
- Present Perfect
- Present Perfect Continuous
For example:
- Jimmi eats rice. (Present indefinite/simple )
- Jimmi is eating rice. ( Present continuous )
- Jimmi has eaten rice. ( Present perfect )
- Karim has been eating rice for fifteen minutes. ( Present perfect continuous )
Past Tense
- Simple Past (Indefinite)
- Past Continuous (Progressive)
- Past Perfect
- Past Perfect Continuous
For example:
- Jimmi ate rice. ( Past indefinite/simple )
- Jimmi was eating rice. (Past continuous )
- Jimmi had eaten rice before his mother came home. ( Past perfect )
- Jimmi had been eating rice for fifteen minutes before his mother came home. (Past perfect continuous )
Future Tense
- Simple Future (Indefinite)
- Future Continuous (Progressive)
- Future Perfect
- Future Perfect Continuous
For example:
- Jimmy will eat rice. (Future indefinite/simple.)
- Jimmi will be eating rice. (Future continuous/progressive )
- Jimmi will have eaten rice before his mother comes home. ( Future perfect)
- Jimmi will have been eating rice for fifteen minutes before his mother comes home. ( Future perfect continuous/progressive)
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