Tense for Beginners
Nidhu Bhusan Das
Latin term Tense means time. We know the proverb: Time and tide waits for none. It contains the message that time like tide flows and the two are ever flowing. For time-on-the-move, the moments Now, Then and Next are important. You may ask how. For our convenience we divide time into Now (Present), Then (Past) and Next (Future). We can show the linear movement of time thus:
THEN NOW NEXT
.,..................l………………l……………….
Past Present Future
Now is the time when we think, act and speak. Then is the time which is gone. Next is the time coming after Now.
Now, Then and Next – each has four aspects. The aspects are: Simple. Continuous, Perfect and Perfect Continuous. Thus we have (3x4) twelve tenses.
We shall discuss Simple Present Tense now.
We use the present form of the verb (go, come, play, eat, drink, etc) for this tense. Let us see:
I play cricket. You eat rice. We come back home after school.
When the subject of the verb is in third person singular number (he, she, it and any singular noun like Ram, school, chair), we add –s or –es at the end of the verb. Let us see:
He goes. She plays, Ram drinks water, Water flows down the slope.
When do we use Simple Present Tense?
1. When we speak of an action that occurs now.
Ex. I want to help you.
2. Habitual or routine action:
I walk in the morning.
He plays cricket.
3. Universal fact:
Man is mortal.
The sun rises in the east.
Ice floats on water.
4. In imperative sentence:
Go now, come tomorrow.
Don’t disturb me.
5. Immediately after certain modal auxiliaries:
You may come now.
I can swim.
@ Next we shall discuss Simple Past Tense.
