SIMPLE PERESENT, PAST, and FUTURE TENSE

SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE

THE SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE IS USED:

• To express habits, general truths, repeated actions or unchanging situations, emotions and wishes:
  I smoke (habit); I work in London (unchanging situation); London is a large city (general truth)
• To give instructions or directions:
  You walk for two hundred meters, then you turn left.
• To express fixed arrangements, present or future:
  Your exam starts at 09.00
• To express future time, after some conjunctions: after, when, before, as soon as, until:
  He'll give it to you when you come next Saturday.

Be careful! The simple present is not used to express actions happening now.

EXAMPLES

§  For habits
He drinks tea at breakfast.
She only eats fish.
They watch television regularly.

§  For repeated actions or events
We catch the bus every morning.
It rains every afternoon in the hot season.
They drive to Monaco every summer.

§  For general truths
Water freezes at zero degrees.
The Earth revolves around the Sun.
Her mother is Peruvian.

§  For instructions or directions
Open the packet and pour the contents into hot water.
You take the No.6 bus to Watney and then the No.10 to Bedford.

§  For fixed arrangements
His mother arrives tomorrow.
Our holiday starts on the 26th March

§  With future constructions
She'll see you before she leaves.
We'll give it to her when she arrives.

FORMING THE SIMPLE PRESENT TENSE: TO THINK

Affirmative	Interrogative	Negative
I think	Do I think?	I do not think
You think	Do you think?	You do not think
He thinks	Does he think?	He does not think
She thinks	Does she think?	She does not think
It thinks	Does it think?	It does not think
We think	Do we think?	We do not think.
They think	Do they think?	They do not think.

NOTES ON THE SIMPLE PRESENT, THIRD PERSON SINGULAR

• In the third person singular the verb always ends in -s:
  he wants, she needs, he gives, she thinks.
• Negative and question forms use DOES (= the third person of the auxiliary 'DO') + the infinitive of the verb.
  He wants ice cream. Does he want strawberry? He does not want vanilla.
• Verbs ending in -y : the third person changes the -y to -ies:
  fly --> flies, cry --> cries
  Exception: if there is a vowel before the -y:
  play --> plays, pray --> prays
• Add -es to verbs ending in:-ss, -x, -sh, -ch:
  he passes, she catches, he fixes, it pushes

EXAMPLES

• He goes to school every morning.
• She understands English.
• It mixes the sand and the water.
• He tries very hard.
• She enjoys playing the piano.

SIMPLE PAST TENSE

FUNCTIONS OF THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE

The simple past is used to talk about a completed action in a time before now. Duration is not important. The time of the action can be in the recent past or the distant past.

EXAMPLES

• John Cabot sailed to America in 1498.
• My father died last year.
• He lived in Fiji in 1976.
• We crossed the Channel yesterday.

You always use the simple past when you say when something happened, so it is associated with certain past time expressions

• frequency: often, sometimes, always
  I sometimes walked home at lunchtime.
  I often brought my lunch to school.
• a definite point in time: last week, when I was a child, yesterday, six weeks ago
  We saw a good film last week.
  Yesterday, I arrived in Geneva.
  She finished her work atseven o'clock
  I went to the theatre last night
• an indefinite point in time: the other day, ages ago, a long time ago People lived in caves a long time ago.
• She played the piano when she was a child.

Note: the word ago is a useful way of expressing the distance into the past. It is placed after the period of time: a week ago, three years ago, a minute ago.

Be Careful: The simple past in English may look like a tense in your own language, but the meaning may be different.

 

 

 

FORMING THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE

PATTERNS OF SIMPLE PAST TENSE FOR REGULAR VERBS

Affirmative
Subject	+ verb + ed
I	skipped.
Negative
Subject	+ did not	+ infinitive without to
They	didn't	go.
Interrogative
Did	+ subject	+ infinitive without to
Did	she	arrive?
Interrogative negative
Did not	+ subject	+ infinitive without to
Didn't	you	play?

TO WALK

Affirmative	Negative	Interrogative
I walked	I didn't walk	Did I walk?
You walked	You didn't walk	Did you walk?
He walked	He didn't walk	Did he walk?
We walked	We didn't walk	Did we walk?
They walked	They didn't walk	Did they walk?

SIMPLE PAST TENSE OF TO BE, TO HAVE, TO DO

Subject	Verb
	Be	Have	Do
I	was	had	did
You	were	had	did
He/She/It	was	had	did
We	were	had	did
You	were	had	did
They	were	had	did

NOTES ON AFFIRMATIVE, NEGATIVE, & INTERROGATIVE FORMS

AFFIRMATIVE

The affirmative of the simple past tense is simple.

• I was in Japan last year
• She had a headache yesterday.
• We did our homework last night.

NEGATIVE AND INTERROGATIVE

For the negative and interrogative simple past form of "do" as an ordinary verb, use the auxiliary "do", e.g. We didn't do our homework last night.
The negative of "have" in the simple past is usually formed using the auxiliary "do", but sometimes by simply adding not or the contraction "n't".

The interrogative form of "have" in the simple past normally uses the auxiliary "do".

EXAMPLES

• They weren't in Rio last summer.
• We didn't have any money.
• We didn't have time to visit the Eiffel Tower.
• We didn't do our exercises this morning.
• Were they in Iceland last January?
• Did you have a bicycle when you were young?
• Did you do much climbing in Switzerland?

Note: For the negative and interrogative form of all verbs in the simple past, always use the auxiliary 'did''.

SIMPLE PAST, IRREGULAR VERBS

Some verbs are irregular in the simple past. Here are the most common ones.

TO GO

• He went to a club last night.
• Did he go to the cinema last night?
• He didn't go to bed early last night.

TO GIVE

• We gave her a doll for her birthday.
• They didn't give John their new address.
• Did Barry give you my passport?

TO COME

• My parents came to visit me last July.
• We didn't come because it was raining
• Did he come to your party last week?

SIMPLE FUTURE TENSE

FUNCTIONS OF THE SIMPLE FUTURE TENSE

The simple future refers to a time later than now, and expresses facts or certainty. In this case there is no 'attitude'.

The simple future is used:

• To predict a future event:
  It will rain tomorrow.
• With I or We, to express a spontaneous decision:
  I'll pay for the tickets by credit card.
• To express willingness: I'll do the washing-up.
  He'll carry your bag for you.
• In the negative form, to express unwillingness:
  The baby won't eat his soup.
  I won't leave until I've seen the manager!
• With I in the interrogative form using "shall", to make an offer:
  Shall I open the window?
• With we in the interrogative form using "shall", to make a suggestion:
  Shall we go to the cinema tonight?
• With I in the interrogative form using "shall", to ask for advice or instructions:
  What shall I tell the boss about this money?
• With you, to give orders:
  You will do exactly as I say.
• With you in the interrogative form, to give an invitation:
  Will you come to the dance with me?
  Will you marry me?

Note:In modern English will is preferred to shall. Shall is mainly used with I and we to make an offer or suggestion, or to ask for advice (see examples above). With the other persons (you, he, she, they) shall is only used in literary or poetic situations, e.g. "With rings on her fingers and bells on her toes, She shall have music wherever she goes."

 

 

 

FORMING THE SIMPLE FUTURE

The simple future tense is composed of two parts: will / shall + the infinitive without to

Subject	will	infinitive without to
Affirmative
I	will	go
I	shall	go
Negative
They	will not	see
They	won't	see
Interrogative
Will	she	ask?
Interrogative negative
Won't	they	try?

CONTRACTIONS

I will = I'll
We will = we'll
You will = you'll
He will = he'll
She will = she'll
They will = they'll
Will not = won't

The form "it will" is not normally shortened.

TO SEE: SIMPLE FUTURE TENSE

Affirmative	Negative	Interrogative	Interrogative Negative
I will see	I won't see	Will I see?	Won't I see?
*I shall see		*Shall I see?
You will see	You won't see	Will you see?	Won't you see?
He will see	He won't see	Will he see?	Won't he see?
We will see	We won't see	Will we see?	Won't we see?
*We shall see		*Shall we see?
They will see Question :will & be going to same usage when? answer : 1 Sometimes will and be going to are interchangeable.  In other words, it makes virtually no difference which one you use.  At other times, however, the difference is significant.  For example, when requesting a favor, don't use be going to.   2 Most of the above are suggestions and generalizations about how native speakers use will and be going to.  These are not absolute rules.  3 When using will in speech, using a contraction is very common.  For example   I'll give you a hand.*      *I'll give you a hand=I'll help you      Marie hates movies.  She won't go with us. Daftar pustaka http://www.edufind.com/english-grammar/simple-present-tense/ http://www.edufind.com/english-grammar/simple-past-tense/http://www.edufind.com/english-grammar/simple-future-tense/ http://www.myenglishteacher.net/willandbegoingtolesson.html	They won't see	Will they see?	Won't they see?