The Present and the Past Tenses : Summary
THE PRESENT AND PAST TENSES : SUMMARY[i]
1. PRESENT SIMPLE
General information - facts / / The newspaper says…Water freezes at 0˚c.
Habit / / John smokes.
Routine - repeated events / / She leaves for work at 7.
She lives in Turin.
He always plays tennis on Thursdays.
Future / / The train leaves in 10 minutes.
Time markers: (may be implicit)
every day/week/month - usually - often - sometimes
2. PRESENT CONTINUOUS
Action in progress now / / Look ! It is raining.Mary is trying to finish her work.
Temporary actions / / At the moment, he is working in London.
Irritation / / He is always talking during the lesson.
Future / / The train is leaving in 10 minutes.
Time markers :
now - at the moment - currently - at present - temporarily
3. PRESENT PERFECT SIMPLE
Unfinished event - still true now / / He has worked in Madrid since 1999.Unfinished time / / I have seen him twice this week.
General information / / Volvo has created a safer car.
The result is important now / / He has broken a leg. (Result : he can’t walk)
Time markers
just - recently - already - not yetever - never - so far - up to now / since 1999 - for 3 years
this week - this month
4. PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS
Unfinished event/time - still trueNOW / / He has been working in Madrid since 1999.
Time markers
for 10 years - for a long time - since 1999
1. PAST SIMPLE
Specific time finished / / He graduated last year.I saw her a couple of hours ago.
In 1865 Pasteur discovered the theory of microbes.
Event finished / / She lived in Edinburgh for 13 years. (She no longer lives there)
Time markers:
yesterday - two days ago - last week - in 1970 - in the 18th century - during the war
2. PAST CONTINUOUS (OR PROGRESSIVE)
Action in progress at a specifictime in the past / / Many people were travelling by plane in the 1950s.
Simultaneous action in the past / / While he was washing the dishes, she was watching TV.
Action in progress as another
event happened / / We were watching TV when we heard about the earthquake.
Interrupted action / / While he was eating, the TV imploded.
Time markers:
while – when
3. PAST PERFECT SIMPLE (Past of present perfect simple)
The first of 2 past events / / We had lived there for years when we moved.Volvo had created a safer car. Still they went bankrupt.
Time markers:
after - as soon as - when
4. PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS (Past of present perfect continuous)
The first of 2 past actions –past action with duration / / They had been living in Cairo for about 10 years when the war broke out.
Past action with duration –
stress on the action / / He had been working on the problem for years.
Time markers :
when - after - for a long time - during this period
______
UMONS – CLV IVL IVL
Grammar The present and past tenses: summary
[i] Adapted from: Blattes, S. (et.al.). 2004. Minimum Competence for Scientific English. Grenoble: EDP Sciences, pp. 70-72.